I've had the original iPad, my iPhone's of various iterations, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, and Kindle DX graphite. I've also played with my sister's Kindle Fire and Kindle Fire HD. For lightweight, portable storage with great battery life (not just time between charges, but overall life) and ease of reading, I love my Kindle DX graphite. I only got it a few months ago and I am impressed as hell with it. Added to that is Amazon's amazing customer support- I've gone through a ton of kindle iterations and they were always happy and helpful and more than willing to help me out, which is more than I can say for Apple. If you want a tablet to do other things, that's another story entirely. For me, the finest reading experience is the Kindle DX graphite. I should say, I played with the paperwhite briefly and I don't care for it as much.

It all comes down to what you want to do with the device, and how much you're willing to pay. There is even one color ebook reader on the open market now, some Russian one being marketed to schoolkids, but you can buy it off of Amazon. I'd really like to get my hands on it for a while.

I just bought Kobo Glo and I love it.
E-ink comfortable for my eyes, various adjusting fronts, also adding micro SD card available.
Its frozen 2 times since I got it 2 months ago, though.
I heard that Kindle works smoother, i've never tried Kindle anyways.

I have a kindle 3 with keyboard (No 3G). I don't like touch screens as they always leave finger prints on a screen you are trying too read from. This is purely an e-book reader. It can hold about 500 books, can be read for a month on one full charge, and is perfect in the most brilliant sunshine. You can customise your font size too suit personal preference. Had it two or three years its smooth, good interface, simple to use and extremely reliable. Never had a fault glitch, freeze or any other problem with it. Makes it ideal to keep in the car (reading whilst waiting for kids) or abroad on holiday whilst lying on the beach in brilliant sunshine. - its awz, mobi, and opi formats, but don't let that worry you. Download the free calibre e-book app, it will sort your e-book library, but most importantly if you have e-books in other formats like epub, and click send to device (having set it up for a kindle) it will convert the book into mobi then send it too your device. I've done this with loads of epub books, works with all formats except PDF.

I like to read outdoors so I need a dedicated e-book reader with e-ink that's easy to read in direct sun light so the above kindle is still my favourite.

HOWEVER:-

If you want something to use as an e-book reader and for films music etc then you want too look at a tablet and simply download an e-book reader app. Pros more dexterity, not just e-books. Cons, poor battery life (depending on tablet 4 -8 hours reading, or 3 - 6 hours video playback) and you would struggle to read anything in direct sunlight. I wouldn't get a kindle fire though, as its basically an android tablet with lots of restrictions placed on it. Better to get a tablet and add the kindle app, or other e-reader.

I also own a 10 inch toshiba excite - potentially one of the best tablets out there but at a similar price to an Ipad, most people would say get the ipad then if its a similar price, however it is technically specs wise better than the first 3 ipad versions, (I think it trumps the ipad 4 too but not the new ipad 5 - however I'd need to check the specs to confirm that). The ipad having loads more apps, more street cred, and supposedly the superior user interface. (used both prefer mine). However I was lucky and got mine at half price just £200 and at that price it was superior to everything else on the market in the same price range. Its a quad core, so plays all games flawlessly, future proof, expandable memory (I have an additional 32GB micro SD card in mine), excellent graphics, flawless playback of large MKV video files with subtitles on direct from memory card in full HD. Runs on android operating system so you have all the android apps and games, has office on it so I can compose word documents and e-mails, good wifi connection in the house, but not 3G. Basically it does everything a laptop does, but on a convenient tablet. Its perfect for reading comics, CBR format etc. Normally however this is too pricey.

I'd recommend - if you want a tablet - either a google nexus (7 or 10 inch) or the Galaxy tab 10.0 which my fathers just got. The Galaxy tab 10.0 has 16GB internal memory and a slot for a 32GB Micro SD. Dual core, good graphics, nice HD display, thats true and vibrant, a real pleasure watching HD films on it. Android operating system, and I have already downloaded about 50 free games, puzzles, quizzes, brain teasers and apps for my dad (which my kids love too) including the kindle app and another e-reader. Music is excellent, the cameras ok but add some of the fun picture apps and its mega fun turning photos of family members into sketches, paintings or just warping features and generally mucking about. Again however this is poor in direct sunlight, but the battery life was excelent, spent 6 hours with wifi on streaming the internet and the battery read over a quarter left. Not tested battery life for videos yet.

I believe its important to get one with additional memory options if you are into TV and film on your laptop. Remember 16GB internal memory sounds good, but they often use a good slice of that for the tablets operating system and files. And with a lot of new films being large HD quality they can be big files from 1.5Gb upto 4GB a film. (I've seen many films available online at 4.5GB, though typical size now a days seems to be 2GB for HD films.) So put 3 or 4 films on it and its full. However get one with an additional 32GB memory card (Get Class 10 to stream HD video from, which are exceedingly cheap now a days) and you can have a tonne of films, music books and apps without slowing your tablet down.

I think the question really comes down to: do you want a dedicated ebook reader, or do you want something that you can read books on as well as other things (with the understanding that you can play limited games and limited web surfing on the Kindle, but I wouldn't consider them selling points).

Which one is the best for you is something only you can decide. First you need to know if you want to use a tablet device with a backlit screen and more use options (that also tend to be more expensive and have shorter battery life) or a dedicated ebook reader which can mostly just read e-books and tends to have an e-ink screen (and all that implies). Then you can figure out what brand and price range works best.

I personally have a Kindle keyboard a Nexus 7 and my phone. I use the Nexus for a good chunk of my reading when I'm not dedicated to reading something and my phone when I am on the go. But when I want to do some serious reading for anything longer than an hour or two at a time I prefer the Kindle. I find I get headaches looking at backlit screens for much longer than that.

I personally have a Kindle keyboard a Nexus 7 and my phone. I use the Nexus for a good chunk of my reading when I'm not dedicated to reading something and my phone when I am on the go. But when I want to do some serious reading for anything longer than an hour or two at a time I prefer the Kindle. I find I get headaches looking at backlit screens for much longer than that.

I'm reminded of a review of the Kindle I read some years ago. It went something like: For casual everyday reading, my Kindle is fantastic. But when I read my children a bedtime story, I use a real book.

I can recommend the Cybook Bookeen Odessey HD Frontligt. Quite a long name! It features sturdy hardware and is the most well-suited ereader for Calibre use. The file system's completely open and the software itself works really well (except for PDF Reflow, which could be better).

[Kuc1ng]

I can highly recommend Kindle if you going to use it purely on reading books - go for the paperwhite one as it's allow you to read in the dark. iPad is best if you want to use for reading book and light internet browsing, loving my mini due to the size and it's weight (easy to carry around).

[bibliophile61]

Personally I love my cheap Kindle. No frills, no muss, no fuss

For reading I use Kindle 6'' E ink and I'm in love with it.
It doesn't have a touch screen, only five keys and I'm happy that I don't have to use a tissue every two hours. I really hate touch screens so I avoid them as much as I can. Even my cell phone isn't a touch thing.
Of course, there are lots of interesting apps on that expensive kindle, but after all, you bought the ebook reader for reading.
So, in my opinion, the best option is the cheapest Kindle. (don't forget about battery's life.)

Any Reader that cannot read ePub is garbage. That leaves out all eInk Kindles.

I have a kindle touch and a kobo aura. I love both, the kindle is super pratical and fast
My kobo aura is great for read mangas, I love the size, the glow is really good and if you don't want you can turn off. Also you can add new fonts, customize a lot of things. And can read a lot of formats, also you can add a sd card for more space if you need.

Which is better for avid readers - the nook simple touch glowlight or the Kindle Paperwhite or the Kobo Glo? I need a reader that is compatible for nearly all formats, i.e. epub, mobi, html, lit., pdf, text, rtf, docx, etc.
Also, one that can play music.

Thanks

I have a Kindle and read a lot. Since I bought this one I read more. It's addictive!
I suggest you buy a Kindle Paperwhite. I convinced one of my friends to buy one and now she is very delighted. It's good with mobi and you can use Calibre to convert books from epub or other formats to mobi.

I always appreciate my eBook reader when I just do not touch with his fingers on the display has to scroll or to use the menu. Kindle 3 my favorite reader Touch screens may be practical. I would miss my old Kindle 3 with real keys.