Kindle Users – which (country-specific) Amazon site to you use?

[ReloTH]

New kindle user here!

 

I note there is no Amazon TH country site. Default seems to be Amazon.com the US site but there are many country specific sites.

Is there a cost differentiation or anything to be aware of between selecting which Amazon site to use when going to Kindle Books to purchase?

 

Thank you!

[BritManToo]

Just use Z-Library to source your books + Calibre library to load them on your Kindle.

My Kindle has been in 'airplane' mode since the day it was bought.

Cost of books = ZERO

Edited September 18, 2023 by BritManToo

[Moonlover]

20 minutes ago, ReloTH said:

New kindle user here!

 

I note there is no Amazon TH country site. Default seems to be Amazon.com the US site but there are many country specific sites.

Is there a cost differentiation or anything to be aware of between selecting which Amazon site to use when going to Kindle Books to purchase?

 

Thank you!

UK and Australia if you're wanting English language material. I use the UK site. You can only find out if there are any price differences by sampling products like for like. I doubt if you'll find much difference, so probably not worth the effort unless you've got tons of time on your hands and nothing better to do.

 

Like reading a good book. ????

[1DegreeN]

I don't know if this was or still is true but when I got my kindle a few years ago I read that, because kindle books have country specific licensing, you need to be e.g. a UK resident to purchase kindle books from Amazon UK.  If Amazon discovered you were not in fact UK resident (e.g. because you use a non-UK credit card to purchase), they will disable your account and you lose access to all your kindle library. Could be an urban myth.

[sikishrory]

I bought a leaf boox from Lazada.

Free ebooks.

Not locked into any shops.

Also has Google play store and plays audiobooks.

Highly recommend

[digbeth]

11 minutes ago, 1DegreeN said:

I don't know if this was or still is true but when I got my kindle a few years ago I read that, because kindle books have country specific licensing, you need to be e.g. a UK resident to purchase kindle books from Amazon UK.  If Amazon discovered you were not in fact UK resident (e.g. because you use a non-UK credit card to purchase), they will disable your account and you lose access to all your kindle library. Could be an urban myth.

This is true, plenty of this happening in Thai ebook readers group, the only safe store to use for international user is US store, otherwise you'll  need to connect via VPN

[jondor22]

I use Piratebay.org to download then copy paste into kindle.

[sirineou]

I use the US site, not sure is there is any difference in the library size, Unless there are copyright issues, I don't see why they would not have the same content available in every country sites. I have kindle unlimited, I think now it is $11.99.

Being retired I read a lot, without it would be too expensive. Not every title is available in the unlimited subscription, but with 11 million books I am sure you can find something, and you also get a discount on many  of the "for pay " books , so if you read a lot it quickly pays for itself. Another benefit of the unlimited plan is that if you don't like a book , you simply return it and get another one. 

I just got the new Kindle 10 scribe. I had it delivered to my sister in Florida, and she brought it to me when we meet up during our Greek vacation. If you have a chance get it. Miles ahead of my old kindle with a phenomenal battery life. I got it during Prime day and saved a bit of coin, they will probably have similar or better sales during the black friday sale.   

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, sirineou said:

I think now it is $11.99.

Being retired I read a lot, without it would be too expensive.

 

Is it some sort of moral imperative, making you pay for your books? Or something else?

[sirineou]

5 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

 

Is it some sort of moral imperative, making you pay for your books? Or something else?

For me It is an economic imperative,  and I do pay for them by my subscription. Some authors offer the first book of a trilogy on the unlimited account to induce interest on the following books,or to get exposure,  They get a small amount per book but they sell more books. 

 Also given the self publishing option available to many authors some circumvent the publisher and for self publish  on Amazon.

But , Given the amount of self publish trash , and the ability of authors to buy reviews it would suck to pay a lot for something you would not even waste your time finishing.  Almost every book on Amazon Unlimited has a 4.5 star review.

Coincidence? 

It is funny that one of the option of searching for books on Amazon is by review rating, the highest option is "by 4 stars" . But since every book has a 4.5 or higher rating.............. ????   

[Srikcir]

4 hours ago, sirineou said:

I use the US site, not sure is there is any difference in the library size, Unless there are copyright issues, I don't see why they would not have the same content available in every country sites. I have kindle unlimited, I think now it is $11.99.

Being retired I read a lot, without it would be too expensive. Not every title is available in the unlimited subscription, but with 11 million books I am sure you can find something, and you also get a discount on many  of the "for pay " books , so if you read a lot it quickly pays for itself. Another benefit of the unlimited plan is that if you don't like a book , you simply return it and get another one. 

I just got the new Kindle 10 scribe. I had it delivered to my sister in Florida, and she brought it to me when we meet up during our Greek vacation. If you have a chance get it. Miles ahead of my old kindle with a phenomenal battery life. I got it during Prime day and saved a bit of coin, they will probably have similar or better sales during the black friday sale.   

I have kindle unlimited through the US as I pay the monthly fee with a US credit card. Download books to my pc, Samsung tablet and mini-pc. You are limited to number of devices and Amazon shows me with five devices, generating an occasional notice that I've exceeded devices. One was cloud storage (?) and an old Kindle device I discarded years ago. But as Amazon says they will take no action.

[sirineou]

8 minutes ago, Srikcir said:

I have kindle unlimited through the US as I pay the monthly fee with a US credit card. Download books to my pc, Samsung tablet and mini-pc. You are limited to number of devices and Amazon shows me with five devices, generating an occasional notice that I've exceeded devices. One was cloud storage (?) and an old Kindle device I discarded years ago. But as Amazon says they will take no action.

I am sorry to hear that. Have you called the Amazon customer service? (+1 888-280-4331 , I use skype to call them and they are always very helpful. If you have not done so already, give them a call and perhaps they can help you remove the device. 

I  was using a tablet but i did not like the glare , and found it difficult to read in the sunlight, ( laying at the beach) The Scribe and other paperwhite devices do not have that problem. Also I find them not affecting my sleeping patterns anymore. Now I only use my Kindle Scribe and my iphone if I am waiting at a doctors office or other functions where I want to kill time. 

[Srikcir]

30 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Have you called the Amazon customer service? (+1 888-280-4331 , I use skype to call them

I do and did.

One problem is that if you don't designate a device with a unique ID, Amazon will automatically do so but has no cross reference as to what the "device" is, only date is was designated. The rep suggested maybe one device was its cloud storage as Anazon tracks for unlimited books a maximum 20 books that you can borrow at any one time. So for every e-book I currently download and retain, it is duplicated in the cloud until I give up the book. 

But as I said there's no penalty exceeding devices. But I dud remove kindle from my mini-pc as I would always have my tablet as well.

[ReloTH]

OP here. Hadn't expected the query to provide such robust discussion! Really appreciate the insights folks, thank you.

[Moonlover]

11 hours ago, 1DegreeN said:

I don't know if this was or still is true but when I got my kindle a few years ago I read that, because kindle books have country specific licensing, you need to be e.g. a UK resident to purchase kindle books from Amazon UK.  If Amazon discovered you were not in fact UK resident (e.g. because you use a non-UK credit card to purchase), they will disable your account and you lose access to all your kindle library. Could be an urban myth.

I pay for my e books from Amazon UK with my Krungsri debit card, so yes it is indeed an urban myth.

 

What you cannot do, as a none UK resident is subscribe to  the 'Kindle Unlimited' service.

[msbkk]

11 hours ago, 1DegreeN said:

I don't know if this was or still is true but when I got my kindle a few years ago I read that, because kindle books have country specific licensing, you need to be e.g. a UK resident to purchase kindle books from Amazon UK.  If Amazon discovered you were not in fact UK resident (e.g. because you use a non-UK credit card to purchase), they will disable your account and you lose access to all your kindle library. Could be an urban myth.

I previously had a Kindle of a european country. When I bought a book from the US Amazon site I could not get it for the US price. I had to pay around 50% more in this case. It was written that this was the country specific price for the country where the Kindle was registered.

[Crocbait]

Kindle users have a look at "Book Bub". It sends you a daily email of free ebooks (or specials) available on Amazon. You can select the genre you want to receive and if interested click on the title, and it takes you to Amazon to get it. 

Admittedly though, some of the ebooks are not worth reading. I just delete it and open another from my library.

[elwood]

1 hour ago, Crocbait said:

Kindle users have a look at "Book Bub". It sends you a daily email of free ebooks (or specials) available on Amazon. You can select the genre you want to receive and if interested click on the title, and it takes you to Amazon to get it. 

Admittedly though, some of the ebooks are not worth reading. I just delete it and open another from my library.

I also receive Book Bub daily, and endorse everything you say,

[Khyron]

I have Libby app on my phone that is connected to my Library here in Sacramento. This allows you to download any ebook in the library for 3 weeks. But I download as many as I want (Up to 50) then turn the kindle on airplane mode. The book electronically returns to the library on time by itself, but it won't delete it from the kindle unless you connect to a network. Airplane mode greatly increases the battery life. Best thing the books are free, along with any magazine subscription to magazines that they have.

[Henryford]

On 9/19/2023 at 9:26 AM, 1DegreeN said:

I don't know if this was or still is true but when I got my kindle a few years ago I read that, because kindle books have country specific licensing, you need to be e.g. a UK resident to purchase kindle books from Amazon UK.  If Amazon discovered you were not in fact UK resident (e.g. because you use a non-UK credit card to purchase), they will disable your account and you lose access to all your kindle library. Could be an urban myth.

That's why you should never buy Kindle books. You pay for them but they are never yours.

[youngexpat]

https://ebook-hunter.org/

 

good resource for us criminals

[sirineou]

13 minutes ago, Henryford said:

That's why you should never buy Kindle books. You pay for them but they are never yours.

That is not true, they are not yours only if you purchase them unlawfully and you re discovered, same as in paper books. All the books I purchased are in my account library, if I was caught engaging in illegal book purchases, my account will be closed and as such all the books in that account will be lost. It stands to reason, you can't have books in your kindle account if you don't have a kindle account. 

 Kindle with the proper reader  is great!! You can have your whole library with you, anywhere you go. Try doing that with your paper books. 

 When I am waiting some place, I take out my IPhone log on to my Kindle app, and pick up where I left on my Kindle device at home, 

   I can change the fonds, or make the letters larger which come in handy as I get older, 

  I can highlight a section, and make a note of it for later use,  

Too many things you can do with kindle to mention.

Ohh and you pay less for the books. 

[Henryford]

Try giving "your" book to a friend.

[sirineou]

8 minutes ago, Henryford said:

Try giving "your" book to a friend.

Or kill a fly with it. ????

[BritManToo]

13 minutes ago, sirineou said:

Kindle with the proper reader  is great!! You can have your whole library with you, anywhere you go. Try doing that with your paper books. 

My USB stick is a fraction of the size of a Kindle and 20x the memory.

I can carry my entire library with me (5513 books) using Calibre portable.

None of which I purchased, and all of which I read on my Kindle.

 

Currently working my way through the 'Repairman Jack' series.

Edited October 1, 2023 by BritManToo