Kindle

[Nolus]

It's been a while since I've first heard about Kindle (or e-books in general). I'm very interested in those, since I want to read some books which aren't available here in my country (or at least not in the original language).
Easiest solution is buying them off Amazon or other similar places, which, however, sometimes cost much. It's not the book itself, but the horrendous shipping/handling price (it goes up to five times the book's value). I have to use this method for some books (for example my 1996 edition Swedish textbook), but I'd like to not have to pay so much just so the 2 dollar book can get here.
As far as I understand, e-books tend to be equal the price or cheaper than "real" ones, and you don't even need shipping for those. Furthermore, it's practical, comfortable, suited for long journeys or even just passing the time before a doctor's appointment.

So what do you think? Is Kindle (or whatever e-book readers are out there) worth their price?
I've also read about an app (I think) on tablet computers that makes it possible to read kindle e-books there. Would a tablet be more cost effective if I were to choose that? (Wi-fi/internet connection would certainly be nice, but as far as my knowledge goes, kindle has that as well).

[Commander Chopper]

Reading from a tablet is just like reading from your computer screen(in fact it's the same lcd screen technology).If you're not bothered by the aggressive backlight and can read hundreds of pages of text without your eyes starting to feel fatigue then just get a tablet.Like you said there is an app for reading e-books with the adequate pagination ,it's more cost effective and you can do a lot of stuff you can't do on an e-reader.
However,I have a kobo glo(they are the main rivals of kindle) and all I can say is that the reading experience is the closest to the real thing you can get.Your eyes won't feel fatigue from reading no matter how long you read.You can even read with the integrated backlight if you want and unlike the one on tablets it's on the side of the screen only the screen gets the light not your eyes(which is way more confortable).
In my eyes there is not much difference between an e-ink e-reader and a real book in terms of reading experience and confort.However I can't say as much about the tablet which I see more as a substitute of the computer.The tablet is thousands of miles ahead in terms of multimedia and internet(you can still use the internet on an e-ink reading device but it's not something i recommend)however if you're mainly/only looking for something to read books then the e-reader is the best choice.
Kindles are definitely worth their price,same goes for the tablets.In fact ever since the 2008 banking crisis most electronic devices are way under priced.

PS:The only problem i have with e-ink devices is the price of the ebooks,they are almost as expensive as real books.Because of that some shameless individuals resort to illegal methods(mainly downloading) to get their hands on the ebooks they want instead of paying for them.