I never had any android device before (or any type of Ereader).....Originally I was going to get the nook classic (love Eink)....the people at Barnes and Noble really convinced me to get the NookColor.....
I played with mine for about 4-5 day's before rooting....it was helpful to know what I had (as Scion suggests)....Loved the the features on the stock NC.....wasn't even planning on rooting....Didn't actually know that something like rooting existed, before digging deeper on this forum....
I noticed I'd prefer better file management, organization.....I'm not a gamer, so rooting to access games was not really in the equation....Had no clue what The Market even was.....
From reading posts I decided that rooting would allow me the flexibility I was looking for....knowing that I could easily reset it back to factory settings (and bricking it - making it a $250 paperweight, was really not even a possibility)....I began researching the root process....
Went with rooting.....and found it to be easier than I thought, and really was able to follow the directions pretty easily......Scion sure helped when I came up with minor issues or questions
....
I'm glad I rooted.....it's been a blast customizing my NC.....there's more to rooting than just games (although I've enjoyed some game play)
I've only read 1 complete novel so far, and a few of the free short story books....so my reading has suffered a bit....but the fun setting it up, to my liking, has outweighed any negatives....
The standard out of the box NookColor is sweet....loved it.....but rooting takes it to another level......
Either way.....you'll enjoy it....