Amazon and DRM changes

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by issybird

Why squander good reading time curating?

Exactly! I've got enough daily distractions that keep me from reading as much as I'd like. I'm not going to add petting, dusting and diddling an ebook collection I'm already done reading into the mix.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by issybird

I’ve got the library of unreads, but I did stop removing DRM long ago. Direct downloads are the way to go. Before I got the PW5, I’d read Amazon books on a tablet, but I must admit that the Kindle was a good purchase. This is why, rounding back to topic for a bit, I don’t understand why you’d buy from one store when your device was tied to another. Even if your routine is to download, strip, and sideload, maybe that could change. Or something could come up. Dunno. Don’t get it, though.

I used to buy where it was the cheapest. Prices could fluctuate considerably between stores. Lately I've noticed prices tend to be similar, so there's no longer a point in hopping between stores. But I do read Amazon exclusives occasionally, so wouldn't want to limit myself only to Kobo, so far.

And, I want to edit the formatting before I read a book. Can't do that with direct downloads.

Why squander good reading time curating?

I enjoy tinkering with my library.

And another factor people in the Western countries probably don't understand. I remember the time when most foreign books weren't available in my country. Given our history and geographical location, it's not impossible such a time could come again, that I could no longer buy ebooks in English. Then I'd be glad I amassed a huge library.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I used to buy where it was the cheapest. Prices could fluctuate considerably between stores.

It's interesting that in most countries, the principle of fixed book price applies (in the UK it was revoked in 1995, but it used to exist there too) so that sellers cannot compete on books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_book_price

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

It's interesting that in most countries, the principle of fixed book price applies (in the UK it was revoked in 1995, but it used to exist there too) so that sellers cannot compete on books.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fixed_book_price

No prices are fixed here, but due to a very small market, most local prices tend to be more or less the same. There used to be a considerable difference between foreign ebook prices (Google Play was usually the cheapest, Amazon the most expensive), but not really anymore.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by Quoth

2) Flipping to end doesn't work.

Huh. How long do you have to stay on a page to count it as read? (skimmers of the world, unite)

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Joykins

Huh. How long do you have to stay on a page to count it as read? (skimmers of the world, unite)

There's a difference between taking a KU book outside of their eco-system and gaming their author payments and doing chores for amazon. I'm not going to make this more complicated for myself than necessary. If there's content in a book that I want to skip, then I'll do it. So if the last 50 pages of a book are just advertisements or letters from readers or whatever, I'll skim over them. It's amazon's job to fix the system, not mine.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by DuckieTigger

And, possibly, any American that learns by listening and talking before reading and writing would know that calibre is pronounced same as caliber.

So, possibly due to the fact that Spanish is an unofficial second language in much of the US, this family of Americans has been pronouncing the tool that frees (libre) books (libros) cuh-LEE-bray these many years...

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

So if the last 50 pages of a book are just advertisements or letters from readers or whatever, I'll skim over them. It's amazon's job to fix the system, not mine.

Amazon is intentionally vague on the details of when it counts a page as read. The idea is to not give authors credit for pages that are skipped over.

[Joykins]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

There's a difference between taking a KU book outside of their eco-system and gaming their author payments and doing chores for amazon. I'm not going to make this more complicated for myself than necessary. If there's content in a book that I want to skip, then I'll do it. So if the last 50 pages of a book are just advertisements or letters from readers or whatever, I'll skim over them. It's amazon's job to fix the system, not mine.

To be clear, I'm curious about how it works because I want the author to get paid. I read KU books on Kindle devices without removing DRM for the same reason. But sometimes I skim and skip around. And I only connect to wifi to download new books (which may be as infrequent as once a month and which seems to take forever these days and prone to error, maybe because it's gathering so many OTHER pieces of data, such as discovering every book I opened in order to see if I'm in the mood for it now --no, not in the mood, next?--and telling Goodreads I'm reading it, obliging me to go to Goodreads and remove all 20...).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by lkmiller

I'm surprised at the number of people who are so attached to buying books from Amazon who don't already have Kindles.

From some of the numbers that I've seen—though they are often contradictory—I would guesstimate that over 80% of Kindle ebooks are read on devices other the Kindle eInk ereaders.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Joykins

To be clear, I'm curious about how it works because I want the author to get paid. I read KU books on Kindle devices without removing DRM for the same reason.

Originally, the system was pretty simple and authors would put the table of contents at the end of a book so that when you went to the ToC, the entire book would be considered read. Sadly, some authors and non-authors took advantage of this to game the system and increase their income. There were quite a few other attempts at beating the system such as book stuffing which resulted in Amazon limiting bonus content to a maximum of 10% for example.

Since then, Amazon has done their best to make certain that no one knows just how their pages read payment algorithm works in the probably forlorn hope of keeping people from gaming the system.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by DNSB

From some of the numbers that I've seen—though they are often contradictory—I would guesstimate that over 80% of Kindle ebooks are read on devices other the Kindle eInk ereaders.

It's certainly more than half. Mostly phones.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by DNSB

From some of the numbers that I've seen—though they are often contradictory—I would guesstimate that over 80% of Kindle ebooks are read on devices other the Kindle eInk ereaders.

Originally Posted by Quoth

It's certainly more than half. Mostly phones.

Whatever the percentage is (and I'm not going to trust any sources who say they know for sure), a large part of that percentage is going to be people who are still staying entirely within the Amazon ecosystem by relying on the Kindle App on those devices.

I'm pretty sure the message Issy was driving at is that is that it's surprising the number of people who seem want to buy books from Amazon to read on a device that is tied to another store's format/ecosystem.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I'm pretty sure the message Issy was driving at is that is that it's surprising the number of people who seem want to buy books from Amazon to read on a device that is tied to another store's format/ecosystem.

Why? It would be surprising if Kindle Unlimited didn't exist. If I read a book by an author who is in Kindle Unlimited, I have two options: purchase it at Amazon or don't read it. If I want to read it, I have to buy it at Amazon, but I don't want to read it at a Kindle because the software is crap FOR ME, and I prefer to read it at an ereader.

[DiapDealer]

That's why you do it. I'm surprised at the number of people who might feel as you do. Kindle Unlimited is an Amazon product. I would expect most people to use it as it was intended or to not use it.