Getting Sony Reader outside US

[adr2689]

Hi;

I'm currently looking for an e-book reader and have more or less settled on the Sony Reader (probably 505, for contrast and speed), but have something of a problem - I live in the UK, and I'm worried about the applicability of the warranty if I ship a unit over from the US, since on the attached document it explicitly states "US only".

Are there any other Europeans or Brits who are in a similar position, and if so, what would you recommend? I've tried to find British sources of the unit, but am totally stuck - seeing as they haven't been released here - so wondered if there were any ways of getting around the possible warranty problem. If I end up shipping from the US, are there any sellers with particularly good delivery charges?

Thanks

Andrew

(BTW, one other question, regarding PDFs: I've been experimenting with converting some e-books I already have into lrf format, to see how well it converts, but I've read elsewhere that big pdf files - and one of the textbooks I've tested to convert is 1500 lrf pages - can take ages to load. I understand that the conversion is a bit hit and miss, but is there any software to detect, for instance, natural breaks such as chapters and to create separate lrf files every so often to avoid this?)

[mcramer]

I'm in New Zealand and bought my reader when in the US late last year. A couple of my thoughts:

1) I basically wrote off the warranty. I approached it with eyes wide open and if it breaks I'm screwed and 300 USD down the drain. If the lack of a warranty is an issue then I suggest you look at the Cybook (which you probably have) More expensive but only you can decide how much, in actually money, is the piece of mind that a warranty brings you worth?
2) I knew that books from Sony weren't easily possible (free ones not withstanding). I'd done a lot of reading on this forum and knew that there were plenty of other options.
3) No idea about shipping but it kind of relates to point 1
4) PDF - I don't bother. Some here do, some don't but there is plenty of reading in regards to this topic all over the forum.

All I can say is that I'm loving the unit and after 4 months would be at a loss if it died (touch wood)

[Patricia]

I'm in Cardiff. I ordered my Sony Reader new from an Ebay shop. If it breaks then I shall send it to the USA and have it returned to some American relatives, who can re-send it to me. But I've had it since last May, with no problems.
Be aware that you will have to pay VATon a Reader imported from the USA, and that ParcelForce will charge about £8 for collecting the VAT. In other words, add about £40 -£45 to the price quoted by the seller.

[moz]

I'm kinda relying on fellow forum members for warranty if I can't get it from the ebay seller I bought from - one way or another, if it breaks it's going back to the US. I'd probably try getting warranty with Sony here (Oztraya) but I don't like my chances.

[RCR]

Originally Posted by mcramer

I'm in New Zealand and bought my reader when in the US late last year. A couple of my thoughts:

1) I basically wrote off the warranty. I approached it with eyes wide open and if it breaks I'm screwed and 300 USD down the drain.

2) I knew that books from Sony weren't easily possible (free ones not withstanding). I'd done a lot of reading on this forum and knew that there were plenty of other options.


4) PDF - I don't bother. Some here do, some don't but there is plenty of reading in regards to this topic all over the forum.

All I can say is that I'm loving the unit and after 4 months would be at a loss if it died (touch wood)

I'm in Australia and I go along with Mcramer's philosophy:

1) I too wrote off any warranty or repairs. I've had my Sony a couple of months now and so far it has chugged away faultlessly.

2) Even though it is possible to get books from Sony if you really want to, I've found heaps of stuff on the internet that was easily converted to rtf or lrf. A lot of the time now, I just convert to a sloppy rtf, since it's only for my own use and doesn't have to be perfect.

4) PDF? - as long as it's a clean copy, and not a murky scan, I haven't had problems converting PDF into rtf.

I too love my Sony. You don't have to be in the US to get full use out of this gadget. If it died, I would buy another one the very next day.

[adr2689]

Thanks for your advice, guys.

I've decided to see, along the lines suggested by Moz, whether I can get a stand-alone warranty from Sony in the UK. I went into the Sony store and was met with blank looks, disappointingly, but the staff there said that were a local warranty available, it would have to be directly agreed with Sony - whose response I'm now waiting (not hopeful). I'm also investigating some other avenues for sourcing it from European resellers.

The idea of keeping the US warranty and getting the repaired unit sent to a US address interests me; does anybody have experience with US-to-UK mail forwarding services?

Thanks again.

[macphersondh]

I too am UK resident and I had one of my US based colleagues buy one that is registered to his address. He is now getting me a 505 to replace the 500 I just sold.

Even better I buy books from the Sony store on the account he set up for me with his US credit card and simply give him some greenbacks every now and again!

David

[Icarusbop]

I have a 505 bought and sent over by a friend in the US.

I deided to write the warranty off and take the risk, so far it has been well worth it! The device is great in every way.

Regarding the connect store - this is not an issue for me as I do not buy by books from there. I buy my books from elsewhere and convert them to the LRF format with Kovids fantastic tool (libprs500). This way my books are DRM free and I will always be able to read them (I make sure I keep the original source files for future alternative conversion)

I did a lot of research into converting to LRF before making my choice - I daresay that if it wasn't for Kovids tool, which makes very good LRF files quite easily (assuming you have decent source files in the first place), I may have been tempted to go with the Gen 3 instead.

But I personaly think the Sony looks and is built better than the Gen 3.

[sonnyred]

There has been a few posts on here that Sony will announce the Reader for the UK next month (April). That's what I'm holding out for. It may or may not be true but a few more weeks makes no difference. In the mean time I can carry on converting my books to LRF just to get ready. If it turns out to be false reports I will also import one.
Here is a link to one of the threads.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20699

[majorusa]

I am in Romania and I just received the Reader bought from e-bay. It is just great! Of course, there is no waranty and no possiblity to buy books from Sony store, but I have a lot of books in pdf format and I hate to read on computer. I had it for about one hour and I like what I see so far.

[Patricia]

Welcome to the forum, Majorusa.