Better reader - Cybook
Bookeen's cybook has faster page turns (and you can turn off "optimal" mode to get it still faster, at the slight risk of ghosting) and can play basically any ebook/document format out there. (It does still have some issues with very large pdf files though.) Hundreds of thousands of current in-copyright books are available in Mobipocket format (with and without drm) including most/all of the Baen library. (Plus, Mobi allows for time-limited access.. which means there are actual free ebook lending libraries out there. Bizarre, huh?)
Although it gets rid of the 8 million controls on the Sony reader, it is not without flaws - its more fragile (plastic case vs aluminum). And there is an ongoing question about GPL compliance since the backend runs Linux. (Booreader is purely commercial though, so with nothing much to gain nobody is really pursuing it.)
Oh, and it only shows up as mass storage - if you really want to use the mobipocket manager app you can, but its not required for any of the features to work (including drm).
Price is about the same as the Sony, and books tend to be 50-75% the cost of the equivalent paperback.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
