[afa]

Greeting, everyone! New to the forums here.

I was wondering if you guys could help me make a decision between which e-reader to buy. I've read names of e-readers on these forums that I've never heard of, names that are globally known, and everything in between. In my part of the world, however, the choice of e-readers is quite limited. Very, in fact. To the point where my decision is really between the Sony Reader Touch (i.e. PRS-600) and the iRiver Story. Well, there is another, from some Hong Kong-based company called JoinTech. Apart from the attractive pricing, though, I don't see anything particularly impressive about it, and so have all but dismissed it from consideration.

My sole purpose in using the device would be to read novels. No textbooks, reference books, newspapers etc. for me. Just novels. So PDF/Doc/txt handling ability is not a major concern. Further, most eBook stores are not available here either, so my purchases would come from WH Smith (the only eBook store I could find that I can purchase from).

Here are some of thoughts from what I've read about these two devices:

* Design - I personally like the look of the Sony; it's cleaner, and isn't crowded with a whole bunch of keys. The iPond looks okay, but I could do without the keypad, since I don't need note-taking, etc.

* Interface - I like the ability to control the Sony through touch, although I understand this comes at cost of glare/contrast. How much of an issue are those, though? I don't intend on reading in direct sunlight, so that's okay. Is the glare annoying indoors, too? What about the contrast? Is it poor only when compared to, say, a Kindle, or is it quite poor in and of itself? How does it compare to the iLake?

* Dictionary - Every once in a while, I would come across a word in a novel that I'm not completely sure of. While I could just look it up in an actual dictionary -- or even Google it -- it would be nice if I could look it up in the device. From what I've read here, it seems the iSea only has English-Korean. Any word on if an English-English dictionary would be available soon?

* Organising - Which of these two devices has a better (i.e. cleaner, more user-friendly, easier to customise) way of managing your collection?

Any one have any thoughts on the matter? I'm currently leaning towards the iOcean, mainly because it's available here for US$100+ cheaper than the Sony. But does the Sony have enough advantages to offset the difference? Specially considering it's a more established brand, and will likely have superior tech support, and might be more reliable.

Thanks in advance, and sorry about the long post...