I personally LOVE my Nook. I used to be one of those people that would have the carry on full of books and hated lugging it. The Nook solved that problem for me. I'm an avid reader and the lure of being able to carry hundreds of books with me on one little device was too much to pass up.

I don't personally have any experience with an iPad, but I love the way the Nook emulates real paper. As another poster mentioned, I find it actually easier to read on the Nook than real paper as well. Not sure why that is. Anyway, +1 for an eReader over an iPad if you only want it to read.