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I certainly do reach battery failures before I am ready to move on to a newer gadget. Often I get used to a gadget and simply don't need to switch. My Palm Zire71 does exactly what I need, no more no less. Its LiIon battery now has noticably less capacity and in a year or two I may have to replace it. Of course, it is sealed and not as easy to replace as Reader's.
Power tools are different. They have packs which consist from 12 (14.4V) to 16 (19.2V) C size NiCds in a series. Inevitably some of the cells in a pack will fail sooner then others. They may even go into reverse, negative voltage and pretty much ruin the entire pack. Clearly with a higher number of cells the odds are higher than one or two premature failured cells will ruin the pack. Like you said, go with smaller voltage - less cells. I am so stubborn that I actually converted a pack to 12 AAs that are all removable and I can recondition and/or replace as necessary.
Back to electronic gadgets such as reader, they generally have smaller simpler packs. LiIon I believe generates 3.6V so they usually have a single cell, maybe 2. Thus the problem of many cells is not present. They generally do last a long time, but that is a relative term, right? So LiIon will fail after 5-10 years, depends. As most gadgets don't wear much over time and can last a long time that means battery replacement is necessary at least once to keep it for 10+ years.
Sealed designs can be Ok so long as replacement is easy. The Reader design is such an example. Seems there are only a few screws to remove the cover and there is the battery, easy to access and replace. No such luck for my Palm Zire71.
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