• USA Today, Wednesday, March 12, 2008 10:30 AM

Prospective buyers who click on the link for the Kindle e-book reader at the top of Amazon's home page are informed that due to heavy demand the product is "temporarily sold out." The online retailer won't reveal how many have been sold or when supply will catch up with demand. But judging from online discussion groups, the wait time seems to be about four to six weeks.

"It's almost like the literary version of a [Nintendo] Wii," says Michael Gartenberg, vice president and research director at JupiterResearch.

E-book readers let bookworms carry a boatload of titles--more than 200 in Kindle's case. Kindle weighs around 10 ounces. Like its rival, the Sony Reader, Kindle employs gray-scale electronic ink technology to replicate the experience of reading on actual paper. But Kindle's real breakthrough is its wireless Whispernet network. Readers can search for and sample books, blogs and periodicals right from the device, and download purchased content.

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