"My doctor told me I need quiet time."

Nice. You can always blame it on the doctor if they won't just back off with your word that you're not up for it.

I'm thinking of getting an e-reader in the near future, probably one of the Sonys. Unless I find out something to send me toward the Kindle or Nook.

The BN.com Nook webpage links to various online reviews (all positive, of course!), so take that into account, but I liked this look at the Nook. It points out the future potential of the thing, especially its use of Google's Android, which can lead to a lot of hackability in the future and the possibility of loads of aps if it takes off. Kindle is proprietary, so no aps unless they support them.

I like the look of the Nook, but it's still too much money. Once these things hit the $100 price point, I think they'll take off like crazy.

Once again, I am going to sigh wistfully about Microsoft Reader. ClearType is awesome, and the Reader is the best damn ebook program I've ever seen. I'm still angry that Microsoft stopped actively developing it, and have a fond daydream that they'll decide to start supporting it again, and that the team will need me back as content queen.

I wonder if the success of the eBook is going to be tied to a dedicated physical platform. On the one hand, buying and carrying yet another device in the today's age is going against the flow, but putting books for regular use on a phone's screen is more like putting a phone in a camera than a camera in a phone. At least at the size of phone I'm willing to carry, since I like a physical keyboard.

On the one hand, buying and carrying yet another device in the today's age is going against the flow

OTOH, a book is already a separate "device," so you're not adding, you're replacing.

OTOH, a book is already a separate "device," so you're not adding, you're replacing.

In the case of an ebook, the bulk of the add-weight is up front cost. But in the age of consolidation, yet another thing to charge and another piece of relatively delicate electronics that needs to be carried around and removed to pass through airport security--it's more fraught than the paperback I used to jam in my pocket, or even the hardcover I can leave lying in my car without worrying someone's going to break in and steal it.

a book is already a separate "device," so you're not adding, you're replacing.

Or even condensing, if (like me) you tend to read several books at once, and you like to carry all of them with you when you go somewhere. I expect it to be particularly useful on vacation, where I can carry half a dozen books or one device the sixe of a 300-page or so trade paperback.

The most appealing thing about an e-reader to me is the ability to wirelessly buy books with it, so if you're traveling and you run out of books, you can just buy more!