New Zealand is finally getting the Kindle 3, according to this report by Stuff in New Zealand and the linked Amazon product page.
The Kindle will be meeting Whitcoulls' Kobo e-reader head-on there, and the Stuff news reporter believes the company PR that the Kobo "appears to have a much larger range of e-books available; more than two million [books]," but this includes the 500,000 free Google Books and the 30,000 Project Gutenberg books. The free Google Books are also available for the Kindle in two ways - see:
1. How to get a free Google book converted to Kindle format (for free, by the Retroread site, or with the flexible free utility Calibre), and also
2. check out how to download to the Kindle the Project Gutenberg Magic Catalog of 30,000 free e-books which allows Kindle owners to browse and search the catalog and then click to download what they want in Kindle's "MOBI" format (with no download charges in both cases).
A thorough review of the Kobo is at Laptop Magazine, and what is unusual is that it will be more expensive than the Kindle while having no 3G or WiFi features, no built-in dictionary, no Search feature, no highlighting and notes and it is much criticized for being unusually slow, even for an e-Ink reader. How this unit stays at all competitive now unless the company upgrades the unit is a real question. Its website has a comparison chart that has not modified the Nook or Kindle pricing though they've been lowered for about 3 weeks.
Stuff has some good news for New Zealanders in that Martin Taylor, the director of the Digital Publishing Forum says the group expects to launch a digital warehouse that would let publishers manage and distribute e-books in the next few months.
"We're working with about 40 local publishers who have put their hands up and I would guess hundreds, possibly a thousand, New Zealand books will be available [through the warehouse], {which will} broker with e-book distributors on behalf of publishers and the forum is in talks with several e-book retailers now, including Amazon and Whitcoulls.
Many other sources for free e-books direct to the Kindle at no charge are also mentioned at the Finding Free Kindle Books and Sources page, which I'll redo soon, as it's not well-organized for all the info that's there. That info is on most footers of the blog articles here.
Kindle 3 (UK: Kindle 3), DX Graphite
Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. Top 100 free bestsellers.
Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.
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