My favorite accessory is a case that can double as an easel-type stand - I use this one - I do a lot of my Kindle reading during the week while on my lunch hour, and it makes for much more convenient hands-free reading while eating than trying to prop one of the typical book-style cases up on something.
I got the paperwhite for Christmas and am adding to the LOVE IT choir. With very few exceptions, I couldn’t ask for a better e-reader, imo. I wish, though, that you would not refer to it as a “backlight”. That’s confusing and incorrect. It’s lit from the top. A backlit screen is like the color Touch screens and a completely different animal. Those hurt my eyes after even a short reading session whereas the e-ink with top lighting doesn’t.
I would also recommend FBReader. I switch between it and an older version of Moon+.
If you use Calibre for all your file management, converting should be fairly trivial. I’ve found it such a pain to copy other files to my Nook using just Windows Explorer, and Calibre makes it all amazingly simple.
I believe it would also work with files downloaded directly from the bookstore (Amazon or B&N) even though it can’t convert those because of the DRM. So really, there’s no reason not to use it for managing the device’s files.
BTW - especially since I’ve noticed that B&N will make books disappear from my Nook (the icon is there, but it must be redownloaded) if your on-file credit card expires or at other random times… I’ve made a point of keeping local copies on my computer as well. If the files disappear from the device, I can reload them easily.
And if you use the Calibre add-ins to de-DRM* the books, you can read them on any device (so for example I can buy a book at Amazon and read it on the Nook).
- this is a matter of some controversy. Digital rights law says “can’t circumvent security” but you are also entitled to make backups of your files. De-DRMing advocates seem to take the tack that you’re not doing so for the purposes of redistributing the files, but for your own security, so it’s OK.
As I found when ereader.com finally dissolved, several books were therefore no longer available (most were still available from Barnes and Noble, but if I’d had a Kindle, I’d be entirely out of luck). Fortunately, I’d made backups.
PDFs in my experience almost never convert to anything else well; sometimes not at all if the PDF is just image scans with no text in the document. The various text formats usually do just fine though, ie lit or epub to mobi for use in the kindle, or the reverse for use on my HP touchpad all work fine with few issues.
Edit to add, and I just got a paperwhite. Way easier to read in marginal lighting than the original kindle with or without the “booklight”. Definitely easier on the eyes than a tablet like the HP Touchpad (still have) or Nook Color (had and sold) . Backlight off it doesn’t seem much different than the very basic Kindle (which I still have) or the Kindle Keyboard (which I used to have). The touching works fine but I think the physical turn buttons on the sides ultimately work better.
Is it just as easy if you’re using it in landscape mode? (That’s my preferred way to read when I use my Sony e-reader.)