Ok, I'll admit, I used to think these were the stupidest thing imaginable. As someone who just about always has an ipod or computer with him anytime but when I'm backpacking, the thought of draggining along more infernal technology just to have something to read seemed to irritate me, and struck me has heavier and dependant on a short battery life than anything else. The thought of something else other than my computer do to this on also seemed kind of wasteful.Perhaps though part of this was due to my own ignorance - I recently had the chance to put my paws on a cheap taiwan made reader. What struck me about it was two things:
1) This thing was *really* light. - I didn't have a chance to weigh it, but it probably weighs a lot less than a paperback book that I typically take. I think it weighted less than my ipod touch.
2) the thing that most impressed me - the screen. Very readable, and the kicker - it consumes no power while displaying a page. The whole device sleeps. The battery life isn't measured in hours, but in number of page turns (8000 for this device, which was a prototype) which is the only time it uses power.

The first thing that actually came to mind to me was backpacking. I love to read after dark in my hammock. I'm seriously considering finding one of these suckers to try. I can take a
lot more books for the same weight as one paperback, and the battery life looks to be
now somewhat reasonble. Wonder how one does in the cold... Anyone out there had any experiences with something like this (as opposed to just using a palm or ipod, etc. etc.)