And I, too, would not waste a lot of money on proprietary, DRM books that are likely to have a “lifetime” of 5-years or less. I understand that Kindle 2 buyers are finding that some of their Kindle 1 purchases don’t work on it–and they are required to purchase the “Kindle 2″ version if they want to use it on that device. What a scam!

10 different file formats are a pain in the *** but there are free programs out there that organize your e-book collection and convert formats to whatever you read on, on-the-fly (like Calibre). I’ve got a few hundred e-books in 6 different formats and am confident I’ll be able to read them all – whichever reader I finally buy. Yes, I’d be happy if I didn’t have to double-click on the conversion program’s icon before I could download to my reader – but it isn’t SUCH a big deal!

What am I waiting for? Oh yes, like others here have said: for an 8″ or 10″ screen that can handle books and newspapers, has a wifi connection (not a proprietary Sprint or AT&T or expensive cellular one), an e-Ink screen or other non-backlit screen of course… and sells for less than $300. Worldwide, not just in the States. And it would help if the screen weren’t breakable and/or the price included the protective cover. I’m figuring I’ll be buying around this time next year.

e-books are where the Net was 15 years ago – we don’t even imagine, yet, what we’ll be able to do with them. e-book readers are where PCs were 15 years ago – whenever you buy, you know there’ll be another model out in 6 months that’s twice as good for half the price

In general this technology passes my Microwave Test – a gadget that before buying it you say “whatever would I need it for?” and a month after buying it you say “how on earth did I ever get by without it??”

/seriousness

Having books available in proprietary formats is a giant step backwards. It’s a threat to the idea of public libraries and freedom of expression. If we don’t trust governments to regulate speech, why should we trust corporations who are doing it?

And I further call on the computing industry to take a deep breath and stop producing any new computer until they get the OS and security and all other things perfectly right so that they will never again have to change for the rest of time.

After all, if 64K of memory was good enough in 1982, why should we ask for any more now? If punch cards got a man on the moon, surely they should be able to get men on Mars as well!

Just because Barnes & Noble bought a big ebook publishing company, doesn’t give them any cause to actually, you know, want to produce devices on which to read those ebooks. The Palm Pilot is quite good enough to read them, thank you very much.

And oh yes, Harry? I’ll thank you to mail these posts somewhat earlier in the day, my mailman is having a hard time delivering them for some reason. Must be because his horse is getting old.

/sarcasm

Another thing with ebook readers is that, in the end I don’t really want a device dedicated to books. What I really wanted is my PDA to have a full colour electronic paper foldable screen… for the price I got my second hand HTC Touch Dual. I guess I’ll have to wait a bit.