Kindle News: Amazon's 50 Kindle books at up to 75% off thru' Aug 13 + Spotify app for Kindle Fire + textbook rental + today's Kindle Deal - UPDATE

See Update under Spotify for added information.

Amazon's new (temporary) discount feature - Kindle Books up to 75% Off

These are 50 "Select Titles," categorized by time period, with a discounts of up to 75% off through August 13 (that's through next Monday).

Categories:
Life in Biblical times, the 1700s, and the 1800s
Life in the early 20th century
Life in the 1940s and 1950s
Life in the 1960s and 1970s
Life in the 1980s and 1990s

Spotify (Kindle Fire Edition)
 
Spotify is a streaming music subscription service that many are already using, and if you already have the subscription to millions of songs "on demand," you can use the app on the Kindle Fire now to make playlists and share the music with others.

  The app has one free feature, which that is radio-streaming only.
  The more popular use is unlimited streaming, without ads, of new music on-demand (and the ability to play some of it offline) and that costs $9.99/mo.  You can start a 48-hour free trial "when you log in" (via Kindle Fire or another mobile device) "to Spotify with your Facebook account," and if you like the service, you can choose to extend your free trial by 30 days.  If you're happy with only the free radio-listening part, you can use that for free.

  It's version 0.5.2.89, and the current version doesn't have a Landscape mode.  I've never used the service but have read that others enjoy it quite a bit.

  Update - Just read some caveats that Spotify users should know about:

' Although users can stream music for free from the desktop client, free streaming is limited to 2.5 hours per week and 10 hours a month (unused time stacks up to 10 hours).

 Listening for free will play ads regularly, usually for around 30 seconds. Unlimited streaming subscriptions, sans advertising, begin at just $5.99 a month, rising to $9.99, and include offline listening and the ability to play music through connected devices
  ... [ More details and then this summary below ]
  Spotify currently holds a 4- out of 5-star rating and is almost essential for users not planning to buy music. The service finds itself in a market with rivals including Last.fm and Rdio.  Spotify's draw is that, although buying music buying is an offered feature of the service, it is not a requirement.  In fact, $5.99 is the cost of an album on iTunes.  How many albums could be listened to over a month on Spotify? '

See more details at mobilenapps.com


Reminder that textbooks can now be rented
It's almost September, so the reminders are cropping up on my screens quite a bit.
  An earlier Kindleworld blog article explains how this works, and here's the Amazon page for textbook rentals.


Today's Kindle Daily Deal (Wednesday) is Random Harvest, a novel about a man's long-buried memories of World War I resurfacing suddenly at the start of World War II, threatening "to fracture the peaceful life he has worked so hard to create."
  It has 26 customer reviews, with an average rating of 4.6 stars.
  $9.99 on Tuesday, it's discounted by $8 today and is $1.99 for Wednesday only.

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Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links

US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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DroidTV Primetime app for KindleFire gets a price rise - is it still worth it?

DroiodTV Primetime is an Android app for Kindle Fire with not-clear pricing and a recent additional price-increase but said to be worth it

Amazon has not highlighted DroidTV Primetime but it is pretty big on Android sites when software is recommended.  It may be that it's a soft competitor to HuluPlus especially and to Netflix also.

While DroidTV Primetime is listed for $8.99, a price already high enough to deter purchase by most who prefer free or very inexpensive apps, it's actually $8.99 for 3 months now.  It's essentially a subscription of course, but it doesn't clearly say so.

  Furthermore, the history is that it started out as $1/mo. not long ago and then recently had become $8.99 for 6 months, which seemed okay for those who had signed up for it, at $1.50 per month then.

  In July, the price quietly changed, from $8.99 for 6 months, to $8.99 for 3 months.
  And nevertheless, people on the whole seem to feel it's still worth it at $3/mo., essentially. Why?

  Netflix and HuluPlus each costs $8.99 per month but
  1. HuluPlus has us watch ads even though we pay Hulu $9/mo. because, it's said (and I believe it) that CURRENT TV shows are expensive to rent and distribute.
  2. Netflix does not, for the most part, present current TV shows except for some educational PBS shows like Frontline, distributed not long after being shown.

  With Netflix and HuluPlus (I subscribe to each), you subscribe directly with those companies and the Android app itself is 'free' to use on the Kindle Fire for accessing of the subscriptions you've paid for outside Amazon.
  With both you can watch only when connected online via WiFi or 3G/4G.

  DroidTVPrimetime, though, is equivalent to a subscription VIA the Android app itself. For this, you can, they say (and users confirm) watch some of your favored TV Shows offline when  you're not connected to WiFi, and the product info on Amazon reads:

• Watch full HD TV episodes
• Record episodes to watch later
• Store videos on your device for anytime viewing
  
  
  Product Description
  Watch TV on your mobile device in full HD-480p resolution with DroidTV. Choose from hundreds of episodes of the most popular shows from the major TV networks. Watch whenever you want, wherever you want.
  
  With DroidTV, you can record and watch individual episodes or automatically record every episode for a show as they become available. Episodes are recorded from the Internet, stored on your own dedicated virtual DVR in our data center, and then transferred to your mobile device for viewing.
  
  Recorded episodes are played from your phone or tablet’s memory card, not streamed, so they are available anytime, even when you don’t have Internet access. Episodes play immediately, without buffering delays or reduced quality.
  
  You can store any number of episodes on the virtual DVR. The number of episodes on your mobile device is limited only by available memory on your [built-in] SD card.

Kindle News: New Kindle Fire Android-exclusive - HBO GO for HBO subscribers. PRIME instant-video count changes.

THE KINDLE FIRE GETS HBO-GO

An HBO-GO android app has been a big request by the Android community, and the Kindle Fire is the only Android tablet supported at this point although HBO has promised it'll upgrade its standard Android app eventually to include tablet support in general.  This is happening quite a bit.  The Verge's Nathan Ingraham says, "Kindle Fire users are the only ones with access for now."

HBO-GO is for HBO subscribers only, of course, and then it's only for subscribers to HBO's partner TV providers.  It seems Time Warner, and Armstrong also, may not be among them from what I see in the comments area where it's noted that they're not seen on the list of supported providers.

Some Comcast users are getting error alerts and some have solved the problem by using their password to log on with their computer at the website after which the app recognizes them for some reason, while another person recommends just searching for a movie you want and then logging in there on the Kindle Fire, which worked for him.

Outside of that it seems to work well, since the Kindle Fire does display Netflix and HuluPlus very well on a fast cable Internet setup, the quality of it surprising a couple of friends with iPad 3's.

There is a report that it can be sluggish when you want to advance or rewind.  That's sometimes true with my computer's otherwise fast access too.

What's offered:
Laptop Magazine's Anna Atkisson points out this has been available until now only on the iPad, and now Kindle Fire users won't need to miss episodes of Game of Thrones, Boardwalk Empire, True Blood, or any of HBO's 1,400 shows when they're away from home.

In her brief writeup, she emphasizes "video extras like interviews with the cast and crew.  And users can create a Watchlist of shows they need to catch up on, or create a season pass to shows they can't get enough of."  Better yet, she includes the full press release.

  The Release mentions that the "Series Pass" capability automatically loads the Watchlist with "new episodes of favorite HBO programs when they arrive on the service," and HBO customers "get new titles simultaneously with the premiere on the network, recaps and behind-the-scenes extras; customizable views showing titles in slideshows, grid, or list format, and the ability to pause, rewind and view at their convenience."

  Android Authority's Arnold Zafra says in his opening that this runs on no other Android tablet so far, not "even if the app was updated to run on ICS" (Ice Cream Sandwich OS).

HBO has uploaded a 30 second commercial that is VERY UNenlightening but which likes to say you can now "Play with Fire" and purrs "Now on Fire" :-)   (Note that Kindle-Edition blogs cannot view videos linked.)

Side Note  - In an Amazon PRIME free Instant Video search today, I saw that they now list 3,707 of these rather than the 17,000 to 20,000+ that used to be the referenced number.  It turns now that they used to count each TV show of a series as an individual video (which can make just as much sense as counting a year of individual shows as 'one video' -- but that's the change that should be noted.

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Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links

US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button Below are ways to Share this post if you'd like others to see it.
-- The Send to Kindle button works well only on Firefox currently.

Send to Kindle

(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
If interested, you can also follow my add'l blog-related news at Facebook and Twitter
Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!