Amazon Kindle In Thailand?

[dominique355]

Would be kind of someone to post their experience of buying a Kindle from Amazon in Thailand, and specifically the part Customs play, since Amazon uses a courier for LOS delivery.

I respect the fees levied by the Thai Post Office on USPS, but using a courier brings a new dimension into the equation, like DHL+Customs=x.

Amazon levy a calculated fee for the courier to pay to Customs, but tiT...

I fancy the Kindle 3 but not with a 100% markup.

On Monday I decided I want to buy a Kindle. I went to amazon.com and checked the models available. I choose the smaller unit, because it has Wifi built in. I added a cover (with light) and a cable for charging the Kindle from the socket. Order placed and within minutes I got confirmation by email, specifying that I will get my courier on Thursday.

Thursday around 11 am the DHL van stopped in front of my house (in Bangkok) and delivered the package. No surcharge, no duties.

Within 30 min the Kindle was working since it was pre-configured to my Amazon account. All I had to do was to set up my local wireless LAN. I ordered a few books and had them on my Kindle within minutes.

I must say, I am extremely please not only about they way my order was handled but also about the things this little device can do.

[Suradit]

All I had to do was to set up my local wireless LAN.

I'm sure I can locate a wifi hotspot somewhere or just download books from Amazon or wherever to my computer and then transfer them to my Kindle using the USB cable, but ...

I have 3BB's Billion modem/router and I use the ethernet connection to my desktop computer. Is there a relatively inexpensive way of producing a wifi signal for the Kindle while maintaining the highly satisfactory ethernet connection for my desktop? Things have been working so well with my 3BB service I'm a little leery of fiddling with it.

Edited May 22, 2011 by Suradit

[Suradit]

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All I had to do was to set up my local wireless LAN.

I'm sure I can locate a wifi hotspot somewhere or just download books from Amazon or wherever to my computer and then transfer them to my Kindle using the USB cable, but ...

I have 3BB's Billion modem/router and I use the ethernet connection to my desktop computer. Is there a relatively inexpensive way of producing a wifi signal for the Kindle while maintaining the highly satisfactory ethernet connection for my desktop? Things have been working so well with my 3BB service I'm a little leery of fiddling with it.

OK. I guess I've found an answer to my own question. You can access to 3BB wifi via their "hotspots," (i) if you have a 3BB account, you can add on hotspot access for an additional 99 baht per month, or (ii) whether or not you're a 3BB customer you can send an SMS to them, your mobile phone will charged a one-off 99 Baht fee and you'll get a message with your user name/password good for a month.

Probably not worth it just for use with Kindle and its appeal will depend on whether you find yourself somewhere with a strong 3BB signal, but apparently all Family Marts and most Big C's etc are hotspots, so if you have something that depends on wifi and you move around a lot it could be a useful option. At 99 baht per month it would probably be cheaper than visiting a cafe or Starbucks and purchasing something every time you need to get a password.

http://hotspot.3bb.co.th/

or

http://www.3bbhotspo.../home/index.php (there is a "locations" link at the bottom of the page and if you don't read Thai you can do a Google translation )

Edited May 23, 2011 by Suradit

[MickA]

You can use the same charger as your phone if it has the mini usb connection. I have a Nokia N85 and that charger worked fine with my Kindle

[Suradit]

Possibly I was overly optimistic considering the Kindle is to be delivered (or not ) by DHL. Things went fairly well from Nevada to Bangkok where, if this tracking is to be believed, the Kindle is heading for Pattaya via Katmandu.

[harrry]

Mine said it made 3 trips from Kentucky to San francisco and when I still thought it was in San Fransisco it arrived in BKK then 3 hrs later in CNX. 3 days in all.

Edited May 27, 2011 by harrry

[VerbalKint]

Mine went back and forth between LA and SF a couple of times (at least that's what the DHL tracking said) , but on day 6 DHL Bangkok called me that they were going to send it from Bkk to CM, and 3 hrs later it was here.

haven't stopped reading since

[Old Croc]

Today, two months after delivery of my Kindle, Amazon have advised I'm getting a refund of export fees amounting to $AUD20.79!

[writeshack]

I'm going to order a Kindle, but can't decide whether to go for the 6inch screen or the bigger Kindle DX. I admit I tend toward the bigger screen (my eyes are getting older) but it is a lot more expensive and I have horrors of going to sleep reading and having it fall off the bed onto the floor and break.

Is the DX worth the extra cost?

I'm really going to miss having an actual book in my hand though - but the nearest even half-way decent bookshop is a full day's trip there and back, and the selection very limited. Stocking up really means going all the way to Bangkok.

[harrry]

I'm going to order a Kindle, but can't decide whether to go for the 6inch screen or the bigger Kindle DX. I admit I tend toward the bigger screen (my eyes are getting older) but it is a lot more expensive and I have horrors of going to sleep reading and having it fall off the bed onto the floor and break.

Is the DX worth the extra cost?

I'm really going to miss having an actual book in my hand though - but the nearest even half-way decent bookshop is a full day's trip there and back, and the selection very limited. Stocking up really means going all the way to Bangkok.

The DX is definitely worth it if you read at home. Only reason for the others is if you need to put it in your pocket.

[ProThaiExpat]

I'm going to order a Kindle, but can't decide whether to go for the 6inch screen or the bigger Kindle DX. I admit I tend toward the bigger screen (my eyes are getting older) but it is a lot more expensive and I have horrors of going to sleep reading and having it fall off the bed onto the floor and break.

Is the DX worth the extra cost?

I'm really going to miss having an actual book in my hand though - but the nearest even half-way decent bookshop is a full day's trip there and back, and the selection very limited. Stocking up really means going all the way to Bangkok.

I went through the same choice process a few months ago and while I did not actually pick up the various options available in the Kindle line, I opted for the smallest one as the font can be enlarged. I am glad I did as I find holding the device not as easy as a pocket book, but with some practice and adaption, I have come up with a method of holding it in the landscape view with the keys to the left. There are more than enough lines of type in this size and the page turning is so easy, I really can't see why I would want a larger and heavier one. Those who use them for other than reading novels may well have excellent reasons for the largest one for document searches, web site viewing, etc. but for the pure book reader, the smaller one is more than adequate in my view.

[writeshack]

I'm going to order a Kindle, but can't decide whether to go for the 6inch screen or the bigger Kindle DX. I admit I tend toward the bigger screen (my eyes are getting older) but it is a lot more expensive and I have horrors of going to sleep reading and having it fall off the bed onto the floor and break.

Is the DX worth the extra cost?

I'm really going to miss having an actual book in my hand though - but the nearest even half-way decent bookshop is a full day's trip there and back, and the selection very limited. Stocking up really means going all the way to Bangkok.

The DX is definitely worth it if you read at home. Only reason for the others is if you need to put it in your pocket.

Thanks Harrry. Good point.

[writeshack]

I'm going to order a Kindle, but can't decide whether to go for the 6inch screen or the bigger Kindle DX. I admit I tend toward the bigger screen (my eyes are getting older) but it is a lot more expensive and I have horrors of going to sleep reading and having it fall off the bed onto the floor and break.

Is the DX worth the extra cost?

I'm really going to miss having an actual book in my hand though - but the nearest even half-way decent bookshop is a full day's trip there and back, and the selection very limited. Stocking up really means going all the way to Bangkok.

I went through the same choice process a few months ago and while I did not actually pick up the various options available in the Kindle line, I opted for the smallest one as the font can be enlarged. I am glad I did as I find holding the device not as easy as a pocket book, but with some practice and adaption, I have come up with a method of holding it in the landscape view with the keys to the left. There are more than enough lines of type in this size and the page turning is so easy, I really can't see why I would want a larger and heavier one. Those who use them for other than reading novels may well have excellent reasons for the largest one for document searches, web site viewing, etc. but for the pure book reader, the smaller one is more than adequate in my view.

Thanks Prothaiexpat. Good comments. Good feedback.

[trisailer]

I like the Kindle 2 (the smaller, pocket sized one) I love the fact that if I hear of a good book I can have it in minuets on my Kindle from Amazon. I like the fact that it fits in my back pocket better than any book and is easier to hold and flip pages as I read it. I don't have all of the hassle carrying around books and its easy to be reading 3 or 4 books at a time. As someone who used to have stacks of books laying about I love the lack of clutter and the dirt and dust from old books.

There are millions of books that are out of copyright and can be downloaded from the internet. I just got "The Old Man And The Sea" for my wife to read for free.

I also just discovered a program to convert any PDF or e-book to MOBI format and then email it to my Kindle using Calibre. What a fantastic program!

For book lovers I can't imagine a better device.

[HDRIDER]

And if you don't care about copyright you can download a lot of books from torrent

[pitrevie]

I like the Kindle 2 (the smaller, pocket sized one) I love the fact that if I hear of a good book I can have it in minuets on my Kindle from Amazon. I like the fact that it fits in my back pocket better than any book and is easier to hold and flip pages as I read it. I don't have all of the hassle carrying around books and its easy to be reading 3 or 4 books at a time. As someone who used to have stacks of books laying about I love the lack of clutter and the dirt and dust from old books.

There are millions of books that are out of copyright and can be downloaded from the internet. I just got "The Old Man And The Sea" for my wife to read for free.

I also just discovered a program to convert any PDF or e-book to MOBI format and then email it to my Kindle using Calibre. What a fantastic program!

For book lovers I can't imagine a better device.

Thanks for that, that is a very useful program.

[Gibarian]

sorry

Edited July 10, 2011 by Gibarian

[sabaijai]

Initially I bought my Kindle because I wanted to download a book I couldn't find at bookshops in Bangkok. As I began using the device, I found there were all kinds of other reasons to favor it, and I'm reading more books now then before I got the Kindle.

However, I have noticed two negative trends in the way the program works, both of which seemed to have developed since I bought the unit last April.

The first is that that the cost of Kindle content, while initially substantially lower than the price of a print version of the book, is rising to almost equal to (and in some cases, more than) the print price. I've also noticed that the price of the Kindle itself has gone down, so assume there's a bit of a bait and switch philosophy at work here. Seems to me that since the production and distribution cost of the digital version is much less than the cost of the print version, these price increased are a bit insulting.

But I've gotten used to the increasing prices, and can see the prices won't be staying low for long.

A more grievous problem, for me, is that when I try to order books now, via Amazon, I'm starting to get the following message for some titles:

"This title is not available for customers from your location in: Asia & Pacific"

So there goes the primary reason I bought the Kindle in the first place, to buy books I can't find here.

Anyone else bumping into this inability to order Kindle content?

[elwood]

Initially I bought my Kindle because I wanted to download a book I couldn't find at bookshops in Bangkok. As I began using the device, I found there were all kinds of other reasons to favor it, and I'm reading more books now then before I got the Kindle.

However, I have noticed two negative trends in the way the program works, both of which seemed to have developed since I bought the unit last April.

The first is that that the cost of Kindle content, while initially substantially lower than the price of a print version of the book, is rising to almost equal to (and in some cases, more than) the print price. I've also noticed that the price of the Kindle itself has gone down, so assume there's a bit of a bait and switch philosophy at work here. Seems to me that since the production and distribution cost of the digital version is much less than the cost of the print version, these price increased are a bit insulting.

But I've gotten used to the increasing prices, and can see the prices won't be staying low for long.

A more grievous problem, for me, is that when I try to order books now, via Amazon, I'm starting to get the following message for some titles:

"This title is not available for customers from your location in: Asia & Pacific"

So there goes the primary reason I bought the Kindle in the first place, to buy books I can't find here.

Anyone else bumping into this inability to order Kindle content?

Yes, the Asia-Pacific location is a bugbear for me too. Normally as soon as I log in I am automatically diverted to Asia-Pacific, but sometimes I receive notification of a special Amazon offer, only to be told, as soon as I try to accept it, that it doesn't apply to Asia-Pacific!

Several of the British authors that I like are not available, also non-fiction such as WWII books featuring events from a Brit viewpoint are also out. Seeing as it's Asia-Pacific, I suppose that it's to be expected, but also there doesn't seem to be such an extensive range as Amazon.com.

But I also like American authors, so not so bad, and I still think the Kindle is a great piece of equipment.

Elwood