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I have faith that Amazon will keep it up too, and keep in the same format. If anyone has staying power, it is Amazon.
You can get books in mobi format (what the Kindles use) from places other than Amazon. Read the sticky links at the top of this forum.
They have free books, and fee books. Most fee books are cheap enough to justify buying. I was looking for some Clive Cussler the other day and noticed that his ebooks at Amazon cost more than paperbacks, so I won't be buying them to support their greed. Remember, there are always paper books, when something is hard to find. Heck, when something is hard to find, Amazon supports used book sales too. My mom & sister have each bought some out-of-print books from Amazon from private sellers.
Another neat thing about Amazon is that they support making more books available electronically, by including a link to "let publisher know you want this in electronic format". I used that link just the other day when I discovered that a fantasy trilogy from the 80s is not available (legally) in electronic format. I don't know if they'll listen, but at least we have an easy way to let them know.
As you found out, there are ways to read electronically without buying into the mainstream. But it is always more hassle. Amazon is just so easy to use, and the Kindle is excellent from a hardware point of view.
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