[twobits]

I have tried ebooks in the past, but really could never get into reading full length books on the devices I had. This was things like the newton, pocket pc's, zaurus and recently an android slate. From what I read/hear though the eink makes a very big difference here so I want to get one.

I saw the price drop on the kindle a few months back and started to think it was time to seriously look into getting an ereader. Did not take the easy way out and click on the buy button for the kindle (un?)fortunately. After doing cursory research I think I would prefer a device that supports the ePub format, and library support won't be a bad thing to have. It does seem however that Amazon offers a lot more freebies for the kindle which may be better then library support? I also would prefer to get the better screen, but it seems that I can't get that and meet my other preferences unless I get the Sony, which costs a bit more and also I try to avoid Sony products since the root kit scandal.

So, at the moment I have mostly been looking at the nook and the kobo.
From what I hear the nook has worse battery life because of the lcd screen. I also wonder if having the small lcd screen could be distracting and defeat part of the purpose of the eink display being easier on the eyes by being a contrasting display. So I was just about to go ahead and order the kobo, when I saw they were about to come out with a new model.

Now in the meantime, I mentioned I was about to take the plunge into an eink device to some family members. Now a couple of the family members have said they plan to buy whatever ereader I wind up getting for a number of other family members as their Christmas gifts. This changes some of the factors I should consider and make it more important to get it right. I figured if I got it wrong, I could get another in a few months etc... but that is not going to happen if many family members get it. Given that they are used to passing books around, I am now thinking of getting the nook again. As I understand it, its drm would let the books be shared if the person sharing was also willing to share their credit card number? Maybe I should keep waiting?

Anyway, thought I would trough this out there to see if the collective wisdom can see what flaws are still in my knowledge as well as maybe offer insights on options I have missed so far.