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A few weeks ago I purchased a Sony Reader. I had a couple of reasons to do so:

1. When going on vacations I never know how many books to bring, and am actually terrified of running out of stuff to read.
2. I actually don't like reading... I mean, I don't like turning pages, and bookmarks, and some books are just annoying (construction)
3. I don't read enough, and since I was a kid, technological innovations have always motivated me to change behaviors.

I was mildly curious about the first version of the reader, but it seems to have many shortcomings. When the new version was announced I figured it was time to see what all the hype was about.

I'm pretty happy with the product. The worst thing about it is the craptastic Sony Software that you have to use to purchase ebooks. It's like a circa 1995 version of iTunes (of course, no such thing existed then). But you get the drift. Scott Hanselman says it best:

The Desktop Connect Reader software is so profoundly bad, so poorly designed, so truly evil that there are not word to full express the breadth and depths of its unspeakable lameness.

The selection of eBooks isn't terrible, but it could be better. You'll find a number of best sellers there, like Kite Runner, but you won't find things like Harry Potter (go figure).

In a perfect world, you'd replace Sony with Amazon and the same product would be better.

Anyway, I was going to write a review, but ArsTechnica beat me to it, and as usual, they did a fantastic job.

Still, if the Reader sounds like the sort of gadget you can't live without and you can live with its quirks, it's a superbly built device with a screen that will blow you away. It comes highly recommended, but only to those certain they have a use for it. Everyone else will want to check one out, wonder at the screen, then leave it on the shelf.

Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions.

The screen is amazing.