I agree to your point on magazine color; I guess I never really thought of the Kindle as a magazine replacer because I try to do my mag reading online. Wired online's hyperlinking is fantastic, an example that mag reading is an experience best served connected.

GeezUs, if you're looking at making an ROI comparison you could also consider the resale of those traditional books. Keep them in good condition and you could expect a quick turn on a 50% price.

@Fizz said:

I agree with Fizz in that the technology is terminal... I do not think it will last 10 years, however. The Kindle will NEVER reach an appreciable market penetration to be delivered at a competitive price point and Net Books are the nail in the e-Reader coffin. Look for something in the next year (most likely from Apple) in a similar form factor (8.5x11) with a touch screen technology like the iPhone that does everything the Kindle does PLUS delivers the true Internet.

I buy books to keep... at least for awhile. But, then my stacks get too large and I donate 6-8 boxes a year to the local library (to help them out in a very small way).
As a sidenote, Sony (of the Sony Reader) and Google have teamed up to offer over 500,000 ebooks for free. (Most, if not all the books I want to read are $9.99 Kindle books so I'm SOL.)

I read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" at the beach last weekend on my PocketPC, worked out pretty well. The only complaint I could have is that the linked site is broken into four parts, for a palm sized device it would have been better split into 16.
I'll admit the browser on this phone could be a little better, but it's four year old technology too.

Publishers of all sorts need to get over the fact that any and all electronic media that can be read can be written. Instead of trying to make double or triple the profit of the physical counterpart on electronic data, they need to make the data available and easier to access than trying to get the same information off warez (pirate websites).
Solves two problems, distribution becomes cheaper - sending data over the internet is much cheaper than sending tons of paper all over, people become more loyal to your site (think iTunes as much as I dislike it, people are dependent upon that service) AND people are spending more time with your product, that they're not spending with a competitors.
Serious question for the book readers, who made the last three books you read? Not the words on the page, but the book itself? You don't know, do you? You have no loyalty to the publisher. Last three CDs? Your loyalty is to the artist, not to the label.
If I asked you who made the last three cars you've owned, you'd know. That's what I'm talking about.

Not that I really care, but I know for a fact that A&M records produced the last CD I purchased. I also know who "A" and "M" are.