[peaceridge]

I read a lot – hours at a time when I’m home – so weight and size are a factor. I also travel by car, back and forth across the country during the summer. While in the car I listen to audio books. At campgrounds I still read a lot. In a perfect world I would have one device that would play my audio books and also allow me to read on it when I wish. I know audio books take up a bunch of space, so I accept that I will have to continue to rely on my cd’s unless one of you have ideas about this. No, the mechanical voice on the Kindle 2 just won’t do it for me.

Also, I have a huge amount of ebooks I’ve already purchased – they are in either lit or rtf format – I don’t care about pdf format at all – doc format would be nice, though. I know I can convert them, but it would be better if I didn’t have to convert. And I have a lot of out of print non-fiction unlikely to ever be put on an ebook – I would like to scan them in over time.

I would like to carry all my books on the reader – when I’m 1000 miles from home and get a desire to re-read a particular book, or need to look up something in one of my research books it would be nice to have it on my reader.

So, a folder or other organization structure is a requirement. I don’t think any allow keywords on the books themselves – I don’t think search would help much here, for example I might want a book that talks about sacred geometry that does not have those words in the title.

Due to the folder requirement (if I’m wrong about any of these please let me know) I’ve decided against the following: Gen 3, EZReader and STAReBook – too bad I really like their weight. Question – is there some sort of hack somewhere that would remedy this – it is Linux after all. I’ve also decided against the iRex (device size and cost). I believe this requirement also removes the Kindle 2 (it would be out anyway by not having some sort of sd/expansion.)

I think that leaves me only with the Sonys and the Kindle 1 – am I right? I have physically seen both Sonys and the Kindle 1. The Kindle 1 seemed unbalanced in my hand, but I’m sure I could get used to it.

For readability: When I tried out the Sonys, I found the same thing everyone else does – the 505 is clearer than the 700 side by side. Since this is my first ereader (except for my phones) I’m wondering if I would even have a problem with the clarity of the 700 after a couple of weeks – I don’t know about the glare I keep hearing as a problem. I certainly like how fast it is.

Included in my definition of readability – I am a very fast reader and like mysteries – this means that I often go back to previous pages to check on clues – I think the 700 would be great for that, the 505 not. I think the Kindle 1 is ok – I’m not sure about this? Which would you say is better for this – the 700 or Kindle 1?

Am I then down to choosing between the Sony 700 and the Kindle 1?

I am leaning towards the 700 at the moment since I wouldn’t have to convert my RTF files. If this is my choice does anyone know of less expensive places to get it?

Please point out any fallacies in my reasoning about this. I appreciate any help.

Lynn