For Christmas Ruth got me The Sony PRS-505 ebook reader. Firstly I'll remind my reader that I'm an absolute gadget whore, if you can fiddle with, push buttons, or plug in something, I probably want or have it (sometimes both at once).
The first thing I noticed about the reader is that it feels really well built, like the quality that I once expected from Sony but has become so hit and miss lately. Secondly the eInk display is beautiful it really does look like paper, though its not bright white, it looks about like the paper used for mass market paperbacks. The text is nice and black and although I've only spent an hour or two actually reading on it I didn't feel like the screen would cause any eye-strain.
The one caveat to the Sony ereaders is that, true to form Sony, built an amazing product and then added a nearly fatal flaw. They chose not to support Mac with their software. Now, I've been using computers for two thirds of my life and never in all that time have I ever bought Windows, either stand-alone or installed on a computer. In order to be able to use the Sony eBookstore, in a moment of weakness I actually considered buying Windows. But when I came to my senses and the red haze of fury I felt at myself/Sony/Microsoft for contemplating the unthinkable finally faded, Ruth told me that she'd found a blog where another Mac user had gotten it to work. I still can't buy books from Sony, but I can buy books from any of literally dozens of their competitors, and there are also literally tens of thousands of public domain books that I can put on it. Take that Sony!
So once I got over my crisis of conscience, I started really having a blast finding books from other sources. I probably even found gems that I would never have happened across if I had been able to use Sony's ebookstore. Right now I have almost thirty books on the ereader, and am absolutely loving it.
I'm not exactly difficult to buy gifts for, but somehow every year Ruth seems to find things to give me that exceed all of my expectations, so excuse me I think I have some reading to do.
Here is a list of the best places for Sony compatible eBooks (that don't require Sony's software) for anyone who might be interested:
Free and Pay:
http://www.fictionwise.com/home.html
Free:
http://manybooks.net/
http://www.feedbooks.com/
http://bookkake.com/
http://www.gutenberg.org/
Mac Compatible Software:
http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/