Oh gosh, I had no idea I was doing everything so wrong! A long time ago I bought one of those cheap aroma cookers and it did the job fine...or so I thought! I've been really into rice instead of pasta lately, and my former cooker was getting really old, so I thought, why not buy a good cooker. I tried to do research but everybody has such different opinions...I basically closed my eyes, scrolled down the page, and picked whichever one I looked at first. And oh boy am I glad I did! It cooks the rice p e r f e c t l y. I love this rice cooker and I love rice!