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Good point--what kind of rice are you wanting? Persian-style or indian-style rice cooking is very different from east asian rice cooking. For that matter, the preferred type of rice and texture is different too! Persian/indians tend to prefer longer grain rices, such as basmati, and the type of cooking they do makes beautiful, fluffy rice, possibly flavored with spices. East asians use a medium- to short-grain rice, and the type of cooking they do makes sticky, chewy rice.
Rice cookers are only useful for the latter, and for that matter, only useful if you eat a lot of rice! It's kind of like a toaster in that regard. I don't eat toast very often, so I forego a toaster and just use a skillet when I want a slice. If I ate toast more often for breakfast, however, a toaster would be very handy.
Just like toasters, the degree of fanciness depends on how often you cook rice. If you don't cook very often, go for a cheap brand. Since all a rice cooker is really is a heating element that knows when to turn itself off, it's not a hard thing to mess up. The fancier brands have nice features such as the ability to keep rice warm and moist, timers, ez cleanup pots. Hardly necessary, however, if you're not cooking very often.
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oh baby oh baby, i like gravy.
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