Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I picked it up at The UPS Store. Took it out of the box, turned it on, saw that it was charged. The wireless indicator was all bars. I scanned the instructions, pressed home, selected Time magazine and a book, and had them in the machine in less than 20 seconds each. Then I started reading them. (While in the parking lot where I had picked it up moments before.) First impressions: 1) My Kindle was preregistered and said "Welcome Randy" on an early screen, and was ready for me to buy stuff. 2) I own the Sony PRS-500 and 505, and the screen is the same quality, as well as page-turn speed. The buttons are very different and better...the turn page button is 5 inches long, the "turn page back" button is a half inch long. This makes much more sense than Sony's minimal equal-sized buttons. 3) The fonts are MUCH MORE PLEASING. Sony basically has one font and three sizes, this has much more and look better designed for this kind of screen (rounded serifs, etc) 4) It has a dictionary you can go to when you don't know a word (Sony doesn't). 5) Bestsellers are $9.95, compared to $16.95 Sony. It's too new for me to go further, but I'm very surprised and impressed so far. There is more white plastic (not puke-yellow like in the photos you've seen for a few months) around the screen than Sony has, and the Kindle is much thicker, but still lightweight. Yet holding it is easy, and the "next page" button being practically the whole right side of the book is ideal. The wireless connectivity, the interaction with the internet on the screen, takes this out of Sony's reach. I honestly didn't expect to be be buying books within minutes of opening the package, before I even got home from picking it up. WOW! THIS DEVICE IS FOR AVID READERS ONLY...so much negative comes from non-readers that want it to play movies, tv, radio, audio books. This device is to replace text-oriented store-bought books...and not much more. So yes it sucks as an HD movie player. whatever! If you read constantly, want to aquire books from thin air on a whim, the Kindle is for you. Add-on note: The size of the device (at its largest) is EXACTLY the size of an unopened DVD--that can't be a coincidence...all 3 dimensions. UPDATE A MONTH LATER: I'm hooked on several blogs delivered several times a day (I wssn't a blog reader before). I'm reading MUCH more, carry this thing with me everywhere I go. I've found I'm a more adventurous reader...I try the free first chapters and am reading many more books I wouldn't have tried before. I read a lot of criticism of this product by many that have never used it. So many of these negative 'reviews' seem to be based on such small concerns, its like hating a car for its hubcap design. This thing has changed my life. I went from avid reader to voracious. Adding the blog reading, and spending odd hours going to the web browser on a whim...I hope the $399 price doesn't stop someone from such an important device. Books popping into a device instantly, with FREE internet access...I haven't touched my Sony 500 and 505 readers since I got this thing. (Yes, I still read 'normal' books, magazines, and newspapers--the Kindle is another option that has expanded my reading world)