Greetings from Perth Australia

[SeaWolf]

Yes, I'm pretty keen to see what the final Astak product (especially its software) looks like and how much they'll cost to get them down under. Although the idea of owning something that runs WinCE does make me cringe a bit.
I'm also curious about the Feedbooks device, though I'm thinking that seems to be quite a way off release yet.

[mike_berriman]

Hi Seawolf,

Looks like it's just you and me from Perth, but it's nice to see some other aussies here. After the process of getting a reader, and then worse, books, over here in oz it's good to see that others try too.

For those ouside the US (and I guess maybe europe, I'm not sure) - the situation here in Oz for eBooks is dire.

For readers :
1) Sony is not bringing the reader to Oz. Ever (at the moment). I got mine via internet order from the US. Luckily it charges via USB so there's not power issues.
2) The kindle is obviously out, because we don't have a wireless network that works with it.
3) The only one promoted by a bookstore over here (as mentioned) is the iLiad at about $900.

Not sure about any others.

So I got my prs 505 off the web, and love it.

The next problem is books. The Sony eBook site will not register you unless you have a US credit card. So that's out. Many other ebook stores have similar problems, using the ISP's internet location to determine if you are in the US, and not letting you purchase if you're outside the states. I proved that recently on a trip to Seattle - the stores that would not sell me a book in Oz, were perfectly happy to sell me the same book from my hotel in Seattle.

The "local" ebook store (dymocks) has maybe 500 books. I've managed to find a few stores now that will sell me recent books, and they get all my cash. Amusingly, www.ebooks.com (huge ebook store) is based here in Perth, Australia, and we can't buy many books from them.

The problem appears to be publishers. There seems to be 3 problems :

1) Publishers are terrified of books going the way of music and being pirated.

2) A bigger problem seems to be something I found out on a plane sitting next to a publisher about a week ago. Publishers get the rights to a book in a geographical region. So the publisher for a book in the US is not necessarily the same as the one in oz. If a publisher of an ebook has rights in the US, and they sell to an ebook store and the ebook store sells to me in Oz, they are breaking their publishing agreement. There is no worldwide publishing, apparently.

3) Finally, apparently many authors are keeping the electronic rights. Which means they can sell them but the version the author keeps is the pre-edited copy. So publisher has the edited manuscript, but no electronic rights, and the author has the pre-edited electronic copy. No-one can do it right.

So basically, there's a few problems with eBooks in Oz. This should not necessarily disuade people, however, because with a bit of work you can get into this world - and I love it. Nothing like having to take one tiny book reader on a work trip where you'd usually go through 4 or 5 books and have to lug the paperbacks.

Sorry for the rant - but I thought I'd explain what I've found out about ebooks in Oz over the last 6 months while I was introducing myself. If you have had more luck, or want to get more details of the book stores I use, feel free to contact me.

Good luck and welcome to the eWorld.

[Falbe Publishing]

Welcome,

I'm new to this forum too, and my first ebook reader is currently shipping to my house. I can't wait to get it. I've already found this forum to be intelligent and helpful -- 2 very rare things in this world.

[tINmOUSE]

Originally Posted by mike_berriman

Sorry for the rant - but I thought I'd explain what I've found out about ebooks in Oz over the last 6 months while I was introducing myself. If you have had more luck, or want to get more details of the book stores I use, feel free to contact me.

Good luck and welcome to the eWorld.

I so want those details. www.Baen.com will sell to us shunned-oz-ebookers, which is great as I'm such a sci-fi geek. But even they don't have all the books in a authors series available.

[SeaWolf]

Originally Posted by mike_berriman

Amusingly, www.ebooks.com (huge ebook store) is based here in Perth, Australia, and we can't buy many books from them.

Unbelievable, they're not even a half hours drive from me, but they won't sell to me unless I'm on another continent!

I'd certainly be keen to hear which eBook sellers will sell internationally, but I'd also be interested in which one will only sell to a US card and which will only sell to a US IP address. The IP address at least isn't really a problem, I'm sure I can find a shell server in the US to bounce my connections off and make it look like I'm in North America.

[MickeyC]

mike_berriman, I think the Sony wall plug would work okay in Oz. It's rated for 110 to 240 and 50 and 60 hrz. You'd just need a plug adaptor. I've done this with my laptop in Europe and it worked fine

[Crisby]

I have a small adapter that the USB cable from my eBook Readers plugs into. The adapter then plugs into an AU power point. Jinke sells the adapters, DA Direct sells the AU plugs.

I've bought Mobipocket eBooks from http://www.macmillandigital.com.au/, but they also sell other formats.

[mike_berriman]

Originally Posted by cassidym

mike_berriman, I think the Sony wall plug would work okay in Oz. It's rated for 110 to 240 and 50 and 60 hrz. You'd just need a plug adaptor. I've done this with my laptop in Europe and it worked fine

Thanks, cassidym. I actually just gone and purchased a Sony PSP power adaptor - same connector and voltage. I didn't check whether it's universal in it's input voltage, though. I'll have to have a look.

Thanks.

[krisab52]

Originally Posted by SeaWolf

Just signed up the other day after taking an interest in eBooks.
I notice a few other Aussies in the forum as well, but everyone seems to be from the far side of the continent.

I don't have an eBook reader yet, but I've taken an interest after a book I wanted required me to wait 6 weeks on an inter-library loan request to come through. It was frustrating to know that it was available in just about every eBook store very cheaply and if I only had an eBook reader I could have been reading it straight away!

Hi,
I am in Perth. I bought Sony from the USA .... No free store card and probably no guarantee. Contact me if u want to see it.
Kris

[SeaWolf]

Originally Posted by krisab52

Hi,
I am in Perth. I bought Sony from the USA .... No free store card and probably no guarantee. Contact me if u want to see it.
Kris

Hi Kris, if you don't mind me asking, did you buy the Sony while you were over in the US or did you get it shipped over? Who did you buy it from?

You must be pretty happy about the ePub firmware becoming available, should mean that you'll be able to buy books in ePub format for your reader without too many problems.

[krisab52]

Hi SeaWolf,
I bought my Sony 505 from US on the internet. I used e-bay to find seller who exports to Australia; I think Sony prohibited it for a while (?).
I bought it from DataVision http://www.datavis.com:80/ . Pretty fast express delivery. I paid 270USD + 52.50 USD delivery. Someone is selling them on eBay in ustralia for around 450 (I believe) , so it is cheeper to import them directly. Concept of e-Books is still new to me so I am not efficient with formats so I can't comment on ePub . At this stage I enjoy experience very much .... downloading classics from internet . Today I listened to audio books on it while reading manual.
Cheers,
Kris

Originally Posted by SeaWolf

Hi Kris, if you don't mind me asking, did you buy the Sony while you were over in the US or did you get it shipped over? Who did you buy it from?

You must be pretty happy about the ePub firmware becoming available, should mean that you'll be able to buy books in ePub format for your reader without too many problems.

[Reddevil]

Another perthie here too.

Ordered my silver PRS-505 over the weekend mainly because it has Adobe DE support and can reflow PDF's etc. I've been reading mainly PDF ebooks for work related stuff for ages but couldn't find a convenient way to read them without a laptop - my iPhone screen is too small to read anything on for a decent amount of time!

Getting my PRS from an ebay seller in Australia with a 4GB memory card and the case with light accessory for just over $600. I did look at a few US shops but to get the reader to me in time for my holiday next week would have cost about the same anyway with express shipping etc.

I do alot of flying for work and get sick of carrying around books in my laptop bag so I thought I'd get an ebook reader and save myself the hassle. I also have a bit of a short attention span when it comes to reading and quite often jump between 2 or 3 books at a time which makes an ebook reader convenient and smaller than my laptop to read from

I mainly read IT related stuff, economics and resource/mining industry stuff which mostly comes in PDF or Adobe DE. Found a heap of stuff in mobi but I'll just convert it to LRF and hopefully it comes out reasonably formatted.

[Ankaman]

Greetings from the east coast(Sydney). Just received a Kindle2 and now want to know whether there is a simple way for me to download books or do I have to get a friend in the U.S. to do it for me?

[PDS]

Hi Seawolf

G'Day from Brissy. I have a Sony 505 which I got from Ebay. I usually charge it via the USB, but I also have a PSP wall charger that I use because it charges a lot quicker.

Dawn