Kindle DX now available'worldwide' (NZ residents need not apply)

Forums › Gadgets, robotics, home automation, electronics (including wearables) › Kindle DX now available"worldwide" (NZ residents need not apply)

1 | 2 | 3 | 4

382 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#288529 9-Jan-2010 21:11

The purchase was done via my PC as an e-book, but I selected the option to deliver directly to my iPhone. It was a US purchase to a NZ account.

Before someone asks: "Why not use the iPhone Kindle and forget about the Kindle device?", I should point out that the small iPhone screen does not lend itself well to an enjoyable reading experience. Nor does reading a book off a larger PC screen.

David.

RodDrury

33 posts

Geek

Trusted

Xero

#288531 9-Jan-2010 21:14

Looking at the other deals Amazon is done it looks like a carrier deal is in progress but not complete.

http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/A098C7339BA6D701CC25764900740201

Has there been any recent comment on Kindle from Voda or Telecom? It riles me when carrier commercials get in the way of access to information and services.

We are being disadvantaged in New Zealand by not having access to things that other people have which makes us less productive and with less access to information. The beauty of the Kindle is that you can almost instantly access any book or global newspaper. It's frictionless. If you are in globally competitive industry not having access is a disadvantage.

I wonder if we'll have full access to new services predicted in the new Apple tablet. Seeing as there is still no Visual Voice Mail for iPhone I expect that once again we'll be left behind.

Rod

freitasm

BDFL - Memuneh
79268 posts

Uber Geek

Administrator

ID Verified

Trusted

Geekzone

Lifetime subscriber

#288532 9-Jan-2010 21:19

RodDrury: Seeing as there is still no Visual Voice Mail for iPhone I expect that once again we'll be left behind.

Visual Voice Mail is easy: Vodafone Australia uses Unisys as its voicemail platform and Unisys New Zealand developed a VVM integration based on documented APIs. Vodafone New Zealand uses another platform and they don't have VVM integration - and from what I hear it won't be coming anytime soon.

grant_k

3539 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#288534 9-Jan-2010 21:26

DrCheese: The purchase was done via my PC as an e-book, but I selected the option to deliver directly to my iPhone. It was a US purchase to a NZ account.

Before someone asks: "Why not use the iPhone Kindle and forget about the Kindle device?", I should point out that the small iPhone screen does not lend itself well to an enjoyable reading experience. Nor does reading a book off a larger PC screen.

Exactly!

My wife loves reading books on her eBook reader which has a 6" eInk screen, but could not abide the idea of reading books on a mobile phone, and really doesn't like reading via her laptop either, but will do it as a last resort.

To save me wading through all the purchase options on Amazon, can anyone tell me if they supply eBooks in MobiPocket (.PRC) format, or Adobe .EPUB format?

These are the two most popular formats for dedicated eBook readers (e.g. Sony, Cybook, CoolER etc), which are now fairly standardised devices, as against Amazon's Kindle which seems to use a different format than everybody else.

If we could buy eBooks in .PRC or .EPUB format from Amazon, I would probably use it exclusively from now on.

DrCheese

382 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#288540 9-Jan-2010 21:36

grant_k: To save me wading through all the purchase options on Amazon, can anyone tell me if they supply eBooks in MobiPocket (.PRC) format, or Adobe .EPUB format?

Amazon use a proprietary format for their e-books, requiring specific software for Windows and the iPhone. Software is "coming soon" to the Mac and Blackberry.

The much-rumoured Apple iTablet/iSlate may be the best option, as Rod alludes to. I'm not aware of any digital reader available in NZ apart from software available on smart phones and PCs. This is a sad situation for a country that purports to wanting a digital economy. David.

grant_k

3539 posts

Uber Geek

Trusted

#288548 9-Jan-2010 21:45

DrCheese: The much-rumoured Apple iTablet/iSlate may be the best option, as Rod alludes to. I'm not aware of any digital reader available in NZ apart from software available on smart phones and PCs. This is a sad situation for a country that purports to wanting a digital economy. David.

Thanks David.

There is a company called DADirect that sells eBook Readers and specifically caters for NZ Customers:

https://www.dadirect.com/books/ebookreader.asp

We have a Cybook Gen3 and it is a great little reader, significantly smaller than the Kindle, also cheaper and with better battery life.

Actually, we didn't buy our Cybook from DADirect, but from a Hong Kong company called Expansys who also cater for NZ Customers:

http://www.expansys.co.nz/

I have bought several products from Expansys and have been very happy with the service on each occasion. Their prices are consistently better than most others out there, if you are comparing apples with apples.

DrCheese

382 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#288550 9-Jan-2010 21:53

Thanks Grant. I wasn't aware that DA Direct sold e-readers.

David.

Samsung

Shop now on Samsung phones, tablets, TVs and more (affiliate link).

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#288574 9-Jan-2010 23:34

RodDrury: Looking at the other deals Amazon is done it looks like a carrier deal is in progress but not complete.

http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/A098C7339BA6D701CC25764900740201

Has there been any recent comment on Kindle from Voda or Telecom? It riles me when carrier commercials get in the way of access to information and services.

If you have a US Amazon Account you can use a Kindle in NZ (apparently on Vodafone). This makes me highly sucpicious it's nothing to do with carrrier agreements but an issue with licencing,

shermanp

355 posts

Ultimate Geek

Trusted

#288580 9-Jan-2010 23:55

grant_k:
DrCheese: The purchase was done via my PC as an e-book, but I selected the option to deliver directly to my iPhone. It was a US purchase to a NZ account.

Before someone asks: "Why not use the iPhone Kindle and forget about the Kindle device?", I should point out that the small iPhone screen does not lend itself well to an enjoyable reading experience. Nor does reading a book off a larger PC screen.

Exactly!

My wife loves reading books on her eBook reader which has a 6" eInk screen, but could not abide the idea of reading books on a mobile phone, and really doesn't like reading via her laptop either, but will do it as a last resort.

To save me wading through all the purchase options on Amazon, can anyone tell me if they supply eBooks in MobiPocket (.PRC) format, or Adobe .EPUB format?

These are the two most popular formats for dedicated eBook readers (e.g. Sony, Cybook, CoolER etc), which are now fairly standardised devices, as against Amazon's Kindle which seems to use a different format than everybody else.

If we could buy eBooks in .PRC or .EPUB format from Amazon, I would probably use it exclusively from now on.

I believe amazon use two different ebook formats. Both are propietry to amazon. HOWEVER...

Amazon ebooks in .AZW format are to all intents and purposes Mobipocket (PRC) files. It seems they can be de-drmed and turned into standard mobipocket files relatively easily with a python script or two.

Books in topaz format are a different matter entirely however - as far as I know, there is no way to "free" these ebooks for use on other devices.

I have a Sony PRS-505 myself. I tend to buy most of my ebooks from fictionwise, especially when they are having a good sale. I have even discovered workarounds to buy geogragphically restricted titles (which seems to be most of them these days

Kyanar

4089 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#288621 10-Jan-2010 10:00

sbiddle:
RodDrury: Looking at the other deals Amazon is done it looks like a carrier deal is in progress but not complete.

http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/A098C7339BA6D701CC25764900740201

Has there been any recent comment on Kindle from Voda or Telecom? It riles me when carrier commercials get in the way of access to information and services.

If you have a US Amazon Account you can use a Kindle in NZ (apparently on Vodafone). This makes me highly sucpicious it's nothing to do with carrrier agreements but an issue with licencing,

If it was an issue with licensing, we wouldn't be able to buy the ebooks themselves. Since we can buy the ebooks, it's not an issue with licensing.

RodDrury

33 posts

Geek

Trusted

Xero

#288640 10-Jan-2010 11:51

Over the air carrier licensing is different. My understanding is you buy the Kindle with no plan but it is connected to a carrier network. Rather than pay data charges for your Kindle downloads the carrier clips the ticket on the book. You just pay the book fee.

Therefore I'm relatively certain the lack of availability of Kindle in NZ is a drawn out carrier negotiation or billing implementation.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#288641 10-Jan-2010 11:56

Kyanar:
sbiddle:
RodDrury: Looking at the other deals Amazon is done it looks like a carrier deal is in progress but not complete.

http://pcworld.co.nz/pcworld/pcw.nsf/feature/A098C7339BA6D701CC25764900740201

Has there been any recent comment on Kindle from Voda or Telecom? It riles me when carrier commercials get in the way of access to information and services.

If you have a US Amazon Account you can use a Kindle in NZ (apparently on Vodafone). This makes me highly sucpicious it's nothing to do with carrrier agreements but an issue with licencing,

If it was an issue with licensing, we wouldn't be able to buy the ebooks themselves. Since we can buy the ebooks, it's not an issue with licensing.

I don't see things that way.

When you've got a US account for all intent purposes you're a US customer buying that book under US laws. Using the exact same scenario you can download US content from iTunes anywhere in the world with a US iTunes account. It's nothing at all to do with NZ licencing.

Kyanar

4089 posts

Uber Geek

ID Verified

Trusted

#288642 10-Jan-2010 11:58

Well, I just contacted Amazon, and they confirmed what I thought. The publishers license ebook sales on a country by country basis, and they have a license to sell eBooks in New Zealand. The problem according to them is "warranty and legal restrictions" on the device itself - not the content.

So yeah, it's all down to Amazon (or something else about the device) - nothing to do with the licensing.

(On a side note, fastest support response EVAH!)

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#288643 10-Jan-2010 11:59

RodDrury: Over the air carrier licensing is different. My understanding is you buy the Kindle with no plan but it is connected to a carrier network. Rather than pay data charges for your Kindle downloads the carrier clips the ticket on the book. You just pay the book fee.

Therefore I'm relatively certain the lack of availability of Kindle in NZ is a drawn out carrier negotiation or billing implementation.

All international Kindle's ship with a US AT&T SIM which just uses global roaming.

Those high data prices are the reason all newspapers and magazines don't include any photos or graphics when purchased outside the USA.

sbiddle

30853 posts

Uber Geek

Retired Mod

Trusted

Biddle Corp

Lifetime subscriber

#288646 10-Jan-2010 12:19

Just as an update, I've been told by somebody that all Kindle Global devices will roam in NZ. It's not just devices from a US account that can download content, it's anybody who has a Kindle with an account created in a country that is in the supported list. SIM's roam on the Vodafone network.

As I mentioned earlier New Zealand has been on the Global Wireless Map for some time now.

I'd really love to get to the bottom of the whole Kindle story and get some official comment. If this is infact true that anybody with a foreign device can download content OTA that it's nothing to do with any carrier or roaming agreements but seems to be purely a licencing issue with NZ.

1 | 2 | 3 | 4