Here's a partial follow up to my problem. This morning, taking Jim's advice
, I installed and opened ADE on the computer that we've been unable to activate. It activated flawlessly and the ePub books stored in a folder on the computer appeared. At the moment I can't test to see if the books transfer to the reader or see if the Sony Store software will work properly now as my wife has her reader with her while waiting at the hospital with a relative and I won't have the reader until this evening. Once she gets home I will see if ADE recognizes the reader and then attempt a logon to the Sony Store and see if their software recognizes the computer. I think things are coming together. I can't express my gratitude enough to members of this forum for their suggestions and especially Jim who stepped in without my asking and offered his assistance.
Duhh...I remembered I could access the Sony Store without the reader so I tried and SUCCESS!! I wonder if the problem may have been with the Sony Store and their server failure issues they had right after Christmas...thats when I was continually having to logon and reauthorize the computer (not realizing I was using up my activations each time I did). Everything appears to be working now and I only have to wait until tonight to tether the reader and make sure that works. The day is getting better already.