There are also free ebooks in public domain, and library books.

Oh yeah, I think I'm going to eat up the free ebooks.

And then never get around to reading them.

Also, the idea of having certain books on me at all times is great--I have Hitchhiker's on paper, obviously. But now, I can sit down and read it again anytime anywhere.

Yeah, that is kind of cool! Like I have Machine of Death on my phone! With the Kindle app. But now I can have it bigger. ALSO, maybe then I will read that free Skulduggery Pleasant book sometime. Although those books have pretty badass covers and I would want to buy them.

And I totally need to figure out how the library ebooks work! Because that would be fucking great, not to have to get to the library before it closes or whatever.

Amazon has that lending library for Prime-account-having Kindle owners. You can take advantage of that.

So what else can I do with a Kindle Touch besides buying books that I would rather buy physically?

Library books and travel.

Amazon has that lending library for Prime-account-having Kindle owners. You can take advantage of that.

Oh yeah! I totally have Prime. That's only one book a month, but that's not bad, though, especially if it can let me read some really recent books that I wouldn't be able to get at the library.

Do I need to get a screen protector and a case and all that? What do people recommend?

Library lending is easy. You go to your library's website, find where it is (edit: navigate to the digital library or whatever they call it), enter your library card number, search the catalog, and find books you like, and check them out. Unfortunately, Kindle library books are new, so there aren't as many of them as there are epub, but it's growing pretty fast (caveat, here, may be different where you are).

Edited to make a little more sense.

Do I need to get a screen protector and a case and all that?

How are you going to be carrying it?

I'll probably have it in my backpack. Or maybe in a cargo pants pocket. Or tossed in a bag.

I don't think you need a case. Maybe an envelope if you're going to toss it in your bag with a bunch of scratchy things, but I've stopped using mine. They're pretty durable in recent iterations. I don't think a screen protector is necessary either - scratches are way less of a big deal on a non-backlit screen.

I was never on the "I like real books and don't need a kindle" bandwagon but I've seen plenty of people who were change their minds after using a Kindle for a while. I would encourage you to buy one book that you think you will really enjoy reading on the kindle (or borrow one from the Kindle Prime library, or your local library which may have a better Kindle selection than you think), maybe something kind of addictive, so you really read the whole book on the kindle, quickly. I've seen a few people get "that book they always meant to read" but didn't really want to read, and blame their lack of interest in reading it on the kindle. If you avoid that, and read a real page-turner, I think you might be surprised how much you enjoy the experience.

I'd be happy to lend you a Kindle book, to get you started. I can e-mail you a list of what I've got available to lend.

me too! I am happy to loan as well.