28 ms·

And we all know how well that worked out for Borders Australia. E-books obviously make import regulations of books irrelevant so I don't think Amazon would bot

by jbarham 15y ago

And we all know how well that worked out for Borders Australia. E-books obviously make import regulations of books irrelevant so I don't think Amazon would bother setting up a retail operation in Australia. But if Amazon Web Services set up shop down under, well now, that would be quite disruptive!

jacques_chester 15y ago
> E-books obviously make import regulations of books irrelevant so I don't think Amazon would bother setting up a retail operation in Australia. I have a Kindle for this exact reason. > But if Amazon Web Services set up shop down under, well now, that would be quite disruptive! I don't see why they would. In terms of global traffic, Australia is a minnow. But in terms of cost-per-bit, we're one of the most expensive locations in the world. It makes more sense for Amazon to sit offshore and send bits in, where they'll be paid for by the end user with an ISP account. About as close as you'll get is Singapore, I think.
- jbarham 15y ago
  I meant AWS opening up in Australia would create severe problems for a lot of local high-cost hosting providers. But Amazon may not bother as US west coast latency is often good enough. (Keep in mind that Australian ISPs might route traffic to Singapore via the US, so although it may be closer as the crow flies, it's not necessarily closer on the internet.)
  - dam0 15y ago
    AWS in Aussie in 2012 apparently : http://www.zdnet.com.au/amazon-planning-aussie-datacentre-report-339318358.htm http://www.zdnet.com.au/amazon-planning-aussie-datacentre-re...
    - jacques_chester 15y ago
      I would love to be wrong.
  - jacques_chester 15y ago
    There's a pipe to Singapore out of Darwin, I believe. One of the old OTC lines I'm guessing, so probably not very high bandwidth.
    - nl 15y ago
      It's not just the bandwidth - it's the cost. Bandwidth to the US is cheaper, and some ISP (TGP cough) route based on price rather than latency. I'd dig up the link from the Amazon forums, but I've got a feeling we've had this discussion on here before?
- daemin 15y ago
  Even with a Kindle (or Kindle software) you still can't get the same books (in ebook format) as you can overseas. There are several fiction books that I just cannot get in Kindle e-book format because the local distributor hasn't authorised it or some such.
  - jbarham 15y ago
    Have you tried the trick of buying yourself am Amazon.com gift certificate?
  - brc 15y ago
    This frustrated me so much I took the time to setup proper drm cracking. So the answer is: 1) set up US proxy so you appear as US browser (ie openproxy or similar) 2) open up US-sepcific account using US address (any will do, you're not getting anything shipped, I used a postal service). 3) purchase gift voucher for amount covering the books you wish to purchase with 'regular' amazon account 4) use US account via proxy to make purchase, and use gift voucher to pay for them. 5) use Kindle cloud reader to download purchased ebooks to your local machine (you have no Kindle registered to this account, so you can't download to your kindle). 6) install calibre open source e-book management (this is a good tool for managing your ebook collection anyway) 7) google for amazon DRM book plug in for calibre 8) load purchased ebooks up, run drm cracking plugin 9) connect kindle and upload cracked books 10) open beer and laugh openly at futile attempts to use DRM to control industry It sounds complicated but it's not really that hard. Amazing how you have to act like a criminal to do something that would seem logical to everyone but a publishing lawyer. You can also use this tool to share ebooks between kindles, ie, yours and your partner - as you would with a book purchased from a store.
    - someperson 15y ago
      Which postal redirection services do you use/recommend?
      - brc 15y ago
        I use a service called MyUS.com - they've been good on a couple of occasions, so I'll give a qualified support to them. You pay some cash ($10 I think) and they give you a permanent US address to get stuff sent to.

by jbarham 15y ago

jacques_chester 15y ago

> E-books obviously make import regulations of books irrelevant so I don't think Amazon would bother setting up a retail operation in Australia. I have a Kindle for this exact reason. > But if Amazon Web Services set up shop down under, well now, that would be quite disruptive! I don't see why they would. In terms of global traffic, Australia is a minnow. But in terms of cost-per-bit, we're one of the most expensive locations in the world. It makes more sense for Amazon to sit offshore and send bits in, where they'll be paid for by the end user with an ISP account. About as close as you'll get is Singapore, I think.

jbarham 15y ago
I meant AWS opening up in Australia would create severe problems for a lot of local high-cost hosting providers. But Amazon may not bother as US west coast latency is often good enough. (Keep in mind that Australian ISPs might route traffic to Singapore via the US, so although it may be closer as the crow flies, it's not necessarily closer on the internet.)
- dam0 15y ago
  AWS in Aussie in 2012 apparently : http://www.zdnet.com.au/amazon-planning-aussie-datacentre-report-339318358.htm http://www.zdnet.com.au/amazon-planning-aussie-datacentre-re...
  - jacques_chester 15y ago
    I would love to be wrong.
- jacques_chester 15y ago
  There's a pipe to Singapore out of Darwin, I believe. One of the old OTC lines I'm guessing, so probably not very high bandwidth.
  - nl 15y ago
    It's not just the bandwidth - it's the cost. Bandwidth to the US is cheaper, and some ISP (TGP cough) route based on price rather than latency. I'd dig up the link from the Amazon forums, but I've got a feeling we've had this discussion on here before?
daemin 15y ago
Even with a Kindle (or Kindle software) you still can't get the same books (in ebook format) as you can overseas. There are several fiction books that I just cannot get in Kindle e-book format because the local distributor hasn't authorised it or some such.
- jbarham 15y ago
  Have you tried the trick of buying yourself am Amazon.com gift certificate?
- brc 15y ago
  This frustrated me so much I took the time to setup proper drm cracking. So the answer is: 1) set up US proxy so you appear as US browser (ie openproxy or similar) 2) open up US-sepcific account using US address (any will do, you're not getting anything shipped, I used a postal service). 3) purchase gift voucher for amount covering the books you wish to purchase with 'regular' amazon account 4) use US account via proxy to make purchase, and use gift voucher to pay for them. 5) use Kindle cloud reader to download purchased ebooks to your local machine (you have no Kindle registered to this account, so you can't download to your kindle). 6) install calibre open source e-book management (this is a good tool for managing your ebook collection anyway) 7) google for amazon DRM book plug in for calibre 8) load purchased ebooks up, run drm cracking plugin 9) connect kindle and upload cracked books 10) open beer and laugh openly at futile attempts to use DRM to control industry It sounds complicated but it's not really that hard. Amazing how you have to act like a criminal to do something that would seem logical to everyone but a publishing lawyer. You can also use this tool to share ebooks between kindles, ie, yours and your partner - as you would with a book purchased from a store.
  - someperson 15y ago
    Which postal redirection services do you use/recommend?
    - brc 15y ago
      I use a service called MyUS.com - they've been good on a couple of occasions, so I'll give a qualified support to them. You pay some cash ($10 I think) and they give you a permanent US address to get stuff sent to.