Regarding the Quality Control on the Reader: I agree you're having a rough time with it, coolblue, and I don't mean to minimize that at all. But consider that your two Problem Children units represent two of the, what? 5~6 reported hardware issues here on the forum, out of over 130 units (according to the Reader Counter, anyway). That's a pretty low incidence, particularly if you compare it to the trials and tribulations that the poor iLiad folks have gone through (fortunately, iRex seems to have outgrown that problem!).
True, the Connect software is ... rudimentary, to put it generously, and the phone support has been ... spotty, and it is depressing that you (or anyone) would have trouble with two in a row. But part of the discontent is that we
do tend to hold Sony to a higher standard.