I have one. I was hoping to use it for this purpose as well, but it's rather unpleasant to use for PDFs IMHO. As another user noted, you can always convert books to a free-flowing format such as mobi. I use Calibre for this but I find the output to be rather hit-or-miss. I find that the formatting sometimes slips through as text and that I have to wade through pages of extra text to get to the content (a pain in the ass on the Kindle.) Still, it's better than toting a dozen technical manuals with you everywhere you go.
Mine was gift so I couldn't tell you whether it was worth the money.
The (small) kindle reads PDF files, but usually the font is too small to read comfortably. With the new firmware upgrade one can resize pdfs, but I'm not sure if I want to read a programming book this way.
I think the best way is to convert the PDF to the Mobi format with the free mobipocket creator:
Kindle's DRM is about as much a hindrance as DVD-CSS; there's a package called mobiDeDRM, to which you can feed a book from your kindle and your kindle's serial number, and it strips the DRM. The file is still an annoying ebook format, but the DRM part falls right off.
For reading technical PDFs, the DX (still $489, sadly) is really the best choice. I'm currently in the process of reading a few different technical PDFs, and they all look great and are perfectly legible. I haven't had any trouble with equations or images either. Unfortunately, the thing really is pricey, and if it gets damaged there doesn't appear to be any repair program for it.
Brilliant play, I love this. Very good way to announce the Amazon purchase to Woot users, then they'll have it shipped directly from Amazon.com showing the shipping/speed/logistics boost that Woot is going to get from Amazon. And they're selling a device that lets people impulse buy ebooks at high margins to a crowd of loyal impulsive buyers. Love it.
I'm guessing the Kindle device is already a loss-leader (anyone know?) at $189, but the extra $40 off is well worth the price when they're paying millions for Woot. Tactfully bringing attention to the Amazon acquisition, getting some goodwill, and showing off he benefits of the Amazon acquisition... man, I want to meet Jeff Bezos someday, my admiration for the guy keeps growing every time I see him do anything.
It's another great example of why buying Woot makes a lot of sense for Amazon; they thrive off of exactly that kind of inventory. And I'm sure Amazon doesn't mind being able to easily liquidate inventory while still making some money back...
Wasn't part of the reason they also purchased Zappos because of how good the inventory system was? I thought I read that somewhere...
Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer, isn’t relying merely on price
cuts to contend with Apple. In August, Amazon.com plans to introduce a thinner
Kindle with a more responsive screen and a sharper picture, people familiar
with the company’s plans said last month.
