[readerhead]

So I got all excited about ereaders in general after realizing the potential advantages. Primarily (to me) the adjustable font size for older eyes, the TTS feature for versatility when travelling, and the eink non backlit display. So I was presold on the Kindle 3.

Off to BestBuy to see them for the first time. They had the Kindle, Nooks and Sony. The salesteenager had apparently not received any training and the Nook B&W on display was non functional so I was kind of on my own.

My first reaction to the Kindle was that the display was good but not great. Then I tried turning a page. The display flickered, went black and then refreshed in what I thought was an awkward at best transition. I hated it.
Liked the Sony better but it had the same issue. Couldn't try the Nook B&W and kind of skipped over the Nook color as too expensive. My daughter took me over to the IPads - nice but a backlit LCD and another major price jump.

After dropping her off at her new part time job (waving in Statue of Liberty costume) I proceeded to Barnes and Noble. They had an in store booth with a guy who at least knew more than me. Tried the B&W - same distracting refresh issue. Now the color - hmm, its a beauty and then he showed me the night mode (gray or black background, white letters). Cool, and much less eyestrain issue (to me) as there are no glaring white areas. Tried the web browser - yes it really works, mobile and full sites.

Still, TTS is big for me and totally NA at the moment. He says it has a speaker and a new app store is coming next month - so maybe.

OK, here's the clincher: 2 week trial period, no restocking charge. I retreat to the Chiles happy hour for a beer and a think. Hey, whats to worry!

So I get it home, charge it up and cool, it sees my router wifi. Off we go to try downloading my first "free" book. Woops, cannot download free without credit card - should have warned you about that. Worse than that I realize there is a screen defect: about 1/3 down and 5/8" from the left side there is a bright white spot that won't go away. Missing pixels? I don't know.

So here the drama pauses here to see what happens next. I think I love it yet it is not perfect (sounds familiar). I assume I could exchange it, although I'd prefer a big discount and just live with it. It is annoying and glaring when not in a content covered area but disappears in an inked area.

To be continued....