Outside the US? - Page 2

shanghaichica · 07-31-2010, 12:48 PM

I didnt know that we couldnt use the Sony store if you live outside the US. I have a Sony device and have so far bought books from WH Smiths, Waterstones, the book depository and kobo. Never been on the Sony store because I heard the books were over priced, plus the pre-installed software put me off having anything else to do with Sony in this venture.

But yes you can buy from other stores online.

dingdonglars · 07-31-2010, 03:21 PM

Thanks for all the responses!!!

I have noticed the new Kindle announcement but am reluctant. One: I think in the Ipad era the buttons on the Kindle kinda lame compared to the Sony touch, two: I do not want to be locked to just 1 eBook store, three: My area of navigation is primarily the Caribbean with no 3G coverage whatsoever.

SkyDream, could you give me links to some of the eBook stores you use?

thinkpad · 07-31-2010, 03:35 PM

For me personally the Kindle buttons sits perfect. As for touch I get enough of that on my phone. When I'm reading I don't want to have to move my hands. But I guess it comes down to personal preference, and I've heard of a lot of people with the touch interface that wouldn't want it any other way.

Worldwalker · 07-31-2010, 03:55 PM

There are three basic (legal) sources of ebooks:

1: Device vendor's store. The books sold tend to be expensive and DRM-restricted, and also may have geographic restrictions. You usually have to buy from the store in the country where your billing address is located. If your credit card is from the UK, for instance, you would be buying from Sony's UK store. This would be pretty much your only source for bestsellers, if that's your thing.

2: Independent publishers/authors/bookstores. These tend to have fewer or no geographic restrictions and many, perhaps even most, of them are DRM-free. (by the way, the proper term is DRM-restricted, not "protected"). Smashwords is one of the more popular ones. Authors are starting to sell their backlist on their own websites, too, and other interesting things. For example, Barbara Hambly is selling stories in her discontinued (due to lack of publisher interest) worlds. Webscriptions is worth a look.

3: Public domain books. This is where Project Gutenberg, ManyBooks, Feedbooks, and MobileRead itself come in. (whatever gave you the idea that PG was a pirate site?) They have tens of thousands of books, including the bestsellers of a hundred years ago -- books that people will still be reading when today's bestselling writers are a footnote in publishing history. Of course, some people have to have what's new and trendy, but that's not all there is to life. PG is full of buried treasure.

About 75% of my e-reading comes from the public domain sites; another 10% is from Smashwords, 10% from Baen/Webscriptions, and the remaining 5% from other sources (BeWrite, BookViewCafe, authors' websites, etc.)

I love my 505, by the way. I wouldn't trade it for any other ebook reader on the market. And yes, no matter what you get, you'll want calibre to manage your library.

Worldwalker · 07-31-2010, 03:56 PM

Here's my notorious Big Honkin' List, which I cut and paste as needed....

Right here on MobileRead is a good start -- the ebooks are built by hand by MobileRead members, and in my opinion they have the best formatting. There are a lot of other good ebook sites out there. Here's my personal free ebook source list:

Public Domain

MobileRead - best formatting, limited selection (hand-built by MobileRead members)

ManyBooks - PG scraper, but sometimes has books from other sources, good formatting

Feedbooks - mostly scrapes PG, improves formatting

Project Gutenberg - the granddaddy of them all, phenomenal selection

Munseys - painful to use, but has books nobody else does

the Internet Archive - generally only the scans are readable

Google Books - most of the time, what's good isn't free, and what's free isn't good

Free non-PD

Baen Free Library - amazing selection; also, they will tempt you into buying books

5th Imperium - Baen CD collections

Other Things

Search: Inkmesh. Sadly, it's not a very comprehensive search engine, at least when it comes to free ebooks - it misses a lot of them - but as far as I know, it's the only ebook-specific one out there.

If you're using free ebooks, it's only right to give something back: proofread a page a day at the Distributed Proofreading Project.

P.S.

I almost forgot: get calibre. Its support forum is a few boards down from here.

SkyDream · 07-31-2010, 04:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dingdonglars

Thanks for all the responses!!!

I have noticed the new Kindle announcement but am reluctant. One: I think in the Ipad era the buttons on the Kindle kinda lame compared to the Sony touch, two: I do not want to be locked to just 1 eBook store, three: My area of navigation is primarily the Caribbean with no 3G coverage whatsoever.

SkyDream, could you give me links to some of the eBook stores you use?

Most shops are already mentioned by Worldwalker but here are some more german online bookstores which sells english ebooks too (you need to understand german or try google translate) :

www.ciando.com
www.beam-ebooks.de
www.buecher.de
www.buch.de
www.libreka.de
www.randomhouse.de

ProfCrash · 07-31-2010, 04:29 PM

there are many book stores that you can buy books for the Kindle. Baen for Sci Fi/Fantasy, Smashwords, and a ton of others.

Toxaris · 07-31-2010, 04:30 PM

I buy books from the Sony store with no problems and I live in Europe and have a european credit card. The only thing I had to do, was mention to Sony that I live at the Yankee stadium. No questions asked and I get my books.

thinkpad · 07-31-2010, 04:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Toxaris

I buy books from the Sony store with no problems and I live in Europe and have a european credit card. The only thing I had to do, was mention to Sony that I live at the Yankee stadium. No questions asked and I get my books.

bevdeforges · 07-31-2010, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanghaichica

I didnt know that we couldnt use the Sony store if you live outside the US.

Absolutely NOT true. I live in France and I bought my Sony PRS600 through amazon.co.uk. Registered it as being in the US. (OK, a tiny fib...)

To buy books from the Sony store in the US, I have a friend in the US buy me Sony book store gift certificates (at BestBuy or Target). She sends me the code from the certificates and I have no more problem buying books. Oh yes, they did ask for my address in the US - and I give my friend's US address. (I'm seriously thinking of changing the billing address on my US credit card to my friend's address, since I get the bill via Internet anyhow.)

Then, in addition to the Sony store, you can always buy from the British bookshops (Waterstones and WH Smiths) as well as from Kobo (which often has better prices than the Sony store). The Borders bookshop online goes by the billing address on the credit card you use, so this is yet another incentive to change my US credit card to my friend's address.

But there are loads of available e-bookshops.
Cheers,
Bev

asjogren · 07-31-2010, 05:07 PM

How do you get a US credit card if you live elsewhere?

There are a number of "prepaid" credit cards for sale in many stores in the USA. Can one of these be used?

pietvo · 07-31-2010, 05:08 PM

Kobobooks.com also sells many books to Latin America and the Caribbeans.

banjobama · 07-31-2010, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

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.

I mean for buying new bestsellers, since that was what the OP was asking about, and I did mean it to sound odd.

I can't think of a site that sells to any country (since the country isn't mentioned, only that it's not the US) new bestsellers for any device. If there is such a place, the OP would benefit from knowing what it is.

HarryT · 08-01-2010, 03:09 AM

W.H.Smiths is just one example of an ePub bookshop that can be used from anywhere, and which does not impose geographical restrictions.

Fbone · 08-01-2010, 03:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

W.H.Smiths is just one example of an ePub bookshop that can be used from anywhere, and which does not impose geographical restrictions.

Except the United States at least for some best sellers.

It would be helpful if we knew what country the OP has his credit card established, the currency and how and where he connects to the internet.

07-31-2010, 12:48 PM	#16
shanghaichica Guru Posts: 991 Karma: 5782970 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Scribe,Kindle Oasis 3, iPad Pro 11,15 Pro Max,iPad mini 7,colorsoft	I didnt know that we couldnt use the Sony store if you live outside the US. I have a Sony device and have so far bought books from WH Smiths, Waterstones, the book depository and kobo. Never been on the Sony store because I heard the books were over priced, plus the pre-installed software put me off having anything else to do with Sony in this venture. But yes you can buy from other stores online.

07-31-2010, 03:21 PM	#17
dingdonglars Junior Member Posts: 4 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Sony PRS600	Thanks for all the responses!!! I have noticed the new Kindle announcement but am reluctant. One: I think in the Ipad era the buttons on the Kindle kinda lame compared to the Sony touch, two: I do not want to be locked to just 1 eBook store, three: My area of navigation is primarily the Caribbean with no 3G coverage whatsoever. SkyDream, could you give me links to some of the eBook stores you use?

07-31-2010, 03:35 PM	#18
thinkpad David Posts: 1,808 Karma: 8916183 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Norway Device: Kindle, E.Edge (sold), Irex Iliad (retired)	For me personally the Kindle buttons sits perfect. As for touch I get enough of that on my phone. When I'm reading I don't want to have to move my hands. But I guess it comes down to personal preference, and I've heard of a lot of people with the touch interface that wouldn't want it any other way.

07-31-2010, 03:55 PM	#19
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	There are three basic (legal) sources of ebooks: 1: Device vendor's store. The books sold tend to be expensive and DRM-restricted, and also may have geographic restrictions. You usually have to buy from the store in the country where your billing address is located. If your credit card is from the UK, for instance, you would be buying from Sony's UK store. This would be pretty much your only source for bestsellers, if that's your thing. 2: Independent publishers/authors/bookstores. These tend to have fewer or no geographic restrictions and many, perhaps even most, of them are DRM-free. (by the way, the proper term is DRM-restricted, not "protected"). Smashwords is one of the more popular ones. Authors are starting to sell their backlist on their own websites, too, and other interesting things. For example, Barbara Hambly is selling stories in her discontinued (due to lack of publisher interest) worlds. Webscriptions is worth a look. 3: Public domain books. This is where Project Gutenberg, ManyBooks, Feedbooks, and MobileRead itself come in. (whatever gave you the idea that PG was a pirate site?) They have tens of thousands of books, including the bestsellers of a hundred years ago -- books that people will still be reading when today's bestselling writers are a footnote in publishing history. Of course, some people have to have what's new and trendy, but that's not all there is to life. PG is full of buried treasure. About 75% of my e-reading comes from the public domain sites; another 10% is from Smashwords, 10% from Baen/Webscriptions, and the remaining 5% from other sources (BeWrite, BookViewCafe, authors' websites, etc.) I love my 505, by the way. I wouldn't trade it for any other ebook reader on the market. And yes, no matter what you get, you'll want calibre to manage your library.

07-31-2010, 03:56 PM	#20
Worldwalker Curmudgeon Posts: 3,085 Karma: 722357 Join Date: Feb 2010 Device: PRS-505	Here's my notorious Big Honkin' List, which I cut and paste as needed.... Right here on MobileRead is a good start -- the ebooks are built by hand by MobileRead members, and in my opinion they have the best formatting. There are a lot of other good ebook sites out there. Here's my personal free ebook source list: Public Domain MobileRead - best formatting, limited selection (hand-built by MobileRead members) ManyBooks - PG scraper, but sometimes has books from other sources, good formatting Feedbooks - mostly scrapes PG, improves formatting Project Gutenberg - the granddaddy of them all, phenomenal selection Munseys - painful to use, but has books nobody else does the Internet Archive - generally only the scans are readable Google Books - most of the time, what's good isn't free, and what's free isn't good Free non-PD Baen Free Library - amazing selection; also, they will tempt you into buying books 5th Imperium - Baen CD collections Other Things Search: Inkmesh. Sadly, it's not a very comprehensive search engine, at least when it comes to free ebooks - it misses a lot of them - but as far as I know, it's the only ebook-specific one out there. If you're using free ebooks, it's only right to give something back: proofread a page a day at the Distributed Proofreading Project. P.S. I almost forgot: get calibre. Its support forum is a few boards down from here.

07-31-2010, 04:29 PM	#22
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	there are many book stores that you can buy books for the Kindle. Baen for Sci Fi/Fantasy, Smashwords, and a ton of others.

07-31-2010, 04:30 PM	#23
Toxaris Wizard Posts: 4,520 Karma: 121692313 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Heemskerk, NL Device: PRS-T1, Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura	I buy books from the Sony store with no problems and I live in Europe and have a european credit card. The only thing I had to do, was mention to Sony that I live at the Yankee stadium. No questions asked and I get my books.

07-31-2010, 05:07 PM	#26
asjogren Addict Posts: 266 Karma: 1378 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Seattle / San Carlos, Sonora, Mexico Device: Kindle & WiFi Nook & PocketBook IQ	How do you get a US credit card if you live elsewhere? There are a number of "prepaid" credit cards for sale in many stores in the USA. Can one of these be used?

07-31-2010, 05:08 PM	#27
pietvo Reader Posts: 520 Karma: 24612 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Utrecht, NL Device: Kobo Aura 2, iPhone, iPad	Kobobooks.com also sells many books to Latin America and the Caribbeans.

08-01-2010, 03:09 AM	#29
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,557 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	W.H.Smiths is just one example of an ePub bookshop that can be used from anywhere, and which does not impose geographical restrictions.