[boswd]

Well on here you are going to most likely get everyone telling you to buy what they bought because we love what we bought. So you'll have a Buy Sony, Buy Kindle Buy Nook, buy Kobo buy .....

But I can tell you why I bought and love the nook .

First off all the eink ereaders will meet your min. criteria. All have great battery lives. The kindle can go over 3 weeks with wifi off, Sony around 2+ and the nook about 5-8 days with wifi and 3G off. So you won't worry about charging any on a nightly basis.

They are all fairly light, the nook being the heaviest of the Big Three but even then it only weighs as much as 400 page Trade Paperback, so they are all very light.

But on to why I bought the nook over the others.

1. Looks and form factor. Love the design, love the touchscreen navigation on the second screen. Looks very stylish and love the rubberized back with a slight concave on each side. fits perfect in the hand. Well thought out design IMHO

2. The LCD second screen: I like seeing my book covers in color. I like cover flow and it's 2011 and capactive touchsreen for navigating menues, your library etc just feels more modern than the others.

3. Love it's main Eink screen. Was great before but after the last update,(v1.5) the screen even pops more. They seemed to darken the text on an already pretty creame colored background. Would rank it right up their with the newer Pearl Screen on the Kindle 3 and new Sony's.

4. Epub: I love to shop around. I can buy books from Kobo, Google books, Sony bookstore and use the Overdrive Library Lending. I don't have to worry about converting formats. Just a buy and drop and drag.

4. Sd card slot and replacable battery. love the xtra storage and be able to swap out batteries if need to.

5. In store support. Something doesn't seem right or have a question etc, I can bring it to my local Barnes and Noble and bring it to the nook counter.

6. More InStore fun features : Read any available books for up to an hour each day, in store nook only coupons. Free Starbucks Cafe drinks or desserts. It makes it a little more than just a "gadget" My wife and I have a blast with this. We try to make it in at least two to three times a month and just relax with the nook.

7. Barnes and Noble's ebook (nook books) store. It's one of the best in the business. Love it.

8. IMHO has THE BEST line of accesories, Everything looks and feels very stylish and high end.

Well these are most of the main reason I chose a nook over the other major ereaders, I'm sure the Kindle, Sony and others will chime in with their recommendations

I hope this helps.

Good luck. Also Barnes and Noble is supposed to make an announcement at the end of the month about a possible new Nook. Might want to wait for that as well just to see what it is all about. Could mean a better ereader for you and/or discounted orginal nook classics.