Month: October 2009

I bought the new Kindle 2 international version to replace my broken Kindle 2 US version. However, there are two issues :

1. Not all books that you can buy for your Kindle 2 US version are available for international version.
2. Many books are more expensive even they are available for the Kindle international version

For example, the book Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, is not available in Asia & Pacific market. And for the book Presenting to Win by Jerry Weissman, it is less expensive for US version Kindle, than the Kindle International version.

So, how to buy US books for your Kindle International version ? Check out my other post on how to buy US Kindle books. But of course, if you don’t mind a little bit more expensive books and all the books you want to buy are available for the International version, go ahead to get the new device !!

I bought my Kindle 2 (now the US version) last March, with a dozen of Kindle books afterward (see update 5 of how to purchase Kindle US books from outside US). Unfortunately, I broke the screen exactly six months later and therefore I decided to buy the Kindle International version to replace the broken one.

The new Kindle certainly looks the same as the US version, the screen is still easy to read and the keyboard is still difficult to use. Some minor differences are though:

• The packing of Kindle 2 International version looks cheap, compare to the US version.
• Once connected to my computer, the drive number of the Kindle is now I: drive (I suppose it stands for International version) instead of previously K: drive.
• There are some new screen-savers.
• The firmware version is 2.2.

Once fully charged the new Kindle, you may want to register the device first. Since the new device supports the phone network around the globe (US version support Sprint network only), you can now do it by submitting your Amazon account email address and password thru “Home” / “Menu” / “Settings” / “Register”. The submission is slow. Looks like the network connection is GPRS only, even though 3G is available everywhere in Hong Kong.

However, two important questions came to mind …

1. Can I transfer the books to the new Kindle 2 ?
2. Can I read the US ebooks in the Kindle 2 international version ?

First, I tried to copy the ebooks (as I have a backup in my computer) to the new Kindle 2 and it didn’t work. I believe it is a protection to prevent people copying the books (.azw files) from one device to another … each of the books may have stamped some information of the registered Kindle(s) in your account.

Luckily, there are three ways to do it :

1. Provided you registered your device to your Amazon account, you will find your previously purchased book in the “Archived items” in your Kindle (of course you needed to register your device first). Just pick the books and redownload again thru the phone network – again the process is quite slow.
2. I also tried another approach – that is log into your Amazon account, select “Manage your Kindle”, then in the “Your Orders” section, pull down the “Deliver to …” menu and select your new Kindle as the destination device. It also works. But that may incur the extra US$ 1.99 download fee.
3. The third approach is to download the book again to your PC and transfer to your new Kindle. As long as your new Kindle is registered, the book shall be able to copy to your new Kindle without any problem (the ebook probably now stamped with your new Kindle information).

You can select the “Sync and check for new items” from the home menu to force the Kindle to connect to download the books. The books showed in the Home menu of the Kindle a while later, one by one … and I can read the books again. Even the books are purchased for my US Kindle, I can read it with my new Kindle international version – looks like there is no regional check here.

So far, so good …