It can serve multiple purposes, though legally is it's most predominant. If by chance anything referenced has bearing on a real life thing, one can perceive the work as factual or at least an unflattering commentary/slander against that thing, resulting in legal prosecution. In this instance it serves the same purpose of putting "Caution Beverage Hot" on a coffee cup.

Another use case I can see is in cases of historical fiction, in which while the events are indeed based around historical facts, there is allot of author liberty taken in telling the story, and to dispel the idea it is indeed 100% fact, a clarification is given.

I thought it still converted it though to one of their newer formats

So, the Kindle is e-ink, meaning it helps with not getting the headaches a standard iPad or tablet would.

The text is customizable. The font, boldness, size, and orientation can all be changed.

You can also connect your Kindle to a PC and upload your own ebooks on to it. This is really the only downside though, as Kindle likes special formats and everything else will have to be converted to other formats using a program like Calibre.

This effectively gives you unlimited free access to books if you know what you're doing.

The price is a bit much, but if you're an avid reader I'd say it's worth the barrier to entry. My reading has skyrocketed since buying a Kindle. I personally have a Paperwhite but you may want to research the pros and cons of different models or even different brands like Kobo