[PsyDocJoanne]

Hi everyone!

The catalyst for me to get an e-reader is my upcoming trip to Japan. I'll be there for 11 days, and the thought of lugging multiple books there and back is totally unappealing. I was thinking it would be great to have for the trip, and then I could continue from there with primarily ebooks, for titles that are available.

I nearly pushed the order button on Amazon to get the Kindle (my sister in law has one and loves it), but thought twice and decided to do some additional research first. Now I'm just very slightly sorry I've become aware of all the various issues with each e-reader. They say ignorance is bliss, and I guess on this point, I'd agree *lol*.

Anyway, I've narrowed it down to the Sony vs. the Kindle, and here's where I'm at (and I'd love any input you all have):

For me, the biggest pluses for the Kindle are content availability, price of books, and ease of downloading. The minuses for me on the Kindle are the fact that it's the 1.0 version (I'm confident the next gen will be better, but my Japan trip is in 3 weeks), the less than spectacular aesthetic, and the fact that Amazon's iTunes-like business model essentially locks me into Amazon.

Regarding the Sony, I love Sony in general; I've been very pleased with all the Sony products I've bought. I think it's likely built better than the Kindle, definitely has a better aesthetic, and the price is attractive. My major problems with the Sony are that the Sony books are more expensive than Amazon, and there's much less content available.

Knowing myself, if it's a hassle in any way to find or download content, the e-reader will soon be gathering dust in my office. So comments on how much of a challenge it is to find and get content for the Sony would also be appreciated.

I'll let you all know that I don't know a lot about freely available books (like the Gutenberg stuff, or other free downloads people here have mentioned), or much at all about the different formats (MOBI vs. proprietary formats and all that). So I'm still learning, and any advice on these issues (formats, etc) would also be appreciated.

Thank you all in advance!!

Joanne