[quote name='crunchewy']Paying $299.99 up front, and then waiting months for a rebate to go through? If it goes through? Plus I could swear I've seen straight up $199 deals for this recently. I'm sure there will be others, especially in the time period it would take for a rebate to go through.[/QUOTE]
Ya, it's $199.97 at (some? all?) Sony stores right now. Speculation is that they're discontinuing the 3G model and it's a clearance drop.