Second hand book shops

[alphonso]

Ganesha in Ubud is the only good 2nd hand book store I have seen in Bali.

There are a couple of other 2nd hand book stores nearby the Ganesha store in Ubud on the same street.

There is also one on Jalan Hanoman right up on the corner of the main road (Jalan Raya) in Ubud. It's only a small shop and the other half is a tourist info centre. Book prices range from 35,000 to 80,000 and when you're done you can return your books and they give you 50% back.

 

[hermit]

I am an avid reader and find that if I frequent one shop, my choices are frequently consumed, way too fast. I am staying in Seminyak and prefer, currently, the outlet at Bintang super market mall.

Ganesha bookshop has another outlet in front of Biku restauarant on jalan Petitenget in Krobokan/Seminyak.That would be a lot closer for you.

 

[mugwump]

Ganesha Books

I have been a fan of Ganesha for years, but now have reservations.
First they don't charge an extra percentage for credit card purchases. Secondly they often have a better price than their competition on new books concerning topics about Bali and ethnographic books that are usually expensive every where.
My gripe consists of selection of used books. I don't read romance novels and mysteries which leaves little else and especially in the area of non-fiction. Also I realize that they must gain profit from their business, but when I return a book that I paid over 300.000rp for and am offered only 40.000 when the book was in good condition and only read by myself and still offered new (same edition) from their shelf, I think the margin is a bit large. This has happened numerous times, and I believe the problem rests with the owner leaving employees with strict instructions concerning offers for used books rather than using rules of judgment concerning condition age and topic.
I read a lot and having been spending substantially for used books that often turn out to be poor reads. I am in the market for a reader, and have previously purchased a nook from Barnes and Noble only to find that the keys were too small for my dill pickle sized fingers. Mac has a new product that overcomes my deficiency, and I intend to take a critical look.

 

[spicyayam]

Spicyayam, I can find very, very few Kindle books available to me as a resident of Indonesia. Is there a secret I don't know about?

Apparently there is. There is no restriction to the books you can buy from your computer. So you just need to buy the kindle edition from your computer and then apparently you can synch it through USB to your Kindle. I don't have a Kindle so I can't say for sure if this works.

 

[mugwump]

Apparently there is. There is no restriction to the books you can buy from your computer. So you just need to buy the kindle edition from your computer and then apparently you can synch it through USB to your Kindle. I don't have a Kindle so I can't say for sure if this works.

I had a Nook from Barnes and Noble, and returned it. It was too small for me, and now looking at the Ipad. A bit more expensive, but far better features than Nook in Indo. or Kindle. For instance am in Seattle where Kindle is produced and could go nowhere to even try one out! It also sold only Amazon books.
I will return to Bali in Sept. hopefully with an Ipad, but first want to learn any limitations we would suffer.
Mugwump

 

[spicyayam]

I wanted to get a Kindle but Amazon don't ship them to Indonesia for some reason. I saw someone using one a plane once and I couldn't believe how crisp the text looked. An Ipad is much more expensive and because you can play games on it, I think it could be more of a distraction to reading. I am sure Amazon is not making much from the hardware. I like the fact that a lot of independent authors are getting discovered. Authors who spent years getting rejected by publishers and now the middle man is getting cut right out.

 

[no.idea]

I wanted to get a Kindle but Amazon don't ship them to Indonesia for some reason. I saw someone using one a plane once and I couldn't believe how crisp the text looked. An Ipad is much more expensive and because you can play games on it, I think it could be more of a distraction to reading. I am sure Amazon is not making much from the hardware. I like the fact that a lot of independent authors are getting discovered. Authors who spent years getting rejected by publishers and now the middle man is getting cut right out.

On a daily basis I deal with people flying into Bali from Australia. If you still want a kindle I can easily get one brought in from Australia for you.

 

[alphonso]

On a daily basis I deal with people flying into Bali from Australia. If you still want a kindle I can easily get one brought in from Australia for you.

Wonder why you can't buy a Kindle in Indonesia?

If you were to bring one in from another country, like Australia, and then connected to Amazon, would they detect your Indo IP address and deny online purchase of books? Has anyone actually done this and can verify if it works?

 

[ronb]

If you were to bring one in from another country, like Australia, and then connected to Amazon, would they detect your Indo IP address and deny online purchase of books? Has anyone actually done this and can verify if it works?

Yes, my guess is that they would do just that. This is what happens if you try and buy and e-book from them using your computer.
When you buy paper books, they use the delivery address to determine where you are and then will sell if their agreements with publishers permit for that country. For e-books, they appear to use your IP address to work out where you are. It appears that for many books, they don't have agreement from publishers to sell them into Indonesia. If you were really determined, you could try using a web proxy server to fool them as to your location.

 

[alphonso]

Thanks, ronb. That's good info. I was hoping to purchase a Kindle sometime soon but will have to research it a bit more now.

 

[ronb]

Thanks, ronb. That's good info. I was hoping to purchase a Kindle sometime soon but will have to research it a bit more now.

You can gets lots of books for the Kindle without buying from Amazon. It likes e-books in mobi format I think, but the free Calibre software (calibre - E-book management) can convert from one format to another. So follow the links earlier in this thread for finding e-books on the bookz channel, some are already in mobi format, but other formats can be converted.

 

[alphonso]

Thanks ronb, much appreciated. I am hoping to get one in the next few weeks and then load up on ebooks from here in Bali. I'll bone up about the different formats and converters that you've mentioned and then take the plunge. Last option is i can always ask someone back in Oz to purchase from Amazon on my behalf and then email them to me.

 

[rexdu]

does the kindle work in Bali? anyone had luck?

Just wondering if anyone has any further updates on the kindle working in Bali? Was going to buy one to bring with me to save lugging books across, but I'm worried that it won't work in Indonesia. Have heard that some people have encountered problems but hoping that this will be sorted in the near future.
Has anyone had any success using it?
Apparently, it won't work in countries that Amazon doesn't ship too? I just can't seem to find any more info on this.
Thanks

 

[pollyanna]

Just wondering if anyone has any further updates on the kindle working in Bali? Was going to buy one to bring with me to save lugging books across, but I'm worried that it won't work in Indonesia. Have heard that some people have encountered problems but hoping that this will be sorted in the near future.
Has anyone had any success using it?
Apparently, it won't work in countries that Amazon doesn't ship too? I just can't seem to find any more info on this.
Thanks

The problem isn't that the Kindle won't work. My iPhone Kindle app works just fine. The problem is that Amazon won't sell their Kindle books to people in Indonesia.

 

[mugwump]

Books

The problem isn't that the Kindle won't work. My iPhone Kindle app works just fine. The problem is that Amazon won't sell their Kindle books to people in Indonesia.

I am now in the US and leaving for Bali in September with a new Ipad 2. Not leaving things to the fates of Indonesia I have decided to download all that I can in the US. Unfortunately the selections from both Apple and Amazon look rather scant for online purchase via Ipad as compared to what is available through Amazon.com, and am planning to look elsewhere as well.

 

[rexdu]

Thanks for the clarication Pollyanna - that clarifies things a little more, I was worried that if I bought one in Australia I might not be able to use it in Indonesia.
I think I might be leaning along the lines of mugwump now, the ipad 2 is a little more expensive but a bit more versatile..... all very confusing for the novices in portable electronics like myself!! Just want to get it right before we head over...

 

[alphonso]

I think I might be leaning along the lines of mugwump now, the ipad 2 is a little more expensive but a bit more versatile

If it's just an ebook reader you're after then the Kindle would be the answer. If you need all the other bells and whistles too then an iPad is an option. But they aren't just a "little" more expensive, around 5x as much.

 

[rexdu]

Yes, I agree, they are expensive, they're currently $579AUD with wifi for the 16GB or $729AUD for 16GB with wifi and 3G. Birthday next week so it will be doubling as my birthday and xmas present all rolled in to one (plus a tax deduction for our work).

 

[Markit]

I don't understand the attraction of these Pads/Tablet pcs. They aren't a pc and they aren't an ereader - you can't type worth a damn on the things and you are reading from a tft screen just like a laptop so where is the benefit to the eyes?

The ereaders, at least the ones using eInk, have battery lives measured in weeks with a non-flicker screen that is easy on the eye. In other words built for reading (duh?) and the tablets are really only just for watching movies or what?

For the same price as the Ipad 2 (by the way does this "I" shit get on anybody elses tits? Ipod, Ipad... Apple can kiss my Irse) you can get a really powerful laptop with a full sized screen and a cheap ereader like an iRiver (there it is again!), Bookeen Cybook or a Kobo ereader - to name but a few of the contenders.

As usual - dazed and confused Markit

 

[goldminer]

I don't understand the attraction of these Pads/Tablet pcs. They aren't a pc and they aren't an ereader - you can't type worth a damn on the things and you are reading from a tft screen just like a laptop so where is the benefit to the eyes?

The ereaders, at least the ones using eInk, have battery lives measured in weeks with a non-flicker screen that is easy on the eye. In other words built for reading (duh?) and the tablets are really only just for watching movies or what?

For the same price as the Ipad 2 (by the way does this "I" shit get on anybody elses tits? Ipod, Ipad... Apple can kiss my Irse) you can get a really powerful laptop with a full sized screen and a cheap ereader like an iRiver (there it is again!), Bookeen Cybook or a Kobo ereader - to name but a few of the contenders.

As usual - dazed and confused Markit

I agree Markit :icon_rolleyes: I carry a 13'' Toshiba with me on travel. Fits into my backpack well. Does everything and very powerful.
I agree about the " I " thing as well Mark, too many of them and this old brain is struggling to keep up.:highly_amused: