Amazon has a new trick. Beware! - Page 4

jgaiser · 01-03-2014, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

I see my Kindle Fire under "Deliver to" and my Kindle Keyboard is greyed. I infer that if I only had a KK I couldn't click to buy.

Second line below pricing is a dropdown menu. It shows the devices that are available for this book.

Rizla · 01-03-2014, 09:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

You can buy from the web site. Doesn't matter what devices you do or don't have.

It seems this is incorrect.

crich70 · 01-03-2014, 09:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Not new.
Certain books have always been limited to certain Kindle apps or devices.
Not many, but they exist.
It is because their reader apps and devices don't all have the same features.

Some comics can't be accessed except via the cloud reader and maybe the Fire I understand.

montalex · 01-03-2014, 10:12 PM

I just went on Amazon.ca (Canada), and downloaded a sample of "Medicinal Cookery". It displays fine on Kindle for PC. Of course the color photos of leaves, skin, et al. display in greyscale on my Kindle Keyboard. I don't see what the problem is. And the book sells for $4.92. Hardly worth making a fuss over. Or starting a thread with a misleading and provocative heading.

Oops! I see there is another book by the same author entitled Medicinal Chef. Sorry about that....

AnemicOak · 01-04-2014, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bertolt

Today I want to buy The Medicinal Chef by Dale Pinnock and I find that they will not deliver this to my Kindle 4.

Did you perhaps mean Medicinal Cookery by the same author? From what I can see The Medicinal Chef is only available in paper. Couldn't find an ebook at Amazon, Kobo or B&N.

I just took a look at both the English and Spanish versions of Medicinal Cookery and see no restrictions on either. Amazon.com will let me send to K4PC, they'll even let me send it to my old Kindle 2 so I'm not sure why you're seeing restrictions.

The publishers put "For the Kindle 8 App on Android Devices" in their written description, although I'm not 100% certain what they mean by that.

soulfuldog · 01-04-2014, 06:49 AM

AnemicOak both books are available on amazon.co.uk, so I presume that's where the OP is buying from. Medicinal Cookery is available for any Kindle, Medicinal Chef is listed as "available on these devices: Paperwhite, Kindle for Android, Kindle for Android Tablets, Kindle for iPad, Kindle Fire".

Quote:

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Have you tried ?

You can return for refund if you succeed.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Medicina...dp/B00DAJ7JD4/

I see my Kindle Fire under "Deliver to" and my Kindle Keyboard is greyed. I infer that if I only had a KK I couldn't click to buy.

I get similar options. Kindle for PC and my Kindle 3 are both greyed out in the options, but I can buy it for my Paperwhite. So it makes sense that if I didn't have the PW in my account, I wouldn't be able to buy it.

Still, that is nothing new, as has already been mentioned, certain books only work on certain devices, and that's always been the case, hasn't it?

HarryT · 01-04-2014, 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Did you perhaps mean Medicinal Cookery by the same author? From what I can see The Medicinal Chef is only available in paper. Couldn't find an ebook at Amazon, Kobo or B&N.

I provided a link to it in post #7 at the start of this thread. It appears not to be available to people in the US, but it is on amazon.co.uk.

BearMountainBooks · 01-04-2014, 01:01 PM

When we (authors/publishers) start adding pictures/tables/comics the formatting becomes a nightmare. I wanted to write a cookbook, but have largely tabled the idea because of the testing requirements on the various devices. Small pictures (such as the ones I did for Tracking Magic or Sage) were bad enough--they have to be a certain size and viewable if someone flips the screen--the rules are constantly changing. Color shots add to the overall size and you can end up with a book that appears HUGE when it isn't.

Full page pictures (such as the ones in Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews) have to be a certain size and since they are larger, you can end up with blank screens before or after or both. We do some formatting for non-fiction clients and there is just about nothing harder than stock charts...you have to take into account whether the reader has color, has the ability to flip the screen...sizing across multiple devices...these things are inevitably going to result in some devices not being supported. Pure and simple.

Oh--for support on the PC for Kindle it really is hard--because that screen is NOT a set size. So most books simply aren't supported on there because it's wonky (technical term for ARE YOU KIDDING ME????)

Victoria · 01-04-2014, 06:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I provided a link to it in post #7 at the start of this thread. It appears not to be available to people in the US, but it is on amazon.co.uk.

Not in Canada either - just paper. When you want an ebook, it can be frustrating, especially if there is a gap in the middle of a series

. But I've experienced them occasionally at all sites: kobo, sony, diesel and others as well - not unique to amazon.

Rizla · 01-04-2014, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

You can buy from the web site. Doesn't matter what devices you do or don't have.

So is this true or not? Do you have to have an accepted accepted device to buy a book, or can you buy it independent of device, and then convert it?

jgaiser · 01-04-2014, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rizla

So is this true or not? Do you have to have an accepted accepted device to buy a book, or can you buy it independent of device, and then convert it?

Sure you can buy it. You just can't download it unless you've registered an approved device.

eschwartz · 01-05-2014, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Sure you can buy it. You just can't download it unless you've registered an approved device.

And I believe it will warn you, asking something along the lines of "you don't have anything that can read this book, are you sure you want to buy it?"

HarryT · 01-05-2014, 03:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rizla

It seems this is incorrect.

No it's not

.

hardcastle · 01-05-2014, 09:07 AM

I'm still mildly astonished that this is an issue, considering that eBooks are HTML (a language designed for dynamically re-flowing content). But if a publisher just wants to support a limited amount of hardware to save time and money, then I suppose this is how they'd do it.

As somebody who hand-created his own ebooks, it would take me a few hours to support more hardware. Seems worth the trouble, personally.

FacebookVirus · 01-05-2014, 09:23 AM

Although I've passionately expressed the same opinion many times, the I-want-it-to-work-exactly-like-a-physical-book attitude is becoming increasingly unconvincing to me.

01-03-2014, 10:12 PM	#49
montalex Fanatic Posts: 556 Karma: 1283268 Join Date: Mar 2010 Device: KindleDX,Kindle 4, Kindle Keyboard 3G	I just went on Amazon.ca (Canada), and downloaded a sample of "Medicinal Cookery". It displays fine on Kindle for PC. Of course the color photos of leaves, skin, et al. display in greyscale on my Kindle Keyboard. I don't see what the problem is. And the book sells for $4.92. Hardly worth making a fuss over. Or starting a thread with a misleading and provocative heading. Oops! I see there is another book by the same author entitled Medicinal Chef. Sorry about that.... Last edited by montalex; 01-04-2014 at 10:51 AM. Reason: I had the wrong title.

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01-04-2014, 01:01 PM	#53
BearMountainBooks Maria Schneider Posts: 3,746 Karma: 26439330 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: Near Austin, Texas Device: 3g Kindle Keyboard	When we (authors/publishers) start adding pictures/tables/comics the formatting becomes a nightmare. I wanted to write a cookbook, but have largely tabled the idea because of the testing requirements on the various devices. Small pictures (such as the ones I did for Tracking Magic or Sage) were bad enough--they have to be a certain size and viewable if someone flips the screen--the rules are constantly changing. Color shots add to the overall size and you can end up with a book that appears HUGE when it isn't. Full page pictures (such as the ones in Clean Sweep by Ilona Andrews) have to be a certain size and since they are larger, you can end up with blank screens before or after or both. We do some formatting for non-fiction clients and there is just about nothing harder than stock charts...you have to take into account whether the reader has color, has the ability to flip the screen...sizing across multiple devices...these things are inevitably going to result in some devices not being supported. Pure and simple. Oh--for support on the PC for Kindle it really is hard--because that screen is NOT a set size. So most books simply aren't supported on there because it's wonky (technical term for ARE YOU KIDDING ME????)

01-05-2014, 09:07 AM	#59
hardcastle Zealot Posts: 138 Karma: 3651501 Join Date: Dec 2013 Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Gray Kindle Basic	I'm still mildly astonished that this is an issue, considering that eBooks are HTML (a language designed for dynamically re-flowing content). But if a publisher just wants to support a limited amount of hardware to save time and money, then I suppose this is how they'd do it. As somebody who hand-created his own ebooks, it would take me a few hours to support more hardware. Seems worth the trouble, personally.

01-05-2014, 09:23 AM	#60
FacebookVirus Hybrid reader Posts: 161 Karma: 1132216 Join Date: Sep 2013 Location: USA Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2; Sony PRS-350	Although I've passionately expressed the same opinion many times, the I-want-it-to-work-exactly-like-a-physical-book attitude is becoming increasingly unconvincing to me.