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Harry,
I think you neglect significant differences between iPod/music and Reader/books. For starters, the physical format of iPods is much smaller, making more compact LiIons an obvious choice. iPods are designed to be carried around, in a pocket, etc. Chances are higher that you'll drop iPod (as I drop my MP3 player once in a while) compared to the Reader which is clearly not designed to be carried any place. Readers will generally going to receive a much better care than iPods. Hence iPod lifespan is going to be limited to not much beyond battery lifespan. Moreover changing styles, preferences, etc. will also prompt iPods users who often care about styling and such to change sooner rather than later.
Reader meanwhile has nothing to do with styling. It is just a plain black tablet. It will be abused less and has few moving parts, so should be able to last much longer. As it performs a rather mundane task of displaying text, there is much less room for improvement. We want have the next reader displaying videos of whatever, and adding bling, etc. It will display the latest books in 10 years just as well.
The other difference is the content. Music preferences change often and so do player preferences. With books it is the opposite. Once you go through the trouble of copying a bunch of content into a Reader, then changing to a newer model is a hassle you'd rather avoid. Books are longer lasting and people sometimes wish to return to a book, maybe read it again, etc.
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