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Amazon Kindle |OT| of eInk superiority

C

Coeliacus

Member
Had my Kindle for a couple of weeks now. It's great except for the Australian Kindle store, which makes me want to rage. Over the weekend I tried to purchase American Gods, Anansi Boys and The Satanic Verses (available only in overpriced audio version)... not available in my country.

Right now in Australia the Kindle is a crippled product.
 
T

TunaMarshmallow

Member
So, I just realized that, somehow, one of the Kindle items I purchased last year was purchased on my *other* Amazon account. I never got around to reading it, so I didn't even notice. And now, of course, I'm stuck without it (because it isn't linked to my proper account, so isn't linked to my devices, etc.).

Is there *anything* I can do to get the item transferred to my normal/actual account? Or to at least get it (legally) on my devices? Uuggghghh.
 
A

Angst

Member
Coeliacus said:
Had my Kindle for a couple of weeks now. It's great except for the Australian Kindle store, which makes me want to rage. Over the weekend I tried to purchase American Gods, Anansi Boys and The Satanic Verses (available only in overpriced audio version)... not available in my country.

Right now in Australia the Kindle is a crippled product.
Click to expand...
You could always do the "trick" we discussed earlier in this thread and change your location. Just keep in mind that Amazon will know you faked an address. If there's a book you really want that's only available on the US store, change your location and buy it. You might get a warning e-mail, so you have to decide for yourself if you want to risk it.

Edit - I just tried registering an american address and it turns out I have to fill in a phone number in case they need to call me to check the address... I thought about entering a 555 number but decided to leave it alone. :p
 
A

Angst

Member
TruthJunky said:
So, I just realized that, somehow, one of the Kindle items I purchased last year was purchased on my *other* Amazon account. I never got around to reading it, so I didn't even notice. And now, of course, I'm stuck without it (because it isn't linked to my proper account, so isn't linked to my devices, etc.).

Is there *anything* I can do to get the item transferred to my normal/actual account? Or to at least get it (legally) on my devices? Uuggghghh.
Click to expand...
Contact Amazon support and they will most likely allow you to transfer the book to your proper account. Amazon support is really awesome and as long as you can show them that you're the owner of both accounts they should help you. Don't know if they any policy regarding having more than one account though.

Oops, double post.

Edit - if you just want to be able to read the book and don't care about it showing up in your collections you could just lend it from one account to another: Lend your books (US only)
 
M

Manics

Banned
adamsappel said:
Where are you seeing $17.80? The Kindle set in the US is $35.99 right now.
Click to expand...
Canadian store. $17.80. Wow that U.S. price is ridiculous


2cckxlw.jpg
 
M

Manics

Banned
Man what the hell is wrong with the U.S. Amazon store? I just changed my address to U.S. to take a look at their prices. Not only is your 4 book bundle $35.99 but A Dance with Dragons pre-order is $14.99 (it's only $9.99 in Canada). Seems to be a good time to be in Canada with our dollar at about 1.03 U.S. and Amazon suddenly giving us better deals on certain books.
 
D

Deleted member 47027

Unconfirmed Member
The popularity of the show must have cranked up the prices, seeing a cash cow. I picked up all four in the US store about 3 months ago for $5 apiece.
 
bloodydrake

bloodydrake

Cool Smoke Luke
Manics said:
So why isn't the agency pricing on the Canadian store?
Click to expand...
canadian store price just dropped after the 4 paperback bundle came out to match/slightly beat price.
i'm sure the american price will follow suit sooner or later
 
A

Angst

Member
Manics said:
So why isn't the agency pricing on the Canadian store?
Click to expand...
Not the same publisher in Canada? The pricing policy around books internationally is based on the fucked up model of offline publishers.

I want to buy a book on Amazon.com. I live in Norway. For me to be able to buy that book (in English) Amazon has to have a deal with the Norwegian publisher of said book. If they don't they can't offer me that book. Pricing is also influenced by the Norwegian publisher. Sometimes that works out in my favour and sometimes not. At work my IP is a UK one and if I buy a book at work I something gets a "Good News! Price has been lowered when you logged in!" message from Amazon.
 
V

VistraNorrez

Member
Manics said:
So why isn't the agency pricing on the Canadian store?
Click to expand...

I don't know, different country different rules? You can tell when something is agency when it says "This price was set by the publisher". Your screencap of the ASOIF boxset clearly doesn't show that.
 
M

Manics

Banned
VistraNorrez said:
I don't know, different country different rules? You can tell when something is agency when it says "This price was set by the publisher". Your screencap of the ASOIF boxset clearly doesn't show that.
Click to expand...


210px-Flag_of_Canada.svg.png
 
V

VistraNorrez

Member
I wouldn't mind the agency model so much if I felt Publishers were being smart about pricing their books. It's absurd how many catalog titles go up in price over time and how resistant they are to dropping prices.

For example I bought The Illuminatis Trilogy! for $9.99 (plus tax) back in August. Just recently I wanted to read more of Wilson and knew that Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy was a pseudo-sequel and that back in August it was also $9.99. It is now $15.99 and there is no way I'm buying that. The Illuminatis Trilogy! is also $15.99 by the way.
 
M

Manics

Banned
VistraNorrez said:
I wouldn't mind the agency model so much if I felt Publishers were being smart about pricing their books. It's absurd how many catalog titles go up in price over time and how resistant they are to dropping prices.

For example I bought The Illuminatis Trilogy! for $9.99 (plus tax) back in August. Just recently I wanted to read more of Wilson and knew that Schrodinger's Cat Trilogy was a pseudo-sequel and that back in August it was also $9.99. It is now $15.99 and there is no way I'm buying that. The Illuminatis Trilogy! is also $15.99 by the way.
Click to expand...


They're both still $9.99 in the Canadian store, same as "Masks of the Illuminati". I hear you on the agency pricing though, if anything the price should go DOWN with time since it costs them nothing to keep that title available. Not like it has to be re-printed or re-created in any way. So stupid
 
K

Karakand

Member
HeadlessRoland said:
Im not sure how I would respond if he changed his whole argument. I play it by ear.
Click to expand...
I'm not explicitly precluding illegality on a message board that (generally) is antipathetic to it.

Loved your 90% stat too.
 
T

TunaMarshmallow

Member
Angst said:
Contact Amazon support and they will most likely allow you to transfer the book to your proper account. Amazon support is really awesome and as long as you can show them that you're the owner of both accounts they should help you. Don't know if they any policy regarding having more than one account though./QUOTE]

I contacted them and they moved the book over to my new account. (Well, actually, they just refunded the purchase on the old account, and then I purchased it again on my new account.)

A+ customer service. Good stuff.
Click to expand...
 
M

mantidor

Member
Kindle get!

I really don't know where to start, I'll load some of my favorites old books first, then I'll see the hack to get custom screensavers.
 
A

Angst

Member
TruthJunky said:
I contacted them and they moved the book over to my new account. (Well, actually, they just refunded the purchase on the old account, and then I purchased it again on my new account.)

A+ customer service. Good stuff.
Click to expand...
Awesome!

My experience with their support is really good as well. About a month after I ordered my Kindle 2 they lowered the price with 70 USD. I felt a bit bad about that and contacted their customer service. Without any fuss they said they would give me the 70 USD back! Not store credit, but a refund to my Visa. Needless to say I was very happy with that. :)
 
M

MickD

Member
If anyone wants to sell/trade for my Kindle 3 Wifi - Customer Wallpaper + 1000s of books I would be willing to part with it for slightly over $100 + shipping. PM Me!
 
A

Angst

Member
MickD said:
If anyone wants to sell/trade for my Kindle 3 Wifi - Customer Wallpaper + 1000s of books I would be willing to part with it for slightly over $100 + shipping. PM Me!
Click to expand...
Are you selling your Amazon account as well or have you acquired the books some "other way"? *frowns*

I don't think you're allowed to sell an Amazon account so... I'd change the wording of that post.
 
L

legend166

Member
Coeliacus said:
Had my Kindle for a couple of weeks now. It's great except for the Australian Kindle store, which makes me want to rage. Over the weekend I tried to purchase American Gods, Anansi Boys and The Satanic Verses (available only in overpriced audio version)... not available in my country.

Right now in Australia the Kindle is a crippled product.
Click to expand...

I haven't hit any books yet not available here. Granted, I've only had the Kindle for about a month and a half and bought about 6 books.

You can't get people to gift books, can you? Like Steam?
 
M

Manics

Banned
Futureman said:
New Kindle anytime soon? My GF is probably gonna ask her parents for one, her B-Day is towards the end of June.
Click to expand...

Rumours of a Kindle tablet, but not a new e-ink Kindle that I know of. The tablet would be LCD based and compete with iPad. Stick with the Kindle 3
 
V

VistraNorrez

Member
Angst said:
Are you selling your Amazon account as well or have you acquired the books some "other way"? *frowns*

I don't think you're allowed to sell an Amazon account so... I'd change the wording of that post.
Click to expand...

He could have legitimately free books (public domain, creative commons) and/or he has a lot of books stored on the device. As long as a new owner doesn't delete them they would stay (I think).
 
H

HiroProtagonist

Member
Kindle books officially take over print sales at Amazon, pulp starts making retirement plans
engadget said:
The Kindle has been a huge success, no doubt about that, but we are continually amazed at just how big a success it has become. Amazon too, apparently. The company just issued a press release to announce that digital book sales have now exceeded sales of all print titles, both hardcover and paperback combined. As of April 1st, for every 100 print books that Amazon has sold (of any kind) the company moved 105 Kindle books, and no that doesn't include downloads of free titles. Also of note: the ad-supported reader that's shipping for $114 is now selling more quickly than the normal, $139 version. Proof, then, that people will put up with more ads in more places for 25 bucks.
Click to expand...
 
P

PjotrStroganov

Member
Epub on Kindle?

We have some rather breaking news with online giant Amazon and their highly successful line of Kindle e-readers. It seems many publishers have been told by the company that in the near-future, they should be submitting their books to Amazon in EPUB format and not exclusively MOBI. They also went on to let us know that Amazon was indeed planning something BIG and that soon the Kindle ereader will have the full capability to read ePub books. This news has been confirmed by at least 4 publishing companies we have spoken with during the last few days.

The Amazon Kindle, for the last six years and more, has exclusively sold books on its Amazon Bookstore in the Mobi format. They also devised applications for major platforms such as Android, iOS, PC, Blackberry, and Windows Phone 7 for reading their books. This insured that if you had purchased a Amazon Kindle e-reader or ebooks from their store, you were locked into the Amazon ecosystem.

Four publishers in the last week have confirmed that Amazon has indeed told them they now have an option to submit eBooks to be listed in the Amazon store in ePub format. Two of the companies we spoke with are very big in the publishing world and spoke to us regarding this new development during an interview in the last few days on a totally different subject. With many companies all telling us the same thing off the record it is confirmed that the Amazon is moving in this direction.

It would make sense that Amazon will continue to distribute books still in MOBI format since they developed the technology and so much of its online infrastructure is based around it. MOBI/AZW is known to have similarities with the ePub data structure and has most of the code embedded into its format. The ePub format is more or less the industry standard for ebook formats and almost every other online ebook store aside from Amazon sells their books in that format. With Amazon embracing ePub technology it further substantiates that ePub is by far the most popular format to read ebooks.
Click to expand...

!!!
 
V

VistraNorrez

Member
Manics said:
Rumours of a Kindle tablet, but not a new e-ink Kindle that I know of. The tablet would be LCD based and compete with iPad. Stick with the Kindle 3
Click to expand...

I did just see an article about E-ink and Epson teaming up for a 300 DPI reader, with a still faster refresh rate. It is a 9.68 inch (2,400 x 1,650) device though.

I don't think Amazon has anything ready for it. Although last year's DX update was a precursor to the third generation Kindle. I could see them doing that again but they need to bring down the price of the DX. Don't think this new advancement would help that.
 
J

JoshuaJSlone

Member
Manics said:
Rumours of a Kindle tablet, but not a new e-ink Kindle that I know of. The tablet would be LCD based and compete with iPad. Stick with the Kindle 3
Click to expand...
There are rumors of an Amazon tablet, but considering it wouldn't have reading as its main purpose and isn't meant to be seen as a replacement it doesn't sound like it will be a Kindle tablet.
 
Bboy AJ

Bboy AJ

My dog was murdered by a 3.5mm audio port and I will not rest until the standard is dead
JoshuaJSlone said:
There are rumors of an Amazon tablet, but considering it wouldn't have reading as its main purpose and isn't meant to be seen as a replacement it doesn't sound like it will be a Kindle tablet.
Click to expand...
Right but zero chance of a Kindle app not showing up on the tablet. Amazon's App Store is already on Android phones. And the Kindle app is already on Amazon's App Store.

Great news about Amazon possibly supporting ePub. Superior format. Bezos has said in the past there's no chance of ePub. Hope he changed his mind.
 
H

HiroProtagonist

Member
Socreges said:
I'm not familiar with how such updates are handled by Amazon. Will there be a software update or would I have to get an entirely new Kindle?
Click to expand...

Firmware update if the kindle 2 is any indicator.

wikipedia said:
On November 24, 2009, Amazon released a firmware update for the Kindle 2 that it said increases battery life by 85% and introduces native PDF support.
Click to expand...
 
M

Manics

Banned
ePub on Kindle? Holy fuck that's huge news. That means library books, and other booksellers books in ePub would work on the Kindle. This opens up a whole new world when it happens. Wow.
 
P

peppermints

Member
Wonder if the ePub news has something to do with the Kindle Library thing they announced a month or so ago. Isn't it the case that most existing e-book library programs use ePub?
 
H

HiroProtagonist

Member
DoctorWho said:
Is now a good time to buy or should I just wait for a revision?
Click to expand...

I hate to mention this because of recent adopters, but I just got this on my email alerts:

http://www.phonesreview.co.uk/2011/05/18/bn-nook-to-counter-amazon-kindle-next-week/

It’s all about getting ahead in the tablet arena these days what with most mobile makers pushing out tablets and Amazon with their Kindle and now apparently Barnes & Noble has plans to announce a new ereader that may counter the Amazon Kindle.

According to the guys over at Mashable, B&N have issued invites to press for an event scheduled for the 24th of this month that could see the launch of the new low-end Nook ereader, which apparently will be priced lower then the Amazon Kindle.

This apparently coincides with info concerning the “launch of a new ereader device” filed with the SEC on the 4th of this month.

Rumours has it, as reported by Cnet, the new B&N ereader may be a low priced, monochrome, compact Nook device that would compete with the Amazon Kindle, but other than that no other details are available but I guess we’ll find out more come the 24th.
Click to expand...

Amazon seems to respond to the competition quickly, so I'd probably wait to see how they react before placing an order. *cringe*
 
M

Manics

Banned
peppermints said:
Wonder if the ePub news has something to do with the Kindle Library thing they announced a month or so ago. Isn't it the case that most existing e-book library programs use ePub?
Click to expand...


Yes, I wonder if they're introducing ePub support for that instead of making Overdrive try to distribute MOBI files in addition to ePub. Would make sense since Overdrive books are mostly in ePub for libraries right now.
 
O

outunderthestars

Banned
Manics said:
Yes, I wonder if they're introducing ePub support for that instead of making Overdrive try to distribute MOBI files in addition to ePub. Would make sense since Overdrive books are mostly in ePub for libraries right now.
Click to expand...


That is exactly the reason. My ex works for a major library system and was told by Overdrive rep's that epub support is coming via a firmware update.

I would imagine that it will be rolled out when the amazon tablet is unveiled this summer.
 
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