Buying Connect Books from Europe

[MattW]

Hello,

I hope that what I'm going to ask isn't against forum rules - I've been reading along for a while now and don't think it is, but in case I'm wrong, please feel free to ignore / delete this thread if necessary.

I realise that buying ebooks from Sony's Connect store is only possible for US residents and I know that this is due to legal matters (as always), as ridiculous a it may seem (I mean, come on. I want to spend money on your product and you won't let me? How stupid is that?).

Anyway, I've got three questions:

1) Is there any way for me to redeem my 100 free classics from Europe? Can't I just enter a US address of a friend, skip the credit card details, register my reader (Sony PRS-505) and start downloading? Has anybody tried this?

2) How does buying work? Once you have your password, do you need to enter it again before each payment (as is the default on the iTunes Store, for example)? I'm asking, because if it is, then maybe I can get a friend in the US to set up an account for me, I can register my reader as one of the 6 reading devices, he'll change the password afterwards and we're set. I can send him the money upfront, he'll buy my books, send me the *lrf-Files and I'd be fine. Would that work?

3) Is there any way for a European to get an US credit card that would work in Sony's Connect store? Maybe by paying money into an account up front? Any ideas?

Again: I'm not trying to break any laws here. I want to buy and pay for a product that I can buy in hardcopy in any English bookstore in town.

And, yes, I know that DRM sucks. No need to tell me. But that's another story. I'd rather pay $15 for a DRM-crippled book than paying $35-40 (the price an imported hardcover book from the US has around here) and then spend two days scanning and OCR'ing it just to get a version with 3 OCR-errors per page.

Matthias

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by MattW

Hello,

I hope that what I'm going to ask isn't against forum rules - I've been reading along for a while now and don't think it is, but in case I'm wrong, please feel free to ignore / delete this thread if necessary.

I realise that buying ebooks from Sony's Connect store is only possible for US residents and I know that this is due to legal matters (as always), as ridiculous a it may seem (I mean, come on. I want to spend money on your product and you won't let me? How stupid is that?).

Anyway, I've got three questions:

1) Is there any way for me to redeem my 100 free classics from Europe? Can't I just enter a US address of a friend, skip the credit card details, register my reader (Sony PRS-505) and start downloading? Has anybody tried this?

2) How does buying work? Once you have your password, do you need to enter it again before each payment (as is the default on the iTunes Store, for example)? I'm asking, because if it is, then maybe I can get a friend in the US to set up an account for me, I can register my reader as one of the 6 reading devices, he'll change the password afterwards and we're set. I can send him the money upfront, he'll buy my books, send me the *lrf-Files and I'd be fine. Would that work?

3) Is there any way for a European to get an US credit card that would work in Sony's Connect store? Maybe by paying money into an account up front? Any ideas?

Again: I'm not trying to break any laws here. I want to buy and pay for a product that I can buy in hardcopy in any English bookstore in town.

And, yes, I know that DRM sucks. No need to tell me. But that's another story. I'd rather pay $15 for a DRM-crippled book than paying $35-40 (the price an imported hardcover book from the US has around here) and then spend two days scanning and OCR'ing it just to get a version with 3 OCR-errors per page.

Matthias

Welcome to MobileRead.

Yes, you can setup an account with Connect. All that is required is that you lie and say that you are in the US. I would not do it just for the Sony Classics. They are not well made, and you can find better ones here at MobileRead, at www.blackmask.com, and at www.feedbooks.com.

A member of this forum buys Sony gift cards for people outside the USA. The member's name is Leaping Gnome.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/member.php?u=6455

I myself never bought any ebooks from Sony. Instead, I bought and converted MSReader LIT format ebooks. The tools needed can be found by Googling "converLIT" and "libprs500".

[JTravers]

If you (or anyone else) are still in need of gift cards for the Sony Connect/eBook Store, I'm selling some of mine in the following thread:
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?p=134800