Amazon Kindle in Taiwan

[scomargo]

I just opened my kindle that my brother is buying for me for Christmas. I opened it early because I needed to just make sure it's working okay so that I would have had time to deal with that if there was a problem. Fortunately it's working like a dream. I have the cheapest version ($79) with ads, and I have no complaints about it at all. I've read about 10% of a novel already, which is pretty good considering how busy I've been lately.

I was actually thinking about buying a kindle for different family members, but some have told me that they either don't read much or prefer going to the library to get paper books. I absolutely love mine, though, and I hope that nothing happens to it.

I think the lack of a backlight is not a huge problem. You can buy lighted cases for it if you should need that. I just prefer to not read in bed beside my wife. How hard is it to go somewhere else to read? I would think reading on a backlit device in a dark room would probably be really bad for your eyes, so even with a device like that I'd prefer to read with a light/lamp turned on.

Now I guess I need to go put my kindle back in the box in the next few days so I can "receive it" for Christmas. I am definitely looking forward to reading a lot more things this way. Reading for pleasure is a lot of fun if you're reading something you enjoy.

[mabagal]

If they don't read at all, then it's definitely not the right gift. However, if they "prefer to go to the library to get real books" that will pass once they experience the convenience of having nearly all the books of the world available to them wherever they are on their reader.

[kelake]

It was certainly an appreciated gift last Christmas when I bought one for my mum. I can send her books via email with ease and it’s far more convenient (she can even borrow from the library without driving to the library). There are instances when I prefer the heft of a bound book but for the majority of the books I read the experience of reading on a kindle is superior or comparable to a cheaply bound and printed paperback.

I think it’s a great gift.

[syrianrue]

what's the best way to purchase ebooks from amazon if I'm living in taiwan at the moment?

if i pay with the credit card I have in taiwan, will it be slightly more than if I was to pay in u.s. dollars?

i also hear people buying gift cards with their credit cards in taiwan and use that to pay for their ebooks.

[cryptomc]

If all you are looking for is a reader that supports the ePub format ( in order to take at books at your local library back home if you have an account ) and not to purchase books , there is a reader made locally that does just that. You can get it at NOVA in Taipei ( first floor - one of the corner shops on the far left) for around $3700NT. It is called the ezRead Touch. The default screen language is Chinese, but you can change it to English. It is not 3G , but supports WiFi. Like the Kindle, you can download hundreds of classics free.

[Taiwan_Student]

If all you are looking for is a reader that supports the ePub format ( in order to take at books at your local library back home if you have an account ) and not to purchase books , there is a reader made locally that does just that. You can get it at NOVA in Taipei ( first floor - one of the corner shops on the far left) for around $3700NT. It is called the ezRead Touch. The default screen language is Chinese, but you can change it to English. It is not 3G , but supports WiFi. Like the Kindle, you can download hundreds of classics free.

This is sweet! Here is their Taiwan webpage. At first glance it looks like there is a lot of free reading material but you must register.

http://www.ezread.com.tw

And here is their English website which gives you the specks of this device.. .
http://www.greenbook.tw/en/

And here is their E-book site for the USA. Their selling point is Chinese compatibility..... and Iron Lady, there seems to be a publishing guide. Maybe PDF or Epub is the way to go. I hope not. I already bought kindle. But... kindle does support PDF books so it's not a total loss.
http://global.ezread.com/Default.asp

[engerim]

I have the cheapest version ($79) with ads, and I have no complaints about it at all.

there's a firmware hack that can fix that (and also allows you custom "screensavers" so you don't have to see the dead poets when its turned off).
http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle_ ... nformation
I don't have the ad supported version though.
Also see this for a list of possible "mods": http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showth ... p?t=128704

[Taiwan_Student]

One of my usual Strange Tech problems,,,,
I have a soon to be deactivate kindle Touch....
What can I do with it.... It was broken. Deemed defective, but I fixed it sort of.... Should I return it even though they said I don't have to.

Situation. My kindle froze on screen saver mode. I would hit the power button, it would flash white for a second and then the screen saver would come on again.

I tried the soft reset by holding the power button down for 20+ seconds. The kindle came on to a white screen. The menu bar would appear with the clock working well and the name of a public domain book I was reading before the crash. But aside from that, the screen was white. There was no response from the touch screen.

After several minutes of this and getting send to the "2nd tier " kindle support desk and being put on hold quite a few times for consultation, I guess, the rep told me that it is defective and that I should return it. I said that I am overseas...

They said that they can't offer services overseas and to save me money, they will just deactivate it and ship the new device to my US address.... I asked them if there was a software solution and they said no. I asked them if we could just do a hard reset and they said that I cant do that because I have to get inside the menu first.
(Stupid design, I think.. They should have a pen hole reset plus a hold button down for a period of time for a full memory dump reset IMHO). So our conversation was over....

The next day I wondered "What would happen if I just wiped out the contents of the document folder completely... I did, and the thing came back to life.
It still does have some trouble with the power button, and it seems to have a weird latency so it could still be defective. It still crashes and resets I will do the hard reset later to see if it was not some malware or incompatible thing that I downloaded.
So.. that's the story. I have not been on line yet. So it has not received the "deactivation message" I am still using it for non DRM books until the replacement arrives.

So to bring you up to date... I may have a deactived defective but still usable Kindle plus my replacement. What should I do with the old one. Whose property is it? Can I still use it for non Amazon books after it gets the deactivation code? Is there a better solution. Thanks.

[scomargo]

I got a nice kindle case yesterday in the new Guanghua building. On the fifth floor there are three different stores run by the same company, apparently. They are in store numbers 14, 15, and 32. They have cases for all versions of kindles currently being sold, as far as I know, as well as many tablets. Mine cost $450 NT, and I think it does a fantastic job of providing protection. Unfortunately, I don't think there's a picture of the one I bought in the following link, but there are others.

http://tw.user.bid.yahoo.com/tw/user/Y2 ... 906800&tp=

[engerim]

ordered a kindle fire for a friend, rooted it for him and put new recovery + cyanogemod 9, works like a charm but I found its a bit heavy for a "simple" reading device