My birthday is coming up and I am thinking of asking the family for a kindle. What is your thought on this gadget and which one to get or avoid?

I love mine!

Love mine. Just downloaded 4 more books; 2 were free. I love to read and my house was becoming over run with books (and fabric but that's another story LOL). When I was in high school we read all the classics, but I didn't enjoy them; now I'm re-reading them and love them. I have the cheapest model (non 3G) and haven't had any problems downloading anything.

I got one for Christmas and I love it! Make sure you get the 3G one though, then you can just hit a button on the Kindle, go to the kindle store, hit anoher button and read samples of any book you want...if you like it, you can buy it, right from your Kindle, sitting in your recliner. It is AWESOME! What I love most is you can make the letters as large as you need to see, no eye strain!
Michelle G. in El Paso

Could anyone share what the cost averages for the downloads?

I have a color Nook and love it. I had the nook but got a color for valentines day..

I love mine!

That is good to hear. I am having some issues with reading due to age (47 to be) and was wondering how to kindle worked out with eye strain. Some books I have been avoiding because I need to wear glasses. I am back to where I started as a kid, I want books with big letters. LOL

I love mine! I got one for Christmas and a $25 giftcard for the Amazon store. I have 10 books so far and still have $18 on my giftcard. I have 3 free books and the others I bought. There are tons of books to choose from no matter what you are looking for. I'm sure you will love it!

I chose the Nook because it allows me to pull books from the libraries. Kindle uses a different format and you can't do that. More books avail. from Barnes & Noble, Borders, etc. Look into it BEFORE you buy.