Outside the US?

dingdonglars · 07-31-2010, 08:17 AM

I am living and cruising on a yacht and at the same time a book-oholic. So an eReader would be an ideal device for me. Would give me access to new books from remote areas and also stop me from filling up all and any available space on the boat with books.

After much research I have sort of settled on the Sony PRS600 reader - think it looks to be real nice. Living outside the US, I have requested one of the online services (ishopinusa.com), that provide a possibility to purchase from US only sites and have them ship it to me.

So far so good. But after placing this purchasing request, I stumbled upon the information, that you can only buy from the Sony eBook store, if you are in the US (funny how that kind of thing always shows up immediately after it was needed).

So what are my options now? Should I cancel my purchase, because the only place I can get a reasonable selection of books for the Sony reader is the the Sony eBook store. Or are there other possibilities from where I can buy. Going to Gutenberg and searching for any kind of best selling author returns no results - so I tend to believe that the free options out there are not for my use. So I need to be able to buy books and that means with some kind of DRM protection (we are now quickly entering the realm of complete ignorance of my part)

Should I drop the Sony and go for another brand?

Any and all advice gratefully received

banjobama · 07-31-2010, 08:23 AM

If all you want to read are bestsellers, you won't be able to download those from the Sony store outside the US and Canada, so unless you are willing to pirate them or download them illegally then you're pretty much at a dead end.

There are definitely other books to buy and read on the Sony, (I own one, and I haven't read a bestseller in months, besides two for a book club) but not bestsellers. Project Gutenberg features books with expired copyright; in general that means the book was published before 1920-something or the author has been dead for 70 years, and it doesn't sound like you are much interested in these classics.

Long story short, if you want to read bestsellers and you don't have an American or Canadian credit card, you are out of luck with the Sony store. Maybe you can try inkmesh.com to look up some books you want and see where you can get those, and IF you can even buy them from outside the US.

dingdonglars · 07-31-2010, 08:51 AM

Already good info, thanks a million! But it does not sound to good

. But - mmmmm - 'pirate'..., 'download illegally'. I wonder how that is done? Just out of sheer curiosity, of course.

thinkpad · 07-31-2010, 09:03 AM

Since I don't have a Sony I'm not familiar with the constraints on the Sony store but it's certainly possible to buy Kindle books from Amazon U.S being abroad as long as you set up a U.S account. I would have thought that it was a similar process for the Sony store but if it is as banjobama says: that you need an Amercian credit card attach that complicates things.

GeoffC · 07-31-2010, 09:06 AM

Can you clarify something, please.

You can browse Gutenberg ?

If so why can't you browse any 'ordinary' bookstore and download a book from them ?

[forgive the ignorance, I'm just trying to identify options for you]

banjobama · 07-31-2010, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

Since I don't have a Sony I'm not familiar with the constraints on the Sony store but it's certainly possible to buy Kindle books from Amazon U.S being abroad as long as you set up a U.S account. I would have thought that it was a similar process for the Sony store but if it is as banjobama says: that you need an Amercian credit card attach that complicates things.

Yeah, Sony is very strict.

They check your credit card address but not your IP. I live in Japan and download books from Sony because I have a US billing address, but when I want to download songs from Amazon I have to use an IP blocker.

dingdonglars · 07-31-2010, 09:25 AM

Geoff, well I can go to the site gutenberg.org and do a search, which is what I did. Slowly learning here, I think I am getting the understanding, that the geographic limits are due to the licensing of eBooks still being tied to the old world of licensing per book per country.

As such I would not expect the actual choice of book store to have much impact on the issue - but I may be wrong?

It seems that most stores will determine my location of purchase from my credit card - so the only way to get US right of purchase would be to get an account and a credit card in the US. Seems difficult

GeoffC · 07-31-2010, 09:27 AM

What are you using to browse on, the sony, or a pc ?

I'm confused as to why you can't buy from a US store - unless you are specifically looking for drm'd books ..... I don't and I am still able to buy from the US .... UK credit card & address....

momentblur · 07-31-2010, 10:23 AM

Forgive me if I'm worng anywhere here as I am also very new to this.

In my research into which ereader to buy as a first ereader I did look into Sony's quite a bit due to the respect given to the prs 505. If I'm understanding your original post correctly there are a couple of points that may be of use to you.

Although you can only buy books from the sony store if you live within the US you can get books from other sources and read these on your sony reader.

As far as I understand it you can buy books from other stores and then convert them using a piece of software called calibre into the format that the sony uses and then read them easily.

The prs is also compatible with the Epub format which I believe there is a very large amount of legal content available in. So you can buy books in Epub and read them with no conversion.

I had gained the impression the Sony bookstore was quite limited?...

I don't necessarily belive the issue that you've highlighted is reason enough to drop the sony. Have you seen the recent Amazon anouncement though?

GeoffC · 07-31-2010, 10:29 AM

Surely books can be purchased without having to do any manipulation with calibre (beyond using it as a library sort).... ?

Blue Tyson · 07-31-2010, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dingdonglars

Already good info, thanks a million! But it does not sound to good

. But - mmmmm - 'pirate'..., 'download illegally'. I wonder how that is done? Just out of sheer curiosity, of course.

Look up these in search engines :-

usenet
irc
bittorrent
rapidshare et. al.

not to mention ftp, email, limewire etc.

GeoffC · 07-31-2010, 10:38 AM

pirate downloads ought not to be a necessary way to solve this issue.....unless

SkyDream · 07-31-2010, 11:12 AM

No need for pirate downloads just look for any bookstore selling eBook as ePub or PDF. In Europe most online bookstores sells using epub and accepting creditcards. I believe that in the USA you should be able to buy ePub books from other stores than the Sony store.

I'm reading on a PRS-900, live in Europe and never bought any book from the Sony store.

HarryT · 07-31-2010, 12:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by banjobama

If all you want to read are bestsellers, you won't be able to download those from the Sony store outside the US and Canada, so unless you are willing to pirate them or download them illegally then you're pretty much at a dead end.

That's a very odd thing to say, if you'll forgive my saying so. Do you think that there are no eBook stores outside the US and Canada?

You can't use the Sony Store, but there are numerous other eBook stores that can be used.

HarryT · 07-31-2010, 12:41 PM

The original poster may wish to consider the Kindle rather than the Sony. It has wireless book purchase and delivery available in the majority of countries of the world, and may well be a much easier solution for someone living on a boat.

07-31-2010, 08:17 AM	#1
dingdonglars Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Sony PRS600	Outside the US? I am living and cruising on a yacht and at the same time a book-oholic. So an eReader would be an ideal device for me. Would give me access to new books from remote areas and also stop me from filling up all and any available space on the boat with books. After much research I have sort of settled on the Sony PRS600 reader - think it looks to be real nice. Living outside the US, I have requested one of the online services (ishopinusa.com), that provide a possibility to purchase from US only sites and have them ship it to me. So far so good. But after placing this purchasing request, I stumbled upon the information, that you can only buy from the Sony eBook store, if you are in the US (funny how that kind of thing always shows up immediately after it was needed). So what are my options now? Should I cancel my purchase, because the only place I can get a reasonable selection of books for the Sony reader is the the Sony eBook store. Or are there other possibilities from where I can buy. Going to Gutenberg and searching for any kind of best selling author returns no results - so I tend to believe that the free options out there are not for my use. So I need to be able to buy books and that means with some kind of DRM protection (we are now quickly entering the realm of complete ignorance of my part) Should I drop the Sony and go for another brand? Any and all advice gratefully received

07-31-2010, 08:23 AM	#2
banjobama Busy Read'n Posts: 980 Karma: 5039283 Join Date: Feb 2010 Location: Auburn, WA Device: Pocketbook Touch Lux 5	If all you want to read are bestsellers, you won't be able to download those from the Sony store outside the US and Canada, so unless you are willing to pirate them or download them illegally then you're pretty much at a dead end. There are definitely other books to buy and read on the Sony, (I own one, and I haven't read a bestseller in months, besides two for a book club) but not bestsellers. Project Gutenberg features books with expired copyright; in general that means the book was published before 1920-something or the author has been dead for 70 years, and it doesn't sound like you are much interested in these classics. Long story short, if you want to read bestsellers and you don't have an American or Canadian credit card, you are out of luck with the Sony store. Maybe you can try inkmesh.com to look up some books you want and see where you can get those, and IF you can even buy them from outside the US. Last edited by banjobama; 07-31-2010 at 08:25 AM.

07-31-2010, 08:51 AM	#3
dingdonglars Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Sony PRS600	Already good info, thanks a million! But it does not sound to good . But - mmmmm - 'pirate'..., 'download illegally'. I wonder how that is done? Just out of sheer curiosity, of course.

07-31-2010, 09:03 AM	#4
thinkpad David Posts: 1,808 Karma: 8916183 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Norway Device: Kindle, E.Edge (sold), Irex Iliad (retired)	Since I don't have a Sony I'm not familiar with the constraints on the Sony store but it's certainly possible to buy Kindle books from Amazon U.S being abroad as long as you set up a U.S account. I would have thought that it was a similar process for the Sony store but if it is as banjobama says: that you need an Amercian credit card attach that complicates things.

07-31-2010, 09:06 AM	#5
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,599 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	Can you clarify something, please. You can browse Gutenberg ? If so why can't you browse any 'ordinary' bookstore and download a book from them ? [forgive the ignorance, I'm just trying to identify options for you]

07-31-2010, 09:25 AM	#7
dingdonglars Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Sony PRS600	Geoff, well I can go to the site gutenberg.org and do a search, which is what I did. Slowly learning here, I think I am getting the understanding, that the geographic limits are due to the licensing of eBooks still being tied to the old world of licensing per book per country. As such I would not expect the actual choice of book store to have much impact on the issue - but I may be wrong? It seems that most stores will determine my location of purchase from my credit card - so the only way to get US right of purchase would be to get an account and a credit card in the US. Seems difficult

07-31-2010, 09:27 AM	#8
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,599 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	What are you using to browse on, the sony, or a pc ? I'm confused as to why you can't buy from a US store - unless you are specifically looking for drm'd books ..... I don't and I am still able to buy from the US .... UK credit card & address....

07-31-2010, 10:23 AM	#9
momentblur Member Posts: 11 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: England Device: Kindle 3 3G	Forgive me if I'm worng anywhere here as I am also very new to this. In my research into which ereader to buy as a first ereader I did look into Sony's quite a bit due to the respect given to the prs 505. If I'm understanding your original post correctly there are a couple of points that may be of use to you. Although you can only buy books from the sony store if you live within the US you can get books from other sources and read these on your sony reader. As far as I understand it you can buy books from other stores and then convert them using a piece of software called calibre into the format that the sony uses and then read them easily. The prs is also compatible with the Epub format which I believe there is a very large amount of legal content available in. So you can buy books in Epub and read them with no conversion. I had gained the impression the Sony bookstore was quite limited?... I don't necessarily belive the issue that you've highlighted is reason enough to drop the sony. Have you seen the recent Amazon anouncement though?

07-31-2010, 10:29 AM	#10
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,599 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	Surely books can be purchased without having to do any manipulation with calibre (beyond using it as a library sort).... ?

07-31-2010, 10:38 AM	#12
GeoffC Chocolate Grasshopper ... Posts: 27,599 Karma: 20821184 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: Scotland Device: Muse HD , Cybook Gen3 , Pocketbook 302 (Black) , Nexus 10: wife has PW	pirate downloads ought not to be a necessary way to solve this issue.....unless

07-31-2010, 11:12 AM	#13
SkyDream Wizard Posts: 1,377 Karma: 9400 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: Europe Device: PRS-650, iPod touch 4G, iPad 3	No need for pirate downloads just look for any bookstore selling eBook as ePub or PDF. In Europe most online bookstores sells using epub and accepting creditcards. I believe that in the USA you should be able to buy ePub books from other stores than the Sony store. I'm reading on a PRS-900, live in Europe and never bought any book from the Sony store.

07-31-2010, 12:41 PM	#15
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	The original poster may wish to consider the Kindle rather than the Sony. It has wireless book purchase and delivery available in the majority of countries of the world, and may well be a much easier solution for someone living on a boat.

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