Summer is generally a quiet time for Japanese electronics manufacturers, but this year appears set to break the mould, thanks in large part to those famous green shoots of economic recovery popping up in many sectors of the economy here. A flood of exciting new hardware has been making it a busy time for tech journalists and otaku (technonerds) alike.

One of the buzz products of the first half of 2004 is Sony's new ?%40,000 (£210) electronic book reader called the Libri?Ž EBR-1000EP, seen by many as the first decent attempt to replicate the paper-based reading experience on an electronic device.

Its 'charm point', as Japanese girls like to say, is not a dazzling smile or a cute dimple, but a screen with amazing contrast produced in collaboration with America's E Ink Corporation, among others.

Less than charming, however, is the digital rights management (DRM) used for the project. Fifteen of the biggest Japanese publishers (and Sony) put their heads together to figure out how to offer a compelling collection of novels and other material while protecting their own financial investments in the work and the interests of the authors.

What they came up with is a sad business model that ties downloaded ebooks to a maximum of four devices, which is reasonable enough, but also ensures that the titles purchased (with your money, remember) lock up after 60 days, which is far from reasonable. Sure, the books are cheaper than their real-world equivalents, but who in their right mind is going to buy books that simply evaporate after two months? Periodicals might be suitable for this protective scheme, but none are yet taking advantage of it on the Libri?Ž.

I can't help but feel sorry for this terrific little device, as one of the first journalists to get to play with it, hamstrung as it is by misguided anti-piracy efforts. Tying software to specific hardware, as Microsoft is now doing, seems to be just about acceptable these days, but let's not take the fun out of books while we're at it.

Elsewhere at Sony, it's not all negative - the posh products team has come up with two fantastic additions to its Qualia super-expensive range.

The QO17 is a good-enough-to-eat minidisc player that is handmade in palladium-coated brass for discerning buyers. It costs around a grand, so you'll need to be really committed to the creaky minidisc format if you're going to spring for this one. The other new rich boy's toy is the QO10, a pair of headphones that comes with a bespoke fitting service and cost a whopping £1,300. Let's just hope they don't stop working after two months.

On a slightly different, but still expensive, note, Matsushita Electrical industries has come up with a really clever product that makes good use of Wifi in a projector.

The TH-LB10NT XGA (1,024 x 1,200 resolution) LCD projector costs ?%400,000 (£2,100), and uses 802.11b to support wireless input from up to four separate PCs, sharing the screens on all four computers with the whole room simultaneously if desired. Just think - quadruple the Powerpoint misery for all.

This month's 'And finally...' moment belongs to Maywa Denki, an inspired little arthouse company that specialises in being just that tiny bit different. Its website at www.maywadenki.com is a treasure chest of Good Things from inspired designers.

Not everything is available to buy through the online shop, but interesting products include the Naki series of fish-themed toys, which the company describes as 26 nonsense machines, and the Tsukuba range of musical widgets that operate through combinations of motors and electromagnets.

Most of the pieces look like they've jumped out of a two-year-old's crayon doodle and descriptions are in both English and Japanese.

We particularly recommend the ?%6,000 (£31) watch, which sports an old-fashioned rotary phone dial - dial 117 (the number of the speaking clock in Japan) and it'll read you the time in crystal-clear Nihong