Amazon Kindle for SA

No books available to South Africa

They (Amazon) sell you the device but would not let you buy books, most new books are available only to U.S residents.

The long story:
Before placing an order for a new Kindle I decided to check which books are available, searched for a few recent books like The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown, Stieg Larsson's 2 latest books (The girl who played with fire, The girl with the Dragon Tattoo) & more. Was surprised to get only results for paper books when searching the Kindle store, same for almost every new'ish book that I searched.
This did not make any sense so I decided to check if it's because I come from a South African IP address, when going to amazon.com through a U.S server identifying itself with a U.S IP address - surprise! the books exist and are available for sale.
I decided to get clever - copied the URL of the book available in the US to my browser running locally and now found the book (that did not exist earlier) but with a comment: "This title is not available for customers from your location in: Africa"

Want to try?
Go to amazon.com and search for: "Dan Brown the lost symbol". Result: "Your search "Dan Brown the lost symbol" did not match any products in: Kindle Store " but they kindly offer you to buy in paper format.
Now go to: [ame="http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-Symbol-ebook/dp/B002KQ6BT6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1254926759&sr=1-1"]http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-Symbol-ebook/dp/B002KQ6BT6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1254926759&sr=1-1[/ame]
All of a sudden the book exists but: "This title is not available for customers from your location in: Africa"

Conclusion:
They hide this fact in their ad on the product page which says: "The Kindle Store: More Than 350,000 Books"
Is this cheating or just an innocent mistake?
BTW - their competitors fictionwise.com tell you that the book is not available to SA only after ordering (and in my case also paying - $10 down the drain, waiting for PayPal to refund)
 
Tns said:
3G will not be for free and R37 a week for what? no thanks you can keep it.
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phiber said:
Gonna be like the iphone, 5000 rand and then u must still have a talk 220 contract!!!
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Based on what? They may charge for browsing but not for downloading books etc.

2. Wireless Connectivity

General. Amazon provides wireless connectivity free of charge to you for certain content shopping and downloading services on your Device. You may be charged a fee for wireless connectivity for your use of other wireless services on your Device, such as Web browsing and downloading of personal files, should you elect to use those services. We will maintain a list of current fees for such services in the Kindle Store. Amazon reserves the right to discontinue wireless connectivity at any time or to otherwise change the terms for wireless connectivity at any time, including, but not limited to (a) limiting the number and size of data files that may be transferred using wireless connectivity and (b) changing the amount and terms applicable for wireless connectivity charges.
Click to expand...
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200399690#wireless[/ame]
 
LordFoom said:
I'll get one when I can upload books from my PC and when I don't have to worry about Amazon deleting books that I have purchased off the device without my consent and/or knowledge.
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You can upload via PC.

PDF support is a nice addition, and we’ve had no problems loading files onto the Kindle DX either via the wireless Whispernet service (where you email the PDF – or indeed a variety of file formats, including HTML, DOC, RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG and BMP – to your DX’s unique email address, and it’s converted en-route) or via a USB connection to PC or Mac. There’s 3.3GB of user-accessible space, more than twice what the Kindle 2 offers.
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http://www.slashgear.com/amazon-kindle-dx-review-1146632/

[EDIT] Correction - That only seems to be the case for the Kindle DX (Well native .pdf support in any event) - Not the Kindle 2...

Native PDF support is still sadly lacking on the Kindle 2.
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http://computershopper.com/peripherals/reviews/amazon-kindle-2

So it would seem that the Kindle DX is the one to have.. But at $ 489... ?
 
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jasweb said:
I say wait for the magical / mysterous iTablet...
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I think I would rather have a kindle- or maybe rather Sony's equivalent to the kindle for ebooks.... The greatest attraction of course being that you can read it in full sunlight- it doesnt have a refresh and doesnt strain the eyes... I dont know too much about the itablet, but being full colour I assume its going to be backlit, and feel like reading off a computer screen
 
Garyvdh said:
Mobireader FTW!!!! :D

Death to DRM and Amazon's ability to remotely delete books from the kindle. No thanks! Defective by design.

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2009/07/amazon-sold-pirated-books-raided-some-kindles.ars
http://www.pcworld.com/article/172953/amazon_settles_kindle_1984_lawsuit.html
http://www.betanews.com/article/Bez...on-will-solve-illegal-book-problem/1248388364
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Hear, hear! It's great that eReaders are becoming available locally, but the Kindle doesn't seem the way to go. They use a propriety format and unless there's been some changes you don't have access to books based on your location, limited to buying from Amazon, and books aren't in the EPUB format, which seems to becoming the standard.

I want an open format reader which will work with any store and non-DRMed books as well.
 
K-Pax said:
They (Amazon) sell you the device but would not let you buy books, most new books are available only to U.S residents.
Click to expand...

I was hoping you were wrong, but you are correct. I cannot buy the kindle version of the new Dan Brown book because I live in deepest, darkest Africa!!!

Well, that's a deal breaker for me. And saves me R3k too! Thanks for the tip.
 
maybe in usa the 3g will be free, but come on think a bit.... this SA we have telkom.
 
Wonderful. So now Amazon is spreading their fascism to other parts of the world with their reader that can't even open PDF or ePub documents.

I'll wait for the Sony Reader, thanks.
 
I'd rather get a quality device without Amazon's restrictions. It's bad enough that the books are so expensive.
 
Aragon said:
Wonderful. So now Amazon is spreading their fascism to other parts of the world with their reader that can't even open PDF or ePub documents.

I'll wait for the Sony Reader, thanks.
Click to expand...
It can't?
Content Formats Supported: Kindle (AZW), TXT, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; PDF, HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.
http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-Read...?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1254982862&sr=1-1
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I'm not a fan of DRM but at the end of the day I just want a device that does the job it's designed to do and does it well. By all accounts the kindle does.
 
bwana said:
It can't?


I'm not a fan of DRM but at the end of the day I just want a device that does the job it's designed to do and does it well. By all accounts the kindle does.
Click to expand...

Have you got a kindle?

If so, think it's worth the buy?
 
I had a Sony PRS-505 - I loved it, until it stopped working. It really is great, and the eInk display just doesn't compare to LCD at all, it's like reading printing on paper rather than a screen. The Sony just doesn't seem to be quite robust enough; there have been a lot of reports of the screen breaking despite extremely careful handling (mine broke while lying untouched on a table).

I've pre-ordered the Cooler Reader, which also looks pretty good. Hopefully the quality is a bit better.

Personally I wouldn't choose a Kindle - I don't need the wireless features it provides, and I think you get better for a cheaper price.
 
eltherza said:
Have you got a kindle?

If so, think it's worth the buy?
Click to expand...
Not yet - but I'm definitely considering one. They are still a bit expensive though and I've got a photography addiction that also needs constant satiation. :o
 
This sucks!

What is it with publishers and movie producers to keep distribution so limited? I was on the verge of buying a kindle so I could pay R80 for the Dan Brown book instead of the current R180+ in SA.

This really sucks.

K-Pax said:
They (Amazon) sell you the device but would not let you buy books, most new books are available only to U.S residents.

The long story:
Before placing an order for a new Kindle I decided to check which books are available, searched for a few recent books like The Lost Symbol - Dan Brown, Stieg Larsson's 2 latest books (The girl who played with fire, The girl with the Dragon Tattoo) & more. Was surprised to get only results for paper books when searching the Kindle store, same for almost every new'ish book that I searched.
This did not make any sense so I decided to check if it's because I come from a South African IP address, when going to amazon.com through a U.S server identifying itself with a U.S IP address - surprise! the books exist and are available for sale.
I decided to get clever - copied the URL of the book available in the US to my browser running locally and now found the book (that did not exist earlier) but with a comment: "This title is not available for customers from your location in: Africa"

Want to try?
Go to amazon.com and search for: "Dan Brown the lost symbol". Result: "Your search "Dan Brown the lost symbol" did not match any products in: Kindle Store " but they kindly offer you to buy in paper format.
Now go to: http://www.amazon.com/The-Lost-Symbol-ebook/dp/B002KQ6BT6/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=digital-text&qid=1254926759&sr=1-1
All of a sudden the book exists but: "This title is not available for customers from your location in: Africa"

Conclusion:
They hide this fact in their ad on the product page which says: "The Kindle Store: More Than 350,000 Books"
Is this cheating or just an innocent mistake?
BTW - their competitors fictionwise.com tell you that the book is not available to SA only after ordering (and in my case also paying - $10 down the drain, waiting for PayPal to refund)
Click to expand...
 
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