There are a lot of e-readers on the market. You can see an up-to-date chart comparing them all on my site.

I'm going to focus on the Amazon Kindle and the Barnes & Noble Nook. These units have the best price-performance ratio and the best content-delivery systems. I'll also cover some tablets that work as e-readers.

Even though that narrows the field considerably, it still leaves us with multiple e-readers to consider. Price will play a large role in your selection. However, content is also important. Not every reader has access to the same content, so you'll want to make sure you choose one with access to the content you most want.

Amazon Kindle
Before we get started, I want to clarify Amazon's pricing scheme for you. Each reader has two prices - the higher price is the actual price of the reader. The lower price means you're buying a Special Offers version of the same reader. Special Offers is just a nice marketing term that means you'll see advertising on the reader's home screen. You'll have to decide if that's worth the lower price to you.

The Kindle ($69; $89) is Amazon's entry-level e-reader. The latest version features 15 percent faster page turns and a higher-resolution E-ink display. However, it still uses buttons for navigation rather than a touch screen.