Nooks are nice for the brick and mortar factor, especially since he can read anything for free while he's in the store. You can also easily download books from the library or upload anything in PDF format (so everything on Project Gutenberg). If you have the opportunity I would take him to the store so he can see and play with all of the models before you buy. Looking at a backlit screen can be exhausting on the eyes if he reads constantly, so maybe not the color. He could do books and newspapers on the eink styles.

I'd go with the Nook as it has the universal epub format. Your dad can get help at the bookstore; he can download hundreds of thousands of books for free (out of copyright date), and it will read ebooks from the library. That being said, I own two Kindles and love them (but they can only read books in Kindle format purchased from Amazon, so they aren't as versatile as the Nooks). You may also consider whether you and your dad read similiar books. If the answer is yes and you expect to share titles, you would both need to have similar device formats.

The nook if he likes b+n!
If you are in the store you can browse/read any book while there.
Probably at least the nook color, to read magazines in color.
Would check out their tablet though.
Needs wifi, connects automatically in store.
You cannot buy books/ connect internationally though, need to buy before you leave.
Or, since he seems to like apple- an ipad!
Lots of advantages, and you can still read your nook books with the b+n app. I like the reading quality on both .
Certain functions (highlighting, adding notes) don't seem to work the same on the app as opposed to the nook though .

Agreed that the Nook is better because you can go to the store and get friendly tech help! Got it for my mom, she loves it.

My dad has a Kindle but he's pretty tech savvy even at 75.

The new paper white kindle is supposed to be great

I just got my Dad a Kindle keyboard. You can get it with 3G, which is good since he doesn't have WiFi (still dials in to AOL!). I thought he would prefer being able to type on a real keyboard too. In your case, I'd look at the Nook options though.

My 71 year old mom prefers the nook because she likes being able to go to a brick and mortar store to ask questions about it. She has the Simple Touch. If I were buying for her today, I'd get the backlit version.

I'd like to get my 71-year-old dad an e-reader for Christmas. Although I have a Kindle that's several years old (and I like it) I don't know a lot about the various options that are on the market currently. Here's some background:

--He's never used one before
--He's a voracious reader (lots of books, plus he gets print editions of the NYTimes and magazines like The Atlantic & The Economist)
--He travels a lot, domestically and internationally
--He's not super technically proficient but better than most his age
--He already has a laptop (Mac) and an iPhone
--He enjoys browsing at Barnes and Noble (the only book store in town)
--He wears reading glasses but his eyesight is otherwise pretty good

Any suggestions on the best way to go?