[hermance]

Mnementh, thanks for giving your opinions. I really appreciate it. To clarify: I wouldn't use the Touch primarily as an e-reader. Instead, since I don't have a smart phone/PDA/etc, I look at it as a lightweight, pocket-sized multi-purpose device. I might read some of the 19th-century fiction I work on as well, but I probably would not do article reading on it. (From the research I've done, I'm not convinced that any e-reader could yet replace hard copy reading of analytic academic work for me--because of technical reasons, like format, but also because of pragmatic reasons, like how much I annotate.) I'll also probably read mainstream periodicals and mainstream non-fiction. My thought is that I could get my feet wet with the Touch, which I can use for many other things as well, and then I can keep an eye on the technology of eReaders. And, of course, if I find that I really love the e-reading experience and want more, I don't think I would mind having a Touch and e-reader down the road.

From what you said, I think I can do a 16GB. Since I don't commute and travel for work only about once every six weeks, I don't think I'll fill the 32GB at all. When I get home, though, I'll check out my video files to see how big they are. Personally, I'm not all that into watching videos on small screen and will be much more likely to listen to podcasts on it, for example, when traveling.