The Kindle 2 is now available for overseas market (the international version) as well.
Since March I wrote quite a few posts on how to buy, use, register the Kindle 2, and Kindle DX. I reckon it’s better to consolidate a complete list such that you can find the details more easily.
So, Here you go:
- Buy Kindle 2 from outside US
- Using Kindle outside US
- Buy Kindle books from outside US
- Kindle for iPhone from outside US
- Registering Kindle 2 from outside US
- Kindle 2 vs. Kindle DX
- Update Kindle software outside US
- Reading PDF documents in Kindle 2
- Upgrade Kindle for iPhone 1.1
- Review of Kindle 2 and Kindle for iPhone
- Newspaper and Magazines for Kindle outside US
- Kindle Accessories
- Kindle 2 US vs. Kindle 2 International version
- US books for Kindle 2 International version
- Buying US Kindle books, without hiding IP address
- Kindle for PC
- Kindle 2 firmware upgrade to read PDF files
- Kindle for iPhone International version and how WhisperSync works
- Connect Kindle 2 to 3G Network
- Running Gmail with your Kindle 2
- Kindle for BlackBerry (beta) is now available
Enjoy !!
Update 1 : Some press coverage of this blog in one popular magazine …
“。。。月前訂購 Kindle DX，本來只因為它的 native PDF 閱讀功能，然而在本欄寫過 Kindle DX 後，有一熱心讀者 Michael 來電郵（應像在國內般，稱他做「老師」）說，在美國以外，其實都可以上 Amazon 購買電子書的！我走上他的網頁（www.michaelyung.com），跟住照做，一試即靈，即時訂了幾本，在他網頁上又看到他讀 Guy Kawasaki 的新書《Reality Check》，Guy 的作品，我在早年讀過，以為他已經封筆，看了他的新作，又馬上訂了，現在帶著隨身捧讀。
多謝 Michael 的分享，在 Amazon 購書的確是一個奇妙的經驗。。。”
Simon Chung – “Home–Tech：如家．隨身”
Update 2 : For those friends / visitors who have sent me questions, emails and tips from Brazil, Dominican Republic, India, Hong Kong, Singapore, Afghanistan, France, Taiwan, Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Norway, Australia, Philippines, Grand Cayman, Lebanon and Japan … I thank you !!
Update 3 : The Kindle 2 is now available for overseas market as well. So please read the blog posts if your country is not covered by the latest scheme, or you want to know more about other Kindle information.
{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
Dear Michael,
I had used the methods you described to buy a Kindle DX and books from Amazon easily. Many thanks indeed! I would also like to share with you a website and a free newsletter about Kindle which I found very useful for Kindle owners, i.e. http://campaign.constantcontact.com/render?v=001dtLqkKSiNwoZ_fy15hztpltL8LUxSoEDFU79qH096JH8X9YJJ83u6eqemodibe50KB2A7C7YWS7gCxnP4xchhTo-mGfq4IcpU_U8SKFsscssVj1DhYxV1g%3D%3D. This long address represents Kindle Nation which can be easily searched.
Hi Gabriel,
Glad that you have everything sorted out. And thanks to the Kindle Nation pointer.
Enjoy your Kindle DX.
hi michael,
great blog! I found it because I now have a Kindle and like many users worldwide found out too late that there are so many books not available outside the US (I live in Germany). So I found your great description how to use a new US amazon account and the gift card trick to purchase the Kindle books. But the great problem: giftcards I buy at amazon.de, which is the German platform of amazon, do not work at amazon.com! So obviously there is no possibility to fill up the gift card slot on my new amazon.com-account. Do you have any idea how to solve this problem? Is there a possibility to purchase gift cards from the US?
It would be great if you know something! Thank you in advance, bye and best regards,
Alexander
Hi Alexander,
Glad that you found this blog useful. Yes I think your Amazon.de gift card cannot be used in US Amazon. However, since you have a new Amazon.com account set up already, can you use your credit card to buy a US giftcard as described in my blog posts ?
Hope it helps.
hi there – kindle has just been released in australia
i have a kindle 2 i boguth before they released them (off Ebay) i was wondering how to connect it to the 3G network or if that sonly on the specially ordered ones for australia?? i was wondering if i havent registered the kindle its self (i have an account on amazon and all that) how do i get the updates? as i would love the PDF update 
thanks
Hi Samantha,
Glad that Kindle is now available in downunder. As you can check in one of my post, just use the 311 trick you can pick the network you want. If your Kindle hardware has not registered, you still can update the firmware via the manual method. Check out the Amazon page and you can do that. Enjoy !!
Hope it helps.
hey thanks for your help
i will try the trick tonight – i downloaded the update and went to put it on my kindle but it wouldne let me do anything in the setting section (in menu)??? if i do the 113 trick i will be able to access the settings to do the update?
sorry to be a pain can you please send me the link of the amazon page you are talking about thanks so much!
Hi Samantha,
The page to do the manual software update is here : http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200324680&#manual
And for the 311 trick, it is to select the 3G network, you can check out here : http://www.michaelyung.com/blog/services-and-products/2010/01/05/connect-kindle-2-to-3g-network/
Hope it helps.
thanks soooo much!! your website is a god sent!!! it has been sooo much help!
My pleasure, as always. Enjoy your Kindle !!
hey michael – do you know what the link is for the new kinlde update? the one that can read pdf?? thanks
Hi Samantha,
The link is right here … http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200324680, and click the link “Applying Kindle Software Updates Manually”.
Hope it helps.
thanks!
i got mynew kindle today
Congratulations Samantha. If yours is the International version, then you don’t need to download manually. Just turn on the Wireless, and the Kindle shall smart enough to check, download, and install any latest update. Enjoy your Kindle.
hey again!
i just turn it on and the wireless is already on… soooo much easier!!
i do have ONE more problem (im sure it wont be the last lol) i bought a bunc of ebooks which are PDF’s and i have sent them to that (username)@free.kindle.com email but they come back to me as PDF?? not as the proper kindle format??? the reason i want to change them is because when i put them on my kindle the writing is very light and small and i cant make it any bigger on the kindle??? i tried changing it to a TXT file but the is cuts off sentences and put them on the next line which is REALLLLY annoying..
any suggestions??
thanks kindly as always xo
Yes, with the new software version (i.e. native PDF support), your method will no longer “convert” the PDF. Trust me, the converted version (when it worked before) is ugly as well … However, you can read the PDF sideway (check my other blog on how to do that) and have bigger fonts. Or, you can buy the Kindle DX for that purpose.
Hope it helps, again.
well that sucks
its stil really ligth and not that big when i read it sideways 
yea but i just bought a kindle 2 lmao no point in getting a dx lol
anyway to change a pdf?
May be you can try this ? http://www.pdftoword.com/, then send the Word file to your Kindle email address to do the conversion …
thanks so much your awesome!
hello again
do you know why kindle bothered doing the pfd mode i dont think its even worth it you cant even read it?? is there a way to make it bigger? thanks
Well, I think the original software was developed for Kindle DX (which has a bigger screen), but then they ported it to the Kindle 2 … just to shut some people’s mouths, you know.
i hope this fix it soon
thankee for all your help
hi there, I just bought kindle international and tried your approach (using US address and gift couple) to buy books outside US ( I am in Taiwan). I actually successfully bought them and had my books transferred to my kindle via whispernet.
However, today I received the email from Amazon saying that I bought books from outside US and ask me to update my country to the correct one. Anyone ever received similar emails? Can I avoid such censorship if I transfered books to my kindle via USB instead?
Hi Tim,
I have not received any such email (just bought another book last week), will wait and see. Thanks for the information.