I need your help

Dedicated devices, as far as I know, all have the limitations that you're trying to avoid (limited choices in bookstores and books). I could be wrong. At any rate, here are 3 that I'm aware of, just so you can investigate them and discard them as "right" for you fully informed.

• Kindle: Since you are in Canada, you need to check with some of your compatriots -- I think that y'all can't use the Kindle yet but I'm not sure. I'm 99.9% sure it has audio possibilities but if I remember correctly, initial reviews were poor for that feature.
• eBookwise: I love my mom's eBookwise but you can only buy books from a few places -- eBookwise.com, naturally, and the bookstore that Samhain Publishing uses are the only ones that I've used. Despite the limitations, you might consider it b/c it is fairly affordable. It doesn't have any audio possibilities yet but they asked me to do a survey and that was one question, so maybe they're going to add it.
• Sony eReader: I don't know much about the Sony reader but it has the same limitations that you're trying to avoid in bookstore choices. Vince Plato has one, so you could always ask him questions if you wanted to. I can't remember if it has audio -- I think so.

I've seen each of these readers and they all have nice "pluses" that the non-dedicated devices don't have (screen size, the "ink" in the cases of Kindle and Sony).

Non-Dedicated Devices (things like PDAs, Pocket PCs)

As a SAHM, I can't justify buying myself a Pocket PC, so I steal dh's Palm PDA. I have MobiPocket on it. The screen is smaller than my dream reader but as has been said, you can change the font size/color (can change background color, too). I think that I can/could buy something for the PDA that would make it audio-book compatible. I've never looked into it b/c we have 2 iPods (a shuffle and a Nano) plus a cheap MP3 player (talking US$10) and I like being able to slip them into a pocket or around my neck or clip them to me to listen to my books without worrying about breaking the screen. But for driving around or even walking around the neighborhood, it probably wouldn't matter.

Shewolf has a PPC -- I think an Axim. Vikki (v1978lp) bo't a used PPC or PDA last year. I think that they're both pleased with their choices.

If you buy used, be sure that there are no scratches on the screen. I've been told that it's beyond annoying and I know from just fingerprints on my screen that a scratch would be yukky.

While I love love love my mom's eBookwise when she's visiting (or I'm home) b/c of its screen size and other minor features, when I'm using the PDA, I'm fine with it. And I think that the newer models have larger screens. I know that at least one model does, b/c dh talked about buying it for me and I said not to just for my reading habit LOL.

Here are some blog entries I did in January:

eBooks: Forays into the 21st Century

and

Thoughts About Technology (eBooks and Audio Books)

So maybe that will help a bit, too.

Penn

I buy my ebooks from ereader.com and read them on my PC. The ereader is a free download and all my purchases are saved on their site so I delete the book when I am done. (You don't have to delete them of course, you can keep a bookshelf on your computer.)