For months there was a huge "hoorah"
about the release of the first NKOTB book since they reunited - "Five
Brothers and a Million Sisters". I was obviously very excited seeing
that ever since NKOTB started in the 80s, I've read every single book that even
had their name in it!
I pre-ordered the book via Amazon and a couple weeks later it was announced that there will be an e-book version. I was a little disappointed as I would have preferred to get the e-book instead. Nonetheless, I decided to wait for the e-book release before purchasing it.
So the countdown began and finally the day arrived. October 2, 2012 - the release of 'Five Brothers and a Million Sisters". I get online to place my order for the e-book version and what happens? I'm unable to do so because I wasn't living in USA. I found that to be a little ridiculous but thank god for good friends. My best friend in USA bought it for me and sent the file over to me. That was when I was hit with a bigger disappointment... The file would not open on my iPad and even downloading the application did not work because I wasn't living in USA! Finally after a whole day of figuring it out, I managed to open it on my iPad (barely)...I noticed there were lots of missing pages in between.
That was when it started to get more frustrating. And I recalled other instances where fans living outside of the USA (mainly Asia) could not do what the USA fans could. Firstly, why do their website only have two links for purchasing merchandise? USA and United Kingdom? Why couldn't the Asian fans buy the concert tickets for the Australia shows? Why could we purchase the MP3 when NKOTBSB came out with the album via Amazon? And now this book?
I'm not blaming the guys. I know it has nothing to do with them at all but their marketing team. It just feels unfair and it gets frustrating. It's as if the Asian fans gets the leftovers and it seems our money isn't good enough? Seriously, what's the harm in selling it internationally? It's not like there are copyright issues or anything....we will be paying the same price for the same item for heavens sake!
Fair enough there may be some issues regular people like myself may not know about or understand... So this is where a good marketing team would come in....and they will advertise the sale date and below that, they should put "sales outside of USA will be announced" ... Or something like that. Instead they give us false hope.
That's just my two cents on that matter. I just have to give credit to the author and the team she has behind her. I've voiced out my issues and concerns and as much as they have tried to assist me with the technical stuff, I still wasn't able to open the e-book from my iPad or desktop. However, they have sent me a copy of the book for which I'm very appreciative of. Thank you.
So before I sign off, I would like for someone (anyone who knows) to explain to me about the international restriction on purchasing certain books or items online?
I pre-ordered the book via Amazon and a couple weeks later it was announced that there will be an e-book version. I was a little disappointed as I would have preferred to get the e-book instead. Nonetheless, I decided to wait for the e-book release before purchasing it.
So the countdown began and finally the day arrived. October 2, 2012 - the release of 'Five Brothers and a Million Sisters". I get online to place my order for the e-book version and what happens? I'm unable to do so because I wasn't living in USA. I found that to be a little ridiculous but thank god for good friends. My best friend in USA bought it for me and sent the file over to me. That was when I was hit with a bigger disappointment... The file would not open on my iPad and even downloading the application did not work because I wasn't living in USA! Finally after a whole day of figuring it out, I managed to open it on my iPad (barely)...I noticed there were lots of missing pages in between.
That was when it started to get more frustrating. And I recalled other instances where fans living outside of the USA (mainly Asia) could not do what the USA fans could. Firstly, why do their website only have two links for purchasing merchandise? USA and United Kingdom? Why couldn't the Asian fans buy the concert tickets for the Australia shows? Why could we purchase the MP3 when NKOTBSB came out with the album via Amazon? And now this book?
I'm not blaming the guys. I know it has nothing to do with them at all but their marketing team. It just feels unfair and it gets frustrating. It's as if the Asian fans gets the leftovers and it seems our money isn't good enough? Seriously, what's the harm in selling it internationally? It's not like there are copyright issues or anything....we will be paying the same price for the same item for heavens sake!
Fair enough there may be some issues regular people like myself may not know about or understand... So this is where a good marketing team would come in....and they will advertise the sale date and below that, they should put "sales outside of USA will be announced" ... Or something like that. Instead they give us false hope.
That's just my two cents on that matter. I just have to give credit to the author and the team she has behind her. I've voiced out my issues and concerns and as much as they have tried to assist me with the technical stuff, I still wasn't able to open the e-book from my iPad or desktop. However, they have sent me a copy of the book for which I'm very appreciative of. Thank you.
So before I sign off, I would like for someone (anyone who knows) to explain to me about the international restriction on purchasing certain books or items online?
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