Best ereader for a newbie?

[saysomthing]

So after trying to read an ebook on my phone, I finally got the hang of it. My only problem is it hurts my eyes after a long period of time, so I decided to buy an ereader. I want something that's a bit cheaper (less than $100) but something that'll do the task perfectly. I've researched a bit and found some good picks. My first choice was kindle 4. It was obvious since I buy ebooks from amazon. But I heard that after a long duration of time or about a year, the kindle will malfunction (something about the screen?), so that turned me off. Is it true or false? Other ereaders were good (Nook, Sony, Kino) but I want something that'll work with amazon ebooks. So far, I see none T_T Is kindle my only choice? I'll choose the paperwhite 3g version later in the future but as of now, I just want a simple ereader....
Tablets are out of the question, BTW....

 

[RoseD]

I've had the Kindle 3, aka the Kindle Keyboard, for 2.5 years now. No problems at all. My father has a Kindle that's 6 months older than mine and it still works fine. I don't know where this rumor about them malfunctioning after a year started - probably the same place as the rumor that you can only buy content from Amazon. Both are untrue.

The basic Kindle is a good choice. I can read mine for 8 hours or more with no eye strain. Also, it's easy to enlarge the font, which can come in handy.

 

[Corvato]

if you want an ereader that is compatible with Kindle ebooks, you need to get a Kindle ereader