Hi Pabz and welcome to Mobilread - the very BEST site for all things ebook and ereader related!! There's masses of info here, links to the best deals going, hints tips and advice plus thousands of free ebooks. Can I recommend this thread to get you going:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=43794
As far as the specific queries you mention go.....the pricing of ebooks is one of the hottest topics on the threads at the moment. We usually find that while a book is still only in hardback, the ebook price is comparable. Once the paperback is issued, however, the ebook price will drop to somewhere around the same, if not lower. Many sites and publishers offer free books as promotions - watch Mobileread for the links!!
Can you swap books with pals? Sort of........ a lot of ebooks have DRM, security protection, which may prevent swapping. It's possible to remove the DRM, but that may not be legal, depending on where you live. Lots of books Don't have DRM of course - in which case you're fine! Have a look at the WIKI section (follow the link at the very top of the page) for explanations and tutorials on all sorts of things.
Happy reading!!
