November 05, 2010

i just wasted a few hours. granted, writing this took one thirds of it.

so my Kindle ponderings are NOT over.

PART 1

i was turning around in bed and once again thinking of the pros and cons. however the end conclusion is what counts....

pros
+relatively steady cheap books - 10dollars. paperbacks run much cheaper of course, but with shipping it comes to 10 fast. update: about 12 dollars to europe. plus VAT.
+i can apparently get the Kindle contents on Anroid and other devices.
+possibility to write simple txt. im often wanting to write down some blog-worthy notes for myself but the phone is too small for that.
+while i dont give plus for eight and size since usually read smaller paperbacks, Kindle IS thinner than books.
+holds a LOT of books

cons
-its something to look after; it can break upon dropping and it can be stolen (i think istanbul is quite safe really but yet im aware that if i was pondering this in finland, getting stolen prolly wouldnt cross my mind). and the rains here! everything gets soaked when it rains.
-its not like i can empty all of my bookshelf and never buy new books; Kindle is not meant for visual/photography books.
-i can already feel the annoyance creeping in when my latest book find is NOT available for Kindle. even if knowingly buying it for -say- 50% book coverage, once youre in, you view the market from that perspective. while earlier the whole (book) market was available, only part of it is with Kindle, and the rest starts so feel very unattainable.
-an investment of ...i dunno, 130e with shipping perhaps (Kindle Wi-fi) with no guarantee of much savings anytime soon. and thats shipping to Finland... Amazon doesnt ship to Turkey *rolls eyes*.

other notes
as for "saving on book prices", i manage to get my books online so cheap saving is minimal. so no plusses there, however it could be possible that some paperbacks that i skipped due to price were available on Kindle for less, and hence i could afford. ive yet to see this though. update: i checked my amazon wishlist of expensive books and none are available on Kindle, in any region.

PART 2

i just found this tiny sidenote on Amazon; "Certain Kindle Titles are not available everywhere. Kindle Titles that are available in your country or region will be displayed." my region is marked as Europe. probably cos my last shipping address is in finland. if i try downloading to Kindle from Turkey, well... i wonder if ANY titles are available? i would like some figures and percentages instead of a vague fuckin "some". what kind of a fuckin business is this, ebooks are only for americans? what kind of retarded digital right management do these books have... seriously its 2010 - this is sad.

this thread at the Amazon discussion board opened the topic a little. i can download via a computer (not wirelessly) from turkey since im set to finland... but i started looking at the availability of the titles again. while the left handside clearly says I am in Europe and there are plenty of links from support and FAQ pages to "browse for available titles in your region"... as i check the practically any book from the front page, the book's page displays a small box in the top right corner, not too visible for potential buyers btw (and i didnt notice it earlier)... it looks like this:








i then click the bottom link and return to Kindle store's front page, which prominently shows some titles that i have browsed earlier and mentioned in my previous blog as 'available on kindle'. all of those books have the same green note in the corner. so, hmm, im browsing europe-available books, but not? some programmer has done a really half assed job and the rest of the fuckin organization is apparently not bothering with it.

all of the 4 books -every single one- that i listed as "available on Kindle" previously...are not. neither is Time or Newsweek. or Stephen Hawking's The Grand Design, for example.

so....SO. my Kindle pondering IS over. although it was not easy and i had to really dig for it. Kindle has nothing at all available for me. simple as that. ill get back to this in a year or two... and would appreciate if someone else developed a better selection and functional website so i wouldnt have to go back to Amazon. i dont buy books from there anymore anyway, i check the reviews and other info, and order faster & cheaper from UK booksellers.

this will remain etched in my mind;

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