I am going backwards with e books

[HappyMartin]

Yesterday I tried to purchase a book at fictionwise but was instructed to remove it from my basket due to geographical restrictions. I am no longer able to work around this as the site now uses my billing info to determine my location. Fictionwise claims 10% of its books are restricted in this way. That may be so but more than 10% of thye books I attempt to purchase are restricted. In no way do I blame Fictionwise for this problem.

I then tried to purchase the book from another site but it was only available as epub. My cybook does not support epub drm.

I am unable to purchase either a kindle or a sony due tomy location. we have very poor access to books locally and at very high prices so e books would be a freat solution but it is just not happening.

It seems that it is becoming more rather than less difficult over time for me to legally purchase e books.

Frustration is rapidly setting in and I am frankly very disapointed.

[Sweetpea]

Talking about restrictions:

GEOGRAPHIC RESTRICTIONS: The publisher of this eBook only allows sale to customers in: AD, AE, AF, AG, AI, AL, AM, AN, AO, AQ, AR, AS, AT, AU, AW, AZ, BA, BB, BD, BE, BF, BG, BH, BI, BJ, BM, BN, BO, BR, BS, BT, BW, BY, BZ, CA, CD, CF, CH, CI, CK, CL, CM, CN, CO, CR, CU, CV, CY, CZ, DE, DJ, DK, DM, DO, DZ, EC, EE, EG, EH, ER, ES, ET, FI, FJ, FK, FM, FO, FR, GA, GB, GD, GE, GF, GH, GI, GL, GM, GN, GQ, GR, GT, GU, GW, GY, HK, HN, HR, HT, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IO, IQ, IR, IS, IT, JM, JO, JP, KE, KG, KH, KI, KM, KN, KP, KR, KW, KY, KZ, LA, LB, LC, LI, LK, LR, LS, LT, LU, LV, LY, MA, MC, MD, ME, MG, MH, MK, ML, MM, MN, MO, MP, MQ, MR, MS, MT, MU, MV, MW, MX, MY, MZ, NA, NE, NG, NI, NL, NO, NP, NR, NZ, OM, PA, PE, PF, PG, PH, PK, PL, PN, PS, PT, PY, QA, RO, RS, RU, RW, SA, SB, SC, SD, SE, SG, SH, SI, SK, SL, SM, SN, SO, SR, ST, SV, SY, SZ, TC, TD, TF, TG, TH, TJ, TL, TM, TN, TO, TR, TT, TV, TW, TZ, UA, UG, UM, US, UY, UZ, VA, VC, VE, VG, VI, VN, VU, WS, YE, ZA, ZM, ZW

Did you order using a CC or Micropay?

[nomesque]

GAH! I don't blame you for being frustrated. I haven't tried buying ebooks yet (I've downloaded a few free ones) but being in Australia, I'm sure I'll share your pain once I get a reader. Do any libraries nearby have ebook stock? I was quite surprised to find that my local library does.

It's not a fantastic solution, given the lack of popular titles, but neither Feedbooks nor Smashwords are geographically-restricted...?

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Talking about restrictions:

For anyone thats come up against regional restrictions like this, is it typical for countries where english isn't the first language to not be affected by them quite so much?

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by Crowl

For anyone thats come up against regional restrictions like this, is it typical for countries where english isn't the first language to not be affected by them quite so much?

Unless you primarily read English books...

Why would a dutch publisher put a restriction on his books? He'll know there won't be another (foreign) publisher that has the right to publish his books in Dutch...


(insert any other language but English in place of the Dutch)

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

Yesterday I tried to purchase a book at fictionwise but was instructed to remove it from my basket due to geographical restrictions. I am no longer able to work around this as the site now uses my billing info to determine my location. Fictionwise claims 10% of its books are restricted in this way. That may be so but more than 10% of thye books I attempt to purchase are restricted. In no way do I blame Fictionwise for this problem.

I then tried to purchase the book from another site but it was only available as epub. My cybook does not support epub drm.

I am unable to purchase either a kindle or a sony due tomy location. we have very poor access to books locally and at very high prices so e books would be a freat solution but it is just not happening.

It seems that it is becoming more rather than less difficult over time for me to legally purchase e books.

Frustration is rapidly setting in and I am frankly very disapointed.

Fictionwise state it affects 10% of their books - in my experience I'd say the percentage was higher, certainly for my wish list it is nigh on 100% are restricted.

Thankfully they refunded me my club subscription until sometime that they have a UK outlet (though that in itself doesn't get away from the geographical restriction); of further interest I see that I still have a club membership ...

[HappyMartin]

I tried to pay using my paypal account when I got bounced yesterday. I am unaware of any local supplier of e books. The net result of all the irritation is I went to Baen and downloaded Eric Flints 1632 for free. No money left my account and I will not renew my club memebership with Fictionwise. Its not like I blame them or wish to punish them but it is no longer worth it for me.

The complexities around formats and drm are also becoming more onerous with silly things like mobi not allowing any other drm system on a machine that they license to. I was thinking of purchasing a new 5 inch reader such as the Opus but could not be bothered at the moment. I will look at it again once some of these issues are resolved.

I think a lot of the current complexities surrounding e books are caused by various vested interests attempting to carve out a piece of the market for them selves but all that is happening is that the market is being made an unpleasant place to be.

For now I vote with my feet and will support Baen and the books available on this site. I will try to follow the tutorials on this site and have a go at formatting freee books and posting them here. I will not purchase another reader and will avoid all books with drm. I could not be bothered to learn to remove drm and have no desire to get books illegally. All I want is to indulge a quiet and harmless hobby, ie reading. I dont have the time to become an expert in all these esoteric issues. I have photography for that.

[aceflor]

Have you tried introducing in your paypal accoount as secondary delivery adress a real US Adress (as a walmart one, or anything else, google it) and then changing your country in fictionwise for US ? Then, when paying with paypal, choose the US delivery adress which is not relevant at all since there will be no physical deliveries.

Annoying, I know, but this might work for you as it does for me for the time being. Do try if you want and tell wether it worked for you too.

[HappyMartin]

Unfortunately Fictionwise is using the billing address of the credit card that is linked to paypal. I tried changing my address but it still would not work. Don't try to eat where they don't want to feed you.

[aceflor]

Quite right! Have you tried Books on Board, was it the same ? I have grown to dislike fictionwise , if I can I avoid ordering there

[HansTWN]

It is not a case of Fictionwise not wanting to feed you. Fictionwise is forced to to it to protect the local book sellers in your country and in other places (outside of the US). So do what we all do, find a way around these restrictions. Otherwise you are just hurting yourself by missing out.

[owlrigh]

Originally Posted by HappyMartin

Unfortunately Fictionwise is using the billing address of the credit card that is linked to paypal. I tried changing my address but it still would not work. Don't try to eat where they don't want to feed you.

I was having the same problem, and so this is what I did: bought lots of Micropay money through paypal and changed my address on FW to "United States" and removed my associated Australian credit card for the Mobipocket.

And with that, I could by the book by Nina Kiriki Hoffman I'd wanted to read! Hurrah!

[zerospinboson]

Originally Posted by owlrigh

I was having the same problem, and so this is what I did: bought lots of Micropay money through paypal and changed my address on FW to "United States" and removed my associated Australian credit card for the Mobipocket.

And with that, I could by the book by Nina Kiriki Hoffman I'd wanted to read! Hurrah!

Yes. Sadly, this will force you to pay full price for all books. Which probably makes it a less attractive store to frequent.

[Crowl]

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Unless you primarily read English books...

Why would a dutch publisher put a restriction on his books? He'll know there won't be another (foreign) publisher that has the right to publish his books in Dutch...


(insert any other language but English in place of the Dutch)

Sorry, I guess I was being slightly unclear, I was wondering if it was common for english speaking books to not be restricted for countries where english isn't the primary language.

[owlrigh]

Originally Posted by zerospinboson

Yes. Sadly, this will force you to pay full price for all books. Which probably makes it a less attractive store to frequent.

I wonder if this would be the case if I went back and changed my details and re-added my CC. A bit of a hassle, but only about 20 seconds' worth every time I came across books I wanted to read but couldn't because of geographical restrictions -- maybe add them to my wishlist and then do them all at once?

I'm with the Buywise club, which I thought wise because I was buying subscriptions to a bunch of the magazines, and so there's that cheapness factor to begin with.

There's no real solution for Australians, not unless we somehow get an American address and an American credit card, dangnabbit.