How to Buy American ebooks in China for the nook?

December 28, 2011 10:40 AM

How can you buy books and apps for a Nook in China through a VPN?

Someone I know got a Nook for Christmas but he lives in China right now and apparently you can only buy content through the B&N website while physically being in the USA.

He has the Astrill VPN but that didn't work. Astrill support said something about having to install a different Android system since the Nook doesn't have a regular way to do this.

posted by clockworkjoe to computers & internet (8 answers total)

> Astrill support said something about having to install a different Android system since the Nook doesn't have a regular way to do this.

That's kind of a copout on the part of their tech support. But, he could load an alternate OS like Cyanogen on the Nook, and even do that on a MicroSD car to avoid voiding the warranty. Then, he will have full access to Google's Android market as well.

He could also try a different US based VPN provider that would give him a proxy address located in the USA.
posted by Burhanistan at 10:48 AM on December 28, 2011

And it seems after a bit of poking around that the stock Nook Color OS doesn't allow users to manage proxy server settings. So, I take my previous dig at the VPN tech support...if he can't make the device appear as if it's in the US then there's no way to buy content from Barnes & Noble with it.

However, as far as installing alternate versions of Android goes, the Nook Color is about the easiest device on the market to do so, so if he follows the step by step instructions in that Cyanogen link he should be up and running with a full Android tablet (which will let you buy content through both Amazon and Barnes & Noble apps).
posted by Burhanistan at 10:58 AM on December 28, 2011

Oh, and apologies for making all the comments, but you didn't specify which flavor of Nook this is. I assumed the Nook Color from the suggestion that he install a different version of Android, but if it's just the base Nook reader, then he's kind of stuck with it.
posted by Burhanistan at 11:09 AM on December 28, 2011

It is a nook color.
posted by clockworkjoe at 11:58 AM on December 28, 2011

My mother in Australia has a nook. She uses my account on the B&N website as I'm in the US. She can't download books using WiFi but has no problems downloading from the site to a computer and then copying them to her nook using Calibre. OK when I say she has no problem she has no problem getting my brother to do it for her, but it is doable that way.
posted by wwax at 12:18 PM on December 28, 2011

OH also its only a nook touch so I am not sure how android platforms would effect things or what VPN is so if I have missed some hugely technical detail I apologize. The staff at B&N are very helpful so if you can pop into a store and ask someone there directly for your friend they might have suggestions, though you might have to keep asking until you get someone that actually knows more than trying to sell them which is what we had to do.
posted by wwax at 12:22 PM on December 28, 2011

Assuming the problem is that the Nook Color doesn't provide the normal Android VPN settings, I would try out a third-party VPN app, such as "5 VPN". If the OS has been modified to remove any VPN support, this still won't work.

It looks like Astrill offers OpenVPN. There is an OpenVPN installer for Android, but I haven't used it, so I can't confirm it works.
posted by mad bomber what bombs at midnight at 1:12 PM on December 28, 2011

Another option would be to use a US VPN on a laptop or other compatible device that can serve as a WiFi hotspot, and then connect to the internet on the Nook through that.
posted by Burhanistan at 1:15 PM on December 28, 2011