Has Apple done it again?.

I like reading a book and it's easy to carry and don't have to worry about it being stolen. I also get books on tape and disk not to mention I can download some to my mp3 player.

Diana

I won't buy one right away. For one thing, I just spent too many dollars on a netbook, so I won't be able to convince my wife that I NEED one of these for a while, but if it is as good as the ads claim, then it may be a home run for Apple.

I wouldn't be able to use the 3G version (lousy AT&T coverage both at home AND at work) but the WiFi version might be useful. When I travel it is heavy and inconvenient to carry multiple books. A tablet like that would fit in my satchel and provide reading material for an entire trip, not to mention reference material when I go on a mission trip (as long as I expect to have electricity!). It's about the same size as a lot of the books I carry, and much smaller/lighter than many of the references. Somebody else noted that it's a bit too large to handle with just one hand, but I rarely hold on to a real book with just one hand. From what I've read, it sounds like a nearly perfect size and shape for a lot of the reading I do.

There are some disadvantages. I can't imagine that I would do much typing on a touch screen keyboard. It probably can't do much picture editing and there's a lot of applications that require more processing power than they can put into that kind of device. It certainly won't be replacing desktop PCs any time soon. Even if it had the processing power, I'd be reluctant to put Turbo Tax or Quicken on something that could be easily lost or stolen.

Still, there's a lot to be said for a well designed entertainment device that has all the features of the iPad.

she likes to put tapes or CD's of books into her car's player on way to work too. She has all those Harry Potter series for one. I can't remember the others.

What happened to the other mp3 players when Apple entered the market? It's not that the iPod was the best or cheapest device, but it was superbly designed, accessorized by the relatively friendly iTunes environment that made it a good total package, and well marketed.

I don't see that any tablet products in the past are really comparable to the new iPad, and none of them have benefited from the design skill, marketing skill or general buzz that Apple brings to the table.

The product may or may not be a wild success, but it sure looks good at first glance.

Sometimes the system does seem to eat posts. I usually just re-post.

Sometimes I turn it off at a sight where it interferes with copy/paste of information from a page, then forget to turn it back on.