How do the reading features hold up between the Sony, the Kindle, and the Bebook/associated products? Specifically with regard to format availability, dictionary usage, and text searching.
It sounds like the main advantages of the kindle are the store, and as XKCD put so wonderfully, the mobile Wikipedia. But short of those advantages, style and functionality points seem to go to Sony and various other competitors.
That said, those are quite large advantages to a lot of ebook fans. I still love my paper books too much to hop in yet, but if I see a good price I might just treat myself when I graduate high school. That or I buy a tele-zoom lens for my Olympus E-510. Or maybe an I-pod.
Of course, for $300 I could also buy ... a good 10 to 20 hardbacks, or 20 to 50 paperbacks.
But the point is not so much to spend a certain sum as to acquire a nifty device for my going abroad. With the cost of a good ereader and then some books to read on it, things are not looking particularly good down that road. Yet. Maybe when I have a job.