Borders, A&R & Whitcoulls under administration

[pholy]

I have the Kobo app on my Cruz Reader, and all the books I have bought show up in the file system, so I think all you might lose is the sync'ing with your other devices/apps. Presumably, Kobo could issue an update to re-direct the sync'ing to their own servers.

[MDK]

This should answer your questions pretty directly:
http://www.itnews.com.au/News/248551...ankruptcy.aspx

"Canada-based Kobo said it controls the ebook ecosystem - including firmware updates, helpdesk and deals with Australian and international publishers - regardless of the state of local retail partners."

[bairdn]

Originally Posted by kiwipippa

You can buy ebooks through kobo can't you? I haven't bought an ebook through Whitcoulls for months after finding their prices are consistently higher (often MUCH higher) than kobo (or others that I shouldn't strictly be using anyway!)

No Kiwi, we can't (unless you have a credit card issued against a North American address). Some cr@p about publishers not wanting competition or something like that. Same as we can't buy from UK eStores either.
It sucks because if you go over there, you can buy anything you like and bring it back, so why can't we do the same when we eVisit?

[kiwipippa]

This morning the websites for Whitcoulls, Borders Australia, Borders NZ and Angus and Robertson are all down so ebook purchasers cannot access their libraries.

Hopefully it is for "maintenance" as they say on the sites.

Originally Posted by bairdn

No Kiwi, we can't (unless you have a credit card issued against a North American address). Some cr@p about publishers not wanting competition or something like that. Same as we can't buy from UK eStores either.
It sucks because if you go over there, you can buy anything you like and bring it back, so why can't we do the same when we eVisit?

Do you mean from kobobooks.com? I've got an Australian-issued card, and I've bought about forty books off Kobo's e-book store. Until recently, I was using the Kobo app directly from the Kobo site, too. The pricing there tends to be similar to the Borders/A&R stores, but it's occasionally cheaper, plus they often have coupons floating about.