I'm actually pretty darn good at making rice on the range, and am vain enough to be proud of my sharp judgment and steely nerve (of rice). But man, it's kind of observation-intensive. With a good ricemaker, you can just put the rice and water in, plug it in, and flick the switch, and then just read a book or something without worrying about scorching it.

Plus, I only have one saucepan right now, so I couldn't make rice and chili at the same time. When I was deciding whether to buy another (probably better) pan or an automatic rice cooker, the dollarage was coming out pretty similar. I ended up deciding that a rice cooker was less versatile, but more useful.