Kindle News: Clarifying Amazon Cloud announcements and changes - Update/Revision 3

Revised/Updated late evening August 6

On June 12, I wrote about the Amazon Cloud Player app for iPhone and iPod Touch and that the Amazon Appstore was likely to hit Europe this summer.

  Both are obvious signs of Amazon's plans to expand access to its digital media wherever it can, although the Kindle Fire hasn't been sold internationally yet, due to time-intense negotiations for "fresh agreements for books, music, and movies in every market they launch," per 3G.co.uk's Simon D. Thomas.
  And they're strongly rumored to be adding another Kindle Fire with more hardware power to their line (with a good push by the Google Nexus 7" tablet).

On July 31, Amazon announced in a press release their music licensing agreements with Sony, EMI, Universal, Warner, and over 150 independent distributors, aggregators and music publishers.

  They say that their "scan and match technology" gives customers a faster, easier way to "get all of their music from their computers to the cloud," from which they can then play their music on their favorite devices -- Kindle Fire, iPhone iPod Touch, Android devices and any web browser -- and soon, Roku streaming players and Sonos home entertainment systems.

  New features:

• Any Amazon mp3 purchases, including mp3's bought from Amazon in the past, are automatically saved to Cloud Player, serving as a secure backup of the music bought from Amazon, free of charge.
• Amazon scans customers' iTunes and Windows Media Player libraries (I don't put mine in either of these libraries), matching the music on the computers to Amazon's 20 million song catalog.
  
    Any matches, even if purchased from iTunes or ripped from CDs "are instantly made available in Cloud Player and are upgraded for free to high-quality 256 Kbps audio.
  
    Music that customers have already uploaded to Cloud Players also will be upgraded."

It seems to me that any imported MP3s that had been in the old free drive might now be seen as part of the Cloud Player's storage and playback of songs up to the subscription limit OR it might be left alone and still stored on the Cloud Drive with no playback possible (as only Cloud Player can play it back).  Cloud Player has been separated from Cloud Drive, but it too is Free if you use space for no more than 250 imported songs.

MY question:  can you just store music files in the free 5-gig general storage with no intention of playback?  The Cloud Player is for music that you want to store AND play back.

  Other new aspects of Cloud Player, which is now available in two tiers: "Free" and "Premium."

• Cloud Player Free customers
    .  can store all mp3's purchased from Amazon at no cost and also
    .  import, store, and play back up to 250 songs from PC or Mac to Cloud Player, at no charge.
• Cloud Player Premium customers ($25/year)
    .  can store all mp3's purchased from Amazon at no cost and also
    .  import, store, and play back up to 250,000 songs in Cloud Player, at no further charge.

  In both cases, any Amazon-purchased mp3's are not counted against the limits of either plan.

  HOWEVER, though their press release doesn't mention it, their Manage your Cloud page also shows (at least for me) a NON-Free and NON-Premium category:
  20 GB of file storage space + Cloud Player w/ up to 250 imported songs, at $10.00/year
  That provides an additional 15 GB of file storage space over the Free plan.

That's confusing.   The $10/yr plan should have a label between Free and Premium, as it costs less than the premium $25/yr+ plans because it provides 20 Gigs of storage space but allows only 250 non-Amazon-purchased mp3s ("imported") rather than 250,000.

  The new Cloud Player features were to be automatically delivered to Kindle Fire users during the week following the July 31 announcement.
  Customers can also visit the Amazon Cloud Player page on the web or download the app on iOS or Android.

UPDATE 8/6, evening
I neglected to mention the "Importer File Formats"
Amazon's "Importing Music into Cloud Player" page has a section on these.

  Supported File Types: (See asterisk explanation below.)
  .  .mp3 -- Standard non-DRM file format
  .  .m4a -- AAC files (Windows and Mack, including iTunes store purchased files)
                and Apple lossless files* (Mac OS only)
  .  .wma* -- Windows Media Audio files (Windows only)
  .  .wav* -- Uncompressed music files
  .  .ogg* -- Ogg Vorbis audio files
  .  .flac* -- Free Lossless Audio Codec files
  .  .aiff* -- Audio Interchange Audio Format

*  For starred items: Only eligible files that match Amazon's catalog can be imported.

You can see more on this at the Music Import page

Starting July 31, 2012:
  Cloud Drive is being used for general file storage and
  Cloud Player will be used for music storage and playback.

  Amazon recommends the Cloud Drive "learnmore" page to learn how to get started on Cloud drive.


About Amazon MP3
  Per the same press release, Amazon's MP3 Store has over 20 million songs with everyday low prices on best-selling albums.
  "All Amazon MP3s are DRM-free, work on just about any mp3-playing device and can be played from Cloud Player on Kindle Fire, Android phones and tablets, iPhones, iPads, iPods, Macs and Pcs.
  Customers can also access the MP3 store via the iHeartRadio, Shazam, TuneIn Radio and SoundHound Android apps."


The 3 types of  *Free*  Amazon server storage
  .  Amazon's 5 free gigs of Cloud Drive space for Amazon customers, globally,
        for ANY data files, plus
  .  Another 5 free gigs for Kindle owners' personal documents, plus
  .  Free Cloud Player space for 250 imported music files that can be played back.

  I find that most Kindle owners I talk to don't know that Amazon gives all customers, globally, 5 free gigs of Cloud Drive space for data files of any kind.  That includes videos, photos, documents, and backup of books you didn't buy from Amazon (as long as they're not digital-rights-protected by the publisher/vendor) and any of your personal documents that you'd liked backed up externally.
  It also can include music but this won't be for playback or streaming, as playback is done via Cloud Player, which has separate storage space for music files, which you intend for playback or streaming.

  Amazon also sets aside, for Kindle owners, 5 additional gigs for personal docs -- and this also includes non-Amazon books that are not rights-protected.  This also applies to documents like Word Docs, or web pages sent to the Kindle via various Send-to utilities including Amazon's own.  And recently, Amazon added SYNC'g of the Kindle area personal docs in the way that Kindle books are sync'd between devices.

  Both the general free storage globally and the free personal docs storage and sync'g of them (if you send the latter to Amazon for the Kindle-owner's document storage area) are unique features not found with other e-readers.

I THINK that covers the basics and the changes.  If not, please do add to the Comments area. Thanks!

---

Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.
NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire Basic  7" tablet - $159 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB - $199/$249 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16/32GB - $299/$369 Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 4G 32/64GB - $499/$599 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, 3G/WiFi - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free but slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

  For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by:    Publication Date      Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular The Kindle Daily Deal What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle Keyboard(U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

  *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!

Kindle Tips: SendtoReader (for any Kindle-compatible device) has a terrific new feature. UPDATE

     
SENDTOREADER Update

UPDATE - 7/13/12.  I tested sending web articles to my Kindles and Kindle apps WHILE reading on the Kindle Fire and on my Kindle Touch.

  Adding the 7 characters, described below, in front of a web-link or URL worked with any mobile browser on my Kindle Fire as well. Not only does no other e-reader have the web-articles-send feature but it surprised me that it works when I'm browsing the web on my Kindle Fire  That is quite a boon.  I haven't tried to send an article from an e-Ink Kindle though.  
I was less successful when doing this on my smartphone.  No problems when using s2r.me/ in a URL from my Kindle Fire browsing though.

  One thing I forgot earlier:  Besides needing to register with SendToReader, of course, for the free service, you need to sign-in to SendToReader the first time you use the 's2r.me/' with a given browser.   I haven't had to sign-in again on the same browser (except when I want to look at my list of articles sent in case I want to re-send something later).
  When using it with a different browser the first time for that browser, I had to do the initial sign-in.

SENDtoREADER was very well received by Kindle users, in the many comments written to the original article on it here on March 29, 2011 when I asked readers to try it out.

 I noted in an update that "The feedback was extremely positive, with images coming through well, good general layout, and "a great feature: history of your sent articles (linked) in your account at sendtoreader.com with an option to resend. Thanks to phelcq and Elmo [for the mentioned features]."

After that, the author of the program, Sergey Pozhilov, notified us of a "Web to Kindle" browser add-on called "DroidToReader," which allows SendToReader's features to be used on a Kindle Fire.  He explained it in his comments to the blog entry of March 11, 2012.  It seems this addon, though, is no longer needed.  I'd love feedback on how the new feature described below works for you.

  Sergey's newest improvement is s2r.me which is a "very simple" addon to a link, he says, which allows you to just enter "s2r.me/" in FRONT of the URL or link to an article you want sent to your Kindle as a personal document.

  It would look like: http://s2r.me/[whateverlonglink]

  Of course you have to be registered at sendtoreader.com first, for this to work.  Be sure to read the original article about SendToReader and comments to it by author Sergey and readers of the blog (the article is linked above in the opening).

  Pesonal documents you choose to have sent to your Kindle (rather than file-copied from your computer to your Kindle) go through Amazon servers, where they are kept in the Personal Documents area -- and the access to and reading of these personal docs are sync'd across all your Kindle devices, in the same way that your Kindle books are.

  Example: I saw an interesting story from a press release by The Education World on the Kindle Fire for the Classroom, and I put "s2r.me/" in front of the URL or link on that page and, because I'm registered with a Kindle address at SendToReader, this small addition to the link sent that article to the Amazon servers, which placed a copy in my Personal Documents area and then sent me an email to let me know it was there (the email notification took about 5 minutes to arrive).

  I opened my Kindle Fire and my Kindle Touch, as well as my Kindle Keyboard.  The document was available on all three devices.  On the Kindle Fire, it showed up on the Carousel without my doing anything, ready to be downloaded if I want.  But if you don't see it, you can click on the 'Docs' category in the top menu.

  I never did install the 'DroidtoReader' add-on for Kindle Fire, and yet this new feature worked fine because it's treated by Amazon as a personal document that you want to read on any of your devices, so Amazon makes sure it's available on devices being sync'd.  It also arrived on my Samsung Galaxy S2 phone Kindle books archive  when I ran the Kindle for Android app to see my books and personal docs, and when I clicked on the title, it downloaded it.

 Here's the article on the Kindle Fire in classroom use.  If you click on the link, you'll be at the article of course.  IF you are already a SendToReader member, just put  s2r.me/  in front of the URL for the article (in the location field at the top of the web browser) and this will let SendToReader know you want that article sent to 'me'...

  While normally a URL or link has an "http://" to start the link, web browsers put that part in for you these days, so you can just start it with "s2r.me/" in front of the URL.
  HOWEVER, if the web browser URL already shows an 'http://' on the address line, then put the s2r.me AFTER the prefacing 'http://' and right in front of the URL/link.

  For me, this is a great new feature and I hope others of you will enjoy it too.

---

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!

A look at what the new Kindle Touch 3G offers - some differences

KINDLE TOUCH 3G
Free 3G + Wi-Fi, 6" E Ink Display, 3G Works Globally

Notes about the new Kindle Touch 3G
The product page presentation begins with the feature that differentiates this device from the Kindle Touch (WiFi only):

  "Free 3G wireless, no annual contracts or monthly fees."

  "Kindle Touch 3G uses the same wireless signals as cell phones, so you don't need to worry about Wi-Fi connections, passwords or internet charges.  Unlike cell phones, with Kindle Touch 3G there are no monthly fees or commitments — Amazon pays for Kindle Touch 3G's wireless connectivity."

This model also comes with WiFi, local network access.

As with the older Kindle 3 with 3G (now called the Kindle Keyboard 3G),  it has Text-to-speech (TTS) , can read audio books and play mp3's, including podcasts

All Kindles can borrow from public libraries now.

I'll be pointing out only differences between the older and new model offering 3G, as it's easy enough to see what Amazon offers by just going to the Product page for the Kindle Touch 3G.  I very much recommend readers take the time to slowly go over that page.



UPDATE - Amazon Kindle Team has made an official response to this question.  The Kindle Touch 3G has a more limited use of its 3G connectivity in that the 3G has been enabled for connection only to the Kindle Store, to download books and periodicals, and to access Wikipedia.  The experimental web-browsing feature isn't enabled for 3G but can be used via WiFi.  The Kindle Keyboard 3G   (UK: Kindle Keyboard 3G), will still have its 3G enabled for the experimental web browser.

  Click on the link above to read the statement by Kindle Team.

Points to keep in mind, on this touchscreen Kindle:
You can tap  ("no need to swipe") to turn pages, so Amazon points out you can hold the Kindle in either hand.

   Speed. Even the Kindle Basic ($79 to $109) has been praised (it's already shipping) for its noticeably faster page turns and speedier processes in general, over the older keyboard models.

  A new feature named "X-Ray" is available on the new Touch models and Amazon explains it this way:
  "Explore the 'bones of a book.' With a single tap, see all the passages across a book that mention ideas, fictional characters, historical figures, places or topics of interest, as well as more detailed descriptions from Wikipedia and Shelfari."

  They reiterate that Amazon is providing "free cloud storage for all Amazon content" (meaning content you purchase from them -- music, video, as well as books).

  Battery Life:  Amazon used to base battery life on a rational 1 hour per day usage, but ever since
Barnes and Noble decided to base theirs on only 1/2 hour per day usage, and columnists picked up BN's results without looking at what daily usage it was based on,  Amazon has now changed its basis for
calculations, to match the 1/2 hour per day that Barnes and Noble apparently feels its users spend on books.
  So now, 2 months between charges  (with Wireless Off)  is claimed rather than 1 month.

  Also see Kindle Customer Service advisories on best battery maintenance practices.

  (I'm a Barnes and Noble card-carrying paid-member and am enjoying a NookColor, but this battery usage thing is for the birds, and I don't mean Angry ones, just BN's idea of disinterested ones.

  Content formats supported:  This isn't different from before, but it's often been said by people who don't know much about the Kindle, that the Kindle supports only Amazon's one format.  Here is the actual list of formats supported (this hasn't changed) :
  Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, DOCX, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion

---

I'm really glad that Amazon is keeping the Kindle Keyboard models active, as there are many who still prefer even a clunky physical keyboard to a touchscreen one. The Kindle 3 (Kindle Keyboard) has been known for its beautiful screen contrast, moreover.

Amazon has more to say on the special features in the lower portion of their page, which may receive less views, so I'll add some of it here

New Touch Experience - EasyReach
"Amazon invented a new type of touch experience that eliminates the fatigue caused by continuously swiping to turn the page, and that allows readers to hold Kindle with either hand while still turning pages comfortably  

  Page turns and other navigation with this model:

    Tapping on most of the screen area will page forward,
        the most common action done when reading;
    tapping in a narrow area near the left edge of the device turns to the previous page; and
    tapping on the top part of the screen brings up the toolbars for further options."

Customer Fonts - as with Kindle 3 model:
  "... hand-built, custom fonts and font-hinting to make words and letters more crisp, clear, and natural-looking  ...  improving legibility at small font sizes where few pixels are available..."

Support for Non-Latin Characters
This hasn't changed since Kindle, but it bears repeating here:
  ... Kindle Touch displays Cyrillic (such as Russian), Japanese, Chinese (Traditional and Simplified), and Korean characters, in addition to Latin and Greek scripts.

Full Image Zoom
(I miss this feature in reading normal books on my NookColor and it's said that the Adobe DRM format
for ePub has something to do with the limitation on that unit, which is otherwise very capable.)
"Images and photos display crisply on Kindle Touch 3G and can be zoomed to the full size of the screen."

Real Page Numbers
Again, many still don't know about this newer feature, which is on Kindle 3's as well.
  "Easily reference and cite passages or read alongside others in a book club or class with real page numbers.  ... we've created algorithms that match specific text in a Kindle book to the corresponding text in a print book, to identify the correct, "real" page number to display.

  Available on tens of thousands of our most popular Kindle books, including the top 100 bestselling books in the Kindle Store that have matching print editions.
  Page numbers are displayed when you touch the top of the screen.  (On the Kindle 3, it's done by pressing the Menu button.)

Carry and Read Your Personal Documents
Few know about this feature, which is getting even more support now.
  "You and your approved contacts can e-mail documents – including Word, PDF and more - directly to your Kindle and read them in Kindle format.  Delivery via Wi-Fi is free; there is a small fee for delivery via 3G - see details.

NEW TO KINDLE 3 AND NEW E-INK KINDLES
  "Your personal documents will be stored in your Kindle library on Amazon and ready to download conveniently anywhere at any time. You can add notes, highlights and bookmarks, which are automatically synchronized across devices along with the last page you read using our Whispersync technology."
  (Nate Hoffelder (and Felix Torres) had first noticed this by viewing the ManageYourKindle webpage source code and noting variables for pdocs and archiving.)

  ALSO, as has been true for well over a year, "You can read your PDFs in their native format AND convert them to the Kindle format so that it reflows like a regular Kindle book"

Personal Kindle Book Lending
  Besides public-library lending, already mentioned, "each eligible book (eligibility determined by the publisher] can be lent once for a period of 14 days."  [Publishers have held B&N to the same personal-lending rules]

Special Offers and Sponsored Screensavers
  This applies onlly to the "Special Offers" Kindle models, in this particular case the $149 Kindle Touch 3G.
Special offers are received on the unit, which also has sponsored screensavers seen only when not reading.
  Examples:
• $10 for $20 Amazon.com Gift Card
• Save up to $500 off Amazon's already low prices on select HDTVs
• $1 for a Kindle book, choose from thousands of books

Audible Audiobooks
As with previous models, you can listen to Audible books with the Kindle Touch 3G (as well as play mp3's).

DECISIONS
For those who are having a difficult time deciding on which of the many Kindles to get, be sure to see the "Compare Kindles" table on that product page, which comes with images of each model.  I haven't had time to give the WiFi-Only version of the Kindle Touch a thorough look yet, but the two devices should be the same except for the 3G module

   If you have any questions on what you see in that table, please feel free to ask here, and you can also visit the Kindle Community forums where there is always help from other customers 24/7.

---

For daily free ebooks, check the following links:

Temporarily-free books - Non-classics USA: by:    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK: PubDate   Popular What is 3G? and "WiFi"?       Battery Care Highly-rated under $1,  Newest: $1-$2, $2-$3

Most Popular Free K-Books U.S. & Int'l (NOT UK):    Top 100 free UK-Only:    Top 100 free USEFUL for your Kindle (U.S. only, currently):   99c Notepad 1.1,   99c Calculator,   99c Calendar,   99c Converter

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!

Kindle Software v2.5.x Tip 06/20/10 - Subscriptions and Personal Docs

I'm a fan of the TeleRead website - News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics - and recommend dropping by the site if you haven't, for a treat.  Varied, stimulating reading.

SOFTWARE VERSION V2.5.x CHANGES IN HANDLING OF "SHOW ONLY" categories
While at TeleReadtoday, I wrote a reply to a commenter's question, which is one that is asked often on the Amazon Kindle forums since the slow arrival of the new Kindle software update, which allows user-customizable categories and folder-like organizers named "Collections."

  (See the Intro and Guide to v2.5.x Features for one quick way to get the update for your Kindle model if you don't want to wait for the slowly distributed wireless delivery to a few million, globally.  It includes a step-by-step walkthrough for downloading the software and starting Collections.)

PERIODICALS AND PERSONAL DOCUMENTS, IN SOFTWARE VERSION V2.5.x
  Because the Kindle owner is able to decide the type of organization that would work best for them, Amazon eliminated the older structure of pre-set folders at the top of the Kindle (hidden until one navigates there) that allowed us to view only "Personal Documents," only "Subscriptions" (Periodicals), or only books (the default was: all Kindle content).

  The whole idea of Collections or categories with the new software update is to give us more control over how we want to see certain types of material.

  Here's what can be done for similar filtering of views.

Periodicals
When you sort your Home page listing by "Most Recent First," the "Periodicals" folder (a pre-set 'Collection’) is always on the last page, as is the "Archived Items" folder, which holds the titles of books at Amazon you own which are not on your Kindle currently but can be re-downloaded at any time.

The process to get to "Periodicals" (Subscriptions) is sometimes a bit faster now, since cursoring up, up, up is quite slow on the Kindle.

Now, you would just look at the number of pages shown at the bottom for your Home listing.
  Example: Page 1 of 8

If it's 8 pages, and you’ve chosen "Most Recent First" sorting:
  type '8' on the keypad and you’ll see gray text come up that says to 'click’ (on the 5-way)
  Example: click to go to page 8
Do that and you'll be on the last page, which has Periodicals and Archived Items

If you’re sorting by Title (alpha) on the Home page, then type ONLY the first character (no more than that or you'll be taken on a long Search instead) of the title you want and you'll see that gray-text, this time saying
  Click to go to P titles
which, if done, will get you to the P's where you’ll find the "Periodicals" pre-set folder or Collection.

Otherwise, "Periodicals" and "Archived Items" are always together on the last page when sorting Home listing by either "Most Recent First" or by "Collections."

Personal Documents
Another pre-set category that some Kindle software v2.5.x users miss is the "Personal Documents" view, but that was always problematical before, with Amazon deciding what a personal document is.  It often didn't correspond with our idea of it.

  Books purchased from sites like feedbooks.com or manybooks.net (mnybks.net) too often wound up in that folder, and actual personal documents could show up on the main book listing.  So, I prefer the current flexibility.
  The Kindle owner now decides what to designate a Collection or folder for any type of book or document.

  In fact, you can make a Collection titled Personal Docs and put ALL your personal documents in there as well as add each one to more topic-oriented Collections.

The new system is flexible when we remember that any book or doc can "belong to" a few Collections.

Wrinkles and Features
The latest issue of any periodical or subscription will show up on the Home listing, even when viewing by Collections sort, and the older issue it replaces will be put by Amazon into the Periodical pre-set Collection.

The latest blog overwrites (removes) the previous one and will always show up on the Home page listing.

Hope that helps some!

---

Check often:  Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers. 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!

Amazon Customer Service Q & A: Oct 7-12

These are from the Customer Service area of the Amazon forums, with links to the actual postings (which don't have hyperlinks or bolding for titles).
  I'll be keeping these reformatted copies, with hyperlinks added, as a set, in the reference section on the right-hand column.

10/7  Q&A
  Downloading Outside the U.S.,
  Non English Content and
  Documentation

Initial post: Oct 7, 2009 4:51 PM PDT
Last edited by the author on Oct 9, 2009 3:22 PM PDT
Amazon Kindle Customer Service says:

Traveling Outside the U.S. with Kindle (U.S. and International Wireless)

When traveling abroad, you can download books wirelessly from the Kindle Store or your Archived Items. U.S. customers will be charged a fee of $1.99 for international book downloads (this fee only applies when the U.S. customer is outside the U.S.).

U.S. customers can continue to receive all of their newspaper, magazine, and blog subscriptions via Whispernet while traveling abroad, for a weekly fee of $4.99, or $1.99 per issue.

To avoid any fees, customers can always download books, periodicals, and personal documents via their computer and transfer to their Kindle using USB. To download Kindle content to your computer visit www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle.

For non-U.S. customers, there are no additional charges for receiving books or periodicals wirelessly outside their home country.

English Only Text-to-Speech

The Text-to-Speech feature on our latest generation Kindles and Kindle DX can read English-language newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book's rights holder made this feature unavailable. The Text-to-Speech feature does not support reading in other languages.

Foreign Language Kindle Books

The Kindle Store includes primarily English-language books and U.S. and international newspaper and magazine titles with prices listed in U.S. Dollars.

To see if an item that interests you is available, please search for the title in the Kindle Store (http://www.amazon.com/kindlestore).

Foreign Language Kindle User's Guide

You can find non-English versions of some Kindle documentation available in PDF format on our Kindle Support pages:
  http://www/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200317150.

---

Oct 9  Q&A:
  Help Pages,
  Personal Docs,
  Your Country Setting, and
  Kindle U.S. Wireless Owners

Initial post: Oct 9, 2009 9:49 AM PDT
Last edited by the author on Oct 12, 2009 4:05 PM PDT
Amazon Kindle Customer Service says:

Updated Help Pages

The answers posted by Kindle Customer Service in this forum are often taken from the Kindle Support Pages. We've recently updated these pages to make it easier to find the information you're looking for, you can visit them at: http://www.amazon.com/kindlesupport.

Customer service focuses on the most common questions and keeps these announcements at the top of the forum, making them easy to find. You'll also find that many knowledgeable Kindle owners participate in these forums and will answer questions for new Kindle owners.

Foreign Language Personal Documents

Kindle can display non-English content that uses the ISO 8859-1 character set (which is based on the Latin languages). The only characters from this set not currently supported are: spades, clubs, hearts, up-arrow, down-arrow, alpha, beta, and gamma. Kindle also supports Greek characters and monospace fonts.

Your Country Setting

When shopping the Kindle Store you will see the book selection available to you based on your home country. Your home country or region should be set to the country where you live. You can update your home country or region on the Manage Your Kindle Page (http://www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle). Scroll down to the "Your country" section and select the "Edit" option to change.

Kindle U.S. Wireless Owners

The new Kindle with U.S. and International Wireless uses different built-in 3G GSM technology that allows it to access Whispernet internationally. A Kindle with U.S. Wireless only cannot be modified or updated to allow it to access Whispernet from outside U.S.

Edit: added "Browsing the Kindle Store by Country" section (10/9)

---

Oct 12  Q&A:
  Ordering Kindle in Australia,
  Shipping Kindle to APO Addresses,
  and Kindle U.S. Wireless Price Drop

Initial post: Oct 12, 2009 4:03 PM PDT ...
Last edited by the author on Oct 13, 2009 ~11:45 AM PDT
Amazon Kindle Customer Service says:

Australian Customers Ordering Kindle (U.S. and International Wireless)

To order Kindle (U.S. and International Wireless) in Australia, please click the link presented to you after selecting that country on the Kindle product page. This will take you to a separate page for Kindles shipped to Australia:
http://www.amazon.com/Wireless-International-Generation-charging-Australia/dp/B000GF7ZRA

This Kindle purchase will include a USB cable for charging via your computer, but does not include a US power adapter.

Shipping Kindle to APO Addresses

U.S. Customers living or traveling abroad can have Kindle (U.S. and International Wireless) shipped to eligible countries. Shipping may not be available to all APO/FPO addresses. To check, please enter the shipping address at checkout. We do not allow you to place orders to APO/FPO addresses where we will not be able to ship.

Kindle U.S. Wireless Price Drop

If your order for Kindle (U.S. Wireless) was shipped between Sept 6 and October 6, 2009, please contact Customer Service and we will refund the $40 price difference.

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!