[gdaydigger]

Hi

I have a Sony PRS 600, my first e-reader. Firstly, let me say that I will never go back to paper-based books -- I am a devout convert. Whilst I am pretty happy with my Sony I have a couple of grievances, namely screen glare and contrast, and the inability to upload books that can only be found on Amazon's US site (not on Kobo/BoB/darknet etc). So, I am considering changing to a Kindle but I have a few questions/concerns that hopefully you can help me with:

1. I live in Asia and so potentially face the problem of geographic restrictions. With Borders and several other sites there are work arounds (gift certificates/proxy servers etc) that enable me to get the required books on to my Sony but I would be pretty cheesed off if I switched to a Kindle in order to access Amazon-only books but find I am blocked from doing so because I am outside of the US. Any thoughts/advice (if necessary please PM me)?

2. I buy all my books using my Mac/USB upload and do not envisage ever buying books on a Kindle through the device itself or browsing the internet on it (why why why ??? -- that's what an iphone/smart phone is for) and so whispernet/3g/wifi is meaningless to me. For those, who have used other devices before switching to a Kindle, is the better screen contrast/lack of glare a sufficient reason in itself to make the switch?

3. I occasionally obtain books from the darknet or Burgomeister etc -- can these be uploaded to the Kindle via USB? Would I need to convert them using Calibre? What is the best format?

4. I have no use for the keyboard on the Kindle other than to occasionally search a book for previous references to names etc. With my Sony I often hold the reader along the bottom. I assume that this is not possible on the Kindle and that the only place to hold it is along its vertical sides (making sure you don't hit the page turn button by mistake) -- correct?

5. Whilst Sony's Reader Library is pretty limited in functions etc it does nevertheless provide a fairly decent place to store my ebooks, and files them all neatly under Documents-MyBooks-ReaderLibrary on my Mac. Is there a default place where Kindle books, once downloaded to my Mac from Amazon, are kept? How, where and in what application do you recommend I combine my existing ebook collection with Amazon purchases? I don't want to end up with ebooks scattered all over my Mac.

Sorry for the "beginner's" questions but I want to make sure I am doing the right thing before migrating from my pretty decent first ereader. Any thoughts/comments from others who have already made the switch would be much appreciated.

Many thanks