Amazon Kindle for SA

Jola said:
OK, I received my DX on Friday, and it is great !
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Awesome! Is an A4 pdf easily readable on it?

I found a way to get around pdf's on Kindle2: just open the pdf in Acrobat, select all the text and paste it into a Word document, then use Mobipocket Creator to turn it into an ebook. .
It doesn't do pictures, but at least I can read all the text without a magnifying glass!
 
coffeedragon said:
Awesome! Is an A4 pdf easily readable on it?

I found a way to get around pdf's on Kindle2: just open the pdf in Acrobat, select all the text and paste it into a Word document, then use Mobipocket Creator to turn it into an ebook. .
It doesn't do pictures, but at least I can read all the text without a magnifying glass!
Click to expand...

Only if it is an unsecured PDF.
 
coffeedragon said:
I found a way to get around pdf's on Kindle2: just open the pdf in Acrobat, select all the text and paste it into a Word document, then use Mobipocket Creator to turn it into an ebook. .
It doesn't do pictures, but at least I can read all the text without a magnifying glass!
Click to expand...

This does work, but, if you have anything other than the most basic of formatting, it doesn't look good at all!
 
Sorry to resurrect an old thread - but who's still on the US store? I wanted to purchase a book tonight and Amazon let me know they can't process the card specified. I entered my other credit card with my "US" address and everything continued fine, but I'm worried that they do check the actual address eventually. Or FNB stopped the transactions from going through... either way - kind of sucks. :(
 
Interesting! That's why I always have a gift card applied to my account - I never let them actually bill my SA card which is linked to my account. Been working since the Kindle was launched international without any hitches :)
 
I traced it to my card - my other card works without any problems, and using the card that failed also fails on Paypal-related sites...(Where all my details are 100% accurate). Could be that FNB saw that I did a transactions overseas without using my personal address and decided to "disable" international purchases or something. Gonna give them a call tomorrow.
 
ebendl said:
I traced it to my card - my other card works without any problems, and using the card that failed also fails on Paypal-related sites...(Where all my details are 100% accurate). Could be that FNB saw that I did a transactions overseas without using my personal address and decided to "disable" international purchases or something. Gonna give them a call tomorrow.
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Is it a Visa Electron card by any chance?
 
Nope - plain VISA. Can you even use the Electron card overseas? I also said "credit card" in my original post.
 
Cool, hope you get it sorted with the bank - does sound like a problem with the card though.
Nope, Visa Electron can't be used to purchase online...
 
WARNING to all potential Kindle buyers: Due to "copyright" issues you will not be able to buy all the books available for Kindle. This is extremely frustrating. Try buying a Clive Cussler book (one example of many) ... and you get a message that states "This title is not available for customers from your location in: Africa".

Amazon is very happy to sell the Kindle to you, but they are very quiet about the fact that you won't be able to purchase books from the top writers (Cussler, Vince Flynn, Baldacci, etc).

Out of frustration I went the "US address" route, using a real address of a friend of mine in the States. Amazon quickly caught on to this and first sent me an e-mail demanding a copy of my ID. I didn't respond and managed to still buy a few books. It all changed yesterday when they blocked my FNB Visa card ... no more purchases until I corrected my address to a South African one. I then also got slapped with "rejected transaction" fees by FNB on my Kindle purchases to date although none of the transactions were actually reversed. Amazon tracks your device and knows that you are buying from South Africa (even when you buy from your PC). The US address trick doesn't work anymore.

This feels a lot like the Apple iPod no iTunes issue. TIA! :mad:
 
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I understand your frustration, but you did read the terms and conditions when you bought your Kindle, I assume?

Managing rights in the publishing world is an incredibly complex issue, and I think the fact that Amazon is able to provide 351,000 books out of a total of about 400,000 in their catalogue is pretty amazing. Since January, the selection for Africa has grown by almost 40,000 titles.

Take into account that Amazon (with mobipocket.com on the side as well) is so far one of the only major ebook retailers that have made serious attempts at selling to the international market. Barnes & Noble still doesn't sell to international customers and the much touted Apple iBook store will also only sell to US customers.

I understand that you are frustrated when the hundreds of thousands of titles do not include your specific needs, but that doesn't make either Amazon or the Kindle bad.
 
That sux dude. Quick q: when you were purchasing new ebooks from your computer did you use a US VPN connection or not?? If not, then that's how they figured you out...
 
rapidblue said:
That sux dude. Quick q: when you were purchasing new ebooks from your computer did you use a US VPN connection or not?? If not, then that's how they figured you out...
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Nope, no US VPN, used local ADSL.
 
BloemGuy said:
... but you did read the terms and conditions when you bought your Kindle, I assume? Managing rights in the publishing world is an incredibly complex issue, and I think the fact that Amazon is able to provide 351,000 books out of a total of about 400,000 in their catalogue is pretty amazing. Since January, the selection for Africa has grown by almost 40,000 titles ...
Click to expand...

My advice to potential buyers is to look at what IS available BEFORE you buy the Kindle. You may find that your favourite writers are not available (only very old books from them might be availble). It also applies to non-fiction.
 
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