I am not stupid, really, although this question is.  My husband will be going to Oman before the end of 2012 for a few months and wants to get a Kindle Fire before he goes.  Although I know that it will work there, I want to know if I can buy books for him here--in the U.S.--and download them to him in Oman.  I know logically that he won't be able to, but I can't understand technically why not.  Guess my brain won't stretch that far.  Please use simple words when you answer my question.

Nope. Afraid not. They have digital rights restrictions against downloading from another country, just like some books get published in the UK or Australia a year before here or how other countries can't click on Lifetime and watch last week's Project Runway.

Here are some possible ways around it:

Check your local library and see if they have ebooks. Borrow as many as you can and load it up before he goes. As long as he does not connect to the Wifi, thbey will stay there indefinitely. Once he connects to a Wifi, they will disappear as soon as the lending period is over. Join Booklending.com. They somehow have the ability to loan to people in other countries and I think Amazon will let you do that direct as well, so identify which books he would like to read that are lendable and then purchase them on your Amazon account and lend them to his Kindle account (check on how you would do that before spending money on it though) Obviously, any book or movie purchases he makes here in the States are his content and he can use as normal in Oman once he downloads in the States. I have taken my Nook out of the country many times and it works and charges just fine while overseas. You just can't add content to it.

In my opinion he should get the Paperwhite 3G Kindle

Free 3G wireless - no hunting or paying for Wi-Fi hotspots, no annual contracts or monthly fees

3G wireless works globally - download books anytime, anywhere

On the other hand, no 3G coverage in Oman.
Will he have wifi access?

If he's only going to be gone a few months, I'd say just load up what ever machine he wants and send him along with a full library. While movies may take a chunk of space, books usually don't.

IIRC, the New Paperwhite Kindle will drop down in user-space from the Kindles now, but you're still talking hundreds of books. And if you have an Amazon account already, you can be stocking up on book sales and freebies before he even gets his Kindle.

Just be careful about anything that might get him in trouble if they have any porn restrictions. I know that the military is cautioned about having porn in some of those countries, and I think any porn possession in Oman is illegal.

Um, 3G wont work because it will tell amazon he is in another country and cannot download US books their.

I agree with Cindy, stock up now and make sure he has heaps to read while he is over their.

BTW Nancy, my wifi is never on unless downloading but my Overdrive books DO still time out without it being connected. I even tested it recently as I knew one would be timing out soon, it just locked up and stopped allowing me to open it. 

Good to know Xen. I keep my Wifi off as well and get weird if I get close to the due date so I always finish before, but I had heard on the boards that you could still read it as long as your machine didn't connect to wifi. Appreciate the heads up on that.

Hmm. My library ebooks never stop working on my IPOD Kindle app. I have to physically delete them even when I've turned on the wifi. My lendle.me books do stop working on the Kindle app though. 

On my Kindle Keyboard any borrowed books stay useable after they expire as long as I don't turn on the WIFI.  Not that I make a habit of keeping borrowed books long after they expire.

I would suggest loading it up with a bunch of books before he goes. 

On my Kindle Keyboard any borrowed books stay useable after they expire as long as I don't turn on the WIFI.  Not that I make a habit of keeping borrowed books long after they expire.

i've had the same experience with my Kindle Keyboard - i'd borrowed a book and needed it for one extra day past when i got the 'loan expired' email from amazon.  i just didn't turn on wifi and the book worked fine.