Kindle - Denver,CO

I have the one that was $129 last Christmas (Wi-Fi with no 3G). It is a reader, not a tablet. I love it, because it is exactly what I wanted to use it for. I wasn't looking for a tablet... just something to download books and carry a variety of books around with me in the car, etc.
My husband got the $179 one (wi-fi WITH 3G) so he could download books on his breaks at work if he wanted. The 3G was essentially a waste, as he never uses it. :(

If you are looking for a combo-device that is more than JUST an Ereader, then I would choose something different than the most basic Kindles. They are FABULOUS for reading, but not at all good for tablet type use.

My husband and I have the regular $79 dollar kindle and LOVE them. it's so nice to carry your library around with you. Mine is always in the car so whether I'm at the doctors office or school parking lot I can catch up on reading. We are buying my 15 yr old daughter the kindle fire - which is color and offers a few more bells & whistles - that's all she wants for Christmas.

AS for the ipod touch as mentioned by a post below - the screen is small and is not as easy to read as the kindle. The kindle has a patent on how thepage looks - it actually looks like paper - no glare, easy to read, it's not back lit like a computer screen is.

If the intent is for reading, serious reading like novels, get the kindle. As for which kindle - that depends. If it's primarily for book reading, and you have wi-fi in your house the $79 kindle is perfect. I fyou want to be able to download books while out and about, in the car or whjerever, then the next level-up kindle is needed - it has it's own wifi. and if it's also going to be used for magazine where color is desired, then the kindle fire is the one to get. FYI - at this point there are not a tone of magazines available - but now that there's a color kindle that may change.

I just can't even describe how much I love my kindle!

I just upgraded my sony reader touch to a sony reader touch with wifi :) I can't wait to get to actually play with it :) I personally chose the sony over the kindles or nooks for a few very specific reasons.

1. I don't like being told where I HAVE to buy books. Kindle and Nook are more limited than the sony.
2. Authors can SIGN my books directly on my Sony :) Don't have to dowload an "app" for that to happen.
3. EXPANDABLE MEMORY. I can have up to 32 gigs of EXTRA memory, on top of what's built into the reader.
4. More formats. Sony reads everything BUT Kindle and Nook formats.
5. It came in red LOL ok this wasn't a HUGE factor in my decision but it did finish tipping the scales LOL

So that's what I have.

Hubby on the other hand got suckered into the Kindle craze. He had the kindle keyboard (without the ads) but we sold that to my mom and he's getting a kindle fire for the holidays.

I personally wouldn't go with something that restricts where I can buy, charges me if I buy a book from elsewhere to convert the file, or limits me in any other way. I'm probably one of the few people on this planet who doesn't and WON'T own an apple product (the proprietary nature of their products just being one of the reasons ... Steve Jobs' bullying is another).

Check out all the e-readers out there, (theres WAY more than just the kindle, nook or sony) decide what features you NEED, which features you WANT and what exactly you're going to use it for. Those are the most important. Then you can look at things like styling, color, available accessories, etc. After that go with whichever one fits your budget best and enjoy.

I haven't met anyone who doesn't LOVE whichever e-reader they have.

You can go to Amazon and get all of the info you've asked for here. They have a great comparison section and tons of reviews. Also, the "BEST" depends on what you will use it for. The plain Kindle is the best for reading books. But it's the worst for web surfing (not possible). The Kindle Fire is the best for watching movies, but it's more expensive.

So... go to Amazon and read all about them. You'll be able to tell which is best for your particular needs.

We went to Best Buy over the weekend to get a Kindle Fire for our 8.5 year old.

After talking to the salespeople, we ended up with an iPod Touch. Apparently the Amazon platform has limited games. Which is the main function for this O..

Depends on what you want it for.....

I really depends on what you want to use it for. The fire is the only one that is not a reader. I have the touch and love it. I don't like the 79 dollar one cause the buttons are strange to me. The touch is 99 if you don't mind the adverts you never actually see it has wifi to download books. For 30 more you can get broadband service so you can download anywhere but I couldn't figure out why you would need that. I am around wifi at some point every day and I can't read that fast.

If you want to be able to read books in all environments you need a reader not a tablet.

Just to clarify a couple of things Angi C. wrote, the Nook does not use a proprietary book format. It reads the exact same formats as the Sony reader (ePub and PDF, plus the graphic formats JPG, GIF, PNG and BMP). Like the Sony, the Nook has expandable memory and doesn't restrict where you can obtain books. They do make it easier to buy books from B&N, but you can still obtain books from other sources by downloading them to a computer first, then transferring them to the device.

Get the newest one. Mine given to me last year is a pig. I cannot get it to go to a particular reference I need in professional books I bought from Amazon. It does not have any way for me to type in anything and get what I want and it is not internet capable.
I have made a strong decision to get an iPad instead. It works the way I need it to work.
In answer to your question I hate my Kindle and think Amazon should not have sold it before it was really capable of going on the net.