I got my Kindle last November and LOVE it! I have always been a book junkie, and packing for beach or leisure vacations always involved several books taking up valuable suitcase space. My boyfriend is so frustrated over the shelves filled with books that I can't part with...
The beauty of the Kindle is that my library can grow and grow, but the physical space in my already cramped basement library does not get more crowded. My inner 2 year old LOVES the immediate gratification of "I want it now" and 60 seconds later, I am reading!
For example, a few weeks ago I was listening to the podcast from the podcast cruise, and before the end of the podcast, I had downloaded "Creating Magic", the book discussed, for my Kindle.
Visually, the text on the page feels very much like a book; it's kind of hard to describe, but it's not like reading on a computer screen...it feels more like paper to look at. It's very comfortable, and I love that I can move around to any position I would normally read in and there's no change in the visibility of the text.
As far as the battery goes, as long as the wireless is turned off, it will last for several days, unless you are doing a really long marathon weekend or something. I was sick a few weeks ago and curled up and read for about 10 hours a day, 3 days in a row, and by the third day, I needed to charge the Kindle. Usually though, I go a week or two between charges. When the wireless is on, even if you're not actively using it, the battery goes a lot faster.
I've even taken it to the beach (in a ziplock just in case) and was surprised how well I could read in the sunlight.
LOVE LOVE LOVE the Kindle. Could live without it...but don't want to! One word of warning: it's very easy to impulse buy and spend more than you planned to...Electronic books ARE cheaper, but when you buy way more of them because you don't have to worry about carrying them to your car, or fitting them on your shelves...well, let's just say the vacation fund could be at risk!!!

Brooke