*between licks and tummy rubs ringing my mobile until I found the spot to dig it up.*

Lol, I don't know if Ipads would survive burial by the dog :)

They arn't waterproof. I've only had mine for a few weeks. I ordered
it when Ipad 2 was released, as I figured that in version 2 they
should have solved any bugs. But it took a while to get here.
They sold about 15 million Ipad 1s.

The way I understand it, they are basically like a cross between an
Ipod and an Iphone, but with a much bigger touch screen.

The way I understand it, anything with internal flash memory, is
alot tougher then anything with HDD memory, although of course
the memory is much smaller. Its a shame that Apple don't let you
plug in extra memory.

So far no problems with the magnetic cover. What I find handy is
that if say I'm reading an Economist article and need to do something
else, I simply drop down the cover and it shuts down. When I next
want to continue reading, I'm already on that page, ready to go,
no shutting down things and closing applications etc. No waiting to
power up either.

They also have a little speaker, so for music, no need for earphones.

Neutral, the Kindle handles pdf's. Not as well as the dedicated format but still pretty well. If you don't need color then it's fine for most stuff. I suspect that other readers would to.

Ammonite, I used to detest reading from screen's, in my view the electronic ink screens in the Ebook readers are so good now that they are better to read than paper. Changable font size helps to. I'd been reading some novels in the 500 page range and not holding those up for a couple of hours of reading is sweet.

Robert

Ok ...thanks Yabby and R0bert.

Robert

I'll take your word for the improve in readability.

Until such equipment is mostly from recycled, renewable materials I am going to hold out.

I have other priorities right now, and, after having (reasonably) responsibly upgraded my home PC will rely upon the local library, second hand shops and the like.

I am taking the same attitude towards buying a car. My next will be a late model, which can be converted to gas, then (when) a practical version of the Tesla is available I'm there. I can't afford to take the lead on our technological advances - but I can learn and wait.

Cheers

I am still working out what all the fuss with iPads is about. My fellow educators have gone out and got iPads and I am now the only one at meetings with a netbook. As an IT professional, I see the Apple iPad as a hand held tablet computer, with a touch screen and applications for gesture input. It is not the first such device and most likely will not be the last. Apple have applied their expertise in user interface to make it very easy to use. But Google with their Android tablet computers are catching up fast.

Part of the attraction of these devices is the simplified user interface imposed by the small screen and lack of keyboard. These interfaces are finding their way into larger, more traditional computers, as are "apps". I have suggested building an interactive whiteboard which will work as a giant tablet computer: http://blog.tomw.net.au/2011/05/interactive-whiteboard-as-large-tablet.html

*Apple have applied their expertise in user interface to make it very easy to use.*

Ah Tomw, that is part of the key! I am not an IT professional and
don't want to be. I am just a humble user, who wants things to work,
wants things easy and doesen't want to be bombarded with adverts every 2 seconds, as usually anything with MS or Google seems to be the case.

I have resisted buying anything Apple since the 80s, when I saw the first Apple Mac. So for me this was a bit of an experiment to
understand the Apple culture and why they have been so hugely successfull in the last 10 years or so. Now I know why.