Hi - I'm a long term user of my own kind of ebook reader. I bought a TRGpro in 2001 which is based on the Palm IIIx but with a CF card in the back which serves not only as a total backup medium but also can hold lots of full size novels. Over time I have found it to be a very good ebook reader.
It runs on AAA batteries I can get anywhere, and with a 2GB CF card in the back, I can have immediate access to some 100 or so ebooks I have downloaded free, mostly from Gutenberg and Black Mask - not too long ago I read two novels by Joseph Conrad which I had earlier found too difficult to understand. The fact that I always have books in my pocket to read means they are likely to get read whenever I have some spare time.
I also often find interesting articles on the internet that I want to read later, so I cut and paste text files from the internet into the TRGpro and in spare moments can catch up on those. What is frustrating is that when I called around Fargo/Moorhead to look at and buy an ebook reader, it was hard to find anybody who even knew what I was talking about, let alone find a place to buy one.
This is a town with 3 colleges, two of which they call universities. You might think somebody in town would sell these. It would be nice to have a larger one which is easier to read. I would like to see one before buying one.
I would like to find someplace not too far away that I can look at one and maybe buy one. It would be nice to buy one that used alkaline batteries. Rechargeable batteries seems to me to be just a ruse to keep getting money out of customers - what do you do when the rechargeable battery wears out and you can't get a replacement? That's why I'm still using the TRGpro after so long. I take good care of it, and all I have to do is replace batteries; I can even use rechargeable AAAs if I prefer.