[Dragaera] I CAN HAZ KINDLE VERSION? NO! NOT YOURS!

[Margaret Young]

I am on holiday outside the US and I bought my electronic edition from
Mobipocket (www.mobipocket.com). A mobipocket reader can be downloaded for
free and you could read the book on your computer.

Want to know frustration with the kindle? The entire country of Canada was
locked out from all Kindles until recently. Apparently Senegal got Kindles
before Canada.

Margaret

On Thu, Jan 7, 2010 at 8:31 AM, Steve Rapaport <steve at rapaport.com> wrote:

> Very frustrated here in the UK.    Copy of my letter to Tor follows.  Any
> input from knowledgeable folks appreciated.
>
> Tor Books
> Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
> 175 Fifth Avenue
> New York, NY 10010
>
> Dear Tor Books:
>
> I am a long-time customer of your books and a long-time fan of such amazing
> authors as Steven Brust.  I seldom take time to write anyone on dead trees,
> but I was aghast today when I tried to get the jump on a slow mailing of
> Brust's new Iorich by downloading it on my Kindle.  I could not!  In fact,
> here in the UK where I now live, not a *single* Brust book is available on
> my Kindle, though there are Kindle editions available in the US for many of
> them.
>
> I can buy the same books in hardcover or paperback on Amazon.co.uk.  I can
> order them shipped direct from the US.  And if I live in the US I can
> download them instantly to my Kindle.  But I can't do that here.
>
> Is this a horrendous oversight on your part, or a copyright law snafu that
> I'll grasp my head and scream when you detail it to me?  Either way, please
> do, I'm sure it will be entertaining to hear about.
>
> If it's just an oversight, please correct it immediately.  I want to buy
> the
> digital books, Amazon wants to sell them to me, and the pitiful royalties
> they pass back to you must be acceptable since you're already allowing it
> in
> the US.
>
> If it's some horrible corollary to the DMCA, please explain why I can buy
> the same book in digital format in the US but not here, and the same book
> on
> paper here, but not that book in digital format, in the UK.  I am agitated,
> horrified, frustrated and angry.
>
> It's not just one book, it's an entire author, possibly an entire
> publisher.  And it's not just you either.  I've tried with many of my
> favorite authors and publishers and experienced the same roadblock.  It
> makes my Kindle close to useless here.  The selection that remains to me
> is,
> in a word, pitiful.  I called Amazon and they assured me it's the
> publisher's choice to make these restrictions, not their own.  I believe
> them.  But I can't understand it.
>
> Can you please clarify, without waffling or weasling, why exactly you're
> stopping me from handing you money?  If it's a stupid law, can you explain
> who in your organization is responsible for lobbying your government to
> have
> it altered?
>
> Thanks very much and best regards,
>
> Steve Rapaport.
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> \Steve
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