[ssdivot1]

Hi there,

I'm new here, having only really thought about e-readers for the first time a few days ago. I was at Amazon looking for a book and watched the Kindle video and, although I'm not much given to impulse, immediately thought "I MUST HAVE THAT"! haha. In fact I can't remember the last time I was so smitten by something material. The E-ink technology, which I previously was oblivious to, is fantastic!

For the last few days I've been reading and researching and driving myself crazy with "should I, shouldn't I", and I've decided I should, but now am almost getting depressed over my inability to decide on which particular reader to get!

I travel half of each month and am always carting around several paperbacks.
I read mostly fantasy or science fiction novels. I don't care at all about PDF files which apparently a lot of these readers have problems with.

I have finally narrowed my selection down to either the Kindle or the Cybook 3.

For some undefinable and probably illogical reason I really "want" to like the Kindle better but my logical side is leaning toward the Cybook.

One advantage of the Cybook (in regards to what's important to me, not necessarily other folks) that I'm aware of is that it is significantly thinner and lighter. It seems like it would fit better in my already full backpack.

It looks like the Cybook would be more ergonomic than the Kindle for reading in bed and in plane seats, but I'm not really sure about that at all. Any input in this area?

Those are really the main reasons I'm leaning toward the Cybook, although I also like that you can customize your fonts.

The Kindle has the wireless capability. Which really is super cool as I would love being able to access wikipedia on a whim. So many times during the day I do think "I should look such and such obscure thing" up when I get to a computer, only to forget all about it. I don't really care too much about being able to get the books sent directly to the device, while it is nice, not being able to do so on the Cybook is no deal breaker. I guess I'm only interested in these features if they do not interfere (by way of all those keys and requiring a thicker form factor) at all with actually reading.

As far as content availability goes, I did some looking around, and although all the formats and such are rather confusing still to me, it seems like there is plenty available for both. If I understand correctly I'd be able to read a mobipocket formatted book on either device, but not a Kindle formatted book on the Cybook (without some kind of "hack).

Well, I'm not sure if anyone can help me decide, as it comes down to personal preference. I do wish I could just hold each of them in person, then I'm sure the decision would be clear! But if anyone has used both devices and could comment on the actual comfort of holding and using while reading in bed or in a plane, or any other ergonomic issues, maybe it would help me. In any case I'm so happy I found these forums, as it is the best source of consolidated information I found on e-readers!

Sorry for rambling on so long!

stephanie