A couple of the big disadvantages of the Kindle (of which I own and use two) * The display contrast is not high unless well-lit. The experience is similar to reading a European Newspaper. * The Amazon DRM policies are far from ideal -- even if one is willing to tolerate DRM. Again, the Kindle works well for none-DRM providers like PG, but if you have to buy a DRM e-book, the latest NYT Bestseller, or what have you, then you are tied to Amazon. Also, most people's idea of "a book" even one with DRM is something you can sell or give to a friend when you are done, and Amazon's DRM policies do not allow that. Amazon's DRM policies also means that one cannot "borrow" DRM books from public libraries -- public libraries DO nowadays have systems to allow patrons to "check out" and "check back in" DRM books over the internet no less, BUT Amazon's DRM policies are not compatible with these library systems. * There is no good way of organizing books on the Kindle, not even using something as simple as a traditional computer directory structure. Some of us end up with 100s of documents and books on our Kindle, which tends to overwhelm the user interface, which is based a simple sorted list, such as "list all by author" or "list all by title", or "list all by newest first." Yes one can keep the Kindle books on one's computer and organize things there, but, you know.... * If you live in the 'burbs like I do getting the whispernet connection to work or not is a hit-or-miss proposition. In the case of the Amazon paid downloads the system is smart enough to keep trying until it succeeds, but for "free" downloads or internet use, if you lose a connection half-way through a download you end up with a broken book file on your Kindle, and there is no way to fix the broken book problem short of attaching the Kindle to your desktop computer and using the file browser on the computer to manually remove that broken book file.