[madman]

So I lurked here for a long time, trying to figure out which device would best meet my needs - which were at the time, I thought, big screen, e-ink, technical pdf's with annotations etc., etc.,.

Being from Canada, I'm somewhat limited in my choices and so I waffled back and forth between getting someone to pick up a Sony PRS900 from the states, and flirted with the idea of an iREX DR800. But over and over what I saw was many "sort-of" solutions that didn't really fill all my wants.

I had previously dismissed the ipad as a viable solution due to the glossy display (no e-ink! - I have a (real) book collection of around 4K volumes, so I'm an "avid reader") because I had it in my mind that this would cause eye-strain and be hard to read and all that.

So I bought one, which may have been a rash decision at the time, but after playing with it in the store I wanted to give it a chance.

1) The Screen - I did buy an anti-glare protector from Nu-Shield, which seems to help quite a bit. I have read my ipad for up to 5 hours in one sitting and have had no problems, just turn down the brightness if you're indoors, it's really not uncomfortable at all to hold or to read for extended periods of time. Outdoors well, that's a different matter, if you are in the shade, there's no problem with reading the device - bright sunlight however is pretty bad, although not impossible - but I don't like to read in the direct sun for long periods of time anyway, so this is not an issue for me.

2) Pdf's - between iAnnotate and Goodreader, there is no issue with pdf reading, highlighting, etc., in fact it's quite enjoyable. There's supposed to be an update coming for iBooks that will incorporate pdf functionality, so we'll see what happens.

3) Battery - So when I read, *I'm reading* which means I don't need wireless or bluetooth to be on - turn those off and turn down your brightness (I keep mine around 25-35%) this extends the life to, for sure around 10 hours with just reading. I know you get tonnes of battery life from an e-ink reader but really, it's no big deal to plug it in overnight when the battery dips below 20%

Overall, if the ipad was just an ebook reader, it'd be great - but add all the other features, and it's awesome. The glossy screen is the biggest fear for people, I understand that, but honestly... I've had no issues.

Sorry for the length, just my two cents...