06-27-2009, 10:53 AM | #16 | |
frumious Bandersnatch
Posts: 7,514
Karma: 18512745
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Spaniard in Sweden
Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura
|
Quote:
It's as if buying physical goods and having them shipped to you. Sometimes you'll find shops or items that cannot (or will not) ship abroad, and if you are in the UK or in Mexico, no matter if you are a US citizen, you can't get them. The difference is with shipping of physical goods there is some logic, whereas with ebooks and "soft" products it's just absurd (or it should be based on the shop's location, not on the customer's, at most). |
|
06-27-2009, 12:17 PM | #17 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 7,452
Karma: 7185064
Join Date: Oct 2007
Location: Linköpng, Sweden
Device: Kindle Voyage, Nexus 5, Kindle PW
|
|
06-27-2009, 12:25 PM | #18 | |
Connoisseur
Posts: 55
Karma: 148
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Narnia
Device: Sony Reader
|
Quote:
|
|
06-27-2009, 12:32 PM | #19 |
frumious Bandersnatch
Posts: 7,514
Karma: 18512745
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Spaniard in Sweden
Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura
|
The "legal reasoning" (if that means anything) is that the location of the sell for physical books is where the store is located, but for ebooks it is where the purchaser is located. Don't ask me why, I just reproduce what I've read.
|
06-27-2009, 12:36 PM | #20 |
frumious Bandersnatch
Posts: 7,514
Karma: 18512745
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Spaniard in Sweden
Device: Cybook Orizon, Kobo Aura
|
It depends. It only says "country", I don't see anywhere what this "country" should be (country of residence? country of birth? favourite country? northernmost country? next country you'll visit?). So, if you say US, that's a country and it's not a lie (But you can choose Antarctica, which is not a country, that would be a lie.)
|
06-27-2009, 12:41 PM | #21 |
Wizard
Posts: 4,332
Karma: 4000000
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Paris
Device: Cybooks; Sony PRS-T1
|
I just found waterstones. Nice, save for the fact they are selling only e-pub. that's drmed epub i guess ?
My reader don't read epub (yet). |
06-27-2009, 01:06 PM | #22 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 9,707
Karma: 32763414
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Krewerd
Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6
|
From what I'm reading all over, most European stores will sell epub. Might have something to do with Amazon trying to get rid of Mobipocket (that's my thought at least!)
|
06-27-2009, 01:51 PM | #23 |
Addict
Posts: 394
Karma: 1546
Join Date: Apr 2009
Location: Bristol, UK
Device: Waiting for a kindle!
|
|
06-27-2009, 02:01 PM | #24 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 55
Karma: 148
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Narnia
Device: Sony Reader
|
Sometimes it feels like we're being punished for being early adopters, but the truth is it's not that early. Most of these devices are onto their third generation at least. Any yet even with a fair amount of technical know-how if you have the wrong device in the wrong country it can be a struggle to get what you want. Even if you have the right device it's still complicated at times.
|
06-27-2009, 03:12 PM | #25 |
Wizard
Posts: 4,332
Karma: 4000000
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Paris
Device: Cybooks; Sony PRS-T1
|
Yeah, regional restrictions are a mess. I went in Denmark for a while, and had steam going "Hey, what do you think you're doing, using a French credit card and you're in Denmark ??"
Well, that's the first time i've seen steam support being effective. Then it sometimes happens to be a good thing. I tried to buy trackmania , so i didn't need the cd anymore. Steam fails, my being still in denemark i give up. The very next day, Hilys showed up "Hey guys, we're going to do an update with a no-cd". I bought my fist epub. Now i need to un-drm it. And calibre will do the rest. And wooo, a properly formated ebook |
06-28-2009, 10:47 AM | #26 |
Zealot
Posts: 106
Karma: 3566
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: London UK
Device: iPhone 5, Kindle K3, Kindle Voyage
|
Well I had a browse round the BOB UK site, and I must say that I was totally and cynically unsurprised to see that not a single one of the "Geographically Restricted" books on my wishlist was available from any publisher or distributor.
As far as I can see, the only "advantage" of this site is that I don't have to pay any $ to £ conversion fees. Instead, I can pay vastly inflated prices for books. The old "dollar == pound" conversion one used to see was bad enough, but I am seeing "dollar == pound * 1.5" or worse in some cases. No wonder the UK is *still* known as "Treasure Island". Snowman |
06-28-2009, 12:48 PM | #27 |
Connoisseur
Posts: 55
Karma: 148
Join Date: Sep 2008
Location: Narnia
Device: Sony Reader
|
What a difference a day makes. Raging against the machine this morning because I couldn't get the book I wanted. But thanks to some advice and research I've since...
Purchased a book on Fictionwise Purchased a book on Books on Board Purchased a book from Waterstones (only available in the UK atm) Downloaded several free books from Feedbooks Downloaded a free book from the US Sony store Format shifted where needed/possible Converted to prefered format (thanks Calibre) And I'm all set for my holiday reading and loving my reader again. The thing is I'm happy to pay for books. I want to pay for books. But don't make it hard for me to do that please! |
06-28-2009, 04:14 PM | #28 |
Grand Sorcerer
Posts: 6,211
Karma: 11766195
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Madrid, Spain
Device: Kobo Clara/Aura One/Forma,XiaoMI 5, iPad, Huawei MediaPad, YotaPhone 2
|
|
06-28-2009, 04:49 PM | #29 |
Capt Chaos II
Posts: 483
Karma: 33043007
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Cornwall, UK
Device: iPad2
|
Ash I had similar problems just now but found the books I wanted on WHSmith, often cheaper than W'stones.
http://www.whsmith.co.uk/jump-pages/books-ebooks.aspx |
06-29-2009, 04:16 AM | #30 |
Rock Chick
Posts: 429
Karma: 4965
Join Date: May 2009
Location: near Heathrow
Device: Kindle 2i, Kindle DX, Kindle 3G
|
I found I could buy a US only book fine, just by setting the shipping address in Paypal to the US address of a friend. There are ways round these things, though its annoying - the easiest I have found is to buy vouchers, and then pay with those.
I am using a Sony PRS505, in the UK, and found this forum and others great to find ways round things. It's not like we are pirating anything, though there is the legal issue of buying outside the geographical distribution of the publisher. I don't mind so much buying an ebook in the UK if it is available in both UK and US (though we get seriously ripped off price wise), but I have been enjoying some authors that are only distributed in the US, pback or ebook, or where there are say 10 books available on the US websites and only 2 or 3 in the limited range of ebook shops in the UK. I think longer term if the ebook market is to thrive, the whole distribution and restrictions concept needs to be rethought and not necessarily be the same as the print model on which it is currently based. |
Thread Tools | Search this Thread |
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
A Noobs Guide to Borrowing E-Library Books and Installing non Kobo Bookstore Books | bamelin | Kobo Reader | 17 | 01-07-2012 04:11 PM |
Books missing on Sony's Bookstore? | Billjr13 | General Discussions | 0 | 04-10-2010 05:44 PM |
What's up with Books on Board? | Katiesue | Bookeen | 5 | 04-22-2009 11:58 PM |
books on board | ChrisM12743 | News | 19 | 11-12-2008 03:39 AM |
books on board | stustaff | Sony Reader | 3 | 04-28-2008 04:32 PM |