How To Use The Amazon Kindle 2 Outside The US
The Amazon Kindle is gaining widespread popularity even outside the United States. And one of the main problems that Kindle owners living overseas have is basically how to use the device as soon as they get hold of it. Some Kindle owners have even gotten to thinking that the Amazon Kindle 2 can only be used wherever there is Whispernet technology available but this couldn’t be farther from the truth.
So, are you one of those new to Kindle and living overseas? No problem. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to use the Amazon Kindle 2 outside the US:
1. First of all you would need to have a US credit card and US address to be able to set up an Amazon account, purchase a Kindle, the new Kindle to that account, and buy ebooks using that Amazon account too.
2. As soon as you get your Kindle, go to the Books section of the Amazon Kindle page, where there are thousands of books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs to choose from.
3. Click the Buy button, and you automatically get an email from Amazon notifying you of your purchase.
4. Go to the media library and find a header marked Download. You can either go to the All page where you can find all the content you can download, or choose the particular type of content you are downloading, e.g. book, newspaper, or magazine.
5. You are given two choices there: Download to Computer or Download to Kindle. You would want to opt for Download to Computer.
6. Download all your files to your computer via your Media Library.
7. Then transfer all downloaded files to your Kindle. Make sure your Kindle is turned on and awake before doing so.
8. If you have already registered your Kindle and have files stored in your Amazon account but then transferred overseas or in an area where Whispernet is unavailable, you can still access your account through your computer and go to http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle. Again, just download your books to your computer and transfer to the Kindle via USB.
For some easy tips on using your Amazon Kindle 2, check out our Kindle 2 shortcuts.
To Aminta: You can actually go around that US credit card requirement if you use gift certificates to buy books for the Kindle from Amazon.com. Gift certificates don’t have any geographical limitations so yo should be good to go with using those instead of credit cards. Hope this helps!
Nat:
While the Kindle isn’t available in other countries, that only pertains to the wireless connectivity. You can still download content via your computer and then move the books from your computer to your Kindle via the USB cable. However, you must have a U.S. credit card to buy books on Amazon (or the Kindle itself if you buy it from Amazon and not a private individual) – and therein lies the problem. Most people who live outside the U.S. don’t have a U.S. credit card. So unless your mother-in-law has a U.S. based credit card she’s going to have a hard time with the Kindle. There are rumors flying around that Amazon will be making the Kindle available to other countries “soon” – but what countries those are and when is unknown.
TravisVS
Site Admin
Thanks for this post. I’ve been meaning to buy my mother-in-law in Canada the new Kindle DX (she’s an avid reader) but I wanted to do some research first on what options there are for putting content to it as I know the Kindle isn’t available yet in other countries.
well this is a good tip….HOWEVER people who want to use the Kindle 2 outside of the US usually do not have a US credit card…I mean its not like you can just get one right?? so what about downloading content for the kindle without an american credit / debit card??