Just being Nosy....you folks say things like Gen 2, etc.  I just wonder How Many are there & What does Each Do??

There are three generations plus the DX, which is, I think part of generation 2. 

Generation one is a basic ereader. I can't recall now whether it's 4 shades or 8 shades of gray. Little wheel that was used to select books, open menus, that kind of thing. Had an SD card holder and a user-replaceable battery. Has an mp3 player for audiobooks and music. I've had one for nearly 3 years now and it's still going strong and I can still read from it perfectly well. For lots of details, see            http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_cn?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200143650

Generation two dropped the SD card slot and the user-replaceable battery but brought the shades of gray up to 16 and definitely sharpened the display. Added more memory capacity for the books. Has a little switch - like a tiny joystick - instead of the wheel to select things, changed some of the menus, added Text to Speech (when the publisher allows it), and added .pdf reading capability. Added Collections capability and several more font sizes. Changed the way the page forward and page back buttons are arranged and manipulated to make it harder to page forward accidentally.      http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_cn?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200375430

Generation two also introduced the DX, which is much larger than the K2, but otherwise much the same. The screen is more than 9" instead of 6" and it's heavier but it's very nice to read pdfs or newspapers on because of the larger display. Textbooks display better on the larger screen, too. I'd like to have one but I think it might be too heavy for me to hold for long periods.      http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_cn?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200375440

Generation three is a little smaller but the screen is still 6", hid the top row of the keyboard, allows a person a choice between graphite shell and the oyster or off-white shell. I don't have one but the display is supposed to be even more crisp, about a 50% improvement in contrast is claimed. It's even thinner than the K2. Allows a person to have a cheaper version in the WiFi only version ($139), or to pay upfront for wireless by getting the more expensive 3G version ($189 I think). It's about 2 ounces lighter than the K2. There's more stuff, see this article: http://www.macworld.com/article/153673/2010/08/kindle3_review.html  

or http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_left_cn?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200503360

I'm sure others can think of more differences. These are the ones I can come up with off the top of my often-defective noggin. 

ETA links and edit typo. 

With the K2 they added international 3g access (you should be able to download books when outside the us).  and the k2 is when they started selling the international version to other countries.  they also recently added a uk ebookstore, seperate from the us one.  I am not sure if us based folks get an extra charge with books delivered outside us, but i have seen post from intl users that they do.

They added voice features for the menus with k3, text to speech is with in the book only.

Battery life and memory are expanded in each version.  K3 says battery will last a month with 3G off.

Nook adv 10 day battery life BUT thats based on 1 hour reading per Day & the Nook being OFF the rest of the time....   So what does 1 Month really mean??

Nook also adv library downloads in Both Audio & eBooks.   eBooks I guess you can say they except....unless your library does NOT have.  As for the Library Audio books   WELL IF they are MP3 it works But you also Have to buy Micro SD Card..    BTW Any cheap MP3 Player would work!  My Library ONLY has WMA format..NOOK Doent do those!  To me its been a LOT of False Adv & Hype with the Nook!   [I returned my Nook & paid $40 at Best Buy for a WMA PLayer]

From what I understand, as long as your address and credit card address are US-based, there's no extra charge for the international download. This is according to a friend who lives down the block who spent the holidays in London. 

Does Kindle Require Cred Cards?  I know my Amazon Account doesnt!  If there is Not enough money in it to buy something it just flashes a message.

For battery life, I can only speak from my own experience. 

On my K1, which I read about an hour a day, with the WhisperNet off, I can go a good 3 weeks without charging it, and that's on a battery that's three years old. When I used it more, of course the battery ran down faster, about like the K2 below. 

On my K2, which I read often as much as 12 hours a day, sometimes more, I can go generally 10 days before the battery gets down to about 25% and I want to charge it up. I do not play music or audiobooks on it, however, and I understand that those things really eat up battery time. I have the wireless turned off unless I'm downloading something. A few times when I've downloaded a lot of books at once, the battery has lost power faster, I assume because of the indexing, but that lasted only until the books were indexed, a few hours, a one-time recharge. 

On my Nook, bless its little heart, I'm lucky to get a week on a charge, even if I'm not reading anything on it. I have the airplane setting on (= wireless is off) and have the LCD portion set to light up only 5 seconds, and again I don't  play music or audiobooks on it. I think I have a defective battery but B&N does not want to admit it. Eventually I'll stop being stubborn and buy a new battery but right now I'm digging in my toes, sending emails and trying to get a new battery out of them. 

Hope this helps. 

What I do is use my credit card to buy myself an Amazon gift card. That way I don't have to deal with all those 99 cent purchases showing up on my credit card -- some credit cards don't like a 99 cent charge -- and it also helps me stay in my budget. I buy myself one gift card per month, and when it's gone, it's gone. 

They just going to tell you NO!!  The forums on the nook are full of complaints about the battery!  10 HOURS of battery life is Normal!  On Amazon they sell them for $20!!  B&N charges $40!  FYI if you care to buy a back up!

I agree that it's much cheaper to buy an inexpensive mp3 player to listen to audiobooks, or I listen to them by way of my computer for the WMAs. Works fine and is very straightforward. 

Oh, that's good info re Nook battery -- thank you! 

Begining to sound like I should have got a Kindle  LOL     With B&N you Can use a gift card to buy BUT you have to have cr crad to reg the Nook & incase you go over your gift card limit when buying books.  AND without credit card You CANT use anybalance you have on your Gift card!!  I LOST $18 gift card balance when I returned my Nook & my son removed his cr card information from my account!  BTW also from the forums ....  B&N tends to use CC for buying instead of gift cards!

Thank You for all the information on Kindles!  I goofed when B&N AND Overdrive said the NOOK did Audio books I NEVER thought to make sure it was licenced for the WMA format  grrrr   I soo tired of being tied to my computer to listen to a book!  I did buy a Sansa MP3 WMA player to Cut the Computer cord LOL    

I think you might have to have a credit card to register a Kindle, too. What I've seen on the forums there is that some people have been able to register a Kindle without one, but most people say they had to have at least one of those reloadable cards on file with Amazon. One woman said she got a reloadable card that just had a $5 balance on it and used that to register her Kindle, and then used gift cards from there on out. So I don't have a definite answer. 

I like my Sansa mp3 player a lot. It's taken a lot of abuse, I've dropped it about 20 times, and it just keeps on playing. :-) It's pretty easy on batteries, too, considering. 

BTW, there's freeware that you can use to convert WMAs to mp3s. I haven't done it but it looks pretty straightforward.     http://www.askdavetaylor.com/convert_wma_from_windows_media_player_into_mp3_files.html

I got a 2 gig thru Amazon $20 with it I can buy extra rechargable batteries [$7 each].....      the 4 gig I got a Best Buy you cant change the batteries grrr  Both allow 15 HOURS of listening time!  Both use the micro SD cards....which I will put my MP3 books on LOL then I can pop that into the Charged player LOL  The Sansa Clip [4gig] I have to charge thu my computer grrr  The Sansa 2gig I purchased a kit for $4 that I can charge thru computer...car or Plug int wall socket.        

Tried that with/for the Nook Didnt work!  At least not for me!  & Wasnt free...   

With the K2 they added international 3g access  

You Cant do this with Nook UNLESS you have a US address! 

Mar... decided to ask CS about the cr Card....Here the eMail they sent back...    In a Word NO...... My son said Buy Kindle LOL  1 reason I returned the Nook Credit Card Required!!  I Dont have any...  Sons is Bank debit card account has 25 cents in it!! 

Hello,
 
You can purchase Kindle content without using the credit card.
 
To order digital content on Amazon.com, you must establish a default 1-Click billing address on your Amazon.com a
ccount. You are not required to have a credit or debit card on your account to order free digital content or p
urchase digital content using an Amazon.com gift card.
 
To establish a 1-Click billing address:
 
1. Visit the 1-Click Settings page in Your Account ().
2. Click the "Enter a new address" button.
3. Enter the address information and click the Continue button.
 
Set the address as your default by clicking the link on the address labeled "Click here to make this your 1-Click d
efault address." You may be prompted to associate a credit or debit card with the address, but entering one of 
these payment methods is not required.