I'm a student, and I have talked my libraian into providing a mass number of our books in text format so that we can read them on the computer. I see a TON of flaws in this, but hey, no late fees! I'm looking for a portable that will allow me to read the books while on the go. Most of the books are in Rich-Text format, but we still have a few that are Microsoft Word documents (Ugg...) does anybody know of one for less than $50? I want one so cheap because I dont want to spend $400 when I can still read the book the normal way...

I've gotten three Sony SJ-20's on ebay for under $20 each.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Sony-CLIE-PEG-SJ...QQcmdZViewItem

Pros:
High enough rez for reading
back-lit, you can read in the dark
Good amount of built-in memory makes using the unit easier
Decent software comes with the unit
Memory slot to increase storage for your books
Rock solid dependable
Palm OS synchs in Linux too

Cons:
Sony - don't ever buy anything Sony, purveyor of rootkits, if you can avoid it
Sony memory stick, not a more standard, less expensive storage like SD, also this unit is older and is limited to 128MB Sony Memory Stick. You can get, and use a 256MB unit that has separate A/B channels.

I commute by train and have been using mine for over three years now. I would recommend the SJ20 - if it weren't a Sony. But it or something like it is exactly what you want. For your purposes, and mine, the latest greatest gadget is not necessary. You can get an older PDA for much less. The SJ20 is a good example. Its cheap because it is monochrome. People seem to think that since it doesn't do color its no good. Its the exact same thing as the ones costing twice as much, just a monochrome screen. Big deal, books are black-and-white anyway.

Look for
Used but in good shape with original software and stand/cables
Monochrome
8MB system memory absolute minimum, 16 is better
PalmOS
Memory slot

For good free ebooks:
Free SciFi from Baen Books - http://www.baen.com/library/defaultTitles.htm
Classics from Project Gutenberg - http://www.gutenberg.org/

You can use ybook (to be used with wine/cedega/crossover office)with text files. the ybook works flawlessly in linux. Text/RichText/html files are read nicely and reading is fun too.

http://www.spacejock.com/yBook.html

Kniga is supposed to read .doc files
and PyBookReader opens rtfs flawlessly
both free