Sony Reader Touch Edition PRS-600RC (red)

Pros: File formats. Lots of free books on Gutenberg site
Form factor
Expandable memory
Decent screen and touch response

Cons: Battery life barely a week. Not even close to 2 week. (perhaps the 8 gig SD is dragging it down)
Navigation limited. I want to store a zillion or so reference pdf's.

Summary: FIrst reader so I'm not comparing with competition. Meets my needs. Got the cover/light bundle. Display may not be sharpest or clearest but sometimes when reading I forget and reach up to flip page. Gesture on screen works OK, but I usually use buttons. I don't think I've grasped all the capabilities yet since I haven't used the audio and I may need to learn to edit/create pdf's or other files that will help navigation. Have an interesting example in King James Bible. Note-taking sketches useful for jotting down ideas. Overall, I'm satisfied. I agonized over this or Ipod Touch. Neat stuff on the Touch but downloaded a book in the store and found scrolling around to read once the size was expanded enough wasn't practical.

Updated on Mar 12, 2010

I was too optimistic. I learned that turning off takes more power than leaving on, probably main reason for low battery life, but one day while reading an epub from Gutenberg.org the screen went plaid (stripes vertical and horizontal.) Called Sony and after a long discussion was told I'd get a new one in 72 hours. Four days later I called and they CLAIMED they were trying to get in touch to see what color I wanted.They had not only my phone, but even taken a credit card number to protect themselves from me. Didn't set well. Since I had grace time on the return to Best Buy (THEY were very gracious) I returned it. Now I'm looking again. The Sony would be perfect if I could trust it and the customer service. Since that isn't the case,... well I'm looking.