e-readers

[audreyc]

Hello all,

Anyone have an e-reader that they like that allows you to buy books from the US? I've never had one or really any desire for one, until arriving here. The few books I brought from the US have been read and I want to be able to have a constant flow of books of my choosing. I'm not much for popular novels, so my options here are virtually nil. Any recommendations? Does the Nook work here?

[Bevdeforges]

There are ways of buying e-books from the US - most of which involve some level of subterfuge. Amazon limits you to purchasing through the "local" Amazon site based on your main delivery address for physical goods (which can be a pain - the French Kindle site has English language books, but not the best selection). Other work arounds involve the use of "gift cards" purchased through friends or family back in the US.

Or, get yourself an e-reader that reads e-pub (sony or Kobo, plus lots of other lesser known brands) and take a look at Kobo for sourcing your e-books: Kobo eBooks ? Explore Great eBooks and Read in your eReader, Computer, Smartphone or Tablet - Kobo This is a Canadian vendor who seems to be able to sell a reasonable assortment of English language books almost anywhere. (They are, however, subject to the usual sorts of geographic restrictions placed on e-book sales.)

There is a very interesting matrix of many of the available e-readers here: MobileRead Wiki - E-book Reader Matrix and you can find other information (like about online e-bookshops) on other pages of the same wiki.
Cheers,
Bev

[dijid]

I, and two of my children, have Kindles. Now that Amazon has introduced the Kindle in France, the selection of English language books that is available is quite large. There's also a lot of free books (not just the Project gutenburg ones). Prices are very competitive with the US prices, and sometimes I find them even lower. You can also purchase off Smashwords with a French IP.

We also maintain library cards for a US library system that has a good selection of downloadable e-books (including Kindle format ones). The waitlists can be long, but it's our #1 source of ebooks. No need to hide our IP with that, either.

[jamesOK]

My Fiancé has a Kindle as she reads non-stop. We were both impressed by the Kobo e-reader. We stumbled across one in our local Fnac store: Kobo eReader Touch

[audreyc]

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

There are ways of buying e-books from the US - most of which involve some level of subterfuge. Amazon limits you to purchasing through the "local" Amazon site based on your main delivery address for physical goods (which can be a pain - the French Kindle site has English language books, but not the best selection). Other work arounds involve the use of "gift cards" purchased through friends or family back in the US.

Does this mean if I keep my Amazon.com account with my US physical address and use my US bank/credit card that I can keep buying things from Amazon.com here in France? That would be awesome if so!

I was hoping Barnes and Noble had international downloading capabilities because I worked there for years in college and have a great personal fondness for the company (save the brick and mortar stores!) I thought if I got their reader then it would at least go into their pockets. I just read on their own site though that you can't download internationally. Bummer.

Amazon appeals to me because they also have a ton of e-textbooks and I'm keen on studying a few things while I'm here. If I can't access regular ole amazon.com from here though, I'll spring for the Sony for sure.

Thanks everyone for the info! I will look into Kobo and look at the diagram of different e-reader features. You guys are the best!

[audreyc]

Originally Posted by dijid

We also maintain library cards for a US library system that has a good selection of downloadable e-books (including Kindle format ones). The waitlists can be long, but it's our #1 source of ebooks. No need to hide our IP with that, either.

This is a brilliant idea--never would've thought of it in a million years. Thank you so much!

[Bevdeforges]

Originally Posted by audreyc

Does this mean if I keep my Amazon.com account with my US physical address and use my US bank/credit card that I can keep buying things from Amazon.com here in France? That would be awesome if so!

It depends. I have an Amazon.com account with a US based credit card, but because I also buy physical goods from the other amazons, I have to use my French delivery address. You can order e-books internationally from Amazon.com (or at least you could last time I checked) but you need to have a US delivery address posted for your account in order to get the US-based prices and selection. (And I' m not sure, but they may check the IP address you' re using for accessing the .com site.)

You can change your delivery address, depending on what you' re ordering, but be careful because if they notice that you' re doing this, they may come back and ask you to provide " proof" of address. Other e-book selling sites go by the billing address on your credit card (so plan accordingly).

I'd be hesitant to use a US delivery address on my Amazon account simply because I use Amazon here in France to get any number of physical products that are not available (or difficult to find) here in France. Often, they' re available through Amazon.fr or Amazon.co.uk which avoids paying the huge shipping fees for getting things from the US.

The library card idea works great - as long as you can get a long-distance library card. (That' s something else the publishers are looking to quash in order to enforce their geographical restrictions.) Many US libraries require you to either come in in person to get a card, or to provide proof that you are a city, county or state resident. Philadelphia Public Library is said to be the most available library - with an annual fee for out of state residents. You can check MobileRead for more information about that.
Cheers,
Bev

[siobhanwf]

When I bought my iPad I immediately wanted to order some books and naturally went to the .co.uk site.
However when I ordered ebooks they sent me to the US site.

I originally opened my account in the Uk and when we moved here just changed my delivery address but still use a UK registered credit card

[RayRay]

Originally Posted by Bevdeforges

It depends. I have an Amazon.com account with a US based credit card, but because I also buy physical goods from the other amazons, I have to use my French delivery address...

I'd be hesitant to use a US delivery address on my Amazon account simply because I use Amazon here in France to get any number of physical products that are not available (or difficult to find) here in France. Bev

Bev

I use Amazon in 3 countries: US, Canada, and France (my daughter lives in Canada). I use the same email and password on all three websites.

We order goods to be delivered to physical addresses from all three sites. That is, to our US address from Amazon.com, to our French address from Amazon.fr, and to my daughter's Canadian address from Amazon.ca. I also buy music downloads from Amazon.com and download them to my computer.

Regardless of which site I log into, they all seem to access the same financial and address data. That is, all of my "ship to" addresses are in all three of the Amazon sites and all of the credit / debit cards are all available on all three sites. My daughter in Canada buys gift cards on Amazon.fr and emails them to us to use when we order goods from Amazon.fr for our birthdays and Xmas for French delivery.

To date, no one has asked us to verify where we live. I'm not saying they won't... just that they have not done so for the 10 years or so that I've been using the US & Canadian Amazon sites and in the 2 years we've been ordering from Amazon.fr.

My 2c.

Ray

[Bevdeforges]

RayRay, I should explain here. Things are different on Amazon when you are ordering from the Kindle shops. It has to do with the publishers' geographical restrictions on e-book sales (which they don't have on physical book sales).

I regularly order from Amazon. com, *.fr and *.co.uk for delivery to France and even now and then from *.de and I have had some physical products delivered to friends and family in the US. All with no problems. I'm seriously dependent on Amazon for a number of items hard to find elsewhere.

But, once you start shopping in the Kindle store, you'll find your options are a bit more limited. Any title I check for in *.co.uk comes up with a mark saying:

Kindle titles for your country are not available at Amazon.co.uk.
Please shop for Kindle titles at Amazon.com.

I can buy Kindle books from *.com, but the prices are different from what you'll see in the US (basically, they include VAT) and I get another notice at the top of the page:

Great news! You can now shop for Kindle titles at Amazon.fr in Euros. Learn more about transferring to Amazon.fr

What bothers me is the word "transferring" because I find that the selection of English language books on the French website is somewhat limited. Then again, I don't actually buy Kindle books at Amazon, because I have an e-pub based reader.
Cheers,
Bev