No contract needed with a kindle, anonymousbird - it is all built in ot the Amazon price.
there are 2 types" wifi (need a wifi connection, either at home or a hotspot) to connect.
or 3g, which connects anywhere via Amazon whispernet.
I ahve the wifi version, as it is all I need. dh has the 3g versin, as he has newspaper/magazine subs, and travels a lot, so is not always in reach of wifi.
nespaper is delivered over the waves each morning to his kinde.
as someone said earlier, if you set up a joint amazon account, and register more than one kndle to it (if both you and your partner want one) then you get 2 for the price of one, as you can deliver purchases to more than one kindle.
they are fab. truly marvellous.