Servus from Austria and NYC

[wovenstrap]

Hello --

I'm an American who divides his time between rural Austria and Westchester County, NY. I fly back and forth once every month or two, which is a motivating factor to buying a Kindle (which I will do in about three weeks, when I am next in America).

I'm buying a Kindle mainly to read novels. It looks like I'm mainly stuck with newer novels from Amazon and public-domain novels through Project Gutenberg and similar places like this forum. If there were only a way to buy novels from the 1930-1980 period cheaply ($3?), I'd be all over that! I guess it'll happen eventually.

I don't currently own a handheld device that gives me access to the Web, so the Kindle's browser and wireless access was also a key factor. I am not expecting great browsing capability, but that's OK, I just want to be able to check my email or the news in a pinch if I'm on a bus or something. I understand that service will not be available in Austria, which is OK. I just hope they don't start charging monthly fees for that service!

I'm a little concerned about the lack of autonomy, which I suppose you also cover here -- that is, that the books don't really belong to us in any long-term sense. But again, that'll get worked out over time.

[MickeyC]

Hi wovenstrap and welcome to MobileRead. Check out the WIKI here on the Forum (https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_stores) for other book sources. Plus libraries now lend out eBooks.

[wovenstrap]

Thank you. I've looked into Overdrive, which is used at my library. Those books can be read on a Kindle? I've seen the thread about hacking the Adobe PDFs, and I'm not sure I want to do that -- what about the Overdrive books in Mobipocket?

[MickeyC]

Mobipocket is similar to the Kindle format but whether it can be read on a Kindle, I don't know but, don't worry, hordes of Kindle owners will log on shortly and have plenty of answers for you.