E-books

My browsing of the suggested sites and reading about the different ways to access an ebook made me think that it is all very much in its infancy. I don't know anyone who has purchased an ebook reader and North Shore Libraries has still not purchased them despite the hype from Geoff Chamberlain about 2 years ago.
It seems logical but somehow totally unappealing. It will take us many years before we can browse an internet site the way we do a bookshop to find out about the equivalent of the latest fiction paperbacks. However, I was impressed to find that Terry Pratchett's latest, "Nation" is available on Kindle Bookstore. However at $10 US, although it is cheaper than a hardback book it is not particularly cheap considering it is downloadable by wireless connection and one would be paying for the download access time as well. In a few months it will be available in paperback at around $14 US [at today's exchange rates!].
Some of the sites did not have acceptable search mechanisms either.
I do like them for the possibility offered of browsing a limited number of pages to see if it is what you want but then I found a Margaret Mahy title where most of the illustrations had been pixellated out due to copyright issues - so what would be the point of browsing it.
Anyway I'm sure if I was into reading some classics that I'd never got around to it would be useful if a really good reader device became available.
Considering all the wonderful things I am storing on my computer I guess the odd novel could be acceptable - but not a preferred option. Could be quite useful for sections of works that one wants to refer to later.
And there's a new one [21/11/08] http://tech.yahoo.com/news/zd/20081120/tc_zd/234209