Buying Books

[allanv]

Hi There,

I bought a Sony ebook reader on Amazon after seeing someone on a plane using one and recomending it highly.

The one thing I did not sufficiently research was that you need to be a resident in the US or Canada to purchase any books. In other words you need a US or Canadian CC. Incredible in this day and age my UK and South African cards dont appear to be legal tender in the eyes of Sony!

Can anyone tell me where I can buy ebooks (apart from the free Classics!) that can be read on my Sony?

Your help would be appreciated.

Allan

[Taylor514ce]

Ok, search this forum for conversion software. You can buy books in a non-Sony format from several sites, and convert them either to LRF (Sony's format) or HTML, which the Reader supports. It will take you some time to wade through the information, but it's worth it.

Another possibility is to have someone in the US purchase you the Sony eBookstore gift cards, and email you the "code" from the card. You can use the gift card to buy your books.

Welcome to the forum. Do stay and join the fun.

[kacir]

Originally Posted by allanv

The one thing I did not sufficiently research was that you need to be a resident in the US or Canada to purchase any books. In other words you need a US or Canadian CC. Incredible in this day and age my UK and South African cards dont appear to be legal tender in the eyes of Sony!

Well, perhaps it is, because the plastic card is *not* legal tender. The legal tender is paper money or coins :-)
see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Legal tender is a concept that is frequently misunderstood: this is often a result of differing legal definitions in different jurisdictions. Cheques, credit cards, debit cards and similar non-cash methods of payment are not generally defined as legal tender. Only specific coin and note examples of cash money are usually defined as legal tender.

Even if you DO have "legal tender" the shop does not have to accept it. Just try to purchase a postcard with 200 rand note, or a car with a big bag of 5 cent coins ;-). The legal tender *has* to be accepted only as payment for the debt.
Let us get back to the matter of books.


Sony does not want your money.
So go somewhere else. Simple as that.


Possibility 1
go to the top of this page and click on E-Books link. There are quite a few lovingly formated books here. Mostly "Clasics" however.

Possibility 2
Go to the very top of this page and click on Wiki
There you can see quite a few links like:
* eBook Formats
* Free eBooks
* eBook Stores
* eBook Lending Libraries
* eBook Uploads
* eBook Reviews
* Notable eBook Uploads

Possibility 3
Search this forum for
"free ebook"
"ebook store"
"tor"
Various kinds of free e-books are discussed here very often.
Here is one example
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22184
I highly recommend that one - just do not give up before you get to the 20% of the first book. The series start like dull, generic, fantasy, but after cca 150 pages (depending on how you have formatted the book) it gets much better.

Possibility 4
Search the net using Google for "Free e-book" "Free ebook" "book download" "Book for Reader", ....

Possibility 5
go to
www.baen.com
www.craphound.com
...


The net is FULL of interesting texts available for purchase or just download.


Hints
You can also buy e-books in *.lit format and convert it for your reader using convertlit.
You can format books you have from another source for your Reader. It is very simple. Go to the above mentioned Wiki page and look for the software. Like BookDesigner, LibPRS500 (that just got renamed to calibre), or others.
You can format the books using OpenOffice.org Writer (or MSWord, or write, or Abiword, or ...) - the Reader will happily display *.rtf file (no pictures). This is what I personally use. Just set page margins to 0.01cm, font to 16 points and save the text as .rtf file. *DO EXPERIMENT* with format. Try serif font, try sans-serif, try various line spacings, try full justification and left justification, and when you find the combination you really like, record a macro. So the next book will be prepared for loading into the reader in under 1 minute.


If you really DO insist on buying books from Sony, there are members of this forum (like Leaping Gnome) that might agree to purchase Sony Gift certificate for you and you can pay them by paypal, or whatever means you agree.


I grew up on libraries. I have been visiting a library at least once a week since I was a kid. And in library, especially if you devour books by dozens, you very soon go through the most interesting choice and then you have to get whatever interesting book is available. Some people like to buy books to read and those people are very often disappointed in the choice you have fin electronic format. If you set out looking for particular book by particular author, you have little chance to get it. If you, however, just look for a good book to read, you can find plenty of books for purchase or just download.


Welcome on board Allan