[Amazondoc]

Originally Posted by jhowell

There are a lot of files on your Kindle that you don't see.

But as I mentioned previously, lots of Kindle books get read on non-Kindle devices.

The current page number, the start time that the current page was flipped to and one bit for each page in the book showing whether or not it has been read would be enough.

But as I mentioned previously, Kindle books can be read without "flipping" anything.

But let's go with your interpretation -- you know a helluva lot more on the computer front than I do, so you can help educate me. How many bits to record a start time for each page? How many bits to record a stop time for the same page? How many bits to calculate overall time spent on each page? Then multiply that by however many hundred pages a book has. How many bits total to contain that record?

As you quoted from Amazon: "We use KENPC to measure the number of pages customers read in your book, starting with the Start Reading Location (SRL) to the end of your book. "

I think this is the real answer on how Amazon pays authors -- based solely on the "number of pages customers read in your book". It's Occam's Razor.

Originally Posted by DoctorOhhh

Given that Authors get paid per pages read

This is what I've been saying all along. It's based on the number of pages, not whether a reader has spent some minimum amount of time on each page.

it goes without saying that Kindle both monitors what they consider pages read and monitors, in some manner, the time it takes to read such a page.

No, it doesn't go without saying at all. There is no implication of time at all.

Originally Posted by davidfor

Firstly, my mention of the e-ink ereaders was just an example of the interaction and how it can be done.

But whatever method Amazon uses would have to work across all devices.

But, the same does go for every application. Each application knows everything about your interaction with it.

Errrr.... I think we may be talking about multiple definitions of "know". There's a difference between noticing an action and remembering an action -- keeping a permanent record of it.

And that's why I wondered if it was a simple average. Just record the number of "pages" and the time spent. Very simple and not much data needed.

So, according to this theory, you could leave one page of a book open for a few hours while you were off doing something else, then quickly scroll through the rest of the pages, and Amazon would count the book as being read.

But, I don't know much about the Kindles, I do know a lot about Kobos. They do keep a record of these things. They have a table in their database that includes a page turn count for each book that has been opened. And it keeps records of the reading sessions. It counts each time a book is opened or closed and when. And separate counts for starting and finishing books.

This is interesting, and would support your average-page-time thesis -- but only on a dedicated reading device, not on something like a laptop where a book can be left "open" indefinitely. And it doesn't support the minimum-time-per-page thesis in the granular sense (if a page is flipped over too quickly, it doesn't get counted in the total pages read).