I don’t have one. There’s a lot of reviews out there (Omnivoracious, Channel Web, and Ars Technica) but there are two things that prevent me from buying one.

First, when I’m done with a book, especially fiction, it goes into the dustheap of history unless I want to read a passage that I particularly relish. Stephen King’s The Stand is one of those books. If I don’t care to keep a book for posterity, I give it away. From what I understand, it’s not easy to give away a Kindle with a bunch of books and have the gift recipient be the owner of those copies. It’s weird, to apply the same ol’ rules of DRM-protected music to books, yah?

Second, I have a library of over a hundred books at home. Many were bought on Amazon, others, not. I don’t want to pay twice to have to own the book again in Kindle format. What I want is to be able to enter a control number for a book bought on Amazon, and I can download the electronic copy of a book I already own. I want a discount on an ISBN that I bought somewhere else by entering a control number for an electronic copy.

Some DVDs allow you to download a copy, albeit protected, for use on a portable device. Until e-book readers solve this little issue, I’m not buying one.