Newbee……
I don’t consider audio books equal to traditional hardbound books. You don’t see the punctuation, italics, etc. in an audio book. Instead you get the voice interpretation of the reader, not your own take.
As to Kindles, I have two, the original and a modern Fire Paperwhite. I don’t find the battery life sufficient for long haul intercontinental overnight flights. Besides, I prefer print to ebooks, buts that’s a topic for another thread