Last week, Sony announced that orders on their latest Sony Reader may or may not arrive before Christmas. They will ship "somtime between December 18th and the first week of January" and nothing in physical stores until after the new year (although some older models are available). Now, Barnes and Noble has announced that all nook orders from today forward will be delivered in the new year (maybe a few non-pre-orders will hit stores, but nothing was officially announced). At least B&N has announced that they will "soon" allow buying of books with gift cards (they've been telling people to pre-order a nook and give gift cards for new owners to use, but they won't allow any books to be purchased with a gift card; you also can't use a gift card to buy the nook). At least Amazon had this covered with their Kindle Gift Certificates from the beginning (although I do wish you could buy a book for someone else, even if it just sent them a link and let them exchange it before downloading, as some ebookstores allow). As many of you know, I use gift certificates to manage my Kindle book budget and to eliminate all those tiny charges on my credit card from bargain books, which some banks do not allow due to fraud controls and which can make balancing my credit card statement something of a chore.So, it isn't even Black Friday and if you want one of the big three ebook readers to place under the tree, Amazon is now the only choice. The last two years, they too have sold out sometime in November/December. For now, you can get the Kindle (International) ($259) or the Kindle DX ($489) with no delay and next day shipping (I'd recommend at least two-day shipping in order to avoid having it arrive in the US Mail, where tracking is of little use and my carrier will just leave the box on top of my mailbox; people in apartments have reported having them just set down outside their door to wait all day ....). The Original Kindle is only available used, right now (refurbished units are out of stock again, but that can change daily; they are $149 when available), with one available under $200 and other prices starting at $220 (similar prices are the norm on EBay). You can also still get a refurbished Kindle2 ($219), which uses Sprint as the carrier, giving wider coverage than the AT&T International version is some parts of the US (these come and go; earlier this week, they were out of stock) or a refurbished Kindle DX
($399) -- for a laugh, check out the listing for a used DX on the same page, for $999.00!!!One thing to remember on Amazon orders - if the Kindle is to be a gift, be sure to mark it as such. That way, if the receiver has to return it, any refund will go to their account, not yours (necessary if they need to order a replacement or decide they would rather have something else). On the other hand, if you don't mark it as a gift, you can start buying books for it right away (and there should be a lot of free books between now and Christmas, which would mean the gift would arrive with dozens of books pre-loaded; there are over 40 non-public domain books free right now) ... I'd recommend this route for a spouse, child or parent, especially if it is the first Kindle on an account. You can even set up a new account just for the Kindle, if you want to keep it separate from your regular purchases. Some families do this and use a pre-paid credit card plus gift certificates to manage the shared account, so purchases don't go to only one person's credit card. You also have until January 31, 2010, to return any gift items ordered now, rather than the standard 30 days of regular Kindle purchases (and no restocking fees, unlike the 10% on the nook if it is returned).
Smithfield spokeswoman Paula Dean has a 36 page 