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實戰Kindle (II) – 無線上網與線上購書的體驗

All This...GadgetPublished 十二月 8, 2009 at 14:42 28 Comments

Amazon Kindle其中一個成功的原因，莫過於它的免費無限上網購書的功能了。可是，如果看倌想購入Kindle是為了上網的話，我會勸你千萬不要。由於E-Ink技術的關係，跟手機又或者手提電腦相比，絕對可以用「龜兔賽跑」來形容。要拿它上網絕對是需要耐性的，又或者你拿來當它是手機Web Browser好了，太多圖片的網站它是吃不消的。

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用Kindle上Twitter(Mobile)版的效果

還有一點，就是Kindle的3G訊號收發問題了。可能是網絡問題，又或者是Kindle的接收訊號硬件沒有手機好…我發覺Kindle在室內接收的確一般。我甚至是在觀塘APM Starbucks窗邊的沙發位也沒有訊號。可是，我也曾經在地鐵站月台上使用Kindle上網，卻是十分良好。我也百思不得其解…

再來就是利用Kindle於Amazon購電子書的體驗了。在Menu Bar內只須要選擇「Shop in Kindle Store」便會自動連上Amazon的購書網站了。你大可使用Search的功能把書本找出來，按「Buy」直接購買，又或者利用「Try a Sample」試閱第一章，感覺與在實體書店買書差不多，使用其實也算是方便的。可是，基於書籍版權的關係，如果你是香港用戶的話，有一部份書藉是不能購買的。(後來我找到方法利用香港信用卡購買US only的書本，不過這是後話，在此不公開了)

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Amazon經常標榜Kindle書藉免傳送費，是的，不過US Only。說得明白點，就是只要你跟機都在美國的話，下載書本及期刊都是免費的。但是，在香港或世界其他地方使用的話，每本書便要收取US1.99作為網絡傳輸費了。另外，香港Kindle用戶也可訂閱報紙/雜誌/期刊，也有14天免費試用期，要長期訂閱除了訂閱費外，還需要付每星期US4.99的網絡傳輸費用(我想訂閱多份期刊都只需要收一份費用吧)。

如果想跟我一樣「慳得一蚊得一蚊」的話，其實也有方法，不過就只能在Desktop操作。在Amazon網站內的「Manage My Kindle」內，你會找到你的購書紀錄，在你需要傳輸的書本上選擇「Transfer via Computer」，就會自動下載到你Desktop上，然後可透過USB傳輸到Kindle的「Document」資料夾內就可以了。

Kindle本身支持.Doc及.htm經轉檔後閱讀(.txt及.pdf已支持直讀，不用轉檔)，註冊Kindle時會有一個email address: xxx@kindle.com給你，你可以將文件傳送至這個電郵地址，轉檔後會經Whispernet傳送至Kindle，在香港經此方法使用Whispernet，是要收取每MB US1.99的網絡傳輸費用。用戶可將文件傳至 xxx@free.kindle.com，轉檔後Amazon會以電郵通知你下載，再利用USB傳送至Kindle閱讀。

總結：我覺得那個傳輸費用來補償平日的上網所涉及的費用呢，其實也尚算合理，我自己如果不是太心急的時候，都會用免費方法去下載書本。我想「電子書reader+免費無限上網瀏覽amazon store+大量書本」才是真正受歡迎的關鍵，如果想華文世界電子書普及的話，相信還有一段漫漫長路要走。

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有關文章:

  1. 實戰Kindle (I) – 基本使用與中文化
  2. Say Hello to My Kindle!
  3. 電子書市場在香港可以普及嗎？

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28 Comments to “實戰Kindle (II) – 無線上網與線上購書的體驗”
  1. kevin 說道：
    2009/12/11 at 18:02

    i am a kindle user too, very glad to see your sharing! thanks!

    You mentioned a way to saved the US$1.99 wireless tranmission fee.

    However, isn’t it the case that you’ve already paid the US$1.99 for books that appeared on "your order" list at the moment you press the one-click purchase button?

    Many thanks!

  2. stella 說道：
    2009/12/11 at 21:45

    不是，我這個方法是完全不用付那個US$1.99的網絡費用的。
    你購書的時候，千萬不要選擇「send to my kindle」，相反要選擇「Kindle for PC」或者你的iPhone (假如你有的話)
    再於「manage my kindle」內的「My Orders」選單，在你所買的書選擇「Transfer via Computer」便可以下載了
    我發現如果買書的時候，amazon不允許我直接下載到電腦的，奇怪~~

  3. kevin 說道：
    2009/12/11 at 23:54

    thanks stella, that means if the listed book price is say: $11.98, if i use your method, then the actual cost will only be $9.99? That is really a very good news! will try asap. Many thanks!! :)

  4. Stella 說道：
    2009/12/12 at 00:11

    No…not like that. The books’ marked prices are not including the extra fee costed by Worldwide whispernet since no transmission fee when download in US. I would say, it’s 9.99 1.99=11.98 when you buy a book and transfer via whispernet worldwide. You still need to pay 9.99 to buy the book for other transfer method.

  5. kevin 說道：
    2009/12/12 at 00:42

    Thanks a lot for your quick reply!

    But the marked price of the same book in Asia Pacific Region is exactly $1.99 higher than US region. And I presumed the difference is whispernet charges.

    So far I have ordered three books, and the listed prices of all three books (in our Asia Pacific Region) are $1.99 higher than the US price. I didn’t find any extra charges for whispernet in my bill?

  6. stella 說道：
    2009/12/12 at 10:16

    oh..you are right! It is because I set my location to be USA and I really got a separate bill of 1.99 for sending to Kindle. maybe you can change your location to US and set it as 1-click buy and you will save 1.99 if you follow my method
    I am sorry if any misleading in previous post

  7. kevin 說道：
    2009/12/12 at 10:57

    thanks! any us address will do?

  8. Stella 說道：
    2009/12/12 at 11:09

    Yes. Any valid US address will do

  9. 才高8G 說道：
    2010/01/14 at 15:38

    写得非常不错！受教了！

  10. Lazycat 說道：
    2010/02/02 at 01:42

    Thanks for your sharing! I love your blog because I’m also a fan of electronic stuff! :P

    One question: Should I pay the books with a credit card registered with a US address in order to get a free transmission?

  11. stella 說道：
    2010/02/07 at 02:47

    no need to use US credit card but need to have a US address

  12. Lazycat 說道：
    2010/02/22 at 01:11

    Thanks, Stella! I finally managed to use my friend’s address to avoid the extra USD2.00. I guess Amazon doesn’t bother to check your location unless you download the books through whispernet!

  13. Lazycat 說道：
    2010/02/22 at 02:01

    Setting the address to US in "Manage your Kindle" is a great workaround. Many books are not available outside US or available at a much higher charge (e.g. Lord of the Rings).

    But I just found out that if you use your "Kindle for iPhone" to download the books that you bought previously as a "US customer", you will receive a bill on the Whispernet charge. Gotta be careful if we use this trick to buy US-only books! ;-)

  14. Victor 說道：
    2010/04/27 at 20:57

    Hello Stella, thanx for your sharing on your use of a kindle. I have had a problem which I have not found a solution yet to this day. On my wifi, I have opened a filter on the MAC address on all devices. I want to find the MAC on the kindle. But where is it? I just cannot find anything on this. Am I missing something? If you could help, that would be wonderful~ Thank you~

  15. stella 說道：
    2010/04/29 at 00:56

    But Kindle only has internal 3G modem but not Wifi. How could you get a MAC Address?

  16. 购书 說道：
    2010/06/01 at 13:42

    冲着那1.9美元一本通讯费估计国内大部分人都不会去考虑了.

  17. aMy 說道：
    2010/06/23 at 16:36

    so u can actually use it to browse websites other than the Amazon site/wikipedia in HK for free??

    coz I check the amazon websites, it said blogs are not available for HK, so I think maybe it’s not ok?

    but u seem to be using twitter with ur Kindle

  18. galaxykwok 說道：
    2010/06/27 at 09:06

    Hi, Stella, I m a bit late in buying ebook reader and wonder if it will be better to use ipad with kindle software than the now discount kindle, any comments?

  19. stella 說道：
    2010/07/05 at 16:10

    Hi Galaxy, Kindle2i同iPad我也有，買哪部當然要看你主要的用途，如果只看書不上網的話，Kindle吧，用iPad看書對我來説太大了，不過如需經常上網的話，iPad是個很好的選擇

  20. stella 說道：
    2010/07/05 at 16:10

    Actually you can browse ANY website in with Kindle in Hong Kong free.
    The Blogs said by Amazon is just like journals that will deliver to you kindle automatically, but it is not available in Hong Kong.

  21. newbb 說道：
    2010/07/31 at 11:06

    請問kindle 可看中文pdf嗎？

  22. newbb 說道：
    2010/07/31 at 11:10

    再請問，今次kindle 3 3G 同wifi 有五十元分別，其實分別大嗎？如果我已有wifi hot spot例如PCCW，咁好多地方已可用wifi，咁3G仲有無用？我屋企又有wifi，可以省下五十元嗎？

  23. stella 說道：
    2010/08/05 at 12:00

    可以呀

  24. stella 說道：
    2010/08/05 at 12:05

    我覺得可以只買wifi版。反正你不會用kindle上網, 太慢了。如果只買書的話在有wifi的地方買就已經得啦

  25. Vince 說道：
    2010/08/21 at 06:35

    I have placed an order on Kindle 3 3G+Wifi. After reading your posts, I think I better go for the wifi only version. USD $50 is quit a different… Good to know in advance that downloading books directly to Kindle cost extra $1.99 in HK.

    Thx so much

  26. stella 說道：
    2010/08/21 at 12:32

    oh..when will you receive your new Kindle3? I am very interested to have a look on it…
    of cos since i already have Kindle2 and iPad…I am sure I will not buy Kindle3
    but I am still very interested to know what are the difference among these devices

  27. sc 說道：
    2010/09/03 at 19:06

    唔該哂你既share ar!!非常有用^^
    我過幾日就會收到kindle 3啦,見到香港d書貴us 1.99真係灰左,原來有解決方法…但問題係佢已經幫我reg左部kindle係hk個acct,依家先改做us得唔得?
    仲有,係應該開個新acct定點呢?地址可以作一個嗎?
    thx a lot!

  28. stella 說道：
    2010/09/06 at 01:38

    可修改成美國地址同location一定要改成美國

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