If you haven’t heard, e-readers (eReaders, if you prefer) are the wave of the future in publishing. With the same experience as reading from paper, e-readers take e-books to the next level (and reduce eyestrain FTW).

I’ve accepted that an e-reader is probably in my future—but suddenly, I realized that future is now: I’m in the market for an e-reader.

I actually had planned this post before I began shopping. I was planning to hold out until my “ideal e-reader” became a reality. (In short, it would be a cross between a Kindle and an iPad, with a touchscreen that could be LCD or e-Ink as needed. Don’t look at me that way—I’m not a hardware person! I don’t know/care if that’s impossible!) But I don’t have to hold out until my iRead dream becomes a reality—I have the money for an e-reader right now.

So if we’re shopping for an e-reader now, the main contenders are the Barnes & Noble NOOK and the Amazon Kindle. It doesn’t hurt that they both just dropped their prices under $200.

Here are the basics: they’re both about the same size. They both use e-Ink for an awesome reading experience (I’ve heard). They both wirelessly download books, including many free books in the public domain. They can both take notes on your books, and can hold about 1500 books, they say.

The Kindle is tied to Amazon. It reads mainly Amazon-tied formats, though you can email some types of files (like Word documents) to a Kindle account and have them converted. (I hear they’re free if you have them emailed back and put them on your Kindle through your computer; there’s a nominal fee if you want it delivered wirelessly to your device). Amazon has an awesome selection and on average, slightly lower prices on e-books. It also has a bubble button “hard” keyboard and can read your books to you with text to speech software.

The Nook is tied to Barnes & Noble. In addition to the e-Ink screen, it features a smaller LCD touchscreen. This is where you find your library as well as a virtual keyboard, and even email and some games. For a few select books, you can loan a book one time to another Nook owner for two weeks. The Nook supports more e-book formats—but not Amazon’s proprietary format. You can take it into B&M B&Ns and sample books for free, up to an hour a piece per book, I think. It also features a replaceable battery and a memory card, so you can expand your library even more, should you ever own more than 1500 e-books.

I still have to try out the gadgets in person (Kindles are at some Targets and Nooks are obviously at B&Ns), but I think I’m leaning toward one right now. Still not totally committed.

What do you think? Would you choose the Nook or the Kindle? What would your ideal e-reader look like?