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Well, I haven't yet ever bought a book while driving. But yes, I've several times bought a book on BART I saw another passenger reading that looked interesting. Or a Daily Show author interview intrigues me and I am reading the first chapter before the interview ends.
Personally I would say that Kindle has been one of the few great electronics purchases I've made. I went into it with a lot of doubt but have only touched a couple paper books since I got the thing in April (they were graphics heavy or a must read not available on Kindle).
I had resisted all electronic book formats previously but E-Ink combined with 3G WiFi access to direct purchase (or free from public domain sites) downloads was the deal maker. Once you get used to it, it almost exactly replicates reading a paper book. Yes, if you find it comfortable to do extended reading on a light-emitting screen then netbooks and other portable devices may make more sense. But I simply can't just sit down and read a novel on a normal electronic display.
The big drawback is that if it is something where you want to flip back and forth within the book a lot (I read a lot of non-fiction so this comes up a lot more than for fiction) that is not convenient.
However, a huge boon is that I have full text search on every book I've read in the last year. And I am always trying to find that exact fact or quote in something I've read recently (frequently to much frustration) so that is great. And it was really nice to take about 20 unread books with me on our trip to Europe last fall.
It's definitely not a device that would be for everyone. But I do have a pretty lengthly list of downstream sales (I think the total stands at 7 people who bought one after getting a chance to spend a few minutes with mine) and they are all very happy.
I've pre-ordered the 2.0 because I want to play with the Text-to-Speech function but I'm 50/50 on whether I'll keep it or return it within the 30-day window.
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