Evernote users, explain your purpose with this app

I've heard a lot of good things about evernote, and thinking of downloading and trying it out.

WOuld like to hear from users how you use evernote, and what makes it so good?

I have a bunch of notes on paper, and study guides, that I would like to read on my ipad / mac, and not have to carry around my folders with all these pieces of paper. Not sure if evernote is a solution to this problem or not.