Hmm, trouble with the ipad is that it's backlit so presumably (?) no easier on the eye than reading on the laptop, whereas the Kindle (and other ebook readers) use e-ink technology with no backlighting.

The key for me is how much more stress on the eye the IPad would be with the backlit dimmed considerably.

another consideration is how I can integrate my LiveScribe with either implement. has anyone tried that?

Battery life is about 10 hours+ for me and that is listening to my iTunes playlist whilst reading my PDFs. (Okay, Okay and some video too).

I turn the backlight down to about 30% and it doesn't cause me any eye-strain, well no more than reading paper copies. In fact because I can zoom right in, it helps in that regard compared to those horrid A5 booklet size reprints you get sent. It also helps save the battery.

Plus I have started finding out well thought out add ons, such as with my eBooks there is a built in dictionary and direct links to Wikipedia entries so if I don't understand something I can get an instant explanation of it (If only I had this while I was doing my PhD I would have saved SO much time).

That's the killer for me - apparently the kindle has a battery life of 7 days with Wifi switched on and 2-4 weeks with it off. If I bought one, it would also be used to read books on the train and on holiday, so the battery life is crucial for me. I also think the e-ink stuff looks nicer.

Obviously the £300 price difference is also quite persuasive.

I'd wait for the Kindle 2, which is coming out at the end of this year. It's supposed to be really, really good with even better e-ink technology. With regards to the Ipad, I'm waiting for some of the imitations from Blackberry, Microsoft and Dell. As much as I like the Ipad and it's lovely build quality, I can probably get the same level of functionality and power for a much lower price when the other tablets come out.

Sooo... I took the plunge and ordered a Kindle from Amazon on Friday. I think it should arrive either tomorrow (Monday) or Tuesday. I tried out a friend's Kindle for a day, and I think it will really help in making my life easier, and I will definitely save loads of money by not printing out all those Pdf articles. Obviously I will still print out the really important ones.

I have a Kindle - bought it a couple of months ago. It's transformed my leisure reading, though I wouldn't really want to read PDFs on it. It has a small screen, though you can turn it 90 degree to get a wider view. PDFs can also be converted to native Kindle format, which can make them easier to read, with larger text, but sometimes the conversion results can be quite messy, depending on how heavily typeset the original PDF is.

But it has transformed my reading. I've been increasingly struggling with print books for disability reasons, and getting it has made a big difference to me.