Amazon International Kindle Rant !

[fidjit]

So I ordered my Amazon International WiFi only Kindle 3 about 3 weeks ago....

Waiting...waiting...waiting...still don't even have a ship date ETA - on or before September 24th was what was up on the site when I ordered .......yet

1. The US versions are available in stock from Amazon.
2. I believe that B&M Target stores in the US have the US Versions in store.

Now how bloody different can a Wifi version be ?????

I can understand the 3G version being different for different overseas carriers.

I'm wondering if it's not some sneaky plan to do with wifi MAC addresses or something like that to stop overseas people purchasing books not available in their region ( not that I'd do that )

In addition they've got the audacity to ship me the cover before the Kindle.... now I asked for everything to be shipped together,it's one of the options they give you. They would have saved themselves double postage ( they'd better not charge me ... ) and saved me some grief ..............

Nice cover, just NOTHING TO PUT IN IT !!!!!

Very tempted to paypal a friendly US based B&B member to go into a Target, pick one up and ship it to me ( with something in it for them of course ) ........anyone ???

Oh and in addition you know what else has me POed ?? All these Aussie Ebay scum that have ordered in multiple Kindles and are now selling them for like $80+ over the price from Amazon just because they're already in Australia. I might be desperate but no thanks.............. For all I know one of them could have the Kindle that would have been mine if they hadn't volume purchased. Hope they get stuck with them and make a huge loss !!!!


/Rant over i

 

[RF1963]

Feeling better now ???

 

[Luc]

You can get cheap books off ebay...

 

[fidjit]

Feeling better now ???

Nope. I STILL AIN'T GOT ME KINDLE !!!!

You can get cheap books off ebay...

Mate wifey is very happy with this. She's so sick of finding books everywhere. My bookshelf is overflowing with books ( oh and maybe a few boxes of shaving gear as well ). Last time she made me get rid of some of my books I got rid of perhaps 1/2 of them at the most. There's particular books because of their age, or author, or series that I won't get rid of. Collected from bookshops, school fairs etc over the last 30 years or so. You look at say my old copies of the James Bond series and the covers and quality are soooo much better than any of the current pressings.

It's gonna limit my boys choice of birthday/Fathers Day/Christmas presents though as books is what they normally get me. Though cook books are still a goer...........

The Kindle will only cover my "run of the mill" type readings......I'll still be buying the good old paperback and hardback for particular books

Is it here yet !!!....Not yet !!!!

 

[RF1963]

Mate wifey is very happy with this. She's so sick of finding books everywhere. My bookshelf is overflowing with books

Fortunately my SWMBO enjoys and appreciates books as much as I do - on the other hand she did try suggesting selling my Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton CDs as they were 'taking up space'!

 

[fidjit]

Fortunately my SWMBO enjoys and appreciates books as much as I do - on the other hand she did try suggesting selling my Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton CDs as they were 'taking up space'!

As long as she doesn't try and touch your vinyl !!!!!

 

[RF1963]

As long as she doesn't try and touch your vinyl !!!!!

Even worse was the suggestion that one didn't need the back catalogue, just a 'best of' CD. I was horrified

 

[the beav]

I can't wait until I see reports of people buying a Kindle, loading it with fifty books, then accidentally leaving it in a classroom or on the subway.

 

[tg16]

Fortunately my SWMBO enjoys and appreciates books as much as I do - on the other hand she did try suggesting selling my Pink Floyd and Eric Clapton CDs as they were 'taking up space'!

You may need to see an attorney or if you elect to keep the wife, ship the CD's to me.

 

[LBTRS]

I can't wait until I see reports of people buying a Kindle, loading it with fifty books, then accidentally leaving it in a classroom or on the subway.

Then you log into your amazon.com account and transfer all the books to a free kindle application on your PC or smartphone and keep on reading like nothing happened. You could also purchase a new Kindle and transfer them to the new device.

Now leave a actual hard copy book in the classroom or on the subway and you're **** out of luck.

 

[the beav]

Then you log into your amazon.com account and transfer all the books to a free kindle application on your PC or smartphone and keep on reading like nothing happened. You could also purchase a new Kindle and transfer them to the new device.

Now leave a actual hard copy book in the classroom or on the subway and you're **** out of luck.

OK-is that how it works? Kindle still looks very impractical to me. And as you said you still have to buy a new Kindle which is not cheap.

As a general observation, it's technology like Kindle that supposedly makes life better but actually makes it worse. I can remember when laptops were first produced. All the "experts" agreed on how much paper would be saved because nobody would need to print anything anymore. LOL--that's a good one. Paper usage most likely went up due to editing and re-editing alone. Technology was also to improve the world of finance. Wall Street kids took it and created all kinds of financial products that nobody understood, then said that their models were infallible because "See, our analysis proves it right here." A common error and another LOL as it brought on today's financial crises that's not even half over yet.

Back to books, I like to hold a book, turn down a page, underline, and value the beauty of older book covers and well as the knowledge that's inside. Books are tactile, personal, unique in size and appearance, and are like old friends in the home. Although Kindle can probably do some of the things that I just mentioned, it largely takes all that away and reduces all the personality of books to dry toast.

Well I could go on and on but what's the point? I probably said enough already.

PS I think there's a no cussing policy on this board.

 

[Go West Young Man]

OK-is that how it works? i don't really care.....Kindle looks very impractical to me. And BTW, you'd still have to buy a new Kindle which is not cheap.

Once you've held a Kindle in your hands, it all makes sense. It's a ridiculously sexy machine, and so easy to use. I'm angling for one this Xmas.

 

[Too Tall]

Worth the wait mate. I got an 3G one month ago and never looked back. I'm reading two newspapers each day and am making mincemeat of the gutenberg book project. A LOVELY feature of the kindle is to email yourself an attachment (book) and have it automatically converted for use on Kindle. It will be very hard to not buy newsprint...very hard....grrrr.

 

[the beav]

Once you've held a Kindle in your hands, it all makes sense. It's a ridiculously sexy machine, and so easy to use. I'm angling for one this Xmas.

I'll have to trust you on that, but I still prefer books. Guess I'll have to get one from a student and check it out. I'm not really that old, but I do think that people that grew up with computers in the home are much more likely to try and use new "gadgets"--if I can call them that--than others.

 

[proxymoron]

As a general observation, it's technology like Kindle that supposedly makes life better but actually makes it worse. I can remember when computers were first produced. All the "experts" agreed on how much paper would be saved because nobody would need to print anything anymore. LOL--that's a good one. Paper usage most likely went up due to editing and re-editing alone. Technology was also to improve the world of finance. Wall Street kids took it and created all kinds of financial products that nobody understood, then said that their models were infallible because "See, our analysis proves it right here." A common error and another LOL as it brought on today's financial crises that's not even half over yet.

Oh, the irony. But I do hear you. For me, it's the wheel. Stupid wheel. No wheel, no cars, no global warming. Simple as that.

 

[cswann1]

I've been living with my Kindle for a week now.

This is a very, very slick little device. I can put gobs of books on it, and if 10 years from now I run out of room, I'll just back everything up to a HDD (which it already is anyway), and load more. I can take the equal of several pallets of books/magazines with me wherever I go in a device that fits in the outer pocket of my laptop bag.

It's inexpensive, good for the planet, does what it's designed to do extremely well AND..... if you take that baby into a busy Starbucks and can't get a conversation with a lady going it's because: A) your not trying or B) You just got sprayed by a skunk.


On a side note. The Mobipocket Creator, which is a free download, can put just about any ebook in Kindle-speak. So practically any ebook from any source can be read from your Kindle.

 

[fidjit]

I'll have to trust you on that, but I still prefer books. Guess I'll have to get one from a student and check it out. I'm not really that old, but I do think that people that grew up with computers in the home are much more likely to try and use new "gadgets"--if I can call them that--than others.

Mate, I felt exactly the same way at the ripe old age of 45.

I borrowed a mates Kindle for the last couple of weeks as I wasn't convinced it was the way to go either. I'm loving it ( hence the (delayed) order ).

It doesn't completely replace books, as I say I'll still be buying them and I can't see it replacing say text or cookbooks and the like. There's something about flicking through, annotating, dog earring, tagging those sort of books.

For your everyday novel though, it does make a lot of sense for quite a few reasons ( price, storage, paper saving ............)

I suspect too that I'll end up also (re) reading a lot of the Gutenberg Project classics. That can't be a bad thing

 

[Legion]

When I've gotten through the stockpile of paperbacks sitting on my bookshelves that I have not had time to read yet I may consider buying a Kindle. They should be going pretty cheap in fifty years time, too.

 

[fidjit]

I've been living with my Kindle for a week now.

This is a very, very slick little device. I can put gobs of books on it, and if 10 years from now I run out of room, I'll just back everything up to a HDD (which it already is anyway), and load more. I can take the equal of several pallets of books/magazines with me wherever I go in a device that fits in the outer pocket of my laptop bag.

Rather than just using the Amazon portal for loading your Kindle have a look at Calibre , it's an ebook management system. Allows you to easily download and remove stuff from your Kindle as well as doing conversions to the best format for the kindle. Seem to be a really neat system.

 

[fidjit]

Oh and BTW

Obviously Amazon is monitoring B&B

Shipping advice just received. Expected Delivery 30 Sept/1 Oct..... fingers crossed.