UK Kindle ebook store Now Open - Page 3

church mouse · 08-05-2010, 02:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Erinath

What a shame it won't let me buy anything for the Kindle I've got pre-ordered. Still, it's nice to see what will be available.

Have you installed Kindle for PC (or for Mac)?

If you have that installed and your Amazon account set up, you should be able to download your purchases to there, providing the bokos you are after are availabe in Kindle format.

Kumabjorn · 08-05-2010, 03:23 PM

I did that an immediately got an e-mail requesting me to fax a valid ID, driver's license or passport.

suecsi · 08-05-2010, 05:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by church mouse

Please, save me from feeding the monster!

Oh no, too late!!

zooby · 08-05-2010, 06:12 PM

can somebody check their order to see if they have a shipping date yet? On my one it says estimated dispatch date 29 SEPTEMBER! I ordered it on the 29th july

pdurrant · 08-06-2010, 02:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Most prices seem to be a simple conversion from $ to £, with an exchange rate of about $1.55:£1. The current rate shown at xe.com is $1.58:£1, so it's not too bad at all.

I've just received an email from the Digital Text Platform bit of Amazon. It seems that although they have autiomatically converted the price for me, it is now possible for me to set the UK price in £ separately.

For books being distributed using the 70% option in the US, the minimum US price is $2.99, and the minimum UK price is £2.25.

For 35% option books, the minimums are $0.99/£0.75

The weird thing at the moment is that they don't specify whether that minimum includes VAT or not. Their royalty calculator seems to think it doesn't include VAT, yet the prices shown on Amazon UK by auto-conversion of the dollar price do include VAT. Strange. I haven't tried changing one of my titles to a GBP price yet, as I think it best to wait for things to settle down a bit.

Fbone · 08-06-2010, 03:33 AM

Looking at the co.uk site ...

I see Girl with Dragon Tattoo £2.68 ($4.26) vs $7.14 .... a significant savings.
Under the Dome £2.88 ($4.58) vs $9.99
Nine Dragons £6.39 ($10.15) vs $14.99

You guys are saving big money

Amazon really is setting the prices.

AnemicOak · 08-06-2010, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zooby

can somebody check their order to see if they have a shipping date yet? On my one it says estimated dispatch date 29 SEPTEMBER! I ordered it on the 29th july

According to CS it's some type of glitch and not the real ship date.

nwhitfield · 08-06-2010, 04:45 PM

I just did some maths, looking at 36 books that I bought between May 2009 and June of this year, from Waterstones.

Amazon is substantially cheaper - around £50 less than I paid for the collection I have.

More interestingly, and proof of how utterly stark staring bonkers Waterstones have become, if I were to buy the same collection today that I've amassed over the last fifteen months, it would cost me £30 more than I paid originally. In the face of increased competition from the Amazon juggernaut, Waterstones' prices are higher than they were.

To buy the same collection of books right now, it would be £80 cheaper to go with Amazon than with Waterstones, which is almost the cost of the K3.

(For the fairest comparison, I re-adjusted prices of books bought last year, too, to see if the VAT change made a significant difference; it didn't. Even allowing for that, most things on Waterstones have gone up since I bought them.)

Fbone · 08-06-2010, 04:57 PM

I'm betting non-UK residents are already trying to figure out how to purchase from .co.uk to save money.

Also, I'm wondering who is taking the hit. The publisher's receiving less money or is Amazon? Are the prices teaser rates?

Mercury · 08-07-2010, 05:13 AM

I don't think these are 'teaser' prices. They seem comparable to paperback prices.

I've re-installed the kindle app to my iPad, and wondering whether it's worth learning how to strip the drm. Being a bit of a Luddite, I think it's probably a step too far.

Looking far into the future, when my Sony fails (going strong for 2 years I think, and it feels like it has many more left) maybe kindle will be the way to go. Just bite the bullet and accept I'm only renting the books, buying only those that are priced accordingly.

garygibsonsf · 08-07-2010, 06:44 AM

Am I the only one who couldn't download some of the freebies now available on the UK Kindle store? I don't own a Kindle, but I've purchased a couple of books in the past from the US site for reading on Kindle for Mac. Now when I go to the UK site, it keeps asking me to download Kindle for Mac...which I did, again, and it still doesn't work.

FlorenceArt · 08-07-2010, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by garygibsonsf

Am I the only one who couldn't download some of the freebies now available on the UK Kindle store? I don't own a Kindle, but I've purchased a couple of books in the past from the US site for reading on Kindle for Mac. Now when I go to the UK site, it keeps asking me to download Kindle for Mac...which I did, again, and it still doesn't work.

Don't you have to register your Kindle App on Amazon? You probably have to do it again on the UK site. Or have you done it already?

nwhitfield · 08-07-2010, 08:05 AM

I've stuffed all the titles I used for my Amazon/Waterstones comparison into WH Smith as well now.

Key figures, for my collection of 36 books, bought May 2009-June 2010, originally costing £205.56 adjusted for the UK VAT change. To buy them all now:

Waterstones: £239.59
WH Smith: £205.61
Kindle store UK: £158.97

In every case, Amazon is cheaper than Waterstones, as is WH Smith. In three cases, Amazon is more expensive than WH Smith, by 9p, 48p and 3p on the titles concerned.
Nigel.

krischik · 08-07-2010, 08:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dickon25

Can I buy ebooks from Amazon and format shift for the Sony?

You can - but in most EU countries it is illegal.

charleski · 08-07-2010, 09:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ben Thornton

This has not been my experience, I'm afraid. Text including "<" characters and other computerese can confuse the converters - this happened to me with "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" where she's talking online, for example. The latest Dawkins also came out a mess - not sure what was going on there. The bolding and paragraphs were all over the place.

All I'm saying is that one shouldn't underestimate the hassle factor in getting to a readable epub from an Amazon purchase. Now the K3 is so cheap and they have a UK store, I'm signing up to the evil empire

I agree. The biggest problem in the couple of mobibooks I've tried has been masses of nested blockquotes which need to be unravelled to produce a properly compliant epub. I'm not sure if this is an issue with calibre since the nested blockquotes are present in the input html when using the debugging option. Personally, I think the problem really lies with disfunctionalities in the mobi format itself.

Still, if there's no epub reader with the new screen at a comparable price come Christmas I may find myself signing up as well.

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08-05-2010, 03:23 PM	#32
Kumabjorn Basculocolpic Posts: 4,356 Karma: 20181319 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sweden Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Kindle 4SO, Kindle for Android, Sony PRS-350 and PRS-T1	I did that an immediately got an e-mail requesting me to fax a valid ID, driver's license or passport.

08-05-2010, 06:12 PM	#34
zooby Member Posts: 20 Karma: 536 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Glasgow Device: Kindle keyboard, kindle voyage, kindle oasis	can somebody check their order to see if they have a shipping date yet? On my one it says estimated dispatch date 29 SEPTEMBER! I ordered it on the 29th july

08-06-2010, 03:33 AM	#36
Fbone Is that a sandwich? Posts: 8,296 Karma: 101697116 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Nook Glowlight Plus	Looking at the co.uk site ... I see Girl with Dragon Tattoo £2.68 ($4.26) vs $7.14 .... a significant savings. Under the Dome £2.88 ($4.58) vs $9.99 Nine Dragons £6.39 ($10.15) vs $14.99 You guys are saving big money Amazon really is setting the prices.

08-06-2010, 04:45 PM	#38
nwhitfield Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 282 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: London Device: PRS-505	I just did some maths, looking at 36 books that I bought between May 2009 and June of this year, from Waterstones. Amazon is substantially cheaper - around £50 less than I paid for the collection I have. More interestingly, and proof of how utterly stark staring bonkers Waterstones have become, if I were to buy the same collection today that I've amassed over the last fifteen months, it would cost me £30 more than I paid originally. In the face of increased competition from the Amazon juggernaut, Waterstones' prices are higher than they were. To buy the same collection of books right now, it would be £80 cheaper to go with Amazon than with Waterstones, which is almost the cost of the K3. (For the fairest comparison, I re-adjusted prices of books bought last year, too, to see if the VAT change made a significant difference; it didn't. Even allowing for that, most things on Waterstones have gone up since I bought them.)

08-06-2010, 04:57 PM	#39
Fbone Is that a sandwich? Posts: 8,296 Karma: 101697116 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Nook Glowlight Plus	I'm betting non-UK residents are already trying to figure out how to purchase from .co.uk to save money. Also, I'm wondering who is taking the hit. The publisher's receiving less money or is Amazon? Are the prices teaser rates?

08-07-2010, 05:13 AM	#40
Mercury Enthusiast Posts: 38 Karma: 164 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: London, UK Device: Sony 505, iPad	I don't think these are 'teaser' prices. They seem comparable to paperback prices. I've re-installed the kindle app to my iPad, and wondering whether it's worth learning how to strip the drm. Being a bit of a Luddite, I think it's probably a step too far. Looking far into the future, when my Sony fails (going strong for 2 years I think, and it feels like it has many more left) maybe kindle will be the way to go. Just bite the bullet and accept I'm only renting the books, buying only those that are priced accordingly.

08-07-2010, 06:44 AM	#41
garygibsonsf Addict Posts: 321 Karma: 432192 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Glasgow, Scotland Device: Amazon Kindle Paperwhite	Am I the only one who couldn't download some of the freebies now available on the UK Kindle store? I don't own a Kindle, but I've purchased a couple of books in the past from the US site for reading on Kindle for Mac. Now when I go to the UK site, it keeps asking me to download Kindle for Mac...which I did, again, and it still doesn't work.

08-07-2010, 08:05 AM	#43
nwhitfield Enthusiast Posts: 26 Karma: 282 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: London Device: PRS-505	I've stuffed all the titles I used for my Amazon/Waterstones comparison into WH Smith as well now. Key figures, for my collection of 36 books, bought May 2009-June 2010, originally costing £205.56 adjusted for the UK VAT change. To buy them all now: Waterstones: £239.59 WH Smith: £205.61 Kindle store UK: £158.97 In every case, Amazon is cheaper than Waterstones, as is WH Smith. In three cases, Amazon is more expensive than WH Smith, by 9p, 48p and 3p on the titles concerned. Nigel.