[LaughingVulcan]

I've had mine for a fairly short time, but I continue to be incredibly impressed by it. I was a ereading fan before the Reader, but the Reader takes it to the next level.

The biggest strength is its' resolution capability and battery charge life. I have yet to find a true description of what it's like. It's not "exactly" like reading a paper page, yet it's so close that the hairbreadth of difference fades away. The contrast is virtually identical to paper, yet the background isn't letter or book paper white (and it's far removed from LCD tan.) Reading on it, at any rate, is a true pleasure to me.

I find the lack of backlight insignificant. Except in bed I don't need one, and I'm used to using an independent backlight in bed already. (In fact, I use the same one I've always used for paper, and it works very well indeed.) It is clearly readable in the noon sun as well as indoors.

Both sets of page turn controls are on the left. It doesn't bother me at all, but I do wish they'd put one set on the right. That's the only negative I've encountered so far, with about forty books on it now and having read through about ten of them.

The PDF issue was raised above, but I've found that using PDFRasterfarian has cleaned up some letter sized PDFs into good legibility. Just don't expect to be reading letter or A4 sized PDFs as easily as you can read a letter sized piece of paper.

Two other caveats: The page refresh inverts the display for a second (old page white text on black mixed with black pixels where the new text will be,) then clears to reveal the new page. It takes less time for me than flipping a book page would, but I've heard thirdhand that some people cannot abide it. It doesn't bother me at all. Once in a great while the words of a prior page will be 'ghosted' - think of reading a book where the paper is thin enough that you can just make out there's characters on the reverse page. Again, the effect doesn't bother me at all, but some are apparently bothered by it sometimes. These are limitations of current eInk technology. I'm mentioning them for full disclosure only; as I said, they haven't bothered me at all.

I'm actually *very* disappointed in the gadget reviews I've come across on "mainstream" tech sites, especially ones that suggest waiting on "Reader 2.0," if and ever it comes. Sources that I normally trust, including CNET, Gizmodo, and WSJ unfairly panned it, IMHO. Best reason I can figure is that since the Reader (and dedicated ebook readers in general) do not fit into any convenient gadget niches (it isn't a cellphone, PDA, MP3 Player, etc.) it gets panned because it's different from them. One example: "It's too big to fit into a pocket." Yeah, but this isn't your Treo, Palm, or iPod. An average paperback is too big to fit into your pocket also, but we don't find large demand that all books be cut down to a 3" by 4" by 1/2" size.
(Oh, and I'm a wide guy with a wide waistline. I actually can fit the Reader into my front trouser pocket, thank you.)
An even further aside: I think that the lack of understanding (and, hence, enthusiasm) by the technical gadget reviewing community is also what's hampered the progress of the Tablet PC and UMPC market - the reviewers just can't understand that the uniqueness of the product might have benefits to the consumer beyond an average person's limitations.

Apologies for that digression, but it does highlight that I think most of the reviews of the Reader have it dead wrong. Especially the ones who've played with them at CES for a few minutes and then write their reviews, without actually using the thing for a month.

The brief answer after the long answer: I've had great experiences with it so far, and expect it to continue. It's been very rugged so far after two or three two to three foot drops. I don't have the cradle; haven't needed it, but I can see where it could be useful. I'm glad I snapped mine up.

Price: It's still a fairly new item. Retail is $350 for the unit, and the cradle is $50 (rounded up.) Assuming the unit is still in pristine condition, and knowing what I know now, I'd pay in the $300-$325 range for a used model with cradle. Sadly, you probably wouldn't get the $50 Connect store credit (you'd get it after authorizing the unit at the Connect store if it hasn't been authorized anywhere else.) Last caveat: The individual Reader is registered with the account created at the Connect store. I don't know, if it's been authorized to someone else's account, how difficult authorizing it on your computer would be. (And, were it stolen, I'm not sure but I'd assume that it could be tracked back down that way....)