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Originally Posted by Worldwalker
The iPad is not an ebook reader. It's a general-purpose ... thingie ... kind of an iPod on sterioids ... what can read ebooks, among other things. It's sort of the electronic equivalent of a spork. Unless he also wants to use the device as a Web browser, game platform, MP3 player, and some random number of other purposes, he'll probably be better served by an actual ebook reader.
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The iPad makes an excellent bookreader. Yes, of course it can do lots of other things too, but that doesn't make it any the less a good bookreader.
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I came very close to buying a Kindle, and I'm glad I didn't. The deciding factor was actually how it felt in my hand -- frankly, it felt like a cheap plastic toy, while the 505 felt solid. There was also the fact that at the time, you had to pay Amazon to transfer your own files to the Kindle.
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I don't mean to be impolite, but this is completely untrue. You can copy files onto a Kindle via USB just as you can with the Sony. Perhaps you are referring to the fact that you can
also e-mail files to your Kindle and have them delivered wirelessly, for which service there is a small charge?
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I don't buy DRM-restricted ebooks. I get my books from DRM-free stores, and a lot (aka "the classics") from public domain sources like Project Gutenberg, and right here on MR. My to-be-read list is growing faster than I can read.  So if you don't want platform lock-in, DRM restrictions, and ebooks that cost more than hardcovers, that's the way to go.
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That is neither an argument for or against the iPad or the Kindle. Both can read DRM-free books.