EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK: Amazon Kindle -- in Australia!

Dazweeja (New user):

I'm not sure how you manage to spin 100% global roaming as anything but a negative. Paying $14 rather than $10 for every book is hardly a positive. The fact that you have the ability to global roam with the Kindle is a plus but so can practically every other mobile device, eg. iPhone, and they all use their local carrier when available. It's a ripoff, pure and simple.

Dan Warne (Regular user):

Well I wasn't actually trying to spin it!! There are some upsides and there are some downsides, as I said in the article.

The Big Baboo (New user):

O yea I can just see myself trying to cram that thing into my inside jacket pocket.Think I'll have to become a metro-sexual and buy myself a handbag to keep all my goodies in. I don't think so Jan.

The Big Baboo (New user):

Mmmmmmmm I remember a "Stormy Summers" years ago here in Adelaide :)
She was one of the ahem "local madams" ;)

Dazweeja (New user):

My point is that there is *no* advantage to using global roaming to deliver books while in your home country. It's much more expensive and the Kindle could deliver the same experience by functioning like every other mobile device and incurring global roaming charges only when overseas. The only advantage is to Amazon - not the consumer - as they will be making a very healthy profit on the $4 they are effectively charging to download each book once global roaming fees have been taken into account. So I stand by my statement that to suggest that this arrangement has any advantage to the consumer is spin - it's an Amazon/AT&T stitch-up.

djsflynn (APC staff):

On a recent flight from Singapore I sat down with my usual armload of reading - a number of magazines and some newspapers. The bloke in the seat next to me had a Kindle. We looked like a 'before' and 'after' photo for the ebook crowd, or at least an advert for Kindle. He gave me a tour of his Kindle and it was pretty sweet - can't wait to get my hands on one for a longer-term play, although will be VERY interested to see how far Apple's rumoured tablet leans in this same direction.

Karlston2 (STUPID APC!) (New user):

Not the larger screen model and dearer books are really disappointing. I'll wait and see if/when Apple release their tablet.
(God it's hard to login to this site, old passwords don't work, brand new passwords don't work. Slightest error on the registration form and passwords are cleared... sheesh!)

itd (New user):

"However, if it is the case, the obvious advantage is that you can travel with your Kindle and download books at NO EXTRA COST regardless of where you are"

Read the fine print: "When traveling abroad, you can download books wirelessly from the Kindle Store or your Archived Items for a fee of $1.99."

worldtraveler (New user):

lets hope they open up the sim card slot so that you can use a cheap internatioanl SIM card like www.buzzroam.com to avoid their expensive roaming charges...

Ausman (New user):

A netbook can do a lot more and stores a lot more PDFs... ;-)

Raindog (New user):

Quoting Ausman:
A netbook can do a lot more and stores a lot more PDFs

A semi trailer can carry a lot more than a hatch-back but sensible folds wouldn't buy the daughter one to get to and from uni.

A netbook can also consume battery reserve in a shorter time an can occupy a lot more space and can take a whole lot longer to be ready to perform the intended task.

I've yet to deliberate on how much less cumbersome the dedicated reader device is, without the advantage of hands-on experience, I am still cocluding it's a lot less reader friendly than a book, brochure or other printed text.

Dazweeja (New user):

The whole point of e-readers is that they are as reader-friendly as a book. Compared to a netbook, which is tiring on the eyes after a short period of time, e-readers use E Ink which means the screen is *not* backlit and tiny black droplets of ink either rise or fall to become visible/hidden, ie. to create an effect very similar to ordinary printed materials. This is a lot different to the LCD screens on netbooks. Also, the fact that a Kindle can go up to 14 days of use without recharging (with Wireless turned off) makes it much more suitable as a book replacement too.

The Big Baboo (New user):

Quoting Dazweeja:
Also, the fact that a Kindle can go up to 14 days of use without recharging (with Wireless turned off) makes it much more suitable as a book replacement too.
Yes,yes we know but you do have to recharge eventually which (a)contributes to your carbon footprint and (b) you have to wait till it finishes before you can continue reading.
None of which you have to do with a book :)

Dazweeja (New user):

a) What's the carbon footprint of chopping down CO2-processing trees to print the thousands of books which you might potentially read in the Kindle's lifetime? What is the environmental damage (aside from carbon) of doing this?
b) Do you read a book 24 hours a day? You can't imagine finding one night in that 14 day period where you might be able to recharge while sleeping?

Raindog (New user):

Quoting Dazweeja:
a) What's the carbon footprint of chopping down CO2-processing trees to print the thousands of books which you might potentially read in the Kindle's lifetime?

Would likely be line ball when you take into account all the noxious materiels used in the average kindle, disposal of batteries, plastics, rainforest destruction for the mining of precious metals, the many KW hours of energy used in manufacture, etc. Environmentally it would be hard to pick any clear winner.


Quoting Dazweeja:
b) Do you read a book 24 hours a day?

No but you can pick a bick up at any hour, even if it's been left for months and it's ready to go.


Quoting Dazweeja:
You can't imagine finding one night in that 14 day period where you might be able to recharge while sleeping?

Yes just add another the the never ending number of portable devices to tend to.

Don't get me wrong I am not totally against electronic readers by any measure, and i can see definate advantages to them. There are however disadvantages too. Just as the PDA has not lived up to it's promise as the difinitive replacement for pad & paper, kindle is not quite there as the the end of books as we've known them.

The Big Baboo (New user):

Quoting Raindog:
Quoting Dazweeja:
b) Do you read a book 24 hours a day?
No "Dazweeja: but I'm capable of doing that occasionally :) Last night at about 11pm I started reading Tom Clancy's "The Cardinal of The Kremlin" (625 pages) and by the time I put it down (2:30am)I was halfway through it.Can't see myself doing that with an electronic reader. I've often read "The Lord of The Rings (3 volumes)" in less than a week.
Thanks "Raindog" for explaining my point of view better than I could have :)

Dazweeja (New user):

I honestly don't know why you can't see yourself doing that with an electronic reader, apart from a lack of imagination or unwillingness to try new things. You often read The Lord of The Rings in less than a week -Great, you can start reading it wherever you are when you get the urge (as you would have all three volumes permanently stored on your Kindle), you don't have to carry around the next volume as well should you finish the previous, and the Kindle's charge will easily see you through this experience. I really don't see that having to remember to put the Kindle on the charger when you got to bed once during, say, the 5th to 10th night night since the last charge is all that onerous. It's barely an inconvenience. If you love books so much, I honestly would have thought the idea of having access to more than half a million public domain titles for free (on readers that support ePub like the Nook, or the Kindle when they eventually open it up) would be immensely appealing but you seem to only see the very minor negative aspects.

P.S. Raindog, I'm not convinced by your line ball speculation, especially if we are talking about hundreds of books. You mention all the hidden energy and environmental costs of making a Kindle but what of each book? The trees are lopped by diesel-powered machinery and then the wood is pulped by more energy-hungry machinery, then bleached with noxious chemicals, then formed into paper by more machinery. The ink itself has to be manufactured and prepared which similarly requires more energy and machinery. Both the paper and ink may be shipped from the source country to the printing country or possibly even pulped in a third country and manufactured in a fourth. Then there's the energy used to print and bind the book, which is then shipped to the book store. Multiply this by a few hundred or even a thousand.

The Big Baboo (New user):

Quoting Dazweeja:
I honestly don't know why you can't see yourself doing that with an electronic reader, apart from a lack of imagination or unwillingness to try new things.
You may well be right there "Dazweeja" but I think I already have enough little electronic gadgetry to last me through to the end of my hopefully short but very enjoyable life :) Besides I just loved the smell,feel and look of any book I've ever laid my grubby little hands on. I don't think I'd ever be able to say that about an e-reader with all it's plasticky surface and button hardware and oriental componentry
and it's throwaway shelf life.Give Me A Real Book Any Day And Damn The Torpedoes

Dazweeja (New user):

Yes, that's fair enough. The same can be said for records. However, I'm looking forward to getting the Nook when it's released in Oz so if I have the thought, "Gee, I wouldn't mind reading Dostoevsky right now", I can download it immediately and for free. Not "Notes from Underground" though - that's drivel.

darwin dick (New user):

I got 4 kindles work well in darwin 3g
I want to buy APC on kindle hurry up!!

darwin dick (New user):

I have read all your comments note!
my wife reads all hours on kindle
we get books any time in 1 min
we pay an average of $2.50 US for books
the USB lead does not charge kindle through a 240V plug pack

The Big Baboo (New user):

Quoting darwin dick:
The USB lead does not charge kindle through a 240V plug pack.

You don't have to charge up a book with any sort of plug "darwin dick"
You just open the pages and the words fly out at you like long lost friends :)

darwin dick (New user):

you dont get it when I am not near a computer and kindle has flat batteries I canot charge it the same as ipods ect had the same problem with O2 phone (240volt GPO)

The Big Baboo (New user):

Quoting darwin dick:
You don't get it. When I am not near a computer and Kindle has flat batteries I cannot charge it.
My point exactly "darwin dick" I've never had to recharge a book in my life. I wouldn't even know where to plug it in or what kind of voltage it requires :)

darwin dick (New user):

soory I see you are talking kindle against books
books I have on kindle ave price $2.75 paper back = $40.00
I can get a book any time
kids can down load own books
Its like talking about music tapes against an ipod you will change

The Big Baboo (New user):

Quoting darwin dick:
soory I see you are talking kindle against books

Yep and I'm sorry to see that you will have to have another electronic "wizz bang" toy filling up the house and when it's broken,who are you going to get to fix it (if they can)and how much will it cost.As for the music v ipod :) I have an mp3 player but I refused to buy an ipod just on principle. And also I'd like to know where you have to pay $40 for a paperback!!!! It's obvious you don't look around much when you're buying stuff.
Excuse me while I go and listen to U2 on You-Tube which :)
P.S. Mmmmm and for awhile there I was also downloading books from a US library site but as I already think I spend too much time here,I stopped doing it. And by the way,the books were FREE :)

darwin dick (New user):

do your wash by hand, no rapairs, save maony on power, do not have buy washing machine, me Im going to pay my money and enjoy what modern tech give me

The Big Baboo (New user):

Ooooo where do I start :) Yes I have a washing machine.Mmm it's an old Hoover twin tub,bit extravagant really coz there's only one of me,occasionally I do wash by hand if I only have a few items. Own repairs,mmmm yep I suppose I can do 85% on the repairs on my motorcycle myself but now and then :( Yea I have to take it to a proper repair shop for some major stuff.Save money on power,Hell no.It's there to use and when it's gone ,so will I but still wasting it on an electronic book-reader is not something I can justify.

darwin dick (New user):

we home school our kids I work long hours so ebook is good for me
I think you do a good job you can buy a lot off books for $200 and twin tub best way to save money and not use water, see you around all the best
PS I do my bit with 6kw of solar panels and save on paper

GregS (New user):

Has any Austrlian Kindle user worked out how to charge the kindle battery when you are away from home without your computer? A Dick Smith 'USB Power Supply' doesn't work!
Greg S

darwin dick (New user):

hi buy this $24 us http://www.amazon.com/International-Charger-Kindle-Latest-Generation/dp/B0021VMF0Y/ref=pd_sim_kinh_2

GregS (New user):

Thank you. I have ordered one this morning.
Greg S

GregS (New user):

Thank you. I have ordered one this morning. Regards Greg S