Perhaps they are more available than people think. I found 3 places in town that had them for sale (when Sony was saying 4-6 weeks for online). Two Borders and a CompUSA.

None of them had a display and only one even knew they had them. I picked mine up at the CompUSA but it was a bit of a search. After spending 10 minutes looking around for a display, unit on a stand, sign, map fragment, anything, I asked a clerk (who had never heard of it) who looked it up, agreed that they should have that "Sony book thing" and called a floor manager.

We finally found them in the PDA area case (makes sense), on the bottom, behind the counter. Behind some other Sony items. Managers response? "Guess they got moved there because no one was buying them."

The moral? Ask! And if you have heard that a particular chain carries them (or will carry them) have them check their inventory. Heck, even Sonys site only listed one of the locations as having them so even that is pretty unreliable.