The concept of a portable electronic reader sounds nice on the surface... Instant access to any book in your collection without having to carry the physical book with you. But the economics are insane. I'd rather carry my 17" laptop with me (or even read on an iPhone) than pay $360 for a single use device plus $10 for the book. As it stands the technology on this thing is worth around $40. Have I used one of these monstrosities yet? Nope. Pick any 10 of my 4-5000 books to cart around on the off-chance I have the time to read them than pay Mr. Bezos to rip me off.The numbers17" laptop and all it can do $4998" portable dvd player aprx. $70 plus movies $5-$25iPhone or equiv Smart Phone/PDA $99ipod or equiv mp3 device aprx. $50 plus albums $10(ps. stupid review would not let me rate it a zero)