[gorillarick]

Salt water softener. Your water will feel slick, you'll need less soap in the shower and washing machine. Soft water will dry-out your skin less than hard water, and leave less residue/build-up on your skin, clothes, and plumbing. Your clothes might even seem whiter/brighter after washing.

Softener may or may not make your water taste better (but not worse); but a filter on your fridge and the cold-water side of your sink (if a decent filter - like one with charcoal), will make it taste tasteless.
Worth the investment; and while these filters seem expensive, they are dirt cheap if you can only drink bottled water, and what a hassle dealing with the big or even little bottles.

Potassium is more expensive compared to salt; but I have no experience with them.

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I plan to replace my water softener soon. Current unit is very old, and it is very expensive to change the media. In my opinion at this point - not worth it; start over.
But, I plan to have a particle/sediment filter installed on the input. My theory is the softener will last longer if it doesn't have to fight garbage floating thru the pipes in addition to dissolved minerals. Should make the media last longer.

btw: We get a report on TV water once a year. We have pretty good water (safety wise / EPA wise), but they/we can't afford to have all the minerals removed.

Ironic - we remove minerals and then take vitamin/mineral pills to replace them. But, there is some bad stuff that needs to be removed.