The iRex iLiad is a fantastic reader. I bought it over the Kindle and other readers for three reasons. It has a larger screen, can create folders and can take notes with a stylus. Yes, there is more functionality available if you have Linux experience but you don't need that experience to achieve the same amount of capability as the other readers with maybe one exception. Kindle allows browsing out of the box. The iLiad requires installation of the Developers package first. Of course Kindle also has the Sprint wireless connection.

Regarding a criticism from a previous post about the CF card. You connect the reader to your PC and the card will appear as a drive. You do have to go into the setup to tell the iLiad that the card will be the drive rather than memory. You also can identify which type of items are kept on the card. The overall structure is broken out by Newspaper, Books, Documents and Notes. Think of this breakout as folders off the root directory. In these locations you can create other folders.

With everything said the iLiad may not be for the faint of heart but this might also be said of the other readers. I think it may take one or two more upgrades before readers are really ready for primetime. Buy the Kindle if the items I first mentioned are not of a concern to you.

This reader can read Mobipocket, HTML, TXT and PDF files. It cannot read epub or digitally signed PDF files. It did take me time to figure out how to create a table of contents in the PDF files I created with links to the pages. I bought Nitro PDF to convert MS Word to PDF.

In summary the screen display is crisp and perfect. It truly does look like print. It takes a bit of time to boot up and like all readers there is a slight delay with page turning but not all that bad.

When I first bought a PC or Palm when they first became available it felt like the technology arrived at the right time. This reader feels like it is from the future. Holding it and using it transports you to the future. You do come back to earth as issues pop up but I think I will always be amazed at this gadget.

Amazon - Wake up and let non Kindle users purchase electronic books! You own MobiPocket so there really is no excuse.

At about $600, this item is massively expensive. But I figured, the features and quality will be worth what I've paid. The iLiad has been nothing but trouble since I got it. The software is not compatible with Vista. When you get on the Mobipocket FAQ site to try to manually move items, the other dissatisfied consumers will help you before one of the techs finally gets around to responding in English that is so badly broken as to be incomprehensible. I finally just gave up and loaded the thing onto an XP and downloaded some books. I went to expand the memory and got a Compact Flash card. There is literally NO reference in the User's Manual as to how you should go about installing, transferring or accessing your books on the card. The entry literally just tells you "CF Card Slot. This is a slot for a CF card." Thanks, that was helpful. I would implore all of you: buy the Sony product for 1/3 the price and when you go to their affiliated ebook site, you'll pay about 1/3 of what you will pay for the same titles on Mobipocket. (Seriously, most Mobipocket books cost about what a hardcopy of the book will run you at a bookstore.) Immensely dissatisfied.