Amazon Kindle e-book downloads outsell paperbacks

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

They do carry the merchandise you want. You just have to take a few minutes to download some software to convert it so it can be used on your device.

OK, from now on, please assume that the statement "I can't buy from Amazon" means: "I can't buy from Amazon without violating their TOS and possibly violating copyright law by stripping DRM and converting the format to one my reader can handle, and why would I want to do that except in the extremely rare case that Amazon carries a book I want to read that is unavailable elsewhere." It's really just too much to type every time.

It is rare that you see Amazon people calling for BN, Kobo, or Sony to sell Mobi. I normally only mention it when the EPub crowd wants Amazon to sell EPub.

I don't care what Amazon does. I simply find it curious that in the pursuit of sales of e-readers and e-books, they have decided to drive away customers of long standing.

I have a very simple take on all of this. People chose a device that could not read books sold by Amazon. Either download the software to read the books or be happy with the stores that you chose.

I am happy. How does that somehow mean I can't have an opinion about Amazon?

Asking Amazon to change their business model so you can buy books for a device that they do not support is a bit silly. To me it sounds like people feel that they are entitled to buy ebooks from Amazon even when they chose to buy a competing product. It is like going into McDonalds and demanding that they sell a Whopper.

Heaven forbid a customer comment on why she became a former customer!

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

Attach rate, huh? I typically purchase anywhere from 8-10 books a month. These sales were split between Amazon and B&M bookstores with Amazon getting the majority. When I started buying ebooks, my purchase rate went up dramaticly - I've purchased 25 books from fictionwise alone in the last 30 days. That is not counting my purchases from Kobo and smashwords nor does it include my print book purchases.

I would say that I am the type of customer that any bookseller would want.

If Amazon supported library lending (and never had that whole 1984 issue), I would have purchased a kindle and stayed attached to Amazon.

I decided to buy a Kobo because Kobo supports library lending (which I love) - and it's Amazon who gets the short end of the stick as well as less of my paycheck.

I no longer care that Amazon refuses sell books to me. I'm starting to wander away from Amazon - which hurts them a lot more than me, as I have been a great customer to them for a very long time.


Note: I never heard of Calibre, format conversions, or DRM stripping before joining MR. Since most consumers are in the same boat as I was, I do not consider any of those items something that can help a consumer make a hardware purchase decision.

This post almost exactly reflects my own experience, except for my choice of device (JBL) and my preferred bookstores (BN and Kobo).

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by queentess

Please tell me then, why do you want Amazon to sell books compatible with your device if you don't want to purchase from Amazon, which is all that I said? I didn't say you have "Kindle-envy", I implied that you have Amazon-envy. I find them the most convenient ebookstore to purchase from, but that's just my experience.

It's well within your "right" as a consumer to pester Amazon, but much like Apple has no interest in dropping prices to sell more devices, Amazon sees no business reason to cater to every device out there.

I don't care what Amazon does. I'm not a stockholder, and I'm quickly shifting away from being a customer. I ordered a bunch of DVDs the other day. In the past, that was an Amazon purchase all the way--I rarely even looked at other sites, because I was so used to buying my entertainment at Amazon. But I ordered these DVDs from BN (same basic price) because I've lost the Amazon habit in just a few months. So there's a hundred-buck sale Amazon lost that is an unintended result of its choice not to offer epub.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

I no longer care that Amazon refuses sell books to me. I'm starting to wander away from Amazon - which hurts them a lot more than me, as I have been a great customer to them for a very long time.

I'm not picking on this comment; it just neatly sums up the fallacy.

Amazon is not in the business of "refusing to sell books" to anyone: in fact, what they sell are books that speak the Kindle platform language. Most (not all, but most) e-books from Amazon are available from other vendors, typically in ADE ePub. No one is deprived. You want to buy Pepsi, they sell Coke: that's the way it is.

25% of Amazon's Kindle ebook buyers don't have a Kindle -- most are not pirating the DRM, most are reading on devices that aren't Kindles -- like an iPad, a Galaxy Tab, a Blackberry, a PC, a Mac etc ... and every one of those devices is "agnostic" when it comes to e-books, offering apps from ePub and Kindle formats.

Amazon would make a HUGE error supporting ePub on a Kindle: one of the best things about the purchase flow is that it is so simple -- all files are in just one format. Anyone who has ever bought from Smashwords, Fictionwise, BooksOnBoard, etc., have been faced with several hoops when all you wanted was Slaughterhouse Five. (And no one is "forced" to buy from them, either.)

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Catlady

OK, from now on, please assume that the statement "I can't buy from Amazon" means: "I can't buy from Amazon without violating their TOS and possibly violating copyright law by stripping DRM and converting the format to one my reader can handle, and why would I want to do that except in the extremely rare case that Amazon carries a book I want to read that is unavailable elsewhere." It's really just too much to type every time.



I don't care what Amazon does. I simply find it curious that in the pursuit of sales of e-readers and e-books, they have decided to drive away customers of long standing.



I am happy. How does that somehow mean I can't have an opinion about Amazon?



Heaven forbid a customer comment on why she became a former customer!

If you had wanted to buy a Kindle from Amazon and Amazon said "Nope we don't sell to people who like cats wearing hats" then I could understand the complaint. I am fairly certain that Amazon would sell Kindles to computer literate cats, hat wearing or otherwise, with a credit card so that you could have selected a Kindle. You chose a different device. You knew it wasn't supported by Amazon when you chose that device.

Amazon did not choose to drive away customers. You chose to buy a device that Amazon does not support. That was your choice, not theirs. I chose to buy a device not supported by Sony. I am not running around complaining that Sony won't sell to me because I knew that when I bought my Kindle.

You are free to have an opinion. Just as we are free to interpret said opinion. If you were really happy with your ebook selection for your device I doubt that you would care that Amazon does not sell ebooks in the EPub format. The regular repeating of the same complaint sends a signal to me, and I suspect others on this board, that you really want Amazon to sell books in EPub so that you can buy them.

Now you want Amazon to change its business model because of a choice that you made.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by SensualPoet

Amazon is not in the business of "refusing to sell books" to anyone: in fact, what they sell are books that speak the Kindle platform language. Most (not all, but most) e-books from Amazon are available from other vendors, typically in ADE ePub. No one is deprived. You want to buy Pepsi, they sell Coke: that's the way it is.

My supermarket sells both Coke and Pepsi, and even RC.

Most customers over the years became used to thinking of Amazon as a supermarket, not as a proprietary brand.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

If you had wanted to buy a Kindle from Amazon and Amazon said "Nope we don't sell to people who like cats wearing hats" then I could understand the complaint. I am fairly certain that Amazon would sell Kindles to computer literate cats, hat wearing or otherwise, with a credit card so that you could have selected a Kindle. You chose a different device. You knew it wasn't supported by Amazon when you chose that device.

Amazon did not choose to drive away customers. You chose to buy a device that Amazon does not support. That was your choice, not theirs. I chose to buy a device not supported by Sony. I am not running around complaining that Sony won't sell to me because I knew that when I bought my Kindle.

You are free to have an opinion. Just as we are free to interpret said opinion. If you were really happy with your ebook selection for your device I doubt that you would care that Amazon does not sell ebooks in the EPub format. The regular repeating of the same complaint sends a signal to me, and I suspect others on this board, that you really want Amazon to sell books in EPub so that you can buy them.

Now you want Amazon to change its business model because of a choice that you made.

How many times is it necessary to say that I DON'T CARE if Amazon supports and/or sells epub and that I AM HAPPY without Kindle and/or Amazon?

I am not "running around complaining." I thought I was engaging in a discussion about how Amazon chooses to do business and offering my opinion about it. The only reason I am repeating myself is that the Kindle fans simply will not accept that a person can be Kindle- and Amazon-free and still perfectly content.

You are free to misinterpret all you like, though I don't see the point of it.

[SensualPoet]

Originally Posted by Catlady

My supermarket sells both Coke and Pepsi, and even RC.

Yes, but many restaurants sell only Coke or Pepsi. If you want a Taco Bell burrito with a Coke, you might be disappointed.

Not every hardware store sells Sherwin Williams.

Not every Honda dealer sells a Taurus (in fact, none of them do). But the Honda dealer WILL sell you a car which gets you from A to B.

Amazon sells John Grisham and James Patterson; they just don't sell them in every conceivable format available. By all means go to the Little Shoppe Around the Corner in future.

[ProfCrash]

Whole Foods doesn't sell any of those brands. I don't walk into Whole Foods and demand that they sell me Coke because I know that Whole Foods doesn't sell Coke. I go to Giant or Safeway or Vons or Kroger.

When BN, Sony, Kobo and the other EPub only brands start selling Mobi then I will happily say that Amazon needs to sell EPub. To demand that one store change its policy without demanding that the others do the same is just silly. And a bit unfair.

If you want to buy the occasional book from Amazon and you don't want to strip away the DRM, then use one of the many apps that they have made available to the world for free.

[ProfCrash]

Originally Posted by Catlady

How many times is it necessary to say that I DON'T CARE if Amazon supports and/or sells epub and that I AM HAPPY without Kindle and/or Amazon?

I am not "running around complaining." I thought I was engaging in a discussion about how Amazon chooses to do business and offering my opinion about it. The only reason I am repeating myself is that the Kindle fans simply will not accept that a person can be Kindle- and Amazon-free and still perfectly content.

You are free to misinterpret all you like, though I don't see the point of it.

You are free to post the same thing over and over and say that you really are happy and we should let you be happy all you want. I fail to see the point of it because you then follow that up with "Amazon should sell EPUb so on the rare occasions that I cannot find books I want (ie not happy or at least minorly displeased) I can buy the book from Amazon.

I do believe that a person can be Kindle free and happy. I know many people people here, beppe, astra, bowsd (sp), Scion, to name a few. I don't think that they have posted that they want Amazon to change its business practices so that they can buy books from Amazon.

[Nyssa]

I am very happy that both Amazon and B&N produced iPhone and PC apps. It allows me to get the best of both worlds, should I choose to use them. I love my Kindle, but I also love B&N, and am happy that I can still support them. My very first e-book purchase was from B&N via Nook for PC. I had no idea (at the time) that I would even come to own an physical e-reader a few months later. I was still weighing my options when hubby gave me the Kindle for Christmas.

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Who gets to decide that epub is the standard? The publishers?

A technical standard is published by the standardization body (in ePub case it is IDPF) and is composed of a singe specification or series of specifications that deal with the object of standardization.

There is no doubt that ePub is a technical standard. Who has chosen to adopt it is a separate issue. A standardization as a process usually benefits the end user, more can be read on Wiki.

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Kindle format came first and has 80% of the US market. That sounds like a standard to me.

No, it doesn't sound like a standard at all. Kindle format is proprietary, closed, and completely controlled by its owner, which is Amazon. It is in wide use, but it is not a technical standard.

[Piper_]

I just feel the need to say that imo, there is nothing silly or pointless about consumers making their wishes known about what they'd like a company to offer. Smart companies wisely don't get defensive about it, even if they can't accommodate the requests.

I can appreciate enough reasons Amazon wouldn't accommodate this particular request to sell or support ePub, and don't expect them to, at least not anytime soon.

But I think, in general, it is misguided to say you shouldn't complain about features inherent in a choice you made.

Think about it: Consumer "demands" are what got us such things as TTS, starting with K2, and WiFi on Kindle 3.

Yet before they were implemented, people were scoffed at for wanting them (told to shut up and "Buy a nook"), and even Amazon said publicly they had no intentions to include WiFi on Kindles.

They obviously listened to the demands and changed their minds, and I commend them for it. It's what makes them more successful than so many other companies.

[Maggie Leung]

Originally Posted by Piper_

I just feel the need to say that imo, there is nothing silly or pointless about consumers making their wishes known about what they'd like a company to offer. Smart companies wisely don't get defensive about it, even if they can't accommodate the requests.

I can appreciate enough reasons Amazon wouldn't accommodate this particular request to sell or support ePub, and don't expect them to, at least not anytime soon.

But I think, in general, it is misguided to say you shouldn't complain about features inherent in a choice you made.

Think about it: Consumer "demands" are what got us such things as TTS, starting with K2, and WiFi on Kindle 3.

Yet before they were implemented, people were scoffed at for wanting them (told to shut up and "Buy a nook"), and even Amazon said publicly they had no intentions to include WiFi on Kindles.

They obviously listened to the demands and changed their minds, and I commend them for it. It's what makes them more successful than so many other companies.

I think it's useful to contact companies about products I want, rather than to post on a forum that they probably don't monitor. Not that posters aren't free to complain all over the place, of course, lol.

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by Maggie Leung

I think it's useful to contact companies about products I want, rather than to post on a forum that they probably don't monitor. Not that posters aren't free to complain all over the place, of course, lol.

I think they should do both.

When consumers share their thoughts with the public, it allows them and everyone else to get a feel for how much public support there is for the idea.