I’ve always loved reading and have over the years accumulated more books than I really know what to do with–meaning that I’ve run out of bookshelf space. And yes, I have seriously considered buying an e-book device, but I’m still not sold on any of the major brands on the market today.

The Kindle by Amazon.com with its wireless Whispernet is definitely a compelling choice, but I can’t get beyond its physical design. Even though it looks better in person than in pictures, it just looks really retro and clunky compared to other devices currently on the market. I mean, look at the Sony PRS-700 reader. Sleek and shiny with lovely curves and six-inch touchscreen E-Ink display… I like how the line of buttons was switched to horizontal, compared to the earlier PRS-505 model.

And while it would be useful to be able to download books straight from the internet onto the device, I admit that I’m a compulsive book buyer, and it might be good for my bank account to require an extra step between the “I’d like a book” thought and the actual purchase.

Additionally, no matter what device you use, the fact remains that many non-fiction books still aren’t available in e-book format. For example, what about the Strategic Asia series by The National Bureau of Asian Research? The newest edition, Strategic Asia 2008–09: Challenges and Choices was launched in September 2008 but isn’t even available on amazon.com in print form (none of the earlier editions are available in e-book format). Or there was an interesting book I read a while back called Koizumi Diplomacy: Japan’s Kantei Approach to Foreign and Defense Affairs–nope, not a chance that one’s been digitalized. So bottom line: the weak link for all digital readers is the content that you can purchase for them. If you want to read fiction and mainstream non-fiction, then it shouldn’t be an issue. For others, book availability is definitely a problem.