Bridging the Kindle Digital Divide in South Africa – My third Afrikaans Post

Intro = English
Content = Afrikaans

As I tell everyone I know about my Amazon Kindle, a few people have approached me for more information before acquiring their own Kindles. Mostly it is some of my IRL friends, who are not very IT or WEB savvy. I have written them the simple instructions below, indicating how I optimised My Kindle Experience so that I can  - in South Africa - have the same benefits as someone in the USA and NOT PAY MORE (Kindle books are more expensive here in SA), but if you follow these steps below, you can save a lot of money and read a much wider selection than what is available in the Amazon store. Example – George Bush’s new book cost $21 if your Kindle is registered to a SA address and $9 (NOT that I want it for FREE) if registered to an address in the USA. (How are we ever going to bridge the digital fucking divide if companies schnaai us Africans like this!?). Prolly the Publishers fault and NOT Amazon's...  So here goes:

Ek het redelik die storie nagevors voor ek myne gekoop het, en my grootste bekommernis was dat ek net Amazon e-boeke op dit sal kan lees, en dat ek ook weens Uitgewers regte nie alle Amazon boeke in Suid-Afrika kan aflaai nie. Ek het die volgende raad gevolg en dit het baie goed gewerk. (Daar is steeds baie baie baie beskikbaar op Amazon, maar as jy soos ek is, wil ‘n mens nie ingeperk voel nie.)

1. In die proses om jou Kindle se unieke reeksnommer op jou naam te registreer op Amazon se webtuiste – gebruik ‘n adres in die VSA. Ek het sommer vir $10 (STANDARD OPTION) vir myself ‘n adres in Amerika gekoop by ‘n aanlyn-inkopiediens (MyUS) wat dit doen vir mense wat buite Amerika woon, maar goed vandaar wil bestel (veral ondat ons op plekkie soos hier in SA nie ons eie posdiens kan vertrou nie). Ek het die adres gebruik en toe my Kindle met die adres geregistreer. Onthou as jy dan ‘n soektog doen met die rekenaar op Amazon, om die land in die linker boonste hoek se aftreklys-hokkie te verander vanaf Africa na ‘USA’. Die voordeel dan is dat jy uit meer boeke kan kies op die Amazon webtuiste en dat hulle boonop beduidend goedkoper is EN dat jy toegang dan tot hulle gratis boeke ook het. As jy op jou rekenaar hierdie proses gevolg het, is jy dan in staat om direk van jou Kindle af boeke te koop op Amazon se webtuiste.

2. Indien jy direk vanaf jou Kindle wil boeke op Amazon koop moet jy ook jou kredietkaart details op Amazon registreer. Dit is ‘n aparte registrasie proses, en daar kan jy jou plaaslike SA adres gebruik.

3. Die Amazon Kindle gebruik hulle eie unieke eienskap e-boek formate. Soos ‘n Word dokument eindig met .doc en excel met .xls en Adobe met .pdf eindig Amazon s’n met oa. .mobi. Plekke soos Kalahari se e-boeke is weer ‘n ander formaat bv. .EPUB. As jy boeke op ‘n ander plek as Amazon wil koop (of gratis aflaai) kan jy dit nie direk op jou Kindle doen nie. Jy moet dit eers op jou rekenaar laai, die formaat verander en dan die Kindle se kabel gebruik om dit aan jou rekenaar to konnekteer en van die rekenaar na die Kindle oor te laai. (Dis in elke geval hoe al die ander e-boek lesers soos SONY s’n werk) Daar is ‘n programmetjie wat jy van die internet moet aflaai wat enige e-boek formaat na enige ander e-boek formaat kan omskakel – Calibre

Die Calibre programmetjie werk regtig baie goed en het selfs ‘n grootmaat omskakelings funksie. Ek het ‘n ruk terug 1000 wetenskapsfiksie e-boeke op ‘n data geheuestokkie by ‘n vriend gekry en op ‘n Saterdag middag die hele spul deur Calibre gejaag (of gedrentel, want dit het die hele middag geneem op my super-stadige skootrekenaar. Maar enkel boeke vat darem net ‘n paar minute). Die proses stel ‘n mens dan in staat om selfs Afrikaanse boeke by Kalahari.net te koop, om te skakel en dan op jou Kindle te lees.

Onthou ook om Amazon se Kindle for PC af te laai. Dit skep dan outomaties ‘n “my kindle content” leêr binne jou “my documents” leêr op jou rekenaar waarin al die boeke wat op jou Kindle toestel is, ook op jou rekenaar gestoor word. Jy hoef dit nie eers oor te kopieër nie, maak net die Kindle for PC oop en kliek op ‘Archived Items’ en jy sal ‘n lys kry met al die boeke wat jy reeds op Amazon gekoop het. As op die individuele boeke kliek sal dit op jou rekenaar aflaai, jy kan dit op jou rekenaar lees en dit word in genoemde leêr gestoor. Ek lees nie graag boeke op die rekenaar nie – maar dit kom nuttig te pas as jy nie die Kindle toestel by jou het nie en jy wil net gou iets check.

Nou ja, ek weet die meeste bloggers is vaardig op die web en met allerhande tegniese foefies soos e-lesers, maar ek hoop hierdie post help iemand wat nie is nie, en wat ook die maksimum gebruik uit hulle kindle wil kry.

Amazon Kindle in South Africa 2 – My experience

Amazon Kindle in South Africa 2 – My experience A! [short & sharp Aahh] A! A! A! A! It is difficult for me to describe my experience of my Amazon Kindle in words. I, J. Hardspear de la Azotea have taken to my Kindle like the proverbial fish. Not having a backlit screen like such as a computer or cellphone, the Kindle is as easy on the eyes as printed paper. I have downloaded 5 books already, amongst others, The Lost Key – by Dan Brown; and the New International Version of the Bible. Two of the 5 books were free. The total cost of the three books I have paid for, amounted to the same as one hardcover book (New Fiction). Kindle New Fiction releases cost anything between R80-R110 (and depending on Rand/Dollar exchange). Older books cost anything between R35-R75. Classics will cost you anything between R15-R30. Kindle books are way much cheaper than the printed ones. The Amazon Kindle has so many wonderful features, such as a built in dictionary, opening on the last location where you have read, built in MP3 player, text-to-speech facility, etc, etc. I have taken it with on a business trip and it is an absolute pleasure in the airport & on the plane. Not to mention the envious stares from everybody else. So, what about the tactile experience & romantic aspects of reading and touching and smelling a printed book – a book which looks nice on display in your bookshelf, a book which, alongside others lends atmosphere to whichever room in your house? Well, I still love the smell of a second hand bookstore. I still like to touch and feel a book. But with the cost of books in South Africa, I can mostly afford Mass Edition Paperbacks only anyway. Kindle editions is even cheaper than paperbacks in SA. There remains however a number of printed books I own, which I’ll never willingly part with. I am reading a paperback at the moment. Yet, for some reason unbeknownst to me, the Amazon Kindle has enchanted me and within the space of one month of owning one, I have grown quite attached to it. Who would I, J. Hardspear de la Azotea recommend the Amazon Kindle to? Bookworms If you are a technofreak and a lover of gadgets, but do not like to read books – you will waste money if you buy this. You’d be better off and buy yourself the brand new Apple i-Pad when it becomes available in South Africa soon. The iPad has way more features than the Kindle and is much more powerful, it’s application is endless and blah blah blah, but... it has a backlit screen and I would not like to read books on it for extended periods. Please see my previous post for more on the Kindle.

Amazon Kindle in South Africa 1 – How to get ALL Kindle titles in SA

Amazon Kindle in South Africa1 – How to get ALL Kindle titles in SA I, J. Hardspear de la Azotea first saw the Amazon Kindle on the Oprah Show. Oprah Winfrey was getting wax lyrical about this e-Book device from Amazon.com and proceeded to tell the world how much she loves this thin plastic tablet on which she can download and read books, the New York times and many more newspapers, periodicals & magazines. It does not often happen that I, J. Hardspear de la Azotea covet something, but from the moment I saw the Amazon Kindle, I knew that I have to have one. Sony’s e-book reader was the first of its kind to be available in South Africa, but whilst it already piqued my interest on a prior occasion, I was enchanted by this device from Amazon. Well done Oprah, you got me panting for this thing... On her show, Oprah continued to sing the Amazon Kindle’s praises, she interviewed Jeff Bezoz, the CEO of Amazon.com, she showed off the features of the Amazon Kindle and went on like only Oprah can. At the end of the show, Oprah gave everyone in the audience their own kindle and Jeff Bezoz lead the members of the audience in downloading a book each (for free). I was super jealous. The next day, I googled Amazon Kindle and much to my dismay had to learn that the Amazon Kindle at the time was only available in the USA. This was, as far as I could gather in part because Amazon’s Whispernet feature only being available in the States. The whispernet feature uses 3G technology to allow Kindle users to download books directly from Amazon.com to their Kindle devices. The connectivity part of this feature is free and the user only pays for the e-book itself and not for the download thereof. When in November 2009 I learned that the International version of the Kindle 2 has been launched and that the Whispernet feature is now available in South Africa, I knew that the time has come to acquire one. There was just one more hurdle. Due to licensing issues/agreements etc etc, not all the e-Books available for download on Amazon.com will be available in South Africa. (The list of Kindle books available in SA is still considerable) This aspect worried me though, for I was about to spend R3 000 (Three Thousand South African Rand) on something which full use I would not be able to enjoy. I, J. Hardspear de la Azotea found a way to overcome this hurdle however... I am not going to publish my strategy though, but should you wish to know how it is to be done, please mail me with your request at hardspear@hotmail.com Be warned though, that in order for me to know that you are South African, I will send you a question in Afrikaans, which you have to answer in Afrikaans as well. If you are not native Afrikaans speaking – the question should be easy enough to answer in whatever broken Afrikaans you can manage. So, I did buy a Kindle and my next post will deal with my experience with it thus far.