[garygibsonsf]

I'm a fan of ebook readers, but with lots and lots of caveats, the same ones you state and that others state. They're great, if you're into genre fiction, if you like a lot of American fiction, and if you don't mind screwing around with DRM-disabling software gizmos. I don't think they're anywhere near really becoming mainstream because they're deeply hobbled in what you can and can't do. What I say to people is: they're great, as long as you're a gadget-obsessed genre fan who doesn't mind going to an extra length to crack DRM or you're someone who's only really interested in out of copyright classics.

Otherwise, I very candidly tell people to avoid ebook readers like the plague until the industry smartens up. Right now for the average consumer - and I don't think either myself or most of the people who visit Mobileread are 'average' readers by any means - the machines are too expensive, only offer you a thin slice of the ebooks available (ie the ones your machine can read as opposed to the ones it can't because of DRM), and also only offer those books available that happen to so far be available as e-editions. Not only that, after a few days of browsing about and trying to buy books from various sites, you'll wind up either feeling like a criminal - because DRM is set up to make life as hard for the paying customer as possible - or you'll wind up feeling ripped off, when you realise many of the books you want to buy are priced higher than the hardback even when the paperback's been out for five years and costs a third of the ebook price.

In other words, the whole thing is a giant sodding mess. And although the Kindle is relatively very smooth in the US, I can't say for certain how a lot of owners in the States are going to feel in a couple of years time when they decide to get a different kind of machine and discover it won't read Kindle files.

If you read the previous paragraphs and still want an ebook reader, good on you. I really like my ebook reader; it's the best gadget I ever bought, I swear by it, but I've spent a lot of time on these forums learning by blood, sweat and tears how to get the most out of it.

If like most people it puts you right off, I don't blame you. I only bought one when I knew I could strip the DRM out of mobipocket books I legally bought in order to be able to read them on my Sony Reader. But mine is an older Sony Reader, so it won't read the DRM-ed epub files only available from the Waterstones ebook site in the UK. See what I mean? A fat sodding mess.

There is some hope - the UK publisher, Pan Macmillan, are selling their ebooks in a multitude of formats with NO DRM. And they're certainly in the habit of selling modern non-genre oriented fiction. Perhaps other publishers will learn from their example.