Slow death of Kindle?

[Martiwapk]

Sorry for the dramatic title. But has anyone else noticed that the Kindle experience has been getting worse and worse over the past few years and the trend seems to accelerate?

I've been a heavy Kindle user for a decade, have bought hundreds of books, and own pretty much every Kindle model that's been available during this period.

Subjectively, the peak quality of the experience was about the time they last updated Kindle Oasis. Everything worked, the device was optimized for calm reading experience, and it was just joy to use. Since then, however, these qualities been getting worse year after year.

I can hardly sync my reading position across devices anymore (oftentimes only after a restart). And the UI changes getting introduced with every update are just ruining the reading experience for me.

For example, now when you tap the top of the page, you now get a UI so messy and loud that it looks like a web page with banners compared to the former zen-like quiet reading experience.

What's worse, bug reports and submitted feedback are completely ignored.

[Quoth]

Even the last paperwhite 3 FW was poorer GUI than earlier.
The end of D&T meant getting KFX instead of AZW3/KF8, which is much slower to download (than AZW3/KF8 on a K3!), always has DRM even if book meant to be DRM free and is less like the author/publisher intended.

I didn't buy a Scribe because of the way PDF annotation is managed.

Most people read Kindle ebooks on an App, so they won't have noticed any degradation.

[Sirtel]

Yeah. That was one reason why I switched to Kobo devices in 2021. I didn't like the direction Amazon was heading with their Kindles.

True, Kobos don't sync sideloaded books, which seems to be a huge dealbreaker for many Kindle users. It didn't bother me, as I never used Send to Kindle anyway.

[kennyc]

I've moved to Onyx Boox Go 6....

Using Readera premium to sync between devices (tablet phone ...)

The Boox is not necessarily fast being e-ink and android, but working well for me!

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah. That was one reason why I switched to Kobo devices in 2021. I didn't like the direction Amazon was heading with their Kindles.

True, Kobos don't sync sideloaded books, which seems to be a huge dealbreaker for many Kindle users. It didn't bother me, as I never used Send to Kindle anyway.

Kobo uses their lack of specific sync for sideloaded books as a lock in, because if you want this feature, you better buy your books on Kobo. All of the vendors are using dark patterns.

Also I dislike the fact that reading statistics don’t sync so each device has different reading stats

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Kobo uses their lack of specific sync for sideloaded books as a lock in, because if you want this feature, you better buy your books on Kobo. All of the vendors are using dark patterns.

Also I dislike the fact that reading statistics don’t sync so each device has different reading stats

Oh, Kobo has their faults, nobody is perfect. It's just that Kobo's faults suit me better than Amazon's. And Kobo has always had most of their flaws, they're not something introduced recently. Whereas Kindles certainly have undergone some enshittification in recent years.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Kobo uses their lack of specific sync for sideloaded books as a lock in, because if you want this feature, you better buy your books on Kobo. All of the vendors are using dark patterns.

Also I dislike the fact that reading statistics don’t sync so each device has different reading stats

No, it's privacy. Sync of something you didn't buy from the sync provider and any extra info is a massive privacy fail and in some countries it's life threatening.

In fact I don't use WiFi at all on Kobo and only on Kindle since D&T ended to get the actual ebooks.

Amazon is the King of dark patterns. Kobo's selling is obvious.

I tried Amazon's sync with two eink and it broke collections, but that's beside the point. Amazon's sync and STK is primarily for Amazon's benefit.

There is zero lock in either on the Kobo shop (as content downloads for anything supporting Adobe DRM, or has no DRM) and there is zero lock-in on Kobo, even doing PDF annotations (Sage, Elipsa vs locked in Scribe) or handwriting conversion (see reMarkable and Scribe).

You don't even need to be in "Account" mode on Kobo. The Amazon and reMarkable are crippled without an account. If you forget the reMarkable password the tablet is essentially bricked. No reset or supplier help.

[rantanplan]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Oh, Kobo has their faults, nobody is perfect. It's just that Kobo's faults suit me better than Amazon's. And Kobo has always had most of their flaws, they're not something introduced recently. Whereas Kindles certainly have undergone some enshittification in recent years.

For me, Calibre is essentially my personnel source of truth. Progress is synched via Calibre (unfortunately that doesn't work wireless) and regularly backups the device database. But it's a bit tedious if I want to switch from my Libra 2 to my Sage without connecting both devices to my Mac, wasting precious battery cycles.

[cvkemp]

For me I love my Kindle, it is great for my reading needs. I read mostly Kindle Unlimited. I don't desire a color screen either. My eye sight is such the 7 inch Kindle e-ink is perfect. And what fancy crap does one need to read anyway.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

For me, Calibre is essentially my personnel source of truth. Progress is synched via Calibre (unfortunately that doesn't work wireless) and regularly backups the device database. But it's a bit tedious if I want to switch from my Libra 2 to my Sage without connecting both devices to my Mac, wasting precious battery cycles.

I just find my place manually, if it's a book I'm currently reading on both Kobos. That's faster than any sync for me anyway, given that I don't keep my ereaders connected to wifi all the time. For the books not yet finished, but not reading at the moment, I too use the calibre sync.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah. That was one reason why I switched to Kobo devices in 2021. I didn't like the direction Amazon was heading with their Kindles.

True, Kobos don't sync sideloaded books, which seems to be a huge dealbreaker for many Kindle users. It didn't bother me, as I never used Send to Kindle anyway.

The reason I switched was I liked the idea of the larger screen and that Kobo also read ePub since my previous Readers were Sony.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rantanplan

Kobo uses their lack of specific sync for sideloaded books as a lock in, because if you want this feature, you better buy your books on Kobo. All of the vendors are using dark patterns.

Also I dislike the fact that reading statistics don’t sync so each device has different reading stats

For me, I don't care about syncing. I don't sync to download from Kobo and I don't care about syncing to my phone or tablet.

[cellaris]

Originally Posted by Martiwapk

Sorry for the dramatic title.

The title isn't that dramatic. I've lost count of the number of "Kindle killers" that have appeared in recent years. YouTube is full of videos about them and about "switching from Kindle to..." (insert your favourite e-reader brand here). The fact that Kindle continues to be the benchmark for "killers" and "switches" is a clear sign that it is very much alive and kicking. The day Kindle is no longer mentioned and others take its place will be when we truly witness its decline.

There is not much to say about your irreplaceable experience (and that of others) as a user. It is clear that Kindle is dying for you. Others may have a different opinion, but I don't think that will be of much comfort to you.

[Quoth]

Kindle eink experience and increasing Amazon restrictions may have turned off some long time eink users, but the Amazon Kindle ebook sales & subscriptions are certainly not dying, quite the reverse.

None of the changes make much or any difference to app users.