Which ebook reader is best???

Puteq

Yelnahs wrote: »

hey guys,

I went to order my Wireless (no 3g) Kindle today and it says it won't be shipped until February so I cancelled out of the transaction.

Am I missing something here? I tried to buy it off amazon.co.uk and it told me to go to the US site which I did and the above happened...

Any ideas?

Thanks.

I think whats happening here isn't specific to the kindle, have a read of this thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055016126

I find both amazon and play wont ship to ireland most of the time, but then totally inconsistently it seems to work the odd time (I'm pretty sure if you buy from a private seller through amazon it'll work, but from amazon directly it probably wont). I believe Amazon then set up the website www.shopireland.ie as a kind of 'irish wing' of their website, though often when i try buying something there is passes me through the the UK website, which then (hit and miss) probably wont work. SUPER annoying!

Guill

I tried to oreder mine on .co.uk site but it said it could be only ordered from america. I ordered it then with no issue and i said estimated delivery was 7 days. i watched oit on the tracker as it got shipped from state to tate in america and then to france and on to england and over to me. It arrived after 7 days, it's last port of call being the uk. What a waste of shipping costs.

Yelnahs

Thanks for the help guys, I'll try that http://www.shopireland.ie/ site now...

Thats crazy about the shipping. The UK one is more compatible than the US one due to voltage, plug sockets etc... it makes no sense.

Guill when did you order yours? Tried it on the US site yesterday and it said it would be shipped in February.

Yelnahs

ah no. It looked so promising... Free shipping and pricing in Euro!

Subtotal: €132.22 (£109.00)
Shipping: €7.10 (£6.03)
* Select "FREE Super Saver Shipping" during checkout.

Then I got re-directed to the co.uk site and the same as happened earlier happened.

Does anyone else stock the kindle? Or is it amazon only? Elara, Pixmania, Komplett?

I'll try the US site again, 4 months to ship must of been an error.

Edit. Its changed to "Expected to ship in 7 to 9 weeks" on the US site. Will keep trying

Manach

Has anyone feedback on their subscription service for newpapers/magazines - this might be a selling point for me. I have looked at lowish (3 stars) ratings for the kindle newpapers/magazine

Guill

Yelnahs wrote: »

Thanks for the help guys, I'll try that http://www.shopireland.ie/ site now...

Thats crazy about the shipping. The UK one is more compatible than the US one due to voltage, plug sockets etc... it makes no sense.

Guill when did you order yours? Tried it on the US site yesterday and it said it would be shipped in February.

It was the 22nd of october when i ordered mine.
I have not bothered with the mag subscriptions myself.

calum

Puteq wrote: »

I think whats happening here isn't specific to the kindle, have a read of this thread:

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055016126

That thread is well out of date; Amazon.co.uk started shipping most electronics/gadgets/video games to Ireland again probably a year or more ago -- I certainly haven't had any problems ordering any such items from them since then. (Marketplace sellers are still a bit hit and miss, though.)

From the Amazon website, it just appears that all non-UK residents have to buy their Kindles from the US -- don't know why. It's the same story if you try to order one from Amazon.fr, or Amazon.de, for example.

Yelnahs

This is frustrating, I want to buy the product and they don't seem to want my money.

Think I'll go to the Sony store and get the PRS-650.

** For God's sake, its €279 on Pixmania. How is there such a price difference?!?!?!?!

calum

Yelnahs wrote: »

This is frustrating, I want to buy the product and Think I'll go to the Sony store and get the PRS-650.

Just to warn you, Sony 650s are in short supply, as my wife found out when she was looking for hers recently. Apparently Sony made a lot more of the smaller 350s because they thought they would be more popular, and then it turned out everybody really wanted the bigger one...

Puteq

calum wrote: »

That thread is well out of date; Amazon.co.uk started shipping most electronics/gadgets/video games to Ireland again probably a year or more ago -- I certainly haven't had any problems ordering any such items from them since then. (Marketplace sellers are still a bit hit and miss, though.)

Really?? thats class! I was so sick of it i completely gave up and stopped even trying to order anything from them. Thanks

So, out of curiosity - does anyone know why amazon wants everyone outside the UK to buy their kindle from the US? I'm gonna order one now and its a bit of a pain to think it'll have to travel so far coming close to the Xmas post rush for no apparent reason

Yelnahs

Can you confirm when you order that it'll arrive in late Jan early Feb?

Thanks.

Puteq

Yelnahs wrote: »

Can you confirm when you order that it'll arrive in late Jan early Feb?

Thanks.

Yeah i went to order it, on the .com website there is a drop-down menu to choose whatever country you are in, i chose ireland and went ahead with the order and it told me it would be shipped in 7 to 9 weeks. Since it said 'shipped' as opposed to 'delivered' i assume they are short on stock and are waiting for it to come back into stock again before processing the order.

I am going to think about whether i want to wait this long ...

Yelnahs

hmmmm yeah I see what you're saying. But that also could mean that if they run out of stock thats the default message they enter, then when they get stock in they change the shipping date to something closer to the time. Covering their asses I suppose you could call it.

I was looking all over the internet and there was no news about shortages in stock. Even if you select USA the shipping time is still 7-9 weeks.

So the option is to pay nearly double for the Sony reader (if its in stock, thanks for the heads up calum) or purchase the kindle now and hope and pray is comes in December some time... hmmmmm. Decision, decisions.

byte

Would the UK Kindle work fine over here?

I don't see any reason why it wouldn't, but just to be sure.

I would plan ordering it to an address in NI.

boobar

Swampy wrote: »

Kindle 3 is amazing. I have mine a week or so. You could download loads of books same way people download movies and use a piece of software called Calibre to push them on to your device. I recommend mobileread.com forums for all the info you'll need about ebook readers.

Does this mean you're not "tied in" to buying from Amazon. Personally, I'd like an ebbok reader and the Kindle looks great, but I'd feel much more comfortable buying Ebooks from an Irish retailer like Easons to help Irish businesses and protect Irish jobs. Anyu thoughts on this?

Guill

The calbre software is great, it will push most file format books onto the kindle for you and it is extremely easy to use.

Claregirl

Skipped a page to ask what the deal was with ordering from US then realised ye've already answered! Sorry!

Yelnahs

**Edit. No its not back in stock, got redirected to another site that told me its 7-9 weeks again...

Yelnahs

I'm generally not a complaining person but this is really annoying me. Every single amazon website has the kindle listed as in stock, but when you need the international one shipped (i.e the USB only one) you have to wait 2 months

The following is the official response from Amazon. Am I missing something here? Doesn't the US Kindle come with a USB cable and detachable plug? So surely they can ship me a US Kindle with the plug, I can simply detach it and charge it on my pc only?

Hello,

I'm sorry for any inconvenience caused

For customers outside the U.S., we recommend the Kindle (Latest Generation, 6”) with USB only. Due to strong customer demand, Kindle is temporarily sold out for international shipments, including shipment to U.S. territories, APO, FPO and DPO addresses.

Order now to reserve your place in line at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003DZ1Y8Q. You’ll see current availability estimates on the product detail page. Orders are prioritized on a first come, first served basis.

Currently, we are only shipping devices with a U.S. power adapter to addresses within the U.S.


Further, please note that, the latest generation Kindle and access to the Kindle store on Amazon.co.uk are only available to customers in the U.K. If Kindle is available in your location, you can place an order from www.amazon.com/kindle3G and access the Kindle store at www.amazon.com/kindle.

Kindles ordered today will not be delivered by Christmas. We will ship your Kindle to you as quickly as possible and will keep you informed by e-mail as we get more precise delivery dates.

I'm very sorry about all of this. I hope you'll consider this an isolated incident and give us another chance in the future.

Killme00

Yelnahs wrote: »

**Edit. No its not back in stock, got redirected to another site that told me its 7-9 weeks again...

If you have a friend in Northern Ireland or the rest of the Uk you can buy from the co.uk site and ship it to them. I did this last Friday and it was delivered on the Saturday to my friend up north and was in my hands on monday morning.

PeakOutput

Yelnahs wrote: »

The following is the official response from Amazon. Am I missing something here? Doesn't the US Kindle come with a USB cable and detachable plug? So surely they can ship me a US Kindle with the plug, I can simply detach it and charge it on my pc only?

i think it might technically be illegal to supply electronic goods without the right plug for the country dont know if that would apply to foreign imports though

Stench Blossoms

Are any of these e-readers suitable for reading in the dark?

Yelnahs

Killme00 wrote: »

If you have a friend in Northern Ireland or the rest of the Uk you can buy from the co.uk site and ship it to them. I did this last Friday and it was delivered on the Saturday to my friend up north and was in my hands on monday morning.

Good thinking. I canceled my order and made a new one being delivered to my cousins in the UK. They'll forward it on to me. A bit awkward but better than waiting a few months.

i think it might technically be illegal to supply electronic goods without the right plug for the country dont know if that would apply to foreign imports though

That must be the reason. There is no other logical reason for them not to sell it with the US plug. Saying that though, it just compounds the illogicality of not being able to buy from the .co.uk

Are any of these e-readers suitable for reading in the dark?

There is always a bit of a debate around this. Technically reading in the dark with a back light would hurt your eyes. Most e-readers have an optional extra, a case with an attachable light on it for night time reading thats powered by the USB port. Have a look here for some more details.

Thanks for your help with this folks.

pleasant Co.

Yelnahs wrote: »

There is no other logical reason for them not to sell it with the US plug. Saying that though, it just compounds the illogicality of not being able to buy from the .co.uk

It's simple really, amazon don't want to loose market share in the US over xmas, if they run out of stock due to international sales the people over there will just go for the nook or some other variant.

Yelnahs

Very true, but at the same time they are losing out on the non Uk and USA market... I suppose they are an American company so their home market is their priority.

PeakOutput

Mactard wrote: »

It's simple really, amazon don't want to loose market share in the US over xmas, if they run out of stock due to international sales the people over there will just go for the nook or some other variant.

is there a reason that no1 seems to talk about the nook over here?

Widescreen

Sorry folks,not an expert on these things so just a couple of questions on the kindle.

1. Can you buy them in Ireland at any shops?

2. Can you connect them to your computer via usb to download books, I don't have a wireless modem yet?

3. Are the books expensive and are u restricted to amazon or can you vary where you get them from?

thanks:o

Yelnahs

Widescreen wrote: »

Sorry folks,not an expert on these things so just a couple of questions on the kindle.

1. Can you buy them in Ireland at any shops?

2. Can you connect them to your computer via usb to download books, I don't have a wireless modem yet?

3. Are the books expensive and are u restricted to amazon or can you vary where you get them from?

thanks:o

1. Apparently they are for sale in Dixons in T1 in Dublin Airport. Its 127 for the regular and 173 for the 3G one.

2. Yes you can. For a more detailed look this is a good read.

3. You can get the official books from the amazon store but it also supports a multitude of different formats (again, see the link above) So you can "acquire" .txt or .pdf books and transfer them across. It seems Calibre is the best piece of software to do this.

Thoie

I tried to order a Kindle as a present for someone last Thursday. After some faffing with the US site (no, I don't want it in February, thanks), a UK friend ordered it for me.

She received it and has reposted it to me this morning, so not 100% sure when I'll get it. Apparently the post office told her "they might confiscate it", but I don't know who the "they" were, as it's VAT paid in the UK so I can't see why there'd be a problem there. Registered post from the UK was under GBP£10.

Will see if I can hook it up to my account when it arrives, though will do this warily, as obviously it's a present for someone else and I don't want to mess it up before they get it - it's far more fun to have mad arguments about hooking up tech on Christmas morning!

Widescreen

Yelnahs wrote: »

1. Apparently they are for sale in Dixons in T1 in Dublin Airport. Its 127 for the regular and 173 for the 3G one.

2. Yes you can. For a more detailed look this is a good read.

3. You can get the official books from the amazon store but it also supports a multitude of different formats (again, see the link above) So you can "acquire" .txt or .pdf books and transfer them across. It seems Calibre is the best piece of software to do this.

thanks a lot for that