The Sony Reader, in my opinion, is one of the least user friendly ereaders that I've seen. I almost bought one when they first came out, and am really glad that I canceled that order and ended up with the first Kindle later that year instead. I dont think I would have fallen in love with ereaders if I'd gotten the Sony first. I do have friends who adore their Sony readers tho. It all depends on what a person prefers.

The Kindle is "idiot proof". Even my mom can use one. and she's the least technical person I know. (she had a head injury 50+yrs ago and has memory problems) She can barely turn on her computer without us telling her what buttons to push. (she doesnt read often enough to steal my Kindle from me yet, but she borrowed one of my Kindles once to read her dad's books) If my grandmother were still around, I'd probably have given my extra Kindle to her by now. My extra Kindle is now the backup for my dad and I if one of our other Kindles dies.

I've looked at the Nook (Barnes & Noble), and the Kobo (Borders bookstore), and I'm pretty sure the newer versions of those (not the NookColor tho) are also fairly easy to use too.

The Kindle has the best bookstore selection. I've got the apps for the Nook and Kobo readers on my iPad/iPod, and have looked to see if they had books that Amazon didnt have. Havent been able to find a book on their bookstores that Amazon doesnt have. Most times I cant find books that Amazon has on the other bookstores sites.

The thing that those other readers have going for them is access to the library. (Kindle is getting that soon)

Amazon's Kindle customer service is wonderful. Every time I've had to contact them, things have been fixed really quick.

I think any ereader is great tho, even tho I think the Kindle is the best. I think anything that helps someone be able to read is great.

Reading is my favorite thing to do, and if I couldnt do it, I would go bonkers. When I had optic neuritis back in 2006, and couldnt read comfortably for a few months, I was looking into learning to read Braille, (learned the Braille alphabet when I was in grade school) and also spent about $60 on a computer program that would read to me. I could at least then get fan fiction on the internet and have the computer read that to me so I wouldnt go completely insane. I was so happy to get my Kindle later that year so I could make the print bigger.