[soulfuldog]

You don't say where you are based?

You'll struggle to get anything that cheap, unless you buy second hand.... there was the Binatone ReadMe Classic that a couple of places were selling pretty cheaply (UK £35-50), but that was 1-2 years ago, can't see anywhere selling it now.

Currently there is the Kobo Mini (UK £49) it's got a smaller 5" screen and is a touch screen, more of a pocket reader, but it's probably the cheapest new one available, as well as the standard ebook format EPUB, it can handle both PDF and TXT files too.

The basic Kindle (£69 in the UK) has the more standard 6" screen and isn't a touch screen reader, it uses Amazon's MOBI/AZW ebook format and can handle PDF & TXT files.

I don't think either would be any good for editing or taking notes though.

You are right about the txtr beagle, it wouldn't be of any use to you (can't read anything other than the files that are loaded onto it via the smartphone and they aren't a standard file but some sort of image file).