My dear husband gave me a Kindle for Christmas, and I LOVE it. I think there must be several thousand real books in this house and they take up a lot of room. We have three bookcases plus multiple piles on dressers and bins under beds. Dh and I are both readers so we have accumulated a lot of books. I still love the feel of reading a real book, but I hate picking up one that looks or sounds so good and then the print is so small. I know I need new glasses but still. Or they are so heavy. I read Under the Dome last fall and my goodness, I think that book was five pounds. There are several big books that I would like to read and even have, but packing them around is a pain. The first book I bought for my new Kindle was Pillars of the Earth. I started it a while back in a real book, but the print is small and the book is huge. So this will be so much easier.
Anna, I have heard exactly the opposite. The ereaders are making readers out of young kids that did not have an interest before. And that people in general read much more when they have an ereader. I don't know if it is true, but it kinda makes sense. My grandson is an avid reader. My daughter spends as much as fifty bucks, twice a month at B&N just to keep him in books. And that is not school books, it is just for pleasure books. Last time I visited him I bought him a book he wanted and with tax it was over twenty bucks. I had to forbade him to read it in the car, and as it was he still finished it before bedtime that night. I'm thinking an ereader might be a good investment for him. As long as he was not in control of the buying part anyway. I know he could go to the library and he does that too.
My sister in law wanted a Kindle after she saw mine and played with it a bit. But there was not one in CA to be found after Christmas. So she bought a Nook. It was very cool, but she could not use it. Apparently touch screens do not work with acrylic nails. Had no idea. So that might be something to consider.
I also had the Kindle app on my iphone and tried to read a few books, but way too small. I could only get a couple of paragraphs on the screen and my battery was not liking it either. Luckily the books I got on my iphone went straight to the Kindle, so that was good. Kindle has text to speech, or audio too, for some books, although I have not tried it yet. I have also not found any book that was not available for my Kindle. I have found many free ones through blogs or other bookstores and sure enough Amazon has them as well.
We talked to the guy at Best Buy when we were looking for a Kindle for my SIL about the other ereaders he had there that looked very cool and were cheaper. I forget the names of them. We asked him what the difference was. He told us that mostly they were just slower then a Kindle or Nook. What that means I am not sure. Maybe it was downloading time or the page turning time.
I do like the feature on my Kindle where I can just click a button and poof the book is there. I can shop on my Kindle or online. Loaning is available as well, but I am not sure how that works.