Does anyone have any experince or thoughts about the Sony Reader? Or expierence with eBooks.com?

They are priced at $349 (not incuding a $50 credit at eBooks) rather then the $500 that they had originally thought.

Personally I'd wait for the device Amazon is working on. It has an EVDO modem built in so books you purchase are automagically loaded onto it. That is IMHO the future. Click purchase, and 2 minutes later the book is on your device. No cables or any other stuff needed.

IMHO, no electronic device will ever replace a real (as in made of dead trees) book.

As much as I like technology of all kinds, this is one gadget that I do not see myself buying any time in the near future.

I have shown my collegues e-ink screens and their universal question is "What does it look like when it is turned on"?

They thought the display was a paper template covering the actual screen for demonstration purposes, kind of like the 12:12 decal on LCD clocks

It looks like paper.

You might as well be holding a paperback book whose contents can be changed at will. The only drawback is you don't want to drop it while reading in the tub. . .

Just as an update: I actually ended up buying one of these. And I love it.

It is extremely small and portable for travel. It can charge from any USB port. I can load five books (more if I wanted to) onto it before I leave and be certain that I won't be without reading material. Instead of lugging heavy hardcover or paperback books, I can just throw this little lightweight device in my carry-on and go. It saves a good bit of space and weight.

On a recent two week trip where I heavily used this device (I'd say about 40 hours), the battery indicator had not gone down by even one bar. Since I bought this in October, I've only needed to charge it once.

While I still don't believe that devices like the Sony Reader will ever replace books of the dead tree variety, I can see a definite use and place for them. This gadget has made train rides and flights a lot easier and more fun.

Anyone else get one of these and have an opinion?

Sony had an "Ebook" reader back in the early 90's -- I think I was one of 7 people who actually bought one It basically was a small cd drive and a flip up monochrome screen. There never was much content available -- mostly public domain stuff and travel guides. Battery life wasn't very good though, so reading on a long flight didn't work. I mention this because I am an "early adopter" when it comes to ebooks.

A few years ago I bought a Garman iQue 3600 (Palm device with built in GPS). Now I use it 5% as GPS and 95% as a book reader. There is software from eReader.com and Moby. The iQue has a larger (longer) screen than the typical palm device so it works nicely for reading. You can buy books from eReader and some pubishers (Baen for example) make books available cheaply or even for free. Plus any text, html, word or .lit document can be easily converted to palm format. They are stored as text so you can fit 1000's of books on even a 512MB SD card.

The smaller screen (than the Sony Reader -- its 320x480 or 3.8" diagonal) takes a little bit to get used to, but I have no problems with it. The battery life on the iQue isn't great (a common complaint) but I have a little power pack that takes AA's that is more than enough for an 11 hour flight.

I'm sure all the same software works on Windows Mobile handhelds as well.

Oh, I also have an MP3 player on the iQue -- with a 2GB SD card I fit many hours of music plus a year's supply of books. I use it as a backup mp3 player (like when my new iPod froze on the way to AMS and I hadn't looked up the reset sequence before I left)

OMG... I had one of those as well. Had a weird format CD, little bigger than a minidisc. It came with some weird titles in Europe, I think I had a restaurant guide and a dictionary...

Rumor says the future is finally almost here.

Of course it is, and it's because I finally broke down and bought an ebook reader two weeks ago...

I received a free Sony Reader with the purchase of a VAIO SZ last weekend. I don't think the reader is selling well. Nice form factor, poor UI, eInk display is spectacular. I've already read a few books without eyestrain of any sort. It will now become my primary in-flight reading device.

I'll also be buying the Amazon device as soon as it is available and can provide a side-by-side comparison then. EVDO should be a real winner and I expect the UI to be very well done.

I expect ms birdstrike will get the Sony and I'll use the Kindle.

Does the Sony eReader support any free content? I have lots of PD books that I have converted into mbp, but I suppose I should be able to convert it into another format.

Monochrome is the way to go for ebooks, I still occasionally use my old Philips Nino 500 Win CE pda to read books. The monochrome display and AA-batteries make it an excellent display and pleasant backlight makes it possible to read in the dark without to much eye strain.

It supports PDFs, JPEG images, unencrypted MP3s, Word documents (converted transparently to RTF format), HTML files, and RSS feeds in addition to the Sony proprietary books.

The problem, of course, with the free content, is that much of it is not recent. Not a problem for me since I'm not an Oprah fan, but I suspect it will be an issue for wider adoption of these devices.

I have been really happy with my eReader. The screen is very easy on the eyes and the battery life is great. Only complaint is that Sony's book store has very little to chose from. Top 100/Best sellers are rearely available... but, I can usually find them on other sites, in other formats that the eReader supports.

The eInk display is so good I still find myself reaching out to physically "turn the page" from time to time

Can't be much of a hot seller... Tiger Direct was dumping them last week for $99 and when you signup for their credit card you get it for $49.95 AND $150 in free books...

http://www.sonycard.sony.com/sonygat...erlink=iklipze