[carandol]

It's occurred to me that the high cost of ebook readers is partially offset in the UK by the high cost of books. A paperback bought from a UK publisher is usually about double the cost of the same book from an American publisher. They're usually around £7.99 in the shops, whereas a US edition would probably be $7.99. I've got just over 50 books on my iLiad, a few of them bought, many of them from here, or Feedbooks, or the Baen Free Library, etc. I did a quick estimate of what that pile of books would have cost me from somewhere like Waterstones (assuming they were all available in paper versions, which many of them aren't, of course) and it came to more or less what I paid for the iLiad. So when I've read the books currently on my reader, it will have paid for itself. If I lived in the US it would take me twice as long to get my money back.