[BuddyBoy]

For three years now, my near constant refrain has been "Well, actually, it's a Sony, not a Kindle. The Sony reader came out first, but the Kindle got all the publicity."

Or "It's a Sony, not a Kindle. Oh and thank you for the compliment, but that's my hair, not a hat."

Or a long suffering sigh and a succinct "Me." when a belligerent TSA officer yelled "WHO LEFT A KINDLE IN THEIR CARRY-ON??!!"

I mean, seriously. The first kindle was fugly. Oh, how fugly!

The second one looked nicer, but it was huge. Granted, they did finally make an international version, which was released almost everywhere EXCEPT Canada, but to a Sony Reader guy, it was like carrying a laptop to read. Soooo biiig.

Well, third time's the charm. Wifi. Free 3G in over 100 countries. A very readable screen. Not too big, even with the keyboard. Reasonably priced books and the ability to email to it my existing DRM-free titles, once converted to mobi.

I packed up my PRS-505 for my sister, and depressed at abandoning my PRS past, I splurged on a sale-priced PRS-300, nice and compact, just as a back up reader.

Problem is, by comparison the screen is muddy, the content a PITA to get on (the Sony Connect Software can get a $%#@% out of me faster than anything other than Lotus Notes), and just plain Not As Good.

It dawned on me today, as I was packing up the PRS-300 to return it, I've been Kindlized.

Oh my.

But I love it.