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Old 12-21-2011, 12:46 AM   #1
blackj4ck
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Buy books from sony reader store outside US

Hi

I'm new to the forum. I'm thinking of getting a Sony PRS-T1. But I'm worried about getting contents for the reader. Is possible to buy ebooks from sony reader store in Singapore? Do I need US credit card or US mailing address or US ip address?

After reading some forum postings it seems that it is possible to buy from amazon and convert to epub for reading on sony reader. Is that right?

Thank you all.
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Old 12-21-2011, 01:35 AM   #2
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Originally Posted by blackj4ck View Post
Hi

I'm new to the forum. I'm thinking of getting a Sony PRS-T1. But I'm worried about getting contents for the reader. Is possible to buy ebooks from sony reader store in Singapore? Do I need US credit card or US mailing address or US ip address?

After reading some forum postings it seems that it is possible to buy from amazon and convert to epub for reading on sony reader. Is that right?

Thank you all.
You don't need to buy ebooks from a Sony reader store. I don't know if Sony has such a store in Singapore, but I do know it does not have such a store at the moment in England, yet I am able to buy books from other stores and read them on my T1.

A benefit (the only benefit?) of a Sony reader store is that you can buy directly on the device.

I buy from stores like informit.com, oreilly.com (technical ebooks without DRM) and waterstones.co.uk, kobobooks.com (ebooks with Adobe DRM) on my Mac, and then transfer the books to my T1 using the Sony Reader desktop software provided with the T1. Others use the calibre software instead.

Using stores is much easier in a desktop browser than on an e-ink screen. You will also end up with a copy of all your ebooks on your Mac/PC in case your T1 breaks or gets lost.

Converting from Kindle formats to epub (for the T1 or any other reader) is possible using tools like calibre. I haven't found a need to do this, because there aren't any ebooks I want in Kindle format that aren't in epub format already. Kindle book prices are similar to epubs too. Google for "apprentice alf" if you want to learn more about DRM.

In summary - get a T1 and don't worry there isn't a local Sony reader store
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Old 12-21-2011, 02:35 AM   #3
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I'll second that: I live in Australia and cannot buy from the Sony store in the US. There are stacks of other places to buy from.

And I'm very happy with my T1; it's even better than the PRS 650 which my wife uses from time to time now.
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Old 12-21-2011, 05:41 AM   #4
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Hey there! I'm a PRS-T1 owner from Singapore, and very happy with the reader so far.

To answer you question. There isn't a Sony Store in Singapore, so you can't purchase ebooks the Reader Store unless you have a credit card with a US billing address. That's how I managed to work around it the one time I bought from the Store. However, as others have said, there's absolutely no reason to purchase from Sony when there are plenty of other online stores with pretty good selections. Kobo's store doesn't have any geographic restrictions and offers decent discounts every so often.

And in Singapore, there's Singtel's Skoob bookstore: http://www.skoob.com.sg. The range is obviously not as wide as Amazon or B&N etc., but I've found a few buys that are around 20% cheaper than the prices at Amazon or Kobo. You just have to close one eye to Skoob's ignorance of e-readers in their technical support section. They seem to think that everyone reads ebooks on a mobile phone! There isn't even a mention of the format of their ebooks, which is EPUB-DRM, by the way. They work just fine with the PRS-T1.
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Old 12-21-2011, 07:18 AM   #5
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I have a PRS650 so I use the reader software to purchase books. We don't have a reader store in Australia either. I set the reader software to region US then entered an US Hotel as my address & used my aussie credit card and it allows me to purchase books no vpn required.

Last edited by melmac; 12-21-2011 at 10:34 AM.
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Old 12-21-2011, 09:23 AM   #6
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I have a PRS650 so I use the reader software to purchase books. We don't have a reader store in Australia either I set the reader software to region US then entered an US Hotel as my address & used my aussie credit card and it allows me to purchase books no vpn required.
Aha! So that's the workaround! A Singapore credit card using a US residential address doesn't work, but a Hotel address might. Brilliant. Thank you!

Did you mean that you use the Sony desktop reader software, either Library or Reader? I'm trying to avoid installing the Sony software on my computer and do most things using Calibre or wi-fi. But then I guess the US Hotel address trick should work with the Reader Store setup in the T1.
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Old 12-21-2011, 10:38 AM   #7
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Aha! So that's the workaround! A Singapore credit card using a US residential address doesn't work, but a Hotel address might. Brilliant. Thank you!

Did you mean that you use the Sony desktop reader software, either Library or Reader? I'm trying to avoid installing the Sony software on my computer and do most things using Calibre or wi-fi. But then I guess the US Hotel address trick should work with the Reader Store setup in the T1.
I don't think it has to be a hotel any US adress should be fine. Its the sony reader PC software as the PRS650 doesn't have wifi. Should be the same for on the T1 device. I think the trick is to set your region to US and then use a US address. My credit card is an aussie Amex if that helps.
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Old 12-21-2011, 04:00 PM   #8
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I support everything that chrisridd said (above). We don't have a Sony store in New Zealand either; Sony even forces us to register our country as Australia if we want to use their software. Sony apparently doesn't know that we exist as a separate and sovereign country.

In short, I use my PC to buy ebooks - if I am buying from Amazon, I use Kindle for PC. I then transfer the books to my PRS-T1 using Calibre. Sony Reader is very poor software, so I have uninstalled it. You don't need to use it - Calibre is much better, especially if you have all of the plugins installed to assist you with the different ebook formats.
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Old 12-21-2011, 04:53 PM   #9
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Cool

[QUOTE=chrisridd;1888312.........................Co nverting from Kindle formats to epub (for the T1 or any other reader) is possible using tools like calibre. Google for "apprentice alf" if you want to learn more about DRM....................
In summary - get a T1 and don't worry there isn't a local Sony reader store [/QUOTE]

Sorry to be a pedant, but (allegedly) I believe it may be possible to do something about DRM , but I think I'm right in saying Calibre has nothing to do with this process.

It just so happens that (allegedly) someone has found a way of adding various features, doing a variety of tasks, to Calibre, and getting them to succesfully perform these various tasks.

Apprentice Alf's Blog is also a very interesting site.

( Just by the by, I believe Black & Decker have a very good product that removes DUST.)
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Old 12-22-2011, 03:34 AM   #10
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Sorry to be a pedant, but (allegedly) I believe it may be possible to do something about DRM , but I think I'm right in saying Calibre has nothing to do with this process.
Yeah you're right, I slightly conflated the use of calibre with the issue of DRM.
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Old 12-23-2011, 09:39 AM   #11
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Thank you all. I placed an order last night. fyi there's a promotion at frys, 25% discount on sony accessories on purchase of a reader. now they are verifying my credit card etc, asked me to submit scanned copies of my identity . Hopefully it's not a scam.
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Old 12-23-2011, 09:40 AM   #12
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hi. Nice to know a fellow singaporean.

Quote:
Originally Posted by gentleice View Post
Hey there! I'm a PRS-T1 owner from Singapore, and very happy with the reader so far.

To answer you question. There isn't a Sony Store in Singapore, so you can't purchase ebooks the Reader Store unless you have a credit card with a US billing address. That's how I managed to work around it the one time I bought from the Store. However, as others have said, there's absolutely no reason to purchase from Sony when there are plenty of other online stores with pretty good selections. Kobo's store doesn't have any geographic restrictions and offers decent discounts every so often.

And in Singapore, there's Singtel's Skoob bookstore: http://www.skoob.com.sg. The range is obviously not as wide as Amazon or B&N etc., but I've found a few buys that are around 20% cheaper than the prices at Amazon or Kobo. You just have to close one eye to Skoob's ignorance of e-readers in their technical support section. They seem to think that everyone reads ebooks on a mobile phone! There isn't even a mention of the format of their ebooks, which is EPUB-DRM, by the way. They work just fine with the PRS-T1.
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Old 01-12-2012, 10:28 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gentleice View Post
Hey there! I'm a PRS-T1 owner from Singapore, and very happy with the reader so far.

To answer you question. There isn't a Sony Store in Singapore, so you can't purchase ebooks the Reader Store unless you have a credit card with a US billing address. That's how I managed to work around it the one time I bought from the Store. However, as others have said, there's absolutely no reason to purchase from Sony when there are plenty of other online stores with pretty good selections. Kobo's store doesn't have any geographic restrictions and offers decent discounts every so often.

And in Singapore, there's Singtel's Skoob bookstore: http://www.skoob.com.sg. The range is obviously not as wide as Amazon or B&N etc., but I've found a few buys that are around 20% cheaper than the prices at Amazon or Kobo. You just have to close one eye to Skoob's ignorance of e-readers in their technical support section. They seem to think that everyone reads ebooks on a mobile phone! There isn't even a mention of the format of their ebooks, which is EPUB-DRM, by the way. They work just fine with the PRS-T1.
Cool! I can finally have the option of buying local books (Yes, I am from Singapore too). Are there any other ebookstores based in SG?
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Old 01-12-2012, 08:09 PM   #14
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AFAIK, only skoob. Correct or not?

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Old 01-13-2012, 04:13 AM   #15
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Yes, only Skoob so far (which makes their whole spiel about being "Singapore's favourite ebook store" rather laughable!!).

Update on using a Sg credit card with the Sony Store (with the T1's location set to USA). It works!! We just have to provide a US address. I did this by first downloading a free e-book and the checkout process prompted for an US address, which I keyed in at that point. Later on, when I bought a book, the address was already in the system and I just had to put in the usual credit card details. It seems the payment system didn't try to match the card # to the address . Thanks to melmac for bringing this option to my attention.

And while I'm here, the T1's browser and Wi-fi capability are very handy for borrowing from NLB's digital collection. Just point the browser to: http://singapore.lib.overdrive.com and you're good to go. For January only, NLB has upped the borrowing limit to 12 e-books.
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