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buttbot: I agree with CRussel, go to a Target or Best Buy and give the various devices a whirl. That way you can get a feel for how they feel and operate.
Personally, I think the Kindles and Nooks are the best products on the market now. They do pretty much the same thing, are similarly prices, and both have good customer service. I would say that Amazon has better customer service but I have heard that BN has gotten a lot better and that the store side service has really helped folks.
Sony makes some great e-readers but the latest and greatest seems to be very glitchy. I will happily recommend it to folks when I hear that the various bugs have been fixed.
Kobo has many loyal fans but has never excited me. It seems to be a step behind the Kindle, Sony, and Nook in many features. It does what it does well but for the same price you can get devices that do a little bit more.
I have no experience with the smaller manufacturers and cannot comment on their devices.
I would suggest going to the bookstores you think you are going to be shopping at and searching for the books that you enjoy reading. Which bookstore has more of the books that you enjoy? Are the prices different?
People make a big deal about the format differences but the truth is that Amazon has the largest e-book store (when you remove public domain books from the totals) and most folks are able to find everything that they want there. As WT Sharpe pointed out, there are stores that sell Mobi formated books that you can read on a Kindle and a ton of websites with public domain books available for the Kindle.
Unless you are planning on spending a good amount of time shopping around many e-books stores to find the right price for your book, I think you will find that Amazon and B&N are comprable with what they sell and you would be fine with either store.
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