Amazon and DRM changes

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I've never had any data corruption with my Kobos, but others have. Annoying interface, though? No idea what you possibly mean by that. I find the Kobo UI perfectly ok.

I've had a couple of instances of database corruption on my Kobos, but I'm blaming me for all of them because of forgetting to close out of books etc before connecting to Calibre. My wife, who never uses Calibre has never had any on any of her several Kobos over the last 5+ years.
As for "annoying interface", I always read that as "not the same as X"; "I'm used to X, this not the same as X, therefore it is annoying and worse"

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

As for "annoying interface", I always read that as "not the same as X"; "I'm used to X, this not the same as X, therefore it is annoying and worse"

I think the same. OTOH, I switched to Kobo after using only Kindles for almost a decade, and I don't remember thinking that the Kobo UI was annoying. True, I patched my Kobo almost immediately, so maybe I did think that...

[JBaby]

Originally Posted by Uncle Robin

I was replying HERE, at MobileReads, to a post that said



So understanding that statement as referring to members HERE, rather than to a site/forum/location not named or referenced in any way does not seem unreasonable.

But if you’d been following the thread you’d have known I’ve only been talking in terms of r/Kindle. In fact I was explicitly asked about what people on r/Kindle are saying/doing.

Originally Posted by hleo12

Adding to this. Send to Kindle is the main reason why I'm still with Kindle (main reason why I switched too).

As for simplicity, I can attest to this too. I used to edit the heck out of my ebooks. Like stripping margins, maximizing screen real estate usage, etc. But now I can't be bothered to do all that. If my brain decides it wants to read, I just wanna read and take advantage of that

I used to do a lot of extra too. Some would probably say I still do since I don’t use Send to Kindle at all. The extra stuff I do now is converting manga and comics. I get very extra with comics because I add Guided View. But regular text based books I don’t do anything.

Originally Posted by ownedbycats

As someone who never used Kindle, this confuses me.

In their defense Kindle is super simple. Going over to Kobo was a shock to many. Some really loved the freedom of Kobo. It was too much for many of them though. For those of us in this thread it’s hard to get in the mindset of Muggles.

[Sirtel]

I find myself growing fussier and doing more editing as time passes, not less. (All my books are ordinary text-based reflowable novels; I don't read manga, comics, PDF files etc.). Reading about people having edited before and stopped doing it feels very strange to me. I can get that most people have never edited their books and have never had any wish to do it; but having done it before and not anymore is what I can't get, at all.

[JBaby]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I find myself growing fussier and doing more editing as time passes, not less. (All my books are ordinary text-based reflowable novels; I don't read manga, comics, PDF files etc.). Reading about people having edited before and stopped doing it feels very strange to me. I can get that most people have never edited their books and have never had any wish to do it; but having done it before and not anymore is what I can't get, at all.

I never edited CSS or whatever it’s called. I’m not that kind of nerd. I used to take out the parts of a book that annoy me but now I’m just too lazy to do it anymore. I think I got out of the habit because I started reading more from the library. I do split boxsets into their individual books. I am the kind of nerd who sideloads via USB solely to give my books Goodreads integration so they act as though they’re books bought from Amazon.

[JBaby]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Interesting comment on Libby. As a Kobo user who has multiple library cards, what exactly is the difficulty in using those multiple cards with Libby and a Kobo ? Libby's setup would be pretty much the same for either Kobo or Kindle since it's an app that runs external to your ereader. All I did was to link my Kobo to my Overdrive account which my Libby install is also linked to. Kobo gives you the option of using Overdrive or using an individual library on the device.

OTOH, considering that Kindle ebooks are only available from some libraries inside the USA whereas a Kobo can use any library supporting downloadable ePub files, I find some humour in people claiming that Kindles are better for use with libraries.

Listen I never said any of this made any logical sense. I’m just reporting on what the Muggles are saying. But I think what they’re getting at is they could only attach one library card to the Kobo itself. They want Kobo to have all of their cards like the Libby app. Don’t quote me on that though. There’s conflicting statements when it comes to Libby and Kobo. The only thing I’m truly clear on is that it’s a primary reason for them coming back to Kindle.

When people ask purchasing questions I always tell people who aren’t in the US not to get Kindle if they want to read from the library. So many people make the claim that Kindles are better for library usage and I don’t get it either. On the sub people are always telling new people to get Libby, but they never preface that statement with, “If you’re in the US…”

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JBaby

So many people make the claim that Kindles are better for library usage and I don’t get it either.

Lots of people think Kindles are just better for everything. I've seen statements like "Kindles must be best, or they wouldn't be so popular". The reality is, of course, that Kindles are popular because they're Amazon's and Amazon has most of the ebook market in English language. But your average user doesn't know that. They see Kindles everywhere and so they think Kindles are the absolute best.

(I'm not saying Kindles aren't good. Just that there is no objective "best" in the ereader world - it all depends on what your preferences are and, to an extent, what you're used to.)

[JBaby]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Lots of people think Kindles are just better for everything. I've seen statements like "Kindles must be best, or they wouldn't be so popular". The reality is, of course, that Kindles are popular because they're Amazon's and Amazon has most of the ebook market in English language. But your average user doesn't know that. They see Kindles everywhere and so they think Kindles are the absolute best.

(I'm not saying Kindles aren't good. Just that there is no objective "best" in the ereader world - it all depends on what your preferences are and, to an extent, what you're used to.)

I see those statements all the time. One of my favorites is “Kindle was the first ereader so that’s why it’s the best.” Another good one is, “Amazon invented ebooks.” I love debunking those statements.

I think Kindle is a good device, but I don’t think it’s the end all be all of ereaders. Another factor that plays into all of this is that there are a lot of people who are strangely, imo, loyal to Amazon. It’s as if some of these people think they’re close, personal friends of Jeff himself. In a few threads it got almost sycophantic, but I don’t know what they think they’re gaining. I’ve never understood such brand loyalty.

[hondabf]

Another thing to keep in mind is the accessible price Kindles have in countries other than USA, Canada and the UK. Here where I live, any brand other than Kindle costs a quarter more than most recent Kindle models, and they tend to cost even more if you try to buy them from physical stores or online platforms other than Amazon.

It also does not help that these brands/stores only offer relatively old models, the most basic or the most premium ones (a physical store here only sells the Kobo Ellipsa and the Kobo Nia, no Pocketbooks or Remarkables), there is no in-between choice.

So it's not only that Kindles are the most popular e-readers, they're the only ones people can afford.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by JBaby

I think Kindle is a good device, but I don’t think it’s the end all be all of ereaders. Another factor that plays into all of this is that there are a lot of people who are strangely, imo, loyal to Amazon. It’s as if some of these people think they’re close, personal friends of Jeff himself. In a few threads it got almost sycophantic, but I don’t know what they think they’re gaining. I’ve never understood such brand loyalty.

Oddly that is something that I have noticed about Americans. Years back my wife and I spent several weeks with some of her cousins in Phoenix. To us, it was almost incomprehensible why they insisted on going to "their" brand name gas station when the equally well known brand name gas station closer to their home was cheaper. But then there have been claims that Canadian brand loyalty was for sale—cheap.

One of her cousins lectured me on why I shouldn't have bought a Toyota instead of his favoured Ford. My explanation was that my Toyota had better mileage and Toyota had a better quality record than Ford. I don't care if you say it lacks sex appeal. I just wanted a reliable vehicle to take me from point A to B and back and my Camry did just that for well over a decade. Admittedly, the cousin had a bumper sticker, which I remember correctly, was along the lines of he'd rather push a Ford than drive a Chevy. A decade or so later, he would probably have had a bumper sticker with Calvin pissing on a Chevy logo.

[Ma'am-I-Am]

I gotta say, this is starting to bum me out. As a PW2 user, I don't want to think I'll have to a) make a decision about b) buying something that will be more expensive than I can really afford and will c) force me to learn a whole new system to get books. But regarding DRM, as I posted on another site,
"Thank you for contacting the internet. Please wait for the next available workaround."

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by jhowell

I suspect that it will be no downloads at all.

... it seems to be only very old models.

I don't know the exact cutoff. Definitely forth generation and older. I am unsure about the fifth generation. Anything newer is probably safe for now.

No downloads at all?!?

By what I thought was coincidence, the last two times I tried to download to my K4BNT, I got an error message. It would sync so that I could see the new books I had just purchased, but they wouldn't download. Both times I ended up rebooting, which fixed it. I thought it was just a glitch. Now I'm wondering if Amazon is making changes on their end causing connection problems with my K4BNT.

Originally Posted by DNSB

Random spots around the Internet. So far just a few mentions and nothing with any solid information such as specific dates. At this time, I tend towards the belief that most of these are paranoia after K4PC/K4Mac/K4A having older version limited to the publication date of books that can be downloaded. Until @jhowell also mentioned seeing some rumours, I hadn't taken them all that seriously. Now I find myself going "you will need at least 5.16.3 (10th gen and newer) to download new books from Amazon" just might have a kernel of truth.

Wah. 10th gen means my Voyage (7th gen) and original Oasis (8th gen) will be toast.

Personally, I wouldn't hold off on replacing the battery. Cutting off free app versions when most people will be able to update the app is a rather mild public relations problem compared to the nightmare that cutting off devices that have no upgrade path would create.

Well, my K4BNT still holds a charge for a few weeks when not in use, so the battery situation isn't dire yet. I'm also a little worried I will damage it trying to replace the battery. Some of the how-to videos scare me.

[JBaby]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Oddly that is something that I have noticed about Americans. Years back my wife and I spent several weeks with some of her cousins in Phoenix. To us, it was almost incomprehensible why they insisted on going to "their" brand name gas station when the equally well known brand name gas station closer to their home was cheaper. But then there have been claims that Canadian brand loyalty was for sale—cheap.



One of her cousins lectured me on why I shouldn't have bought a Toyota instead of his favoured Ford. My explanation was that my Toyota had better mileage and Toyota had a better quality record than Ford. I don't care if you say it lacks sex appeal. I just wanted a reliable vehicle to take me from point A to B and back and my Camry did just that for well over a decade. Admittedly, the cousin had a bumper sticker, which I remember correctly, was along the lines of he'd rather push a Ford than drive a Chevy. A decade or so later, he would probably have had a bumper sticker with Calvin pissing on a Chevy logo.

This is very much an American thing. Americans worship corporations imo. I’ve never understood it.

Originally Posted by hondabf

Another thing to keep in mind is the accessible price Kindles have in countries other than USA, Canada and the UK. Here where I live, any brand other than Kindle costs a quarter more than most recent Kindle models, and they tend to cost even more if you try to buy them from physical stores or online platforms other than Amazon.

It also does not help that these brands/stores only offer relatively old models, the most basic or the most premium ones (a physical store here only sells the Kobo Ellipsa and the Kobo Nia, no Pocketbooks or Remarkables), there is no in-between choice.

So it's not only that Kindles are the most popular e-readers, they're the only ones people can afford.

That’s also true. On the r/Kindle I’ve had people get very angry with me for saying that Kindle/ereaders are luxury devices. Even a Basic Kindle is expensive when you take into account that it only does one thing.

[JSWolf]

Is it possible for someone to change the version number of K4PC 1.17 to be the same as the current version so it fools Amazon and allows all downloads?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by odamizu

No downloads at all?!?

I don't want to disclose too much about my methods, but this is based on my own observation of data coming from Amazon, not rumors from others.

Since I first posted about this I have been able to determine that the cutoff point appears to be PW1 (5th gen) and older devices. Basically, they are now lumped into a category related to e-book delivery that originally contained only the older K4A app versions reaching end-of-life later this month. This is an indicator of something, but I cannot be certain of what it really means.

Originally Posted by odamizu

By what I thought was coincidence, the last two times I tried to download to my K4BNT, I got an error message. It would sync so that I could see the new books I had just purchased, but they wouldn't download. Both times I ended up rebooting, which fixed it. I thought it was just a glitch. Now I'm wondering if Amazon is making changes on their end causing connection problems with my K4BNT.

It is possible. There were glitches in the download-and-transfer function that occurred prior to the announcement that it was being discontinued. In retrospect they were likely caused by Amazon preparing for what was coming.

Originally Posted by odamizu

Wah. 10th gen means my Voyage (7th gen) and original Oasis (8th gen) will be toast.

I do not believe that anything that new will be affected.

Originally Posted by odamizu

Well, my K4BNT still holds a charge for a few weeks when not in use, so the battery situation isn't dire yet. I'm also a little worried I will damage it trying to replace the battery. Some of the how-to videos scare me.

If it was me I would not upgrade the battery at this point. The most important thing to do with older Kindles is to never let the battery go completely dead. Many people put them in a drawer and forget about them for months or years. If you keep the battery topped off periodically I suspect your K4's battery will last for years.