Welcome to MobileRead, Dave!
Sony "thing", hmmm??!

That's the first time I've heard it called that.

We've had a lot of discussions here at MR about what we should actually call our dedicated reading devices, ie., reader, ereader, liseuse, but not "thing".

Anyway, be sure and check out all the free ebooks you can download here at MR and join into some of the discussions. The threads concerning the new developments at Sony are pretty hot right now.
Happy Reading!