New paperwhite or Aura H2O - overseas purchases

[cons013]

So I'm about to purchase my first e-reader and am deciding between the paperwhite and aura H2O, leaning to the kobo. However there is one major deciding factor - whether or not I can purchase Japanese books easily. I have a Japanese amazon account, and an address, and I can just make a Japanese kobo (rakuten) account too.

I want to know on both devices if I can just log in to my Japanese account and easily buy/download content to the ereader, or if it's locked to one country forever (in my case Australia, but I need to purchase Japanese content).

Thanks!

[mathil]

With the Kobo it depends on the account, not the device. If you have a Japanese Kobo account (country set to Japan, Japanese address in the billing information) you should be able to access Japanese books even if you're not actually living in the country. You can try that even now on the Kobo website and see if it works, before you decide if you want to buy the device

Same thing for Amazon - it's all based on the account. I'm still using the co.jp account with my old Japanese address on my PW3 and I have no problems accessing the store from abroad.

[cons013]

Originally Posted by mathil

With the Kobo it depends on the account, not the device. If you have a Japanese Kobo account (country set to Japan, Japanese address in the billing information) you should be able to access Japanese books even if you're not actually living in the country. You can try that even now on the Kobo website and see if it works, before you decide if you want to buy the device

Same thing for Amazon - it's all based on the account. I'm still using the co.jp account with my old Japanese address on my PW3 and I have no problems accessing the store from abroad.

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Can confirm that on the website/android app I am able to view the kobo store. However, how do things work in regards to downloading content? I have a few questions:

1) On the kindle, can you simply switch addresses from your home country to Japan to access the store? On amazon.jp, I have one account but two addresses, and I simply switch the address. But on kobo, there doesn't seem to be an option to add a second address.

2) With kobo, if I am required to make 2 accounts, will signing me out not allow me to access my books on the device? The ideal situation is that I buy the books online easily, and then download them onto the ereader. With amazon, as I have 2 addresses but 1 account, this seems easy. How would this work with kobo? Is it possible?

Thanks!

[mathil]

Originally Posted by cons013

Hi, thanks for the reply.

Can confirm that on the website/android app I am able to view the kobo store. However, how do things work in regards to downloading content? I have a few questions:

1) On the kindle, can you simply switch addresses from your home country to Japan to access the store? On amazon.jp, I have one account but two addresses, and I simply switch the address. But on kobo, there doesn't seem to be an option to add a second address.

2) With kobo, if I am required to make 2 accounts, will signing me out not allow me to access my books on the device? The ideal situation is that I buy the books online easily, and then download them onto the ereader. With amazon, as I have 2 addresses but 1 account, this seems easy. How would this work with kobo? Is it possible?

Thanks!

1) I'm not sure I understand what you mean, but I think that as long as you register your Kindle with one account and keep using that you should be fine, the books you buy with it will be downloaded on the device. I'm not sure if you can actually do the address switch directly from the Kindle though, I use mine to access the Japanese store exclusively (I don't think so though, I've never seen any option for that).
EDIT: Wait, did you mean if you can access the Amazon AU Kindle store simply by changing the address on co.jp? I'm pretty sure you need to at least change the country information in the 'Your contents and devices' tab', as well as the address. And even then I'm not sure it would work as Australia has its own website. You'll need to try that and see if it works. When you register the Kindle, you can only use one account with it (either the .com.au or the .co.jp, not both).

2) Your Kobo account isn't linked to one country specifically. When you want to switch from the AU to the JP store, what you need to do is change the country from the website's home page (by clicking on the flag icon) and input the correct address in the payment information, then save. You don't need two accounts, you'll keep all your content and even the store credit will be converted to the new currency. You can't do the switch directly from the device.

[cons013]

Originally Posted by mathil

1) I'm not sure I understand what you mean, but I think that as long as you register your Kindle with one account and keep using that you should be fine, the books you buy with it will be downloaded on the device. I'm not sure if you can actually do the address switch directly from the Kindle though, I use mine to access the Japanese store exclusively (I don't think so though, I've never seen any option for that).
EDIT: Wait, did you mean if you can access the Amazon AU Kindle store simply by changing the address on co.jp? I'm pretty sure you need to at least change the country information in the 'Your contents and devices' tab', as well as the address. And even then I'm not sure it would work as Australia has its own website. You'll need to try that and see if it works. When you register the Kindle, you can only use one account with it (either the .com.au or the .co.jp, not both).

2) Your Kobo account isn't linked to one country specifically. When you want to switch from the AU to the JP store, what you need to do is change the country from the website's home page (by clicking on the flag icon) and input the correct address in the payment information, then save. You don't need two accounts, you'll keep all your content and even the store credit will be converted to the new currency. You can't do the switch directly from the device.

Ah I understand. If that's the case, I think the aura is the better choice [seems easier, and I really want that epub support]. Any final thoughts you have? As a general comparison, is the aura h2o 2 good? I know the new paperwhite is a great product, so I don't want to regret anything, but so far the aura looks very promising.

[ottdmk]

I can't speak to the H2O2, but I have an original H2O and it's a fantastic e-reader. I've only heard good things about the H2O2 on the kobo forums here.

[cons013]

Originally Posted by ottdmk

I can't speak to the H2O2, but I have an original H2O and it's a fantastic e-reader. I've only heard good things about the H2O2 on the kobo forums here.

Well I guess kobo it is then!