MACMILLAN'S MAN IN NZ DAVID JOEL ON THE KINDLE

I thought you might like to know the Kindle 2 seems to work wirelessly in New Zealand in spite of them in theory not working here and thus not being made available here.

I bought one and had it delivered to my Australian address and to my surprise the wireless connection works in Auckland for downloading books , magazines and newspapers.

The main disappointment is many of the books do not have rights here (But I can still have them physically delivered from Amazon in paper form!) Also many of the graphics and illustrations in magazines do not appear in the Kindle edition (I can’t get The New Yorker on the Kindle so I’ll just have to stick with the electronic version on the computer screen)

Also in NZ the “Experimental” section does not allow web browsing whereas it does when I am in Australia.

Not that being wirelessly connected is a huge advantage for the Kindle as titles may be downloaded to a computer and transferred to the Kindle. However I am not sure the Kindle can yet be delivered to a NZ address. I notice that Fiji, Solomon Islands and Somalia are on the list. I have the feeling NZ is one of the few countries in the world where the Kindle is not available. Next we will have trouble with a reliable power supply!

I also read Kindle ebooks will be available to be read on a normal computer screen very soon.

I thought the various e-readers I have seen had not been a threat but find the Kindle very easy to read and with its leather cover (bought separately) it is scarily like a real book. I had thought a working pensioner and a Kindle would not jell well but I was wrong.