Some People Still Prefer Dedicated Devices ...

... and I can't say I blame them.

Brad, for example, has certain preferences in an e-reader (long battery life and e-ink screen) that militate against just grabbing an Android tablet and installing whatever reader/bookstore app(s) he likes.

I have to admit that after some initial enthusiasm for other things, these days I use my Cruz Reader almost entirely as a reader. Typing even a brief email or Facebook/Twitter update is just more trouble than it's worth with a screen-based "keyboard" -- if I'm traveling and need to do that stuff, I'll take a laptop with me.

If I invoke the web browser at all on the Cruz, it's to use the "Daily Paper" app, which is really just a nicely organized set of web bookmarks. I buy books direct from Kobo using their app, or plug downloads from other sources into FBReader. I occasionally use the Pandora app to listen to music, but that's not something I couldn't live without (I've got one of those thumb-sized MP3 players).

Brad ended up with the Sony Reader as a Christmas gift. From a look at the specs, I'm guessing he'll enjoy it. The only down side I see is that Sony is on par with Amazon (with whom Brad ain't interested in dealing) from a trustworthiness perspective (see e.g. the "rootkit" scandal).

But if he decides he doesn't like dealing with them, either, apparently the device can be rooted/hacked and turned into an Android machine (haven't checked, but I bet there's a Linux distro or two that will run on its processor as well).