That's not an indictment of the Nook. But as a potential buyer, the device, at a pricey $259, and with each e-book release at $9.99, I want to see what else is coming on the market in the next few months. I've held off buying an e-reader, but have borrowed several, including the from Amazon.

Some analysts are saying as many as 40 e-readers will hit the market in 2010. I'm looking forward to the bigger screens that might be coming from Apple or especially from Plastic Logic Ltd. which is due to be unveiled in January. The Que will focus on business professionals and will also be sold by Barnes & Noble.

Meanwhile, my few minutes of playing with the Nook demo unit were revealing.

While I'm not a big fan of having two screens on the Nook, it seemed like a brilliant move when the device . At that time, I was hoping the lower color screen would be a full browser, so a user could open a page from a book on the upper screen, such as a page with diagrams or drawings (like an anatomy drawing from a textbook), then browse wirelessly to a Web site below where the author could post a short video explaining the diagram.