[Aaron Walker (Unverified) Posted May 2nd 2007 3:30AM]

There really are a number of alternatives out there.

My first e-book reader was on a Palm VX, then a Dell Axim Pocket PC and now my tablet pc.

Both Adobe and Microsoft have a portable version of their readers and of course eReader has always been there when it was called Palm Reader (or something like that). MobiPocket also has a portable version. Haven't tried any on a Symbian OS phone though but I'm sure they are out there.

Any Treo can handle e-books as well as Windows Mobile.

I have the pro version of eReader ($9.95 USD), the free Microsoft Reader (free download from MS) and Adobe Reader (comes free on every computer) as well as MobiPocket (also free). With the four I pretty much have it covered for most books available.

If you sign up for the eReader and MobiPocket e-newsletters, they issue discount codes at least once a week. And a trick I use is to comparison shop. Amazon may have the book listed as an Adobe file but that doesn't mean it's not available in any other format. With the discount code from eReader or MobiPocket, you can usually get it at least 10 - 15% (sometimes more) cheaper.

My library will let you download e-books from their web site like borrowing a hard copy from the library.

Also, all the e-readers let you do some sort of highlighting, bookmarking or adding notes to the book and they are searchable.

The real problem is that book publishers still have yet to really get behind the concept. It seems like a no-brainer to me. You are in the book selling business, why not sell as many books as you can?

All of the e-book reader apps have some sort of DRM, publishers should just pick one. Or pick all three (or four or however many there are).

You'd be surprised how many books are NOT available in electronic form. I really thought this would take off more than it has (maybe now with the Sony Reader?). With e-books, you can literally have a plethora of books always at hand for your reading pleasure without the bulk or forgetting them on the bus or whatever.

What book publisher shouldn't want to sell you something to read?

Anyway ...

Nowadays I only use my tablet pc because of the bigger screen and being able to read in portrait mode. But when I used the smaller devices, they were very readable on the screen and always with me :)

My two cents anyway.