Kindle has arrived!!!!!!, now what to do with it!!

[dyljon]

My Kindle arrived last week (I've been using the app on my laptop and phone for a while now) and I'm a bit dissapointed to discover there are quite a few books I want not available. For example, I'm currently reading a series by Jack Kerley which has 7 books. Only number 7 is available here on Kindle. Number 6 is on the amazon site, but says it can not be downloaded in Australia at this stage. I believe it is the publishers putting the restrictions on, but it is so frustrating. Does anyone have any ideas where else I could try to source it (I've already tried many torrents sites...)

[gertbysea]

You  can change your address to one in North America to get  to books forbidden here but that is risky if they find out.

Australian publishers seem to have a strong lobby  in Parliament preventing the easing of the parallel importing laws for books which is what makes books so expensive in this small population country.

If they want a "Smart" Australia the pollies need to look at ways to make reading more desirable and to make books cheaper. Children's books are especially expensive. You can get wonderful children's' classics for free on the Kindle and they can use speech to text  which is useful in getting children to read and to SPELL!

Gretchen

[dyljon]

Thanks Gretchen. Yes I've found loads of kids books free. What are the implications of putting down a North American address? I wonder if they would actually bother to prosecute if they found out, if it's only been a handfull of titles?

[JulieO]

dyljon I will PM you. 

[faffa_70]

Thanks Gretchen. Yes I've found loads of kids books free. What are the implications of putting down a North American address? I wonder if they would actually bother to prosecute if they found out, if it's only been a handfull of titles?

I have wondered the same thing. Only a couple of things that I want too and can't get 

[CreamPuff63]

The reason we have to use our Aussie Address is because of the Australian laws on parallel importing. These laws are to protect the profits of Australian publishers. If you have a US account you can downoad everything but if you get caught  you might find that all of your content will suddenly disappear as happened to a friend of mine.

Gert

Ahem, I have a friend also who has done this...she put down an American address and then downloaded about 3 books that weren't available in Aus. The next morning she woke up to find that she had an email saying they had noticed she had changed addresses and asking for proof of residency in the US. Needless to say my friend quickly changed her address back to Aus (or got on the next plane back) but still just kept her US address on the account. The last thing she needed was a Kindle with a bad reputation 

[achookwoman]

Was able to check via seatguru, if recharging was available on Qantas,  (thanks Judy).  It is for the seats that we have.  Great news as I can read for hours.

[gertbysea]

Was able to check via seatguru, if recharging was available on Qantas,  (thanks Judy).  It is for the seats that we have.  Great news as I can read for hours.

I have found that I need only to recharge about once every 3 weeks with my Kindle. The only time I turn on the wreless is when I download  and that  takes only a minute or two thus saving the batteries. I think you could easily read on the longest flight without recharging.

I have just read the Millenium Trilogy straight through using just about 1% of  the batts.

The other day I received my new cover with light attached and I do think using that would chew up the battery much quicker.

Gretch

[cookie1]

Hope you enjoyed The Millenium Trilogy. I still have the last one to read. What's the cover with a light like? We're waiting to buy another Sony and I may get a light on the cover this time. Possibly good for the van or plane.
It's wonderful the way they hardly use any battery.

I'm just finsihing "Blue Eyed Boy" by Joanne Harris. It took a bit of getting into but I've enjoyed it.

[CreamPuff63]

These are good:

The Hundred Foot Journey, by Richard C Morais
The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls
A Reliable Wife, Robert Goolrick

I am in the middle of Lunch in Paris: A Delicous Love Story, but not much is happening and its abit predictable. About one girl who goes to Paris and falls in love with a French man, and discovers a love of cooking. At the end of each chapter are 3 recipes that she has mentioned just prior - hence the delicous bit

[Cuilidh]

Cookie, the cover with the light is fine.  As the light sits in one corner, the bottom line or two of the opposite corner is not as brightly lit as the top, but it is still perfectly legible and I'm not sure that a really bright light would be helpful anyway because this could disturb others if you are using it at night (which, of course, is the idea behind the light in the first place).  I should imagine it would drain the battery fairly quickly, but I don't know how fast (or slow) the drain would be.

I'm half way through Snow Flower and the Secret Fan at the moment (recommended by one of our readers on the forum), and it's very absorbing, especially as we spent some years in Hong Kong before handover; it has made me better understand some of the attitudes of my local Chinese friends.

I've got Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Golden Tattoo (I think that's the name, anyway the first of the Millennium Trilogy) waiting for me next.  CP63, your Delicious Love Story sounds good - perhaps that will get downloaded in the next day or two.

I also just purchased a $50 gift voucher (once again, following up a posting from someone on this forum) so that I'm not charging loads of small purchases onto my visa card, hope it works.

[cookie1]

CP63 I really enjoyed 'The Glass Castle'.
Cuilidh I also enjoyed 'now Flower and the Secret Fan'.
Both memorable books. I think I mentioned that I've just finished Joanne Harris's book 'Blue eyed Boy'. I ended up enjoyoing that too.
I bought our second Sony e reader this morning. Now we will each have one and there will be no problems taking it away when either of us go or we go together.

[CreamPuff63]

Cookie upon your recommendation, have just downloaded Snow Flower and the Secret Fan as the write up looked very good also, and look forward to getting my nose into that one

[wombleydoo]

I have the kindle and the cover with the light and it doesn't seem to drain the battery too fast. We took our kindles camping and it was awesome at night. We could read in bed without using a torch. I read a bit at night with the light and only recharge every few weeks. I'm reading a "real" book at the moment and I miss the lightness of the kindle and the little light. Our bedside lamp lights up the room so much and I feel guilty reading while dh is sleeping.

I bought the power adaptor for it, which makes it easier to recharge when I'm still reading it.

I'm really looking forward to taking the kindle with me when we travel, esp when we go to PNG for 3 weeks. Last time I took 20 books with me, but this time I can take dozens for a lot less weight. I told my friend she had to buy a kindle coz I wasn't bringing books with me this time LOL

[BimbyPT]

..I've got Stieg Larsson's Girl with the Golden Tattoo (I think that's the name, anyway the first of the Millennium Trilogy) waiting for me next.  CP63, your Delicious Love Story sounds good - perhaps that will get downloaded in the next day or two.

Take care, the Millennium trilogy is totally addictive. I read all 3 volumes on my vacation, on the summer of 2009. I read them in Portuguese (although I found out later they were note translated directly from the Swedish, but from the English translation  )
They were huge, so Kindle version must be much more practical.
I am reading (rereading actually) Anne of Green Gables. And I've got the whole collection of Lucy M Montgomery to go through, thanks to one of those free books sites