No More Free Amazon Cloud?

[silverraven]

I've been very happy with copy.com. I have my account, my sister's and my mom's all linked so we can share things. Comes in very handy for things like mom's medical stuff.
S

[caleb72]

I have also received the email and when I go into the Cloud storage on my Amazon page it asks me to sign up with the trial etc.. I have not done so as I'm not interested in this service.

However, I'm still able to send documents to my Kindle and store those as personal documents on my account. Unless there's a timing issue somewhere it looks like this change does not impact personal docs/Whispersync services.

If I find that uploading documents somehow auto-activates the trial I'll cancel it and live without the Whispersync of personal documents as I find I don't use multiple devices as much as I thought I would, but at this stage it looks promising.

[jj2me]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Because the overwhelming majority of Kindle users buy their books from Amazon, and nothing is changing as far as storage and synching of Amazon-bought content is concerned.

Originally Posted by copyrite

Kindle books will still continue to have Whispersync - it's just personal docs that won't if you don't have cloud storage.

Thank you both for the correction. That erases my mistaken concerns, caused by me misreading the original post about losing Whispersync, which clearly said "non-Amazon books."

Originally Posted by Josieb1

The whole point of sending non Amazon books to the Cloud (Amazon's servers) is Whispersync, which I use daily. Without that option a kindle is of no more use than a Kobo.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by jj2me

Thank you both for the correction. That erases my mistaken concerns, caused by me misreading the original post about losing Whispersync, which clearly said "non-Amazon books."

I don't know how many times I have to refer back to the fact that I was told directly by an Amazon employee, both on the phone and through email, that NOTHING IS CHANGING WITH REGARDS TO THE KINDLE CLOUD. You guys can run around talking about how the sky is falling, and how Amazon is getting "too big", and I'll just keep sending Kindle docs to my Kindle cloud for free.

Hello Shari,

This is Jackie from Amazon.com. Thank you for contacting us today about the recent changes to the Amazon Cloud Drive Service. Kindle cloud is unchanged in regards to our send to Kindle documents will continue to not have a charge. Kindle and whispersync have also not had any changes to the service.

Thanks for using Kindle.

Best regards,
Jackie

Shari

[conan50]

The only thing that makes sense to me is that Amazon is using this to push Prime, or keep people in Prime. "Unlimited" storage is a semi-useless term. 99% of people on the Internet have no broadband capacity to make use of such storage. Google offers 100 gigs of storage for $2 a month. They gave me 100 gigs free when I bought my Chromebook, and I'll never use it. It would take me a week to upload enough to fill it at 5 mbps upload speed. Many people don't even have that much upload speed.
Lots of free storage options that will meet the needs of a majority of people. Box is one of my favorites.
Not sure what Amazon has in mind here. I remember years ago buying music and they encouraged me to upload more of my music for free into their cloud, then soon after I got a notice that they were holding my music 'hostage' unless I paid them $25 a year. I have not forgotten that. Google Music became my new best friend.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by issybird

Amazon couldn't send out an advance notice, since they're doing their customers the courtesy of allowing them to retain access to files already uploaded. Advance notice would just have meant that people uploaded everything they could lay their hands on, before the change. An advance notice would only have been necessary if it said, "Move 'em or lose 'em." There's nothing immoral about a company's pricing people out of their market, especially for quasi-luxury items. Amazon's under no compulsion to subsidize people's data storage.

I'm no Amazon apologist, but I don't see the issue here.

I would guess you are not on a limited income then. Not everyone can always afford to add new bills and to provide a service or item (ie. readers, tablets) which is set to link up with a particular network and then price people out as you put it after they have been good customers is immoral (IMO). And I don't see why they couldn't have given such notice. The cable companies did it when switching from analog to digital. No doubt some people did leave for satellite and whatever else might be available, but then at what the cable companies charge they aren't hurting either. Granted it is only $11.99 for the basic (for now) but ebooks were supposed to make it easier for people to access the written word and if they keep on adding more charges to things they will do the exact opposite. I think myself that Mr. Bezos skipped his Customer Service class in college (assuming he went). Courtesy to the customer is key to maintaining good relations with them. I mean if you went into say Wal-Mart and a clerk asked what you wanted (in a rude manner) would you really want to go back to that store again? It isn't so much that they decided to charge after giving some for free for so long but the way they went about it that rankles. I said it before and I will say it again. They may be in the clear legally but morally what they did stinks.

[voodoo.mutt]

Originally Posted by shalym

She clarified that NOTHING is going to change with regards to Send to Kindle and Whispersync.

yeah i confirmed for myself that SendtoKindle function still works without cloud (just turn off personal doc archiving) without signing up for the cloud service.

re Whispersync - is that the syncing of furthermost / most recent page read between devices?

coz (a) it doesn't work for me when i turn off pdoc archiving and (b) that's what i want so i'm trying to figure out next steps (effectively do i value that particular service as worth $11.99 pa - assuming no price increase...lol)

i can't empirically test it anymore as i've already signed up for the trial.

Originally Posted by conan50

Not sure what Amazon has in mind here. I remember years ago buying music and they encouraged me to upload more of my music for free into their cloud, then soon after I got a notice that they were holding my music 'hostage' unless I paid them $25 a year. I have not forgotten that. Google Music became my new best friend.

yep. this is precisely my issue. I've no problem with corporations making a buck but to offer a free service and then to begin charging for that service once it's embedded into one's lifestyle is just a dickmove...and given there's free alternatives, a strange tactic.

[Barty]

Does this mean I can no longer email stuff to my kindle?

Ok, it looks like you still can. But maybe this is for now. Guess we'll find out in three months.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by shalym

I don't know how many times I have to refer back to the fact that I was told directly by an Amazon employee, both on the phone and through email, that NOTHING IS CHANGING WITH REGARDS TO THE KINDLE CLOUD. You guys can run around talking about how the sky is falling, and how Amazon is getting "too big", and I'll just keep sending Kindle docs to my Kindle cloud for free.

Shari

Yes you can send docs to your kindke for free, what you can't do is store them on Amazon's servers (in the cloud). I checked tonight and my 10GB Cloud Plan (5GB for Prime/5GB for a Kindle Fire INCLUDES Send to Kindle.

If you can't store your Send to Kindle books in the Cloud you lose Whispersync for them. The problem with your reply from Amazon is it does not mention storing the Send to Kindle books in the Cloud, read it again, word for word. Amazon is precise, Send to Kindle will not have a charge (1) kindle and whispersync have not had any changes (2) where do you see the words 'Send to Kindle can be stored in the Cloud for no charge'


Hello Shari,

This is Jackie from Amazon.com. Thank you for contacting us today about the recent changes to the Amazon Cloud Drive Service. Kindle cloud is unchanged in regards to our send to Kindle documents will continue to not have a charge. Kindle and whispersync have also not had any changes to the service.

Thanks for using Kindle.

Best regards,
Jackie
Shari

[Josieb1]

This is my Amazon Cloud Drive

[Josieb1]

And here's my storage plan

[caleb72]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

Yes you can send docs to your kindke for free, what you can't do is store them on Amazon's servers (in the cloud). I checked tonight and my 10GB Cloud Plan (5GB for Prime/5GB for a Kindle Fire INCLUDES Send to Kindle.

If you can't store your Send to Kindle books in the Cloud you lose Whispersync for them. The problem with your reply from Amazon is it does not mention storing the Send to Kindle books in the Cloud, read it again, word for word. Amazon is precise, Send to Kindle will not have a charge (1) kindle and whispersync have not had any changes (2) where do you see the words 'Send to Kindle can be stored in the Cloud for no charge'

In my own testing, shalym findings seem correct.

If I go to my cloud storage online and try to upload a file, it tells me I can't. The only way I can upload a file is to select a particular trial plan (which I won't do). However, if I use Send-to-Kindle with the option to save to the cloud, it still uploads to the Cloud account without issue.

So I'm not seeing any changes to the way I use personal document storage for the purpose of Whispersync even though it's clear that I am now subject to the new terms.

I don't know if it will remain like that, but that's how it is for the moment.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Barty

Does this mean I can no longer email stuff to my kindle?

Ok, it looks like you still can. But maybe this is for now. Guess we'll find out in three months.

Nothing is changing in terms of emailing books to your Kindle. This change relates to Cloud storage of books. Ie things will go back to the way they were about a year ago before Cloud drive was introduced.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by shalym

I don't know how many times I have to refer back to the fact that I was told directly by an Amazon employee, both on the phone and through email, that NOTHING IS CHANGING WITH REGARDS TO THE KINDLE CLOUD. You guys can run around talking about how the sky is falling, and how Amazon is getting "too big", and I'll just keep sending Kindle docs to my Kindle cloud for free.

Shari

Shari,

Read what Amazon told you more carefully:

This is Jackie from Amazon.com. Thank you for contacting us today about the recent changes to the Amazon Cloud Drive Service. Kindle cloud is unchanged in regards to our send to Kindle documents will continue to not have a charge. Kindle and whispersync have also not had any changes to the service.

Amazon have told you that "send to Kindle documents will continue to not have a charge". Ie there will not be a charge for emailing documents to your Kindle. There is no mention there of personal document Cloud storage.

Nobody has suggested that "send to Kindle" is going to stop working or to incur a charge. What probably will stop working (unless you sign up for a Cloud storage plan) is those sent documents being stored in the Cloud as well as being sent to a Kindle device.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

There is also copy.com - you get 15 gb free and if you use a referral link you get another 5 gb free for a total of 20 gb. I think there is someone in this thread that I saw a referral link for copy.com.

As always, though, there's no guarantee that a service which is free at the moment will continue to be free. "copy.com" is a business, not a charity, and at some point they're going to want money from you.