Any app / song / audiobook etc. that you download from iTunes will ONLY work on your device. Your device ID is embedded somewhere in there, so they won’t work on other units. This is why you have to authorize your iPods and iPhones to your computer so that the files you download will work on them. Apple is letting up on this in the new version of iTunes, to let you share files you download among other devices in your “family”. Again this would require some type of master list that you keep of which devices are in your family.
The same approach is used with developers who want their apps to be beta tested. The device ID of each beta tester has to be manually entered before the code is compiled, to allow the created version to work on them. Each developer is allowed 99 device IDs.
The pirated apps and torrents you see out there require you to run a software hack on your iPod / iPhone first to let it accept media not specifically authorized for it.
You can easily browse through the stores from other regions, by changing your country from the bottom of the main iTunes page. However if you try to purchase an item from a different country, you will be redirected back to your own country store first. If the item is not available in your country, you won’t be able to purchase it (even if it’s free).
If you really wanted access to downloading items from a different country’s store, you would have to create a new account in that country. You would need to have a credit card with a billing address in that country to do that. There are ways around this by first buying iTunes gift cards (which are not country specific) and registering that as your payment method instead of a credit card, however it’s a bit of a process.
That’s weird, though – after I got my dad an IPod, I am able to download apps to it both using my account and using his. It doesn’t seem to be linked to an equipment-based code, but rather to the account, at least in our case.
I don’t seem to be able to find the country link in ITunes, either. I can find a “change my country” on the Apple store page (if I start from the TW page) but I don’t see anything in ITunes.
[quote=“StuartCa”]I think the Sony is probably a better reader. The touch screen seems to make more sense than the keyboard and it’s only $20 dearer.
Think I’ll hangfire until that comes over here.[/quote]
I haven’t formed my opinion just yet on Sony e-reader vs. Kindle, but I noted that the touch screen Sony comes at some cost to visibility. Maybe it uses some two layer (electrostatic?) touch detection system, but the touch screen version seemed slightly “hazy” compared to the non-touch screen Sony.
There is a markup on the international prices of e-books; I think the US prices are holding at US$10, but the average Taiwan price is listed at US$12. Proportional to the markup on printed English-language books in non-English speaking countries, maybe?
Has anyone tried this yet? What was your experience? Can you buy e-books with a Taiwan bank card?[/quote]
I have ordered one that will be delivered in 2 weeks. There is a map on their site showing the 3G coverage in Taiwan which looks pretty good.
Regarding buying ebooks with a bank card, you can find out by creating an / logging into your Amazon account and trying to purchase an e-book. You’ll see the payment options there and can try adding a Taiwan bank card and seeing if that will work (I’m guessing only standard credit cards would work though).
Re: the extra two dollars cost of the ebooks. I’ve been seeing suggestions on the net this extra cost only applies to wireless downloads of books, and not to ones downloaded to a computer and then transferred onto the Kindle by wire. But don’t quote me on it, particularly since there are many countries that still treat an ebook as taxable software.
If anyone else is thinking about buying a Kindle, it’s an experience you’ll enjoy, but beware. The Amazon kindle uses encryption on their books, which means if you ever want to buy another ebook reader and read the same books on it, you’ll find yourself unable to transfer them to the new device unless someone comes up with some kind of software crack to circumvent the DRM. Also, Amazon have lost a bit of moral ground recently over deletions of ebooks from customer’s Kindles. You may not even be able to transfer some books you buy on one Kindle to another Kindle if you get a second one. Although the wireless downloading aspect is an enormous benefit, the eventual drawbacks might just end up outweighing the positives.
Myself, I use a Sony Reader, mainly because it’s easy to crack a book I’ve bought so I can be sure of being able to read it on other machines later. On the other hand, Amazon’s resource of ebooks is enormous, and mostly well-priced, any additional charges notwithstanding.
And if you’re looking to read books on your Iphone, remember that they’re in the habit of refusing to allow books to be sold which have rude words in them. bit.ly/X2vwj, but I think there might have been others as well. This is what happens when you let software companies anywhere near the book publishing business.
I’m pretty sure the whole book publishing business is going to completely reinvent itself over the next year. Apple’s tablet is supposedly going to be released in February, and word is they are going around signing content producers like magazines and newspapers. They could do for the book industry what they did to the music industry.
The newspaper and magazine industry is in the same state now that music was a few years ago. Much of their content is available online for free so people have stopped buying newspapers and magazines. This is similar to when people stopped buying CDs because they could get music for free from Napster. Then Apple came along and made legal downloads popular. I’m sure magazines and newspapers are desperate for new revenue streams now, so it should be interesting to see what happens.
Talk about life imitating art, Amazon deleted copies of Orwell’s “1984” (and Animal Farm) from people’s Kindles. All this done wirelessly through Amazon’s Whispernet. Some students and others were mystified to find their reading material vanish in mid-sentence! Amazon had apparently discovered some copyright problems and took this action without notifying those who had paid for these books. Naturally a story like this was bound to go viral, and Amazon’s been backpedaling ever since. I don’t think it was a problem for those who had backed up the book on their computer though (not sure); only those who’d downloaded it directly to their reader via the Whispernet.
My roommate (in the US) just got a Kindle 2 and loves it. I’m planning on buying one before I come to Taiwan, but I’m worried about the availability of books. I could use my US credit card, but if the Kindle’s now being sold overseas, it seems that bank accounts in those countries should be good to purchase content. Dunno. Anybody tried this yet?
It doesn’t seem to be linked to an equipment-based code, but rather to the account, at least in our case.