Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display,Wireless,Latest Gen) - €238.54 [Amazon US]

Basq · 29-10-2009 3:45pm #1

Just got an e-mail saying Amazon US are shipping the Kindle.

Could be screwed on duty though!

Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines

Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback

Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered wirelessly in less than 60 seconds; no PC required

3G Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle; no annual contracts, no monthly fees, and no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots

International Coverage: Enjoy 3G wireless coverage at home or abroad in over 100 countries. See details. Check wireless coverage map.

Paper-Like Display: Reads like real paper without glare, even in bright sunlight

Carry Your Library: Holds up to 1,500 books

Long Battery Life: Read for days without recharging

Read-to-Me: With the experimental Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made the feature unavailable

Free Book Samples: Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy

Large Selection: Over 360,000 books, including 101 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs. For non-U.S. customers, content availability and pricing will vary. Check your country.

Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases are $9.99, unless marked otherwise. When traveling abroad, you can download books wirelessly from the Kindle Store or your Archived Items. U.S. customers will be charged a fee of $1.99 for international downloads.

jimogr · 29-10-2009 3:55pm

Amazon charge the duty in advance and give to direct to delievery company.

Valentia · 29-10-2009 4:03pm

I must be very old fashioned but I'd much prefer a book. (Also, $9.99 seems mad money when the the real things are so cheap these days.) $29.99 would seem like a more reasonable price for a gizmo like this.

Placebo · 29-10-2009 4:17pm

hows that a bargain?
also arnt they slated for being mediocre

Basq · 29-10-2009 4:22pm

Placebo wrote: »

hows that a bargain?

They aren't available over here AFAIK and it appears to be a decent-sh price!

Placebo wrote: »

also arnt they slated for being mediocre

No clue... Amazon reviews seemed fairly positive.. but they probably are biased!

Ruu_Old · 29-10-2009 4:40pm

We bought a few of these for our library, plenty of positive reviews so far from patrons. I need to borrow the library one and will post when I find out further info.

ednwireland · 29-10-2009 5:02pm

prefer books myself

didnt like the way amazon deleted that book they deemed unsuitable after you bought them

stevire · 29-10-2009 5:29pm

Got one of these delivered yesterday. Pretty happy in general but don't like the lack of support for pdf/rtf/lit/doc files. Amazon charge $60 for customs duty.

The price is lowered as of last thurs/fri due to the launch Internationally. Has good 3G support, meaning free internet! These are not mediocre, they are the top selling ebook reader in America and are trying to tap into the European market.

This is the Kindle 2 btw, not the original Kindle.

Redisle · 29-10-2009 5:32pm

I was half thinking of getting an ebook reader alright.However Im kind of waiting for the Bebook2.. no idea when it will be released however (much less retrictive reader, full pdf support etc). The original bebook is 250euro here but dosen't come with wifi or anything. It does support far more document formats than the kindle tho.

Basq · 29-10-2009 5:33pm

Before I invest in any EBook reader, I'm gonna wait for one that's hackable.

Install a version of Linux on it, and it possible could be used as an compact Internet tablet.

stevire · 29-10-2009 5:34pm

FYI

Item(s) Subtotal: EUR 178,99
Shipping & Handling: EUR 14,50
Gift-wrap: EUR 3,45

Total Before Tax: EUR 238,54
Sales tax: EUR 0,00
Import Fees Deposit EUR 41,60

Total for this Shipment: EUR 238,54

Oracle · 29-10-2009 5:35pm

Three letters explain why Kindle is a bad idea: DRM.

blubloblu · 29-10-2009 5:52pm

Barnes & Noble in the states have a better one out already, the Nook.

soc · 29-10-2009 6:44pm

basquille wrote: »

They aren't available over here AFAIK and it appears to be a decent-sh price!

They've been officially released over here since 19th October... it's been advertised on Amazon.co.uk for weeks to pre-order.

This is Amazon's way of breaking the Kindle onto the European Market.

Girl at work got one on the release date - very thin & compact. It uses 3G to connect to Amazon.com ($1 cost is added to book price to cover 3G connectivity AFAIK) - allowing you to purchase books directly from site. All books though are priced in USD... which I suppose is an advantage considering how weak the USD has been recently against the EURO.

BTW there is no space for expandable memory (which used to be the case in old model of Kindle apparently!)

soc · 29-10-2009 6:48pm

stevire wrote: »

Got one of these delivered yesterday. Pretty happy in general but don't like the lack of support for pdf/rtf/lit/doc files

Girl at work reckons you can email documents to the amazon account associated with the book, and that Amazon automatically converts it to a format that you can then download onto your Kindle - I don't know if she actually tried it or not, but perhaps you could give it a whirl, and see what happens.

BaconZombie · 29-10-2009 7:04pm

basquille,

Its running linux out-of-the-box...

Also Amazon do remote firmware updates which are sent via " .tar.gz "....

Also the keyboard and touchscreen are std linux HID's :pac:

Edit:

Link to Video of Talk, skip to ~2:15mins:

http://blip.tv/file/2391051

basquille wrote: »

Before I invest in any EBook reader, I'm gonna wait for one that's hackable.

Install a version of Linux on it, and it possible could be used as an compact Internet tablet.

stevire · 29-10-2009 7:37pm

soc wrote: »

Girl at work reckons you can email documents to the amazon account associated with the book, and that Amazon automatically converts it to a format that you can then download onto your Kindle - I don't know if she actually tried it or not, but perhaps you could give it a whirl, and see what happens.

Yeah but the process is slow with big ebooks and costs $0.10 for every conversion.

Using mobiperl at the mo to convert stuff. PDFs are still a bit troublesome and hard to get the conversion right. Plus when converted they are about 30 times the size of a standard mobi/prc file

EDIT: Sweet just found a way to convert PDFs locally through the Kindle, this post may interest you aswell basquille!

http://blog.fsck.com/2009/04/savory.html

BaconZombie · 29-10-2009 9:47pm

Just a side not on the International version:

No access to Web Browser outside USA

[68] The Kindle International Wireless version has restricted access to the experimental web browser. Users cannot access any web content such as blogs and websites. The wireless access can only be used to access Amazon's E-Book Store to view and purchase books, magazine subscriptions and access other paid features.

therecklessone · 30-10-2009 12:43am

stevire wrote: »

Yeah but the process is slow with big ebooks and costs $0.10 for every conversion.

Using mobiperl at the mo to convert stuff. PDFs are still a bit troublesome and hard to get the conversion right. Plus when converted they are about 30 times the size of a standard mobi/prc file

EDIT: Sweet just found a way to convert PDFs locally through the Kindle, this post may interest you aswell basquille!
http://blog.fsck.com/2009/04/savory.html

Also worth having a look at calibre

eamon234 · 30-10-2009 1:30am

Think I'll hold out for the Nook looks an awful lot better and around the same price.

Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6" Display,Wireless,Latest Gen) - €238.54 [Amazon US]

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