San Diego - Sony (NYSE: SNE) announced on Thursday that its Reader Digital Book devices will be the first to support the EPUB format, an XML-based standard format from the International Digital Publishing Forum. Starting next month, PRS-505 model Reader devices will support EPUB, as will as Adobe eBooks and the BBeB formatted books offered at the Sony eBook Store. "The Reader is an open device and we will continue to explore formats that will provide the widest variety of content for Reader users," said Steve Haber, senior vice president of consumer product marketing for Sony Electronics. "This upgrade opens the door to a whole host of paid and free content from third-party eBook stores, web sites and even public libraries."