To follow up on my last post, here is a review of the M96 (the N96's predecessor) by an academic who uses it to read PDFs:
http://academic.bancey.com/review-of...r-one-year-on/
The N96 is available in a version that supports finger-touch, so that bit of his review doesn't apply, but the rest is pretty accurate. I found that the bad outweighed the good; the author of that blog felt otherwise. If you get the chance, try both out before deciding what works best for you.