Update on Kindle
Brilliant device. Easy to use, easy to read (font size is adjustable) easy to navigate. I hadn't realised that one can make notes on the pages, save selected passages separately from the book within the Kindle (for easy reference), download and listen to music whilst reading, using headphones (not supplied) or via built in speakers, record comments via the built in microphone, navigate to a particular passage previously highlighted ~ invaluable for someone editing a magazine who needs to refer back to a nagging memory of something read or for a student researching an essay. Also available to download are magazines, periodicals and newspapers (either in part, article by article or as a whole). Downloads are quick ~ I downloaded a book last night in under 20 seconds and half the price of the actual book. The range of books etc available is huge and the gizmo will hold the equivalent of 3500 books. I love it to bits.
All that said, and I would recommend a Kindle to any reader (it can handle talking books for the blind!!) it will never replace a book in my life. It is a convenience, an easy way of taking one's reading wherever (Holidays, hospital, on the train etc etc) and it will save a lot of storage problems in the house but it does not have the same pleasure as handling a real book. It is a different experience altogether and one that takes getting used to.
For BM ~ No shagging
PS should you break the machine or lose it then all the books etc you have purchased through your Kindle Account with Amazon are available free of charge as they maintain a back-up of all your downloads.