Even though ia am not supposed to participate, i will drop a few lines here
I unfortunately have to agree with most of what you say.
None of the existing e-readers is the ultimate solution. There are lots of usability issues in hardware and software, that prevent these devices from beeing comfortable to the average joe. But this has been true for most new technologies that have been invented. Take cars for example.
The most important point in your post is, that the content is mostly not interchangable with different devices. But that is a problem the music industry with a standard is beginning to realise only now. And especially since there is alot less books available than any of us would like.
With these first devices though i see more and more future possibilites. When the displaysget bigger, lighter and colorfull, we will have new ways to distribute content, and that is not only fiction or entertainment, but educational boos with animations and more.
So even if most points of your post are true at the moment, i think we will have a very much different situation 10 years from now.
But for now i wish for more ebooks avaiable, and for better and tougher designed ebookdevices. So basically all current ebookreaders will "die", but thats the same what happende to my 2005 PC not long ago. And i personally will have a new reader that gets closer to my dream reader as soon as i can get my hands on it. Though i havent heard of it getting to the market yet.
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Ebook reader = waste of money, can't get the books you want, DRM sucks, can't put webpages on it but can read old public domain stuff plus a very limited range of ebooks only.
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For me its all of the above but the first. I do not consider it a waste of money. I love my iLiad and the CyBook, although they are not perfect. But thats not the average user speaking here. But i am afraid, that there is not a single average user on this forum. So all the answers might be a bit biased.