so hey, i hope you come back and check this thread, because I think I can help you.

I was in the same boat a few months ago. I have been using clie's (and a couple of actual palms) as my primary ebook readers since the late 90s, and would probably have gone on doing so forever if the things were still made.

however when my third SJ33 died a couple of years ago, I decided to see if I could jump to something more modern but still possessing the features I need (can upload my own books, backlit screen, fairly high resolution, and preferably an auto-scrolling ebook app.... ooooohhh, deepreader, how i miss you).

so anyway, I "borrowed" my girlfriend's ipod touch and started dicking around with it. I concluded that the screen was good enough pretty quickly, and the battery life seemed to be at least on par with my clie's, so that was fine. what took me forever to find though was a good ebook app. but rather than detailing my months-long search and all the candidates that i tried and rejected, i'll just cut to the punchline:

get eReader. its seems to be based on the same code as the palm app, which was my second favorite ebook reader after deepreader. and it has the two absolute most important features: auto-scrolling, and the ability to add your own books.

seriously. get it. it's free, and you can import your own books. there is one caveat of course: the books have to be in .pdb format, at least as far as i've been able to tell. if you are like me and have been using pdb files on a palm for years, that aint a problem. likewise, if your books are in txt, doc, html, or any other standard text-style format, its easy as hell to convert them to pdb files. google around a bit and you'll find multiple ways to convert, but i still use the same command line tool i've been using for years: makedoc

anyway, i was watching the ipad coverage waiting for the same sort of news. specifically, i wanted to see if the ibooks app would have autoscrolling or at least the ability to add your own books. i didn't see anything about that, but i can at least deduce that the ereader app from my ipod touch should work on an ipad. now granted, it may not look that great upscaled, but i'm hoping that they release a new version that can handle the ipad resolution natively. if so, i'm totally buying that sucker.

so yea, just wanted to drop a line and help out a fellow (non-kindle) ebook reader. good luck, and i hope this works for you!

So hey, oddly enough i've been looking for almost exactly this sort of device. my situation is slightly different, but my needs are mostly similar. specifically, my PC gaming setup (and PC working setup... only one PC) is now in my living room: my monitor is my 50 inch hdtv, and my keyboard and mouse are set up across the room, about 10 feet away. for gaming, it is beautiful, blah blah blah, meaningless materialistic drivel. the point is, i've been attempting to use a mouse and keyboard from a frigging couch. needless to say, this is a concept rife with issues.

without any alterations, my mouse hand would have fallen off after the first hour or so. i did stumble upon a solution which sorta works.... i put my wireless keyboard on my lap, and put a pillow under my right elbow, and then the mouse on the couch surface. the pillow provides enough support that i can work/game like this for hours, as long as i take frequent breaks.

anyway, the relevant stuff: this set up is tolerable, but it's crappy enough that i've been shopping for a new solution almost non-stop for months. i haven't really found anything, in all honesty. i found that lapinator thing and a few similar devices, but for my mouse-hand needs, they just wouldn't cut it. i need something that can offer wrist/arm support for the right hand, otherwise i'm screwed. that being said, i DID find some things that might help the poster. specifically, BED TRAYS.

bed trays are... well i dunno, i'd never heard of them before amazon decided that they were PRECISELY what i was looking for. as usual amazon was wrong, but at least i now know what they are. just head on over to amazon or wherever the hell you want and search for bed trays. they're like little TV dinner-type racks, except designed to be propped up on the surface of a bed, couch, chair, futon, whatever, straddling your legs as you sit. pretty neat, i thought. and some of them are damn cheap.

like i said, they didn't help me, so i'm STILL looking for a solution (suggestions warmly welcomed!) but they may just help a chair-bound laptop user.