As I type this the infamous Kindle vs. iPad commercial is on TV.
There is no reason you can't have both, as long as you can afford them. The Kindle is a great reader, much lighter and much more focused on reading than the iPad. Luckily you get 30 days to try out the Kindle if you buy it from Amazon. If it doesn't work for you, send it back. If it does work for you, you'll be able to sync your Kindle books with the iPad, so you can go back and forth.
Have fun experimenting!
