""... or pass on to my kids." and "... roughly 75% of the books I read I'll never read again." are mutually exclusive, no?" Not in the least. I may not want t

""... or pass on to my kids." and "... roughly 75% of the books I read I'll never read again." are mutually exclusive, no?" Not in the least. I may not want to read them again but still consider them worth passing on. "..."buying" a book for the Kindle is more akin to "renting" the book" This is exactly why I love libraries. I specifically want to own (outright, no string attached) books that I will want to read again or have some other retaining value. The Kindle gives me all the negatives of the library system (no ownership) with all the negatives of the commercial system (expensive, wasted money). I wish the Kindle were more of a utility. Everyone buys one and it can be used to buy, loan, and trade books. Amazon would make money because the Kindle would be the TRUE iPod of the book world. However I'm not holding by breath for this to happen (at least with the Kindle); but I am hoping that someone else sees this opportunity and beats the Kindle into the ground.