first e-reader: nook vs kindle vs sony vs kindle dx (?)

[ProfCrash]

The issue has nothing to do with geographic restrictions. That is a totally different pain in the ass. Amazon was selling e-books to people traveling overseas 18 months before they had an international Kindle.

1) I am a US resident with a US credit card. I can buy books through Amazon US legally.

2) I got on a plane with my K1 (non-international) and flew to Australia and New Zealand before there was an international Kindle. Meaning, no international licenses. The K2 had just been released and was pretty. The K2 International was still 6 months away.

3) While in Australia and New Zealand I purchased e-books from Amazon's US e-book store on my netbook. I downloaded said books to my netbook and used the USB cable to transfer the books to my K1 (non-international). I was in Australia and New Zealand for 2 weeks and the K2 International was still 6 months away from being released.

4) This means that Amazon was selling e-books to US residents travelling outside of the US long before there was an international Kindle and Amazon UK was selling e-books for the Kindle.

There was no international license involved. None. Zip Zilch Zero. It has nothing to do with international licenses. I could buy from Amazon when overseas before there was an international Kindle because Amazon allowed me to.

I cannot buy most books from Amazon UK because of geographic restrictions. That would not change if I were to go and visit the UK. When I visit the UK and buy e-books, I buy them through Amazon US. That is where my account is.

BN unwillingness to sell e-books to US residents traveling over seas has nothing to do with geographic restrictions. BN could allow US residents with a US account to buy books while overseas if they wanted to but they chose not to. I have no idea why BN chooses not to but they do.

To review, US Kindle owners could buy e-books from Amazon US before there was an international Kindle and any international licenses in place. If Amazon could legally sell e-books to US Kindle users overseas before there was an international Kindle and the various licensing issues then BN can do the same.

[polly]

Originally Posted by boswd

You also have to remember Amazon already has international licensing agreements already in place in Eurpope and elsewhere. which I'm sure was written into the language of the agreements as to being able to be allowed to sell it's US contents as well and vice versa.

Barnes and noble does not.

But it doesn't really have anything to with licensing. Astak was happy to ship a PocketPro to my APO address. No worries about being licensed or not. They also shipped a fair number of them to Australia and New Zealand. The purchaser just had to spend a bit more on postage. If the PocketPro broke, it was just a matter of mailing it back for warranty service. Some countries had import duties, but that was between the purchaser and their own governments. I've heard the Dullin Books rep say the same thing about the PocketBooks.

BooksOnBoard, Sony, Baen, Fictionwise, Borders, and Amazon were all happy to sell books to me when I lived in Europe. I gave them a US credit card number with my APO address and could buy what I wanted. The only time I had to mask my IP was occasionally with Amazon. Their free promotional books cost 2 Euro from a German IP address and nothing from a US one. With Amazon, masking right before adding the item to the cart was sufficient. B&N would reject my purchase if I didn't have the IP masked before entering their store. That was even true for the free promotional books.

It took a lot of extra effort to do anything with B&N overseas. I have no doubt that it makes sense to them and is how they want to do business. It's fine for them to do as they think best for themselves. But until they change, I will continue to warn international purchasers about the obstacles they'll face if they choose B&N products. It's the sort of key information that you want to know before investing in your new device.

[pidgeon92]

For traveling, I would stick with a smaller eink reader, as it is less likely to get bumped/twisted in your baggage. A K3 is about 1/2 the weight of the DX as well.

[jupstin]

Is sideloading a realistic option for you? If so, then stick with the reader that you most enjoy using and manually load the books that you purchase/download. Both the Nook and the Kindle can be jailbroken/rooted to allow all sorts of different non-native formats. Also, Calibre is a great tool for converting between formats.

As long as you have computer and internet access, this might be your best option. Otherwise, I think you'd want the Kindle because of the international 3G coverage. But then again, I have been considered something of a Kindle fanboy

[blueblau]

Hi guys,
thanks a lot for your opinions. I decided to go with nook- why? because I simply loved the touchscreen more, I realized the symbols on the keypad of the kindle fade away. In terms of buying and reading books, I'm using barnes and noble bookstore, I'm happy with it so far and I have a lot of side books that I haven't put on my nook yet. in the long run if I end up away from USA, I might consider my other options as well but for the next couple of years I'll be using nook.

[jbcohen]

The nook simple touch has a really nice user interface its various owners have told me a lot about it, troubble with the Nooks are that they don't have the unusall books that Amazon has - let's face it amazon has everything. The Sony's haev a great streamlined hardware and excellent touch screeen responsivness - troubble with them is their readers are kind of expensive. Kindle DX is great if you like a lot of reading space, however they are rather expensive.

[jupstin]

Originally Posted by blueblau

Hi guys,
thanks a lot for your opinions. I decided to go with nook- why? because I simply loved the touchscreen more, I realized the symbols on the keypad of the kindle fade away. In terms of buying and reading books, I'm using barnes and noble bookstore, I'm happy with it so far and I have a lot of side books that I haven't put on my nook yet. in the long run if I end up away from USA, I might consider my other options as well but for the next couple of years I'll be using nook.

Awesome - congratulations. I did enjoy the Nook Touch, but my hand never found quite the right way to hold it without accidentally turning the page That's a problem that seems mostly unique to me, and I have not heard it as a common complaint. It's a really cool little reader, and it seems to have a lot of as-yet-untapped potential.