First look at my new "Suspicious" Kindle

[Meemo]

Have you seen this?

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/technology/How-to-Get-a-Kindle-on-the-Cheap/

Not so many deals on K2s yet - they almost always seem to sell for close enough to the price of a new one at Amazon that it isn't worth it - I'd rather get the new one and have a full warranty.  And I was watching for a month or so after Christmas hoping to pick one up that was an unwanted gift.  As soon as a K3 comes out, though, there'll be some K2s to be had for a good price.

Seem to be an awful lot of "can't be registered" Kindles on eBay right now, though.  Lots of stuff falling off of trucks these days, apparently...

[TechBotBoy]

My own good sense.  Why else would someone have large quantities of Kindles to sell for a fraction of their worth? 

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that they're genuinely broken.  Either Amazon knows or doesn't know that they're broken.  If Amazon doesn't know, they'll sell them on their website full price and deal with them one by one as people call and complain.  If Amazon does know, they'll ship them back to the manufacturer or they'll fix them and keep them as refurbs -- again to sell off their website.  Amazon has no authorized resellers, and Amazon didn't get the reputation it has by selling second-rate, partially functioning goods.   

Now let's say they work, but en route to a distribution center, they disappear.  What's Amazon going to do?  We know they keep close track of serial numbers since they activate them as soon as they're sold.  So Amazon then deactivates those serial numbers, so that they can't be activated.  They're a loss to Amazon, and the person who steals them can sell them on eBay for a fraction of their value because it's pure profit for them. 

Are there other explanations?  Possibly.  But when you hear hooves, think horses not zebras.

And again, you are in possession of stolen property.  I don't know if that's a crime in New Zealand, but it sure is here, and I wouldn't be in your shoes.

Looks like I had a Zebra after all !!

[marianneg]

Have you seen this?

http://www.smartmoney.com/spending/technology/How-to-Get-a-Kindle-on-the-Cheap/

This article is a year old.  The pricing information is from before the latest price drop, so remember that before declaring something a "good deal."

[Meemo]

Maybe not stolen from an individual...

[Anne]

Maybe not stolen from an individual...

They may be ones that were stolen off a truck on there way to a Amazon warehouse. If they were en route to a customer Amazon would have a record of the serial number.

[brainstorm]

This article is a year old.  The pricing information is from before the latest price drop, so remember that before declaring something a "good deal."

I've "declared" absolutely nothing. I just bring this up as a possible explanation for the Kindles selling on Craigslist and e-Bay. They are not new Kindles. Tbb received positive feedback from Amazon. It's working for him. Maybe, just maybe, he actually got a good deal on a legitimate Kindle.

[lynninva]

What do you all think of another possibility: 

Say Amazon had Kindles in production with the old wireless radio when they opted to change carriers.  To make a quick transition, they decide to liquidate those at cost to a third party.  They prevent the Kindles from using Whispernet due to the contractual change (assumed lower cost) of changing to a new carrier.  Amazon gets to recoup their costs & someone else takes a chance on making some money from people who are willing to forego the wireless connection.

I have no idea if this is what happened.  But I do know that it is not unusual for companies to liquidate obsolete models when new models are introduced.

[marianneg]

I've "declared" absolutely nothing. I just bring this up as a possible explanation for the Kiayndles selling on Craigslist and e-Bay. They are not new Kindles. Tbb received positive feedback from Amazon. It's working for him. Maybe, just maybe, he actually got a good deal on a legitimate Kindle.

I'm not saying there are not deals to be found; I'm saying that article has pricing information that is no longer accurate.

[kevindorsey]

I've "declared" absolutely nothing. I just bring this up as a possible explanation for the Kindles selling on Craigslist and e-Bay. They are not new Kindles. Tbb received positive feedback from Amazon. It's working for him. Maybe, just maybe, he actually got a good deal on a legitimate Kindle.

He probably did, they are deals to be found if you search a bit and look in unorthodox places.

[TechBotBoy]

Hi all,

  Hope we are all on the same page now - my "suspicious" kindle is a legitimate, non-stolen kindle.  It cannot be registered here nor can I download books to it via whispernet becuase there is no whispernet.  It is unsupported here in New Zealand as there is no local Amazon agent (I might be able to send it back to the US for repairs on the "time and materials" basis, but that would probably cost me a quarter of the purchase price).

  I've tried the "music" facility and the "speach to text" facility - both work great and the bottom line is that I'm totally jazzed with my new kindle.

                    - Tbb

[Anne]

Hi all,

  Hope we are all on the same page now - my "suspicious" kindle is a legitimate, non-stolen kindle.  It cannot be registered here nor can I download books to it via whispernet becuase there is no whispernet.  It is unsupported here in New Zealand as there is no local Amazon agent (I might be able to send it back to the US for repairs on the "time and materials" basis, but that would probably cost me a quarter of the purchase price).

  I've tried the "music" facility and the "speach to text" facility - both work great and the bottom line is that I'm totally jazzed with my new kindle.

                    - Tbb

How do you get the books on your Kindle?

[Masonity]

How do you get the books on your Kindle?

You can drag .mobi and .azw files from your pc into the "documents" folder on the kindle.

You can buy an ebook on amazon, choose to send to your pc then transfer it across.

That said, if it can't even be registered with Amazon (rather than just not being able to connect to the net locally) then I guess he's stuck with buying drm-free .mobis or sticking with classics that are public domain and converting them.

[Leslie]

That said, if it can't even be registered with Amazon (rather than just not being able to connect to the net locally) then I guess he's stuck with buying drm-free .mobis or sticking with classics that are public domain and converting them.

I'm not sure I'd describe it as "stuck." There are quite a few sites selling books in prc/mobi format (drm free) and more seem to pop up everyday.

L

[Meemo]

You can buy an ebook on amazon, choose to send to your pc then transfer it across.

Won't work (without stripping DRM) - when you download to PC it asks which device you're putting it on - if you put it on Kindle for PC it's DRMed for the PC and won't be readable on the Kindle.  There's lots of content available outside of Amazon that's usable on the Kindle, but I think I'd have gone for a Sony reader in his situation because it would be open to buying from more sites.  But if the buyer is happy with the sources available then that's all that matters.    

[Sugar]

Won't work (without stripping DRM) - when you download to PC it asks which device you're putting it on - if you put it on Kindle for PC it's DRMed for the PC and won't be readable on the Kindle.   

I've noticed a lot of people seem to forget that, or just plain think they can get around it somehow.

[ProfCrash]

I get that the whispernet doesn't work but how does that prevent TBB from registering his Kindle? You can register the Kindle online. If he does that he can buy books and then move them over USB and not using whispernet.

[Meemo]

I get that the whispernet doesn't work but how does that prevent TBB from registering his Kindle? You can register the Kindle online. If he does that he can buy books and then move them over USB and not using whispernet.

He's in New Zealand.  Amazon doesn't ship Kindles to New Zealand, so unless something's changed with their policy, I don't think it can't be registered someone with a New Zealand address and credit card. 

[TechBotBoy]

That's great except for the whole part about "If you have any issue with the device, we suggest you contact the seller."

Sounds like it has no warranty and Amazon is washing their hands of it. Wonder why?

Well, I knew it would be un-supported when I bought it - there is no Amazon representative here in NZ (that I know of) and the cost of sending it back and forth could make it too expensive to try.

By all accounts (based largely of feed back from this community) the unit seems to be pretty reliable, and for the discounted price, I thought it was worth the gamble --

                 - Tbb

[TechBotBoy]

How do you get the books on your Kindle?

Via the USB cable that's included, but I have to say up front, that I have NOT tried to download a DRM book.  Part of the reason why this discounted Kindle works for well for me is that most of the stuff I like to read is free - my Kindle came with 2 DVD's full of public domain titles - everything from Aristotle to Zane Grey.  It's great for my music MP3 files, and my audio books, and with the Calibre application I can grab daily news feeds from the NZ Herald and the New Scientist, and perhaps a bizillion other sources.

Some day when I'm richer I'll risk the purchase price and buy something from Stephen Hawking or Michio Kako and see if I can get it down to my Kindle

                    - Tbb

[KindleChickie]

There are lots of free ebooks on Amazon.  Just look at the best selling list and grab one that is being offered for free this month to check out whether your Kindle can be registered.