Any Canadian Kindle owners out there?
 

Just wondering how it works...

if you buy/download books when in the US, are the books physically stored on the Kindle? That is, one no longer requires wifi to access/read the books?

I've read that the book selection is smaller in Canada - are there a reasonable number of books available now?

I live in the US and am interested in buying a Canadian friend one as a gift and want to pre-load some books on it - just want to ensure my plan works before getting it.

Appreciate any insights - enjoy-la!

I'm not a technical person, but I'm pretty sure the books are actually stored on the Kindle. That's why they say it can hold so many books. If the books were stored elsewhere, there'd be no limit. When I buy a book for my Kindle (in the U.S., but it shouldn't matter), I read it without the wifi turned on, so it's obvious that the book has been downloaded onto the Kindle.

May I suggest you buy your Canadian friend a Kobo instead? My reasoning is simply that it allows it's user to download books from our public library for free which they cannot do with a Kindle.

Otherwise it's much the same except the online book seller is Chapters/Indigo a Canadian book and Kobo seller.

One only needs wifi access to download, once downloaded you can read them anywhere.

Thx a mint for the replies & info, althom1122 & lucyp, both very helpful. :) (Sorry I was unable to get online yesterday)

Sounds like the Kindle would work if I decided to go that way. Am familiar with Chapters/Indigo but had not heard of Kobo before so will look into that too - free downloads would be great for her! Either way, one gift down (=

Enjoy-la!

I love my Kindle, by the way! It's so great for travel. I can take several books in one small, lightweight device and never run out of reading material. Plus, without the wifi on, the battery charge lasts about a month. It's incredible. I took it to Turkey recently for 2 weeks and didn't even have to bother taking the charger.

Does the iPad2 not make Kindle and Kobo obsolete?

The iPad2 *starts* at $519.00 in Canada. I ordered my Kobo Touch for $139.00. That's a minimum difference of $380.00 and that's a lot of books I can buy for my Kobo.

I could have got the new Kobo Vox which has a colour screen, can play music, video and download Android apps for $199.00 which is at least a $320.00 savings over the iPad. But, since I already have an mp3 player and I prefer to watch movies on a larger screen, and what I was looking for is something to read books, I saved myself the $60.00.

>>Does the iPad2 not make Kindle and Kobo obsolete?

It depends what you want. If you really, truly just want to read books, I think the Kindle is better. E-ink is easier to read than a glossy screen (most readers agree). Plus the Kindle is lighter/smaller and cheaper.

I looked into both and decided to go with the Kindle due to its capacity and battery life. Thx again Fodorites :)

Enjoy-la!

And onto a different model.

A friend of mine from Canada (we were in South Florida) wanted to buy his daughter a Nook (Barnes & Noble).

He asked them how she could buy books. They told him she would have to have a US credit card with a US address.

That nixed the Nook.