My DH and I both have one. we also spent the extra money and got the leather covers with the built in light. It's great for trips, making the fonts bigger and even reading on the beach. He does all the downloading right noeand has picked out all my books by the book descriptions and knowing what I like to read. If I don't like it i can just delete it. He has also loaded games on it. I probably have 50 books and games on my Kindle and all but a couple were free. He researched it before he bought and decided that this was the best for us. If you live near a Barnes and noble and have a nook, You can go in there on a certain day and download for free(don't quote me on this) I think the only drawback at this point with the kindle is when the battery won't charge anymore, you have to send it in to Amazon and have them replace it. Hopefully that will change b/c I don't think you actually get your own kindle back. I would go to the stores and check them out and see which one you like. PM me if you have any questions for DH on why he chose the kindle.