[BadBilly]

Man oh man. I missed the press release that requires everyone to turn in their e-readers and get a Sony T3. Could someone please direct me to it? It must exist. I can't see any other reason why people who don't think it's the right reader for them would get all worked up.

No front light, that's true. That may be very important to some, one way or the other. If they had executed a front light well, I'd probably say it was a good thing. The lighted cover, however, looks pretty sweet and would probably do the job for me, though it's not an absolute necessity.

What it does come with is a cover. Given that I want a cover, that adds value because it's twenty bucks I don't have to spend getting a basic cover. It'd be nice if they offered the choice of getting it with plain or lighted cover, rather than making you get the one with the plain and shell out separately for the fifty bucks the cover is priced at in Canada. That's probably not going to happen. But it is a sleep cover, so that's nice.

Another value to me is buttons. I like the buttons on my T1. I'm not sure about these funny shaped buttons, but at least it has buttons. Saying you don't use or want buttons mean that it's irrelevant is stupid. It means that's not a value to you, so make your decision accordingly, but it doesn't mean it's not a distinguishing feature. For those that want buttons, it make be a deal-maker.

The screen is higher resolution, which will probably be nice. Not as high as some, higher than it was. Since there is no light-layer to get in the way, it will likely look just fine.

The Europeans seem to get great dictionaries, but not here in Canada, where we get two English dictionaries and just French/English and Spanish/English. This, even more than the lack of MP3, is probably the reason I'll hold on to my T1 as long as it works. If I got all the same dictionaries I get with the T1, I'd be tempted.

Now, to the pricing. At $130 in Canada and $50 for the lighted cover, that's $180. Paperwhite is $140. If I want the fancy sleep cover from Amazon, that's $40. So, $180. Kobo Aura is up for pre-order at $150. No cases on the site here, but Aura HD sleep cover is $25. If similarly priced, about $175. So, all three come in at about the same price if similarly equipped. So, I don't see the point to all the crazy talk about how the Sony is grossly over-priced. It's not budget priced, but it's about the same amount out of pocket for similar functionality.

Now, Kindle is out because I don't want mobi and it doesn't work with my public library. Kobo does not inspire confidence with all the bad stuff I hear about the firmware and no buttons. For me, the Sony would be the best choice if I were buying one now because it fits how I want to use it. If somebody else wants to use a reader a different way and finds a better fit with another set up, great. I hope they enjoy their reading.

Frankly, all the "it's not as good as my reader" sounds like people who are trying to convince themselves they made the right purchase.