Palm Digital Media, which offers an e-book reader for Palm OS handheld devices, unveiled a new version of the reader that will work on PC or Macintosh desktops and laptops.

Until the release of this new Palm Reader, Palm's e-book reader could be used only on Palm OS PDAs. The new reader will allow Palm handheld device users to synch their e-books to their desktop or laptop computers and read Palm format e-books on both devices.

"E-book readers can build a library of e-books that they can read on the go, at work or from home on their platform of choice," said Jeff Strobel, director of Palm Digital Media.

The new Palm reader offers DRM to protect against unauthorized distribution of e-titles and also offers Palm e-book Studio, an authoring tool that allows users to create their own digital documents from plain text or HTML files.