E-book readers: Can someone fill me in?

[schrodingers cat]

Wife is a librarian in ChCh
http://christchurchcitylibraries.com...ctions/Ebooks/

Their collection won't wont work on the kindle
Of all the things she bought home to play with I thought the best of them was the Kobo. It didn't try to be anything other than what it was.
If you want a dedicated E-reader go Kobo

Otherwise download the software to a laptop

[Snails pace]

i have a sony which is great. Google "calibre". A programme, for the pc, that not only stores your books in a library but will convert them and load them on and off whatever reader you buy. Many of the readers you can change the font size, especially if you use the epub format. If you do a google on author it is surprising what free books turn up. words like freebookspot and mobilism can be helpful

[Gingin]

We have 2 e-readers, the wife has a Kindle complete with leather case and built in light - absolutly loves it takes it everywhere. I have a no name LCD E-reader . The E ink screen of the kindle is far better and easier to read battery lasts for days. LCD not as easy to read and battery lasts just a few hours. Tried reading on tablets and laptops etc but they are just plain hard work - bit of a no go. I use Calibre to help with downloading and converting books to correct formats. In general dont have any issues obtaining our desired reading material.
I am hopeing for the LCD to die soon so I am forced to upgrade to E Ink.

[St_Gabriel]

Wife and mother (mother lives in Aus) both got Kindles, both love them and are both registered to the one account so they can "share" books which they did when they had print versions anyhow. Kindle let you link 5 devices to the one account so I have downloaded the android app for my phone, sister (also in Aus) got the android app as well and finally mother got the apple kindle app so thats all 5 devices accounted for. All books get shared to all registered devices for that account (but do not have to be downloaded onto each device, only if the device user chooses to). Only downside is that if the wife wants a book, she has to send the account holder (mother) the book as a gift. We then have to hack mothers email to accept the gift so she can read it, so the whole shebang can/will only work if you implicitly trust the owners of any other registered devices.

I love the phone app as I read quite a few books on the phone, especially handy when I have unplanned downtime at work. (waiting 3 hours for a fuel delivery would really suck without it)

[-df-]

Nexus 7 (381+gst) + torrents for anything they dont sell in nz...sorted.

Just got mine and love it, great screen for websites, etc so should be fine for e books

[Motu]

Wife is a librarian in ChCh

Their collection won't wont work on the kindle

Most libraries are going epub, so any ebook reader I get will have to have epub. The kindle doesn't, it's a buy off Amazon thing like itunes.

[Gremlin]

Kobo (from my research last year) is one of the most flexible e-readers, reading most of the common formats and not locking you into their ecosystem to get books etc. I loaded my own books straight onto it.

[Hawkeye]

Publishing laws are different country by country. So what costs $ or not available in NZ can be free and available in the US.

There is also a loophole that allows you to get access to more free ebooks.

So how does the loophole work.

1. Set up an Amazon account on the Kindle from your NZ address.
2. Google a small non-important but valid address in the US and set up an Amazon account with that as the billing address.
3. load your NZ account with NZ dollars.
4. GIFT your US account from your NZ account.
5. Change your kindle to attach to the US account (easy to do - takes about 15 secs on the kindle)
you now have access to lots more free and available books.

The important thing to know. Your US account must always remain in credit. That way when you buy, it comes out of your credit and they dont need to go back to the billing address.

The thing I found was that sometimes, the same book can be much cheaper downloading from the US when available in both places.

[pzkpfw]

...

There are Kindle games that they won't let me download. Would this US address dodge fix that too?

[CelticSam]

I'm on my second Sony Ereader (I wanted a change of colour and an update) and it is never far from me.

At the moment I use booksonboard.com or whitcoulls.co.nz. I'm sure I've even seen ebooks on fishpond. I've been told that a Sony reader store is going to be available to NZ Aug/Sept.

[Usarka]

Was going to buy one of the new Kindles for my old man but the cunts won't even let me buy one "This item cannot be shipped to the address you selected".

Fine I'll go to book depository and buy some real books for him you corporate facist plicks. Didn't want your advert filled reader anyway.

[Winston001]

Never used it but Shipto is a forwarding business for exactly this problem, and appears to have happy Oz customers.

http://www.shipito.com/

[jimichelle]

https://www.prezoom.com

[p.dath]

Was going to buy one of the new Kindles for my old man but the cunts won't even let me buy one "This item cannot be shipped to the address you selected".

Fine I'll go to book depository and buy some real books for him you corporate facist plicks. Didn't want your advert filled reader anyway.

I've bought lots of things from Amazon and never had a shipping issue. Maybe you need a different address than Mianus.