Does anyone know how many Palantiri there were in total? Of course, there were seven brought to Middle Earth, but I would assume there were more left in Aman - the Elves surely would not have given all their Palantiri to Elendil. Would they have the range to communicate with each other across the Sea? Is that why Gandalf is so taken with the idea of using the Orthanc stone to look into the West? Perhaps he thought if he could establish a two way communication with the West it would aid in the struggle with Sauron.
Of course, it seems that the stones in M-e were aligned with each other as an aid to communication so maybe they were not in alignment with the ones in the West - perhaps the changing of the World affected them. Gandalf could certainly have looked 'back' & reviewed the history contained in the stone - in the essay in UT its stated they retained images of what had been viewed through them. I can't help wonder about this idea - they seem to be a combination of 'videophone' & VCR. I wonder what their memory capacity was! The implication seems to have been that the Orthanc stone was linked so strongly with Barad dur that it would take a great effort of will to break that link (UT again). Also we know what would be seen if anyone looked into the Minas Anor Stone after the death of Denethor. The implication seems to be that what could be seen was a matter of will - ie it required a very strong will to change a stone's orientation once it had been fixed through constant use - & that any intense 'emotional' outburst in a user could cause an event witnessed in a stone to be repeated ad infinitum.
Clearly this would make it increasingly difficult for Saruman to break his stone free of its link with Barad dur. One would assume that it became harder & harder to see anything else in the stone once the contact with Barad dur had happened. And Gandalf does say that the stone draws one to itself. This combination - being drawn to use it & being increasingly unable to use it to percieve anything but Sauron must be what lead to his downfall.
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How long, I wonder, has he been constrained to come often to his glass for inspection and instruction, and the Orthanc-stone so bent towards Barad-dur that, if any save a will of adamant now looks into it, it will bear his mind and sight swiftly thither? And how it draws one to itself! Have I not felt it? Even now my heart desires to test my will upon it, to see if I could not wrench it from him and turn it where I would--to look across the wide seas of water and of time to Tirion the Fair, and perceive the unimaginable hand and mind of Feanor at their work, while both the White Tree and the Golden were in flower!" He sighed and fell silent.
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So it seems that, like the Ring, the Stones have a kind adictive quality to them. Bearers of the Ring keep wishing to put it on & disappear, keepers of the Stones keep being drawn to look into them. Perhaps it is this very adictiveness which ultimately overwhelms the capacity for unwill.
Of course, Tolkien did speculate on the similarity between the Rings & the Palantiri - in the early drafts he is uncertain about both of them being in contact with Mordor & whether its a good idea to have them work in such a similar way. The Ring draws its bearer to Mordor physically, the Palantiri, once the link is made, draws its user to Mordor psychically. Its interesting that the one place both objects draw the individual to is the one place those objects can be destroyed.....