I love Amazon.com

[TotallyOz]

I wanted some tech stuff for my computer and I could not find it in Thailand. So, last Thursday night I ordered it from Amazon. The cost for one item was 28.00 USD. The shipping was 35.00 USD and the tax for Thailand was 30.00 USD. Yes, it was 3 times the price as I could get in USA. But, I could not find it in Thailand so I sucked it up.

 

Today, Monday AM, it was delivered. The BF was shocked that it came so fast. That was 2 day shipping. LOVE IT! So, I ordered more today.

 

And, I love being able to order my Kindle Books and read on the IPad.

 

Amazon rocks even in Thailand!

[Guest thaiworthy]

And, I love being able to order my Kindle Books and read on the IPad.

 

I would never pay those kinds of prices. I will wait for the slowest boat available. Nothing is so important that I have to have it that fast or I just do without. You should be able to read and download books for the iPad through the iTunes store. Aren't you doing that? There are many books that are free. Reading is fun. Especially on a tablet or iPad since you can create bookmarks, find keywords, keep track of pages when you skip ahead or go back.

[2lz2p]

If you need it, get it even at a high price unless it is really prohibitive is my motto.

 

When I was weighing buying an iPad or getting the much cheaper Kindle from Amazon, I downloaded their Kindle for PC to give it a try - that is when I discovered the books I wanted were not available for distribution to Thailand - Amazon, at least, unlike Barnes & Noble will not display eBooks that are not available if you are using a Thailand URL. With B&N, you order the book and then they send you an email telling you it is not available.

 

Some friends that had iPads said they had no problem getting books from iBooks - one reason I chose the iPad (besides being able to do many other things besides reading books).

 

After registering on my iPad at the iTunes store, I couldn't find the iBooks app to download to the iPad. It seems that if you register using a Thailand URL, you get a different iTunes store and they don't offer iBooks at all. Well with a bit of searching about, I discovered how to register with the US iTunes store - no problem getting iBooks downloaded and purchasing the books I initially wanted (and several others since then).

 

I do enjoy using the iPad to read books - I find what I want, purchase it, and it is downloaded and ready to read in a matter of minutes -- also, with eBooks, you don't run into the "out of print" problem. I order from both Amazon and iBook if it doesn't show up as available in eBook format (I know, I could use a proxy server and re-register using a different user name, password, and credit card with Amazon - but more hassle than I care to go through).

 

I find Amazon much easier to navigate than iBooks to find books I might be interested in. If you know a particular title or author, iBooks works well - but not for general searching for items of interest.

[TotallyOz]

I have an Amazon.com account and it is linked to my CC and thus I have never had a problem ordering books from Amazon. In fact, I ordered over 10 of them this week and they were delivered instantly. To my knowledge, I get all the options that everyone else does.

 

I use my IPad Kindle Application to view most of them. I love the way the words appear bright on that. I have a Kindle DX as well and I use this when traveling as it seems to last for weeks with no need to charge.

 

Do others have issues downloading Amazon ibooks in Thailand?

[Guest thaiworthy]

What is it that Amazon.com has that iTunes hasn't?

 

I have 4 iOS devices, an ipad, 2 iphones and AppleTV. I can't update or download on these devices because my iTunes account is in the US. So I download the updates, or buy movies, tunes and books on my MacBook Pro, then sync and it installs everything on the iOS devices.

 

I suppose I could save the hassle by having two iTunes accounts, one based in the US and the other in Thailand for the iOS devices. Unfortunately, the Thailand itunes is all in Thai and would more of a hassle to interpret or guess at than just to keep doing the way I have been.

 

The simplest way is usually the best.

 

The biggest gripe I have with Apple right now is iCloud. At least with iDisk and MobileMe, I had storage space. iCloud only allows you room for "backups" with their selection of software. So now I have to invest in something like USendIt. I don't care much for Dropbox because of the way it works. I want to be able to send people emails with a link for them to download a big file.

 

The ideal solution is something that will let me store my itunes library and everything else stored on all of my hard drives up to a server, but that might take a while to do at the outset. So I am still stuck buying external hard drives to store my ever-expanding 1080p iTunes movie library. And on top of that you need a redundancy to back it all up!

 

Is there no end to the madness?

[2lz2p]

If you originally register with Amazaon and create your account when in the USA, as I understand it, no problem getting all the books they have even when using a Thailand URL - however, in my case, I registered and created the account from Thailand with a Thailand URL. I used a USA credit card and have my USA address as part of registration - so when the particular books were not displayed as available in eBook format, I presumed they didn't have a Kindle edition - however, my brother in USA is also reading the particular series and said when he went to Amazon, they showed up as available in Kindle.

 

Later, when I specifically looked for those books on iBooks and they were available in eBook format, I could only surmise that my having registered with Amazon from Thailand was the problem - as with initially trying to get iBooks app for iPad until I found I could register with USA iTunes store from Thailand without having a problem.

 

I find both iBooks and Kindle display to be somewhat similar. What I like is I can make the print large enough that I can read without having to put on my glasses - something I have to do if I want to read print pages.

[TotallyOz]

What is it that Amazon.com has that iTunes hasn't?

 

I have 4 iOS devices, an ipad, 2 iphones and AppleTV. I can't update or download on these devices because my iTunes account is in the US. So I download the updates, or buy movies, tunes and books on my MacBook Pro, then sync and it installs everything on the iOS devices.

 

I suppose I could save the hassle by having two iTunes accounts, one based in the US and the other in Thailand for the iOS devices. Unfortunately, the Thailand itunes is all in Thai and would more of a hassle to interpret or guess at than just to keep doing the way I have been.

 

The simplest way is usually the best.

 

The biggest gripe I have with Apple right now is iCloud. At least with iDisk and MobileMe, I had storage space. iCloud only allows you room for "backups" with their selection of software. So now I have invest in something like USendit. I don't care much for Dropbox because of the way it works. I want to be able to send people emails with a link for them to download a big file.

 

The ideal solution is something that will let me store my itunes library and everything else stored on all of my hard drives up to a server, but that might take a while to do at the outset. So I am still stuck buying external hard drives to keep my ever-expanding 1080p iTunes movie library.

 

Is there no end to the madness?

 

We need to talk. I don't know why you are using 2 ITunes accounts. I use one and download TV and Movies, etc from everywhere in the world. I have a USA account and it is in English. I downloaded many movies this week from Thailand and it works perfectly. I use it for all my Apple devices. I have them all linked to the same account and I can go into ITunes and Purchase History and download anything I have purchased to any device. They have make this so easy to do for me.

 

The App Store for ITunes does not have the vast number of books that Amazon.com offers. At least when I have checked before they didn't. And, I don't think those books transfer over to other devices that are not based on Apple. The Kindle allows for this transfer very easily.

 

FWIW

[Guest thaiworthy]

You misunderstood my post or I did not make myself clear. I presently only have one iTunes account. The modus operandi you are suggesting is what I already do. But if I try to update an app on the iphone it complains that I need a Thai iTunes account. So I have been doing it your way.

 

I only attempted to get a Thai iTunes account. When the Agreement Terms came up, it was all in Thai, so I bailed out.

 

I have and have always had only one iTunes account.

 

I guess what I really should have asked is why there isn't one global iTunes account for everybody?

[TotallyOz]

You misunderstood my post or I did not make myself clear. I presently only have one iTunes account. The modus operandi you are suggesting is what I already do. But if I try to update an app on the iphone it complains that I need a Thai iTunes account. So I have been doing it your way.

 

I only attempted to get a Thai iTunes account. When the Agreement Terms came up, it was all in Thai, so I bailed out.

 

I have and have always had only one iTunes account.

 

I guess what I really should have asked is why there isn't one global iTunes account for everybody?

 

To me, it sounds like you have purchased something (even if for free) when you were in Thailand and thus you have 2 Itunes Libraries. This happens to friends of me. The best way to get rid of this is to do a complete wipe of your devices and sync them with your ITunes collection on your computer. When it asks if you want to restore from the "cloud" you say no and sync with only your computer. Once you have done this, I bet you have no more problems.

[Guest thaiworthy]

Forget it. I give up. That's not what I meant, either. Mai pen rai. Thanks, anyway.

[TotallyOz]

I had to sync hundreds of these devices at my job in California last year. I know the problem you are having. I would happily walk you though all the steps to resolve this but if give up, so do I.

 

As to the ICloud, etc. I love ICloud. Yes, I get frustrated that they keep switching things up but I have the ICloud and it backs up all my ITunes Purchases. Since my BF in Thailand and one in Brazil have IPads I have given them and are using my account, they can update all their applications even if I am not in their country. They just go onto wifi and update. It works perfectly for me and I love that if they want to download my music, games I buy them, movies, etc. that I have purchased, all they need to do in go to any wifi and update. It works great for what I need.

 

I also love dropbox. I have 200G account and I use it for work and for fun. It is so easy to share with friends and family and to do work. I can even put files into the Public Folder and share a link with someone and they simply view it.

 

There are Dropbox alternatives and I use Google and Microsoft as well but I use their free versions. Dropbox is free for 2G but I pay for 200 and I think it is 200 a year and totally worth it for me.

 

A few months back, I bought a new computer. I simply signed into my ICloud account and all my data, preferences, apps, etc were brought over. I signed into dropbox and all my documents, etc were brought over. I signed into my Firefox account and all my bookmarks, etc were brought over. It was such an easy process and I use to dread buying a new computer as it took so long to set up and enjoy. No longer!