Well, I'd much rather have an ipad honestly, but that's not in the cards financially. I can, however, afford an e-reader which, given how much I love reading (and the fact that I usually have at least three or four books in my backpack) would be a decent investment. Given the research I've done I think I'm leaning towards a Nook, but I'm open to arguments for the Kindle if anyone has them. Thoughts?

So, a (probably unneeded) update, but...

After seeing both devices in person, I went with the Nook. The touch screen was, for me, a MUCH nicer way to interface than the keyboard. So far, I am extraordinarily happy with my purchase; I have bought (or added to my wish list) almost every book I could possibly want, and will probably be reading a lot of things I otherwise wouldn't thanks to all of the free books they have available. It's convenient, easy to use, and an awesome boredom-killer. And since it can read PDFs (which Kindle can to, for the record) I have loaded all the Army field manuals I might need onto it was well. Literally thousands of pages and tens of pounds of manuals all easy accessible and searchable from my little Nook. I love this thing.

Syd Lexia wrote:

But what if your Nook falls into enemy hands?! They'll have thousands of pages of army protocol.

Hahaha nah, these are just field manuals. Nothing classified in the slightest--the army has them available for free download by anyone on their website (which is how I got them.)

As for txt files, no it doesn't take those. However, all you have to do is covert said txt file into PDF format, and you're good to go. (I downloaded a bunch of gamefaq strategy guides in txt--I like to read them for entertainment in my spare time, shut up!--and did the PDF conversion. Loaded perfectly.)

I know! The only issue with that is that the e-paper display is, of course, black and white only, which destroys some of the fun of a beautiful manual like, say, Legend of Zelda. Still fun to re-read and browse though.