[eric11210]

Because I didn't know about the library scan issue until after I bought it and loaded it with my books. And since I live in Israel, it's not so easy to simply return it and buy something else. I'll pay return shipping back to the States and then pay taxes when a different unit comes in from overseas. Unfortunately, in all the reviews I read about the Sony Reader, no one mentioned the library scan issue. And it's certainly not mentioned on their web site. So, instead, I'm learning to live with the problem. It's only an issue when I add books anyway since I have a charger so I've taken to adding books only once a week.

Edit: And the Sony is the only name brand reader I've found for sale here. The reader I ordered from Borders for $178 including shipping, were I to buy it at a local store (there is only one that I found offering it) is going for 1,399 shekels ($368.15 at the current exchange rates). Other readers I saw advertised locally are from brands I never heard of but cost even more (around 2,000 shekels or around $526.35). I think they're more expensive since they have Hebrew support (and while I do speak fluent Hebrew, as an expat American, I still prefer to read in my native language), which is a rarity here (books are really big here, but I have yet to see a single person besides me with a book reader -- we're still very much in the dead tree world), but the bottom line is that I don't have the option of buying a different one here either.

I also happened to get lucky that the customs people passed it through without charging me tax on the thing. I think they saw the book box that Borders shipped it in and assumed it was a book without bothering to look at the (clearly visible) customs declaration with the value written on it. Otherwise, I should have been charged an extra $60-$80 in taxes, so unless this thing absolutely fails to do what I want, I have really good reasons to keep it.

Eric