I'm curious about the e-Reader device penetration amongst A:M users.

I'd also be interested in hearing about your e-reading device experiences.

I'm using the Archos 5 Android. The thing is fantastic! It's a 4.8" (800x480) device loaded with android so you can put lots of apps in there. I use Aldiko (epub reader) and Thinkfree (pdf reader). Aldiko has a built in e-book repository with hundreds or maybe thousands free e-books to download. The archos does not have e-ink but reading experience has been comfortable for me and it's full color. Also importantly, the device is only 43,2x78,8x10,4 mm - 182g (flash version) so I can pocket it.

Another plus points for me is that it plays most video formats for my animation study!
• MPEG-4 HD (up to 720p)
• MPEG-48 (ASP@L5 AVI, up to DVD resolution)
• H.264 HD (up to 720p)
• WMV (MP@ML, up to DVD resolution) including WMV protected files
• MKV (up to 720p, 2500kbs, 23fps
• M-JPEG (Motion JPEG Video) in QVGA resolution
• FLV, MOV (I haven't tried AVI yet)

With optional plug-in (downloadable from your tablet or on www.archos.com):
• Cinema: MPEG-2, WMV HD (720p), VOB

It has gps, fm transmitter, microphone, accelerometer, fast web-browsing, web tv/radio, tv out (with dock), micro sd slot (flash model), and more (just check out the site). I got mine from Best Buy. They should have a demo unit on display.

I have the Archos 5 too and I like it much...
but even so I know it can be used to show pdfs and stuff,
I never use it to read something on it (if you dont count webpages of course).
I use it for video-playback, mobile internet and some of the apps.

*Fuchur*

All my 'eBooks' are science/research papers. I also access them on my iTouch. In the world of science, the printed material is far too expensive ($500-$1000 per book/manuscript). Electronic papers aren't cheap either (typically $20 per paper)

Cheers

I've got a Kindle and an iPod Touch.

The Kindle is OK, but not "set the world on fire."

It is best for books you read from beginning to end, such as a novel or biography.

I like that it has a dictionary built in so you can look up words on the fly while reading.

It is not good for books you would want to browse or for when you want to quickly skip back and forth, such as a reference book. The navigation is a bit clunky for that and the response time is slow.

After years of using Palm handhelds, a Palm phone and now with the iPod Touch, it is sometimes frustrating that the Kindle doesn't have a touch screen.

Images are grayscale and generally don't look good.

The screen on the standard Kindle is too small for most PDFs (most I deal with are 8.5 x 11). I've not tried the Kindle DX.

Battery life on the Kindle is excellent.

My reading on the iPod has been for some of my Kindle titles -- the Whispersync feature is extremely handy. It knows where you left off while reading the Kindle and takes you there on the iPod (or iPhone), and vice versa.

I have sometimes bought books from the iTunes store for the iPod. It has been OK for them.

The iPad is looking interesting, but I think I would want one that can multitask.

There are eBooks for the iPhone, but I've not ever attempted to read one. My eyes are getting old and have to struggle just to read my email on it. :-)

However, I have purchased DVD archives of complete runs of old comics/magazines (Fantastic Four/Mad Magazine, etc.) that came as PDFs and have read them on my laptop. I also flirted for awhile with bit-torrenting new comics, but disliked that it was basically stealing.

If I'm ever financially positive again, I'd probably be tempted to get the iPad and the killer app would be a great eBook store (especially one that included comics) and interactivity in tutorial books like this would make the e-versions of them irresistible. Can you imagine how great it would be if the illustrations on a page could be animated to demonstrate things? Not to mention being able to hyperlink between sections when you needed to. I don't know how much interactivity is possible with the software. If it's just PDFs, I would think it's fairly limited.

Doese using an ipod count ? I have some stories on that when I travel,I just got one from itunes shop ,sherlock holmes

yes, sherlock holmes, except mine is a huge book with all the stories in it and I would never trade it for a digital version in all the world!

No, never used one and don't have a smartphone, but I am eager to learn more/buy an iPad when they're available. then I will officially be living in the 21st century!

Yea I allso have the books but there not very handy on a plane and traveling with

My brother purchased Amazons e-reader and loves it. I think the biggest downfall is they can't play embedded animations and most are limited to black & white. If they had a version that was full color and could display html based books and pdf's with the same energy saving screen technology then it would really be usefull.

It would be nice to make a complete tutorial guide for AM but I think it would be pretty limited without any videos or color images to get ideas across.

I can't find any reason to buy a Kindle or similar. Yes, they've got long battery life, but in just about every other way they are inferior to a decent laptop that sells for about the same dough. And with each new generation of laptops, battery life is less of an issue.