So, with the introduction of book provider filters, i’ve added a book providers page (still work in progress) where you’ll be able to view our collected knowledge and (not yet but soon) configure your preferred providers for quick filtering.
As for management of the provider descriptions, I’m thinking we’ll just manage them with this thread. I’m imagining a template whereby you could submit updates to the descriptions. But that prompts the question… what should our template be for provider descriptions? What sorts of things should we include in provider descriptions?
Some questions off the top of my head:
What is required to use this provider? Local address? Local credit card? Local web address?
Budget rating (Free, $, $$$)
[For Ebooks] How is the software? Is it easy to use? Text selectable?
General notes? Pros / Cons?
Let me know what you think! And feel free to start submitting one or two descriptions as test runs, but don’t do a whole lot until we figure things out
Quick question before I start thinking about the rest of your post brandon: is the providers page linked anywhere on the main site yet? Or is it direct link only atm?
These mostly sound good to me. More specific notes:
What would a local web address be here? Where it sees your internet as coming from? Local address/credit card make good sense. Maybe a note on how often the provider checks your internet location if that’s known.
Honestly I probably wouldn’t bother with budget for anything besides free resources. However, might be worth noting if the provider has frequent sales (Amazon and Bookwalker being who I’m most familiar with).
And more specifically with this, whether you have to use a specific app to read the books, and what platforms that app is on. Which leads to DRM in general
Plus:
DRM or not
Maybe whether gift cards are available, for those who are having difficulty getting their credit cards accepted by the provider?
Out of curiosity, do you know if gift cards are accepted? I know I’ve had lots of difficulties getting my CC accepted (as have others I’ve seen), so that’d be an easy workaround if so.
You can only put a CC in audible, but since it’s linked with your amazon account, maybe there is a workaround through there, but since my CCs have always worked, I haven’t looked into that.
After checking google: No, you can’t.
(Has anyone tried a virtual credit card like revolut?)
So, as a general disclaimer, I want to avoid any active implying / encouragement of breaking Terms & Conditions. So rather than:
Just say:
Address: Local address required. No verification process.
And rather than :
Just say international ip addresses are ok.
Again, I wouldn’t want to state that as it seems as we’re actively encouraging breaking T&Cs. Just mention if international ip addresses are ok.
Fair enough. I guess I just wanted to highlight something like Amazon US for print can be very expensive.
Lastly, I think it’d be nice to just have a general “Recommend or Not Recommend” in the notes… like “we recommend this for people in Europe” or something like that.
That’s a good use case. Some providers will be objectively more expensive. Number of dollar signs in that case feels vague to me, especially if you end up with “Free” or “$$$” when scrolling down the page. Maybe just something similar to what you mentioned? “Imported books may be sold via third-party sellers, but tend to be more expensive.”
Another question: @Biblio provided a very nice bullet point list, but is that the format we’ll be going with on the providers page? Are we thinking paragraph-style or bullet-style?
Also: should the providers page be broken down into categories for digial-only, audio-only, etc.?
Perhaps. I do have the book format filter for that too.
I think only bullet points are a little sad, albeit informative. I think I’d prefer something similar to the Aozora description right now. A mix of bullet points and paragraphs, might work, but I think I lean towards paragraphs. Open to discussion.
I am a minimalist when it comes to stuff like this. I like having information at one glance but I can cope with text, as well.
Amazon Audible JP is the Japanese branch of Amazon Audible offering a constantly increasing catalog of audiobooks in Japanese. The service is currently provided for a monthly flat fee (unlimited listening).
Address: Local address required. No verification process.
Payment: in Yen; some non-Japanese credit cards work, but not all; no gift cards
international IP address: OK
Access: App for android and iOS devices (with offline functionality) or streaming on PC (internet required)
Notes: Some audiobooks are also available to buy from your regional audible.
Renta! - https://renta.papy.co.jp
Renta! started as an online manga rental service by Papyless Co. Ltd in 2007. But meanwhile you can buy manga and a limited number of light novels as well. Renting means you have access for 48 hours at an reduced price. Buying means you have access as long as the platform exists. They have trial reads of varying lengths.
Payment in Yen, PayPal is no problem, international CC as well I’d assume. You buy some “points” and change them in to buy or rent books.
Login: create your own account (with an international email address) or use Google, Twitter, Line, or Yahoo login.
Access by browser (via some kind of App).
Notes: They have some discount system to reward frequent readers. They also have sales or limited period free reads, say, for 14-28 days, if some manga is under discussion, like e.g. an anime is announced.
Cmoa
Address: No local address required. No verification process.
Payment: in Points, you buy them using Yen currency; some non-Japanese credit cards work, but not all; Paypal works; no gift cards
international IP address: OK
Access: App for android and iOs devices (with offline functionality) or reading on PC browser (internet required)
Notes: constantly there are a ton of free trials available on a variety of manga; it has a good variety from different sources; has options to read by chapter rather then by volume;
Address: International for CDJapan, for within Japan you have to use Neowing.co.jp Payment: Debit Card, Credit Card, Cash, Paypal, Points, Alipay, WeChat, International Postal Money Order Access: Website Notes: Plenty of shipping options, plenty of payment options. Customer service is reliable and they pack stuff very well. They recently lowered prices for shipping.
Number of dollar signs in that case feels vague to me, especially if you end up with “Free” or “$$$” when scrolling down the page. Maybe just something similar to what you mentioned? “Imported books may be sold via third-party sellers, but tend to be more expensive.”
