KFX and Amazon's policies

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I can get you Tylenol or Bayer. Your choice.

I shall look on top of my own refrigerator then.

Oh and this appears to be a hit and run thread.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by haertig

OK. Since you say I have a choice to buy/rent, then tell me where I can buy the newly released eBook I want, James Rollins "The Demon Crown" and actually own it, as in "do whatever I want with it, read it on any of my devices, store it and have access to it regardless if the selling company goes out of business, regardless if my current electronic device dies and is no longer made, give/sell/trade the book to whomever I want when I'm done with it."

I would appreciate a link where it can be purchased with all the things traditional ownership grants you. If the seller retains control into infinity, you most certainly don't own it. If you say I have a choice, please tell me where/how to exercise that choice for this specific example.

You can have all that and legally too, if the copyright owner will sell you the book on a CD. The 'free' CDs that Baen sold with their hc pbooks a few years ago would be an example (last one about 2010).

However, since you can copy a CD at almost no cost, unlike a pbook photocopy, a publisher is unlikely to want to do this even though the unlicensed copying of CD or pbook would be illegal, at least for further distribution.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

And the difference being? You will still be giving Amazon over $100 a year and getting nothing to show in the end.
But you know my stand on that one. I've said it enough.

If I ever decide to sign up for KU (i’m on a three month free trial now) i’ll only do it when an offer is on, but regardless of how much I pay for KU I won’t be paying for nothing to show in the end, i’ll have had the enjoyment of reading the books I read on KU, without buying them. That way I don’t have to worry about any inability to liberate the books from DRM, if it’s no longer an option.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

If I ever decide to sign up for KU (i’m on a three month free trial now) i’ll only do it when an offer is on, but regardless of how much I pay for KU I won’t be paying for nothing to show in the end, i’ll have had the enjoyment of reading the books I read on KU, without buying them. That way I don’t have to worry about any inability to liberate the books from DRM, if it’s no longer an option.

Are you liking KU? I never found a use for it. Three reasons: one was the lack of good books though I think it has gotten a bit better. Two: because many books in KU go free for 5 days within the 90 day window. Third and this may have changed but too many non-books. Either pamphlets or episodic. Even worse most of the episode books are teasers and the last one is buy only.
If I read a book I want the whole book. Sagas and some fantasy being the exception.
The John Jakes bicentennial saga comes to mind. That sucker is a foot long in paperback.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Are you liking KU? I never found a use for it. Three reasons: one was the lack of good books though I think it has gotten a bit better. Two: because many books in KU go free for 5 days within the 90 day window. Third and this may have changed but too many non-books. Either pamphlets or episodic. Even worse most of the episode books are teasers and the last one is buy only.
If I read a book I want the whole book. Sagas and some fantasy being the exception.
The John Jakes bicentennial saga comes to mind. That sucker is a foot long in paperback.

I certainly have enough books to keep me going for a free three month trial, wether there’s enough full time only time will tell.

[haertig]

If you have Amazon Prime (but not Kindle Unlimited), then the Kindle Unlimited collection is made available to you, but only one book per month. So if you have great patience and can wait between books, this is a "free" option. Not totally free, because you have to pay for Prime, which you may already have. Prime has good returns for shipping, music and videos. But it really lacks in returns for ebooks. You only have the "Prime Reading", which is quite the crappy and small selection for the most part. But at least you don't have to pay additionally for KU if you're willing to let the books trickle in one-per-month via Prime.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by haertig

If you have Amazon Prime (but not Kindle Unlimited), then the Kindle Unlimited collection is made available to you, but only one book per month. So if you have great patience and can wait between books, this is a "free" option. Not totally free, because you have to pay for Prime, which you may already have. Prime has good returns for shipping, music and videos. But it really lacks in returns for ebooks. You only have the "Prime Reading", which is quite the crappy and small selection for the most part. But at least you don't have to pay additionally for KU if you're willing to let the books trickle in one-per-month via Prime.

Not quite if you are in the US or UK (no idea where else this is set up) There is now Prime Reading.

https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/fd/nonprime-pr
https://www.amazon.co.uk/kindle-dbs/fd/nonprime-pr

[haertig]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Not quite if you are in the US or UK (no idea where else this is set up) There is now Prime Reading.

I am not sure what you mean by "not quite".

When you get Amazon Prime, you get TWO things related to eBooks: (1) "Prime Reading", and (2) "borrow one book per month from the Kindle Owners Lending Library".

It is (2) that I am referring to in my previous post. It just so happens, that the books available from the Kindle Owners Lending Library are the SAME books that are available from Kindle Unlimited. Maybe this is not exact - I certainly haven't checked them all manually - but it appears that KU and KOLL are the same, or nearly the same, set of books that you can access. I think of KOLL as "KU with a one-book-per-month limit applied".

The number and selection of books in (1) "Prime Reading" is not good IMHO. For the most part, you get to select from a small number of books you've never heard of, and probably don't care to read, although sometimes you'll find a classic in there. I've pretty much stopped looking at what's available in Prime Reading, because it is so rare that I ever find anything I'm interested in.

The number and selection of books in (2) KOLL is better, but still not all that great. You don't find books from the big five publishers in KOLL. But you will find some good books none-the-less. So it's worthwhile looking there for your once-a-month book. I see no need to pay for KU. Might as well just buy the books you want to read outright, from the much larger overall Amazon catalog.

Oh yeah, I think there is actually a third thing that you get related to eBooks when you have Amazon Prime. I forget what they call it. But you can get one book to own for free each month (maybe not per month, but per some time period). There's like a whopping four books to choose from, none of which I have ever been interested in. I don't even look at these "third thing" books that come with Amazon Prime anymore.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by haertig

I am not sure what you mean by "not quite".

When you get Amazon Prime, you get TWO things related to eBooks: (1) "Prime Reading", and (2) "borrow one book per month from the Kindle Owners Lending Library".

It is (2) that I am referring to in my previous post. It just so happens, that the books available from the Kindle Owners Lending Library are the SAME books that are available from Kindle Unlimited. Maybe this is not exact - I certainly haven't checked them all manually - but it appears that KU and KOLL are the same, or nearly the same, set of books that you can access. I think of KOLL as "KU with a one-book-per-month limit applied".

The number and selection of books in (1) "Prime Reading" is not good IMHO. For the most part, you get to select from a small number of books you've never heard of, and probably don't care to read, although sometimes you'll find a classic in there. I've pretty much stopped looking at what's available in Prime Reading, because it is so rare that I ever find anything I'm interested in.

The number and selection of books in (2) KOLL is better, but still not all that great. You don't find books from the big five publishers in KOLL. But you will find some good books none-the-less. So it's worthwhile looking there for your once-a-month book. I see no need to pay for KU. Might as well just buy the books you want to read outright, from the much larger overall Amazon catalog.

Oh yeah, I think there is actually a third thing that you get related to eBooks when you have Amazon Prime. I forget what they call it. But you can get one book to own for free each month (maybe not per month, but per some time period). There's like a whopping four books to choose from, none of which I have ever been interested in. I don't even look at these "third thing" books that come with Amazon Prime anymore.

Secret: if you find a book in KOOL or KU, put it on a price checker, most go on sale.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Secret: if you find a book in KOOL or KU, put it on a price checker, most go on sale.

What is a price checker? Is that something on the Amazon website? Where do you find it/how do you use it?

Thanks!

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Secret: if you find a book in KOOL or KU, put it on a price checker, most go on sale.

Except it is kind of dishonest. If you read a lot more books than the cost of KU that are in KU (obviously), then paying a small fee for that is getting money to the authors. If all you do is wait for them to go on sale, hoard them, and maybe eventually sometime get around to read it, then author does not get paid.

You would need consistently greater than 10 books per month to make it worth your money. The convenience of reading any book any time is worth not having to wait for a price checker.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Except it is kind of dishonest. If you read a lot more books than the cost of KU that are in KU (obviously), then paying a small fee for that is getting money to the authors. If all you do is wait for them to go on sale, hoard them, and maybe eventually sometime get around to read it, then author does not get paid.

I would completely disagree with that. Waiting for something to go on sale is not dishonest.

If what you're implying is that Amazon does not pay royalties to authors if a product is on sale, then it is Amazon who is being dishonest, not the customer.

Every time I can hold off buying any product, I wait for it to go on double super secret sale, with a rebate, tie-in discounts, and a coupon.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by haertig

What is a price checker? Is that something on the Amazon website? Where do you find it/how do you use it?

Thanks!

Ereadeiq has a price checker.
To the poster that said it is dishonest: the author has chosen to put their books on sale. So they are getting the royalties they want.
It is not Amazon discounting.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

Except it is kind of dishonest. If you read a lot more books than the cost of KU that are in KU (obviously), then paying a small fee for that is getting money to the authors. If all you do is wait for them to go on sale, hoard them, and maybe eventually sometime get around to read it, then author does not get paid.

You would need consistently greater than 10 books per month to make it worth your money. The convenience of reading any book any time is worth not having to wait for a price checker.

Then why did the author choose that price?
Amazon does not discount ebooks. The author or publisher is the one that chooses the price. So they get what they want.



Do you make sure everything you buy is full price?
You do realize most books in KU that go on free were either .99 cents or 2.99. In which case the author is choosing to lose either .35 or $2.

[haertig]

I learned something new from Cinisajoy. It is not Amazon that is putting these things on sale (so they would not be the "dishonest" party in any of this), it is actually the author/publisher who is putting them on sale.

I had zero qualms about buying something on sale before. Now I have "double zero" qualms.