The Official ebook Reader Thread

If you 've got more than $11.90 in your Micropay account at Fictionwise you can pick up Wolfman by Jonathan Maberry for free. Pay with Micropay and get the full amount back in rebates.

The Wolfman is one of the great classics of modern horror. Now, based on the upcmoing film, is a terrifying new novelization novel written by Jonathan Maberry, based on the screenplay by Andrew Kevin Walker and David Self Based on a motion picture screenplay by Curt SiodmakLawrence Talbot's childhood ended the night his mother died. After he left the sleepy Victorian hamlet of Blackmoor, he spent decades recovering and trying to forget. But when his brother's fiancée tracks him down to help find her missing love, Talbot returns home to join the search. He learns that something with brute strength and insatiable bloodlust has been killing the villagers, and that a suspicious Scotland Yard inspector has come to investigate.As Talbot pieces together the gory puzzle, he hears of an ancient curse that turns the afflicted into werewolves when the moon is full. Now, if he has any chance at ending the slaughter and protecting the woman he has grown to love, Talbot must destroy the vicious creature that stalks the woods surrounding Blackmoor. But as he hunts for the nightmarish beast, a simple man with a tortured past will uncover a primal side to himself . . . one he never imagined existed.
 
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Looks like Fictionwise may have finally become wise to my tricks. Tried to buy a book via credit card (100% rebate one) and got the following message:
PAYMENT UNSUCCESSFUL
Order #******************* could not be completed due to the following reason:

Your purchase location does not match the address for your payment type.
Oh bugger.

I can still make Micropay purchases for now...
 
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Looks like Fictionwise may have finally become wise to my tricks. Tried to buy a book via credit card (100% rebate one) and got the following message:

Oh bugger.

I can still make Micropay purchases for now...

Make sure that both your addresses are valid US addresses. Your profile address should be valid US and the same address as the one you use for a billing address when paying via CC.

Oh, and there's another 25% off coupon as well: theiphoneblog25
 
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Make sure that both your addresses are valid US addresses. Your profile address should be valid US and the same address as the one you use for a billing address when paying via CC.

Oh, and there's another 25% off coupon as well: theiphoneblog25

Yup, nothing's changed. Both addresses still valid. Looks like they're checking IP addresses now. Not sure how happy I'd be using hidemyass to make a credit card payment.

Saw the coupon on mobileread, thanks. They would implement IP blocking just when I bought 1 years fictionwise club membership :/
 
You are right. Just tried buying a book using a CC and get the same message. They must have recently changed things because I managed to buy books on the 8th of February.

I wonder if it is in fact IP blocking, or if they check the CC card info now?
 
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You are right. Just tried buying a book using a CC and get the same message. They must have recently changed things because I managed to buy books on the 8th of February.

I wonder if it is in fact IP blocking, or if they check the CC card info now?


I'm pretty sure it's just IP blocking. I used a second credit card and same story, if it works like Amazon, they would only get the billing info once the transaction posted.

At least micropay works for now, but it really is annoying.
 
I'm pretty sure it's just IP blocking. I used a second credit card and same story, if it works like Amazon, they would only get the billing info once the transaction posted.

At least micropay works for now, but it really is annoying.

It was just IP blocking, I set up the tor router, and chose US exit nodes. Bought a book. If anyone needs help setting this up, PM me.
 
It was just IP blocking, I set up the tor router, and chose US exit nodes. Bought a book. If anyone needs help setting this up, PM me.

So a normal proxy should also work?

I've found a proxy script that I could upload to my US hosted website. Might be worth a try and should be safer than a public proxy.
 
So a normal proxy should also work?

I've found a proxy script that I could upload to my US hosted website. Might be worth a try and should be safer than a public proxy.

That should be fine, I just balked at using something like "hidemyass" to send credit card details. The benefit of tor is that you can still make use of the digital certificate of fictionwise, so your data is encrypted. Just need to check you haven't been given a compromised certificate ;)
 
Digital Books and Your Rights: A Checklist for Readers

https://www.eff.org/wp/digital-books-and-your-rights

Digital Books and Your Rights: A Checklist for Readers

After several years of false starts, the universe of digital books seems at last poised to expand dramatically. Readers should view this expansion with both excitement and wariness. Excitement because digital books could revolutionize reading, making more books more findable and more accessible to more people in more ways than ever before. Wariness because the various entities that will help make this digital book revolution possible may not always respect the rights and expectations that readers, authors, booksellers and librarians have built up, and defended, over generations of experience with physical books.

As new digital book tools and services roll out, we need to be able to evaluate not only the cool features they offer, but also whether they extend (or hamper) our rights and expectations.

The over-arching question: are digital books as good or better than physical books at protecting you and your rights as a reader?
 
Having just gotten a Kindle as a gift, I'm becoming pretty disillusioned with "This title is not available for customers in your location: Africa". The biggest joke of this is the John Wyndham book "the day of the triffids". This was first published in 1951, so I really can't see why it's restricted (fortunately, I have all of John Wyndham's books in paperback). Most of Dean Koontz's books also seem to be restricted to us down here. I haven't physically counted, but about half of Amazon's "recommendations" for me are restricted, which is also a joke...

:mad:
 
Yes, at the moment geographic restrictions are just plain insanity. If you are comfortable with removing the DRM from the mobi format then you could explore other shops aside from the Amazon store, they might have what you are looking for without it being restricted.

It also seems as if Kalahari.net might be gearing up to offer ebooks. I recently noticed that they had a "My digital products" section with a link to "My ebook library" in "My profile". It has since been removed, so I don't know how long it will take or if they will even get it up and running.
 
Kalahari.net seems to have launched their ebook shop today. At least it wasn't there the last time I looked.

Selection seems limited and pricing is more expensive than from other online stores. Once I've taken a better look around I'll do a little price comparison.
 
Kalahari.net seems to have launched their ebook shop today. At least it wasn't there the last time I looked.

Selection seems limited and pricing is more expensive than from other online stores. Once I've taken a better look around I'll do a little price comparison.

Also the available formats is limited as well. Unless pricing is pretty much on par, I'll be giving it a miss.

It's a digital copy, seriously, why is it more expensive? Are they shipping it here on floppy disks?
 
The ebooks are roughyl the same price as the physical copies..

So i'll be giving this ebook store a miss thank you very much.
 
Also the available formats is limited as well. Unless pricing is pretty much on par, I'll be giving it a miss.

It's a digital copy, seriously, why is it more expensive? Are they shipping it here on floppy disks?

The ebooks are roughyl the same price as the physical copies..

So i'll be giving this ebook store a miss thank you very much.

All true. It is early days yet, so hopefully things will improve somewhat. The pricing I think is largely stipulated by the publishers so I don't think Kalahari is to blame for that. I did spot that for the newest releases they seem to be slightly cheaper for ebooks than physical copies. Although the difference is so small that given the option I'd rather get a physical copy.

Here's a price comparison I did for 6 randomly chosen ebooks. Exchange rate of R7.50 used for conversions.

Pirate Latitudes

Kalahari.net - $24.53 (R183.95)
Fictionwise: $21.99
Kindle: $11.99

Wolf Hall - Hilary Mantel:
Kalahari.net - $24.53 (R183.95)
Fictionwise: $27
Kindle: $11.99

Dragon Keeper - Robin Hobb:
Kalahari.net - $25.86 (R193.95)
Fictionwise: $9.99
Kindle: $16.41


Act of Treason - Vince Flynn:
Kalahari.net: $13.07 (R98.06)
Fictionwise: $9.99
Kindle: $11.59

Two Towers - JRR Tolkien:
Kalahari.net: $10.39 (R77.95)
Fictionwise: $11.99
Kindle: $9.99

Blindsighted - Karin Slaughter:
Kalahari.net - $14.63 (R109.76)
Fictionwise: $11.99
Kindle: $9.99

I'll stick to Fictionwise and their sales for now.
 
Ok.. the prices on this ebook store is absolute MADNESS....


Credit Risk: From Transaction to Portfolio Management (Securities Institute Global Capital Markets) by Andrew Kimber
on Kindle store its $80... and physical from Amazon is $118.00
on Kalahari's new ebook store its R1,580.95 and the physical edition from Kalahari is R 1584.67
 
Ok.. the prices on this ebook store is absolute MADNESS....


Credit Risk: From Transaction to Portfolio Management (Securities Institute Global Capital Markets) by Andrew Kimber
on Kindle store its $80... and physical from Amazon is $118.00
on Kalahari's new ebook store its R1,580.95 and the physical edition from Kalahari is R 1584.67

Yes, I don't know what's up with the pricing of their technical and non-fiction ebooks. Harsh pricing.

I think things will be more viable if the local publisher actually bring out ebook editions of their own. As it's currently I think these are licensed from a US publisher directly with added middlemen (and costs!) before it can actually be sold.
 
All true. It is early days yet, so hopefully things will improve somewhat. The pricing I think is largely stipulated by the publishers so I don't think Kalahari is to blame for that. I did spot that for the newest releases they seem to be slightly cheaper for ebooks than physical copies. Although the difference is so small that given the option I'd rather get a physical copy.

I'll stick to Fictionwise and their sales for now.

It probably is the publishers stipulating prices, but Kalahari should be putting some pressure on them to have prices on a par with their global competition. I went to India on holiday, and books there were dirt cheap, publishers had special "For sale in India only" editions. South Africa should have similar concessions, and doubly so when it comes to ebooks. IMHO of course.
 
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