Hi Seawolf,
Looks like it's just you and me from Perth, but it's nice to see some other aussies here. After the process of getting a reader, and then worse, books, over here in oz it's good to see that others try too.
For those ouside the US (and I guess maybe europe, I'm not sure) - the situation here in Oz for eBooks is dire.
For readers :
1) Sony is not bringing the reader to Oz. Ever (at the moment). I got mine via internet order from the US. Luckily it charges via USB so there's not power issues.
2) The kindle is obviously out, because we don't have a wireless network that works with it.
3) The only one promoted by a bookstore over here (as mentioned) is the iLiad at about $900.
Not sure about any others.
So I got my prs 505 off the web, and love it.
The next problem is books. The Sony eBook site will not register you unless you have a US credit card. So that's out. Many other ebook stores have similar problems, using the ISP's internet location to determine if you are in the US, and not letting you purchase if you're outside the states. I proved that recently on a trip to Seattle - the stores that would not sell me a book in Oz, were perfectly happy to sell me the same book from my hotel in Seattle.
The "local" ebook store (dymocks) has maybe 500 books. I've managed to find a few stores now that will sell me recent books, and they get all my cash. Amusingly,
www.ebooks.com (huge ebook store) is based here in Perth, Australia, and we can't buy many books from them.
The problem appears to be publishers. There seems to be 3 problems :
1) Publishers are terrified of books going the way of music and being pirated.
2) A bigger problem seems to be something I found out on a plane sitting next to a publisher about a week ago. Publishers get the rights to a book in a geographical region. So the publisher for a book in the US is not necessarily the same as the one in oz. If a publisher of an ebook has rights in the US, and they sell to an ebook store and the ebook store sells to me in Oz, they are breaking their publishing agreement. There is no worldwide publishing, apparently.
3) Finally, apparently many authors are keeping the electronic rights. Which means they can sell them but the version the author keeps is the pre-edited copy. So publisher has the edited manuscript, but no electronic rights, and the author has the pre-edited electronic copy. No-one can do it right.
So basically, there's a few problems with eBooks in Oz. This should not necessarily disuade people, however, because with a bit of work you can get into this world - and I love it. Nothing like having to take one tiny book reader on a work trip where you'd usually go through 4 or 5 books and have to lug the paperbacks.
Sorry for the rant - but I thought I'd explain what I've found out about ebooks in Oz over the last 6 months while I was introducing myself. If you have had more luck, or want to get more details of the book stores I use, feel free to contact me.
Good luck and welcome to the eWorld.