Check it out. Just head on over to Amazon at:
The lead item will probably be about the Kindle. There’s a 6″ diagonal screen and a 9.7″ screen — and either one will cause your eyes to pop. Keep in mind that these screens aren’t your typical backlit computer LCD. They use a completely different technology that is more like electronic ink (thus the name of the vendor that sells the 
screens to Amazon, “e-ink.” Regardless of the unit you pick (whether you want to accommodate 1500 books in a smaller package or 3000 books in a not-quite-as-small-but-still-amazing package, it really doesn’t matter. Both devices represent a new segment of the electronics market that is quite remarkable. Slim, lightweight, and wireless while you’re in the USA on home service or visiting. No monthly fees. And order & receive a book in under 60 seconds. Most books are $10 or less, too. Be kinder to the environment, enjoy all your books in your briefcase (instead of at home on the shelf) and, get this — it even reads aloud to you. (Although ours is comical when it tries to read the Bible. You can hear the voice mixing the verse numbers in with the text of the verses themselves! :-) ) Some 300,000 books have been prepared in this format — ready to download in one minute.
Disclaimers, they’re expensive — but so is/was your library. They run on electric (but they last for like 4 days of full-time reading). And more importantly, you won’t be able to hold the page in your hand. Also, if somebody steals your Kindle, they’re stealing your whole library. Finally, be careful what PDFs you put on it. There’s no password-protection, let alone encryption, of any kind. (There isn’t even a log-on password.) This last item is the thing that made our I.T. guy’s hair stand on end. Greg took a while to warm up to it. I think, in the end, it kind of grew on him though. He just helped us resolve to not put anything sensitive on it.
So check it out. It just might be your library of the future — in your briefcase.
I have the first generation Kindle, and for those of us who live overseas without access to a library or Borders, it’s priceless. My correction to the article is that if you do have your Kindle stolen, you don’t actually lose any of the books you purchased from Amazon. You can redownload them to a new Kindle.
Also, note that you can now use an iPhone to read Kindle books. Not quite as easy on the eyes, though.
Great correction on the books that can’t be stolen! Thanks “S”.
I’d be interested in hearing how the Kindle compares to other ebook readers available.