I'm not going to spend a lot of time on Mobipocket as a way to read HotSpot Confidential.

This despite the fact that it is currently the only way you can access HotSpot Confidential on many smart phones and dedicated e-book readers. It is also one of two e-reading platforms for the Windows PC. (The exceptions: the Sony Reader Digital Book uses Adobe Digital Editions, which is also the other e-reading platform for the Windows PC.)

Because dealing with Mobipocket, as either an author or reader, is an exercise in low level frustration and missed opportunities.

First, the e-book creation software is Windows only, with a clunky interface that seems to be stuck in the early 1990s. Mac users can't even read a Mobipocket e-book, which seems perversely, shoot-in-the-foot wrong for a platform that needs to be cutting edge to succeed.

No iPhone version, of course. A strategic move, apparently, to solidify Mobipocket's techno-laggard image.

Check out this forum on the Mobipocket site to get a sense of the low regard that many customers, and potential customers, have for the company.

This is strange, since the company, which is based in Paris, is now owned by Amazon, the marketing marvel behind the Kindle.

Or maybe that's not so strange. My theory: Amazon bought Mobipocket in 2000 to give it a jump start in e-book creation and formatting. And Amazon's e-book platform did adapt (and improve) Mobipocket's software. And now, with the Kindle launched, Mobipocket is kind of limping along, without much of a reason to live.

But if you're feeling adventurous, or just curious, go ahead and download Mobipocket's e-reading software, and purchase HotSpot Confidential (for just $1.) here. (The current edition is called "HotSpot Confidential 10" because it took that many versions to get the formatting right).

I've read this version on two machines (which is probably not enough):

On a Windows PC: Convenient, accessible... but as I've mentioned elsewhere, just not very fun. What's exciting is reading an e-book on a portable digital device: sitting on an airplane, or on a bus, or in a comfortable chair at home, and clicking through a live electronic document.

The Bookeen Cybook. This French-made reader is little known in the US, but it is a solid alternative to the Kindle and the Sony Reader.

The Cybook doesn't have any kind of connectivity, but the navigation is straightforward and it's more open, more commodity, than the Kindle.

Reading an e-book on a Cybook, you do get a blast of what's possible outside the Amazon Kindle universe, which is kind of interesting.

But if you want to avoid wrangling with a clunky interface, you might want to wait until some more palatable e-book reading alternatives emerge.