I've had a kindle for about 6 months and I think it's fantastic. It has already paid for itself in the savings I have made on books. I would definitely recommend it and whispernet on the newer international edition works great in Switzerland.
I couldn't find a thanks button to thank you- but this is what I want to do. I also wanted something where I had web access and microsoft word. But I have been eligible for a Droid for months so perhaps I will get the droid incredible and use both together.
Kindles are country-specific. I don't know if you can fake a US IP address (as with a proxy virtual private network). I doubt it. You could certainly do that with the Kindle iPhone app, and quite probably with an iPad (but iPad doesn't give you access to your Kindle account).
I have one here on a US account (because not all the books are available on a swiss account) and you can buy and download them over whisper sync without issue. They do charge you an extra $1.99 per book to get it internationally (unless you bring it down to your computer and plug the kindle in via USB) which I think is reasonable.
Nice bonus by the way, if you find yourself in a foreign country and you need to look something up but don't have data on your phone you can use the kindle's browser for free.
I've been looking at the Kindle for a while now and keep wondering how much I'd use it. The subscriptions to news papers from home is appealing, but then I think about the iPad (which has the kindle app), but the iPad looks to heavy, while e-ink is going to be easier to read on while standing in the sun waiting for my train home from work. Not to mention the kindle is a lot cheaper.
I have a couple of questions that have not been answered fully here, so I'm hoping that an expert can clear these up for me.
Firstly, there is a lot of talk about preferring the US version as there are more titles available. For this I understand that a US credit card is needed on my account, but I can use a US$ pre paid card. Does anyone know of a company who will deliver these outside of the US, or do I need to get them delivered via a friend, who forwards them on?
Do I also need to order the kindle in the US and have that shipped to a US address, or can I get an international one shipped here and link it up to a US amazon/kindle account later?
I don't have a Kindle but do read enormous amounts of books on my iPod Touch. I have the Kindle app, and have bought a dozen or so books so far (it's not my main ereader) and downloaded lots and lots of sample chapters, and don't have any problems doing this with a UK credit card-based Amazon account.
I have an iPad too, but don't use this for reading as it's just not portable enough - I don't commute, but do enjoy having my 'book' in my pocket to read whilst stirring the breakfast porridge, brushing my teeth, laying in bed, etc. The fact it's backlit means I can read in the dark! I agree it would work less well outside in full sun, though, and you're right that the iPad would be awful to hold whilst waiting for the train.
(Newspapers and magazines, on the other hand, are fantastic on the iPad screen. And it's a million times better for sofa browsing than a laptop because it makes no noise at all.)
I've been waiting for the right price for the Kindle and the Kindle 3 has just arrived for $189 US for 3G or $139 US for wireless. I'm in Canada now and I was all ready to buy it but they aren't shipping until the end of August and I'll be back in Switzerland by then. I just looked at the UK Amazon site and the same thing is selling for 149 pounds sterling for the 3G model. I guess I'll have to wait until my next trip to Canada for it which might be two years. I'm toying with the idea of getting a friend to ship it to me in Switzerland but I don't know what to expect in terms of shipping costs and customs fees. Any thoughts?
you buy kindle from amazon.com for $189. they ship end of Aug when the new kindle (with wi-fi) is launched, before that you can buy the current version. You pay delivery and custom fees which are less than 60 I think and you pay when you order from amazon.com
Well, I took the plunge a couple of weeks ago and bought the Kindle 2 from the amazon.com website (didn't realise that the new one was out so soon!) It ordered on a Thursday and arrived the following Tuesday, with DHL delivery and there was no customs charges.
When international packages have come with DHL I've never had to pay additional customs charges. However, when coming through standard shipping, or the USPS priority shipping I have had to pay.
Did you have to pay the $20 "admin" fee to Amazon for admin work regarding brokerage and any customs fees? That's a new fee apparently and it's how you pay the "customs" fees now. So, it would be $40 to ship to Switzerland?
I have a Kindle Wireless Reading Device, Free 3G, 6" Display, White - 2nd Generation thats out of the box new - not used and just delivered two weeks ago - if you are interested PM me as I am looking to sell it
Does anyone have any new or updated information on this topic? What about the Fire or Touch? Does wireless work now in Switzerland, or does there still need to be the sync with PC?
I have never had an issue with the wireless in Switzerland, works here the same as it does in the UK. Never had to download to my laptop and sync. If I purchase here it is exactly the same as my UK card is already registered to the account.
There are noissues with wireless. I have a fire and its brilliant
The only hitch is that with a Swiss credit card and address you are bound to amazon.de which really does nothave the same books available, and the scope is minimal.
No problem, it works all good in CH too. My Kindle is the simple €99 one.
I have a amazon.de account, a Swiss credit card, and download books in several languages without any problem. Click to buy, then get your Kindle on a WiFi and the thing looks for new books to synchronize on its own.
You can also transfer your account to different amazon.countries and back and forth as much as you want. I had the problem between .fr and .de for a while. It doesn't matter in my case, but surely it will make a difference with a .com account.
My experience was similar. Even with an American credit card, I was still bound to the amazon.de site with its poor English book selection and higher prices. Since it was clearly tied to the home address of the credit card, I switched the address to an American PO number (a private one) and I can use Amazon.com for kindle books. It's just a lot more useful if you can use that site (or amazon.co.uk with a UK address).
So, my advice to OP would be to sign up for a mailbox service. It is easier if you do it while still in the US, because you need a notarized form.
Bought my girlfriend the Fire for Xmas. It's great, apart from the US saga. You can only get the Amazon free apps using a US CC and address, I found a fake one online and used that. Hey presto it worked.
I then rooted it and it's now a normal Android tablet, so I can download free books from torrents and play downloaded movies. A dual processor tablet for 230 chuffs, lovely! The only drawback is the 8GB storage, but the cloud system is great.
You do not need a US credit card or US billing address. I've been buying kindle books off of Amazon using my Swiss credit cards since I moved to Switzerland, before that living in Frankfurt using my German credit cards and billing address. The entire time I've bought through the Amazon US store and paid the USD prices.
Up until recently you could only buy a Kindle in the US, but even that has changed and now Amazon.de sells them, in fact if you go there you can see they are running an 99 Euro special one model right now.
Well I don't have a Kindle, but I use a Kindle Reader on my IPad 2 and my experience has been the same. I just go to the US site, choose the books I want, sign in using my UK login details and pay with my Swiss credit card! After that I "send" the title to my IPad and that is that