E-book readers - your opinions?

[Stan_Lite]

In an effort not to derail and clutter the book review thread, I thought I'd make this one.

I recently bought a Sony PRS-600 Reader Touch. The main reason I bought it is that my job means I work away from home for a month at a time with no access to a bookshop. I am confined to reading whatever I bring with me or whatever I can find on the rig. Some rigs have a "library" where people will leave any books they don't want to keep for others to read if they want. This one doesn't so I have to make do with what I bring. If I have a quiet month, it's not unknown for me to read 3 or 4 books while on the rig. I usually carry 4 books with me just in case - I can't really carry any more due to the weight and bulk. That's all very well and good but once I'm on the rig, I'm stuck with what I took with me. If I get there and decide I don't fancy any of the books I brought, I'm stuffed - I just have to read them anyway.

Now that I have the reader, I don't have that problem any more. I quite literally have a library of thousands of books I can choose from. I have 200 or so already on the device and I can download any book I can find on the internet (for the appropriate fee). I no longer have to decide which books I'm likely to want to read while I'm away, nor do I have to lug 2 kilos of paper around with me.

I find the reader comfortable to hold, easy to read and easy to navigate. Page turning is achieved either at the touch of a button or, because I have the "Touch", a swipe of the screen. I can also store photos on it (albeit in black and white), I can play music through it while I read, I can make notes and mark pages for later reference and I have access to a dictionary - all in one device. Marvelous.
I do still like the feel of a real, paper book in my hands but the convenience of this device more than makes up for the tactile loss. All in all, I'm delighted with it and consider it to be the best £230 I have spent in a long time.

I'd be interested to hear how other people get on with them (or not) and peoples opinions on them.