Can I check out iBookstore online without using an iPad? I don’t have an iPad yet, and I’m trying to decide between that and a Kindle.

No. Currently, the only way to access and browse iBookstore is to use an iPad with the iBooks app. You can’t browse online or via iTunes. That might change someday as Apple brings iBooks to more platforms. The company announced it’d be moving iBooks to iPhones and iPod touches with the iPhone OS 4 update this summer. So if a Mac reader follows suit, it would make sense for you to be able to check out the selection through that app or even through iTunes. After all, we can now preview iTunes Store and App Store selections in our web browsers. But so far, iBookstore is too new.

The iBookstore: So far, it's for iPad's eyes only.

One thing to keep in mind is that you can also read Kindle books on the iPad with the free Kindle app, and non-iBookstore e-books can be read in either the iBooks app if the e-books are in ePub format or in other iPad-compatible reading apps. So if you do get an iPad, you’re not limited to just the e-books in the iBookstore.