In the end, I justified the purchase because of the features I'm getting over the other 2 readers. - The sony and kindle both have a 800x600 screen while the iRex has a 1024x768. - The iRex also has a wacom stylus embedded into the screen which you can take notes with - The iRex is open-sourced, the developer released the SDK a while ago and there is a bunch of 3rd party free software for it.
However, I can definitely see how the iRex can be overpriced for some people and the sony and kindle could be a better fit for them.
A good resource for ebook reader information is http://www.mobileread.com/ (i'm not affiliated with them in any way) . You can read other people's experiences with them and find out which reader is right for you.
The eBookwise Librarian software package ($15) converts .DOC, .RTF, .HTML and RB files to the eBookwise Librarian format.
eBookwise Reader: http://www.ebookwise.com/ Librarian Software: http://www.ebookwise.com/servlet/mw?t=book&bi=28181&...
What I worry about the iRex is that things will be scaled down by a third which I won't like, either.
The Plastic Logic reader isn't coming out until 2010, btw. :( I think someone else will come along in that time.
I've tried 3 different E-book readers: The sony PRS505, the Kindle and the iRex iLiad. In the end, I returned the kindle and gave the 505 to my dad and kept the iRex. The main reason was that the Kindle screen was WAYYY TOO SMALLL to read full sized Pdfs and academic journals.
The sony had the same screen-size problem as the Kindle but its cheaper and it was a good fit for my dad, who mainly reads fiction books. The iRex was the keeper because of its big 8 inch screen.
The new kindle 2 seems to have the same screen size as the previous one, so this is an absolute no-buy for me. However, the upcoming plastic logic reader looks promising with its full A4 sized screen and could be a good fit for me.