I lust after this, but…

I want one of these, bad. But!

I admit that I’m at the point where I don’t even want to bother with formats and DRM and all of the other crap. I love these devices — the convenience of them, the look of them, the feel of them* — but I’ve entered a wait-and-see mode.

I’m going to wait-and-see if prices come down a little bit more, because as much as I love the idea of a gorgeous e-ink reader, even this inexpensive pocket version is about the same price as twenty-five or thirty mass-market books. And although I have absolutely no room for 25 or 30 more mass market books in my house, I’d prefer to have them than just a reader.

I’m going to wait and see if distributors are going to get their heads out of their asses and settle on one format.

I’m going to wait and see if they can make it so that if my device breaks, if I upgrade, if I decide to buy something that’s not a Sony, I can take all of my books with me.

It is pretty, though. Sigh.

*I’d probably buy print versions of books I really loved, anyway, just because I like the whole book package. Yes, it’s all about the words inside — but I like covers and I love the way a book feels like a whole when it’s contained between two covers, it’s own separate entity. I don’t get that same feeling with a filename** (but for books that aren’t keepers, it’s not like that matters.)

**Even e-pub books that I love, I want to either print them out (can’t do that, sigh) or get them after they come out in print. The words don’t change, but I do like to have my favorites in that This is a lovely, physical item that I can pull off my shelf and hug state.