Showing posts with label subscriptions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label subscriptions. Show all posts

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Kindle Tips: Amazon's new Manage Your Kindle page, now 'Manage Your Content & Devices' page, is being rolled out to more customers. An intro -- What's new? A lot is different. Some answers to initial questions. Updated June 16 for triple-tap zoom feature.


Since January 2014, Amazon has been phasing in a new Content and Devices page to replace the old "Manage Your Kindle" ("MYK") page (normally used on one's computer rather than on any mobile device). '

  That link now leads many of us to this new page-layout (and title) that looks entirely different and is titled "Manage Your Content & Devices."  It's being rolled out slowly, and it appears that maybe half of the customers discussing this are seeing the new page.

  I didn't see mine change until today (but I haven't checked the Manage Your Kindle page often).
  On the other hand, a forum thread discussing the page, started in January, showing that only some customers were receiving the page, and then there was no activity between late March and May 29, 2014.
  Furthermore, the new page appears to be different from what some received in January.

  The important thing is that this is the new "Management" page for content and devices associated with your Kindles, once you receive or see the revised version of that Amazon webpage.

  Some have reported seeing the changed page when using Google's Chrome browser but not when using IE, Firefox, or Safari.  Others report it seen under Firefox but not IE, so it probably depends on your computer or location too, as far as distribution goes.
  BUT some have seen the newer version of the page if they LOG OUT of Amazon and then log back in.

NOTE AND CAUTION: Amazon has been changing the new content and device management page based on feedback and its own experience since January 2014, and customers at the forum report that the latest version looks quite different from what some saw and used in January-March.

What's definitely New with what used to be the 'Manage Your Kindle' Page?
This control page now allows you to do 'Deliver' or 'Delete' actions on multiple books at one  time.  You can also choose from other action options for individual books.

  The 'Search' option word isn't always visible and, in those cases, the magnifying glass icon for Search replaces it.  This tends to happen when the size of the browser window you're using is small, with less display space available then, for web information in that window.  But many had wondered where the 'Search' option was.

   The page uses normal text now, and the scrolling of books and information is MUCH faster! And easier to read too.

  HOWEVER, the sorting by Title is VERY GLITCHY.  I was checking "Cleopatra" which had an update on it and found that when sorting by "Title: A-Z" or "Title: Z-A" that book sometimes did not show up.
   The ascending sort had only four books beginning with 'C' while the descending sort showed 28 books starting with 'C'... If I waited a LONG time, then some of the missing books would show up but would be displayed out of alphabetical order (in both ascending and descending sorts). This display sorted by Title needs work.

  As usual, the Sort By Author sometimes uses FIRST name and sometimes uses LAST name for the order displayed -- it seems to depend on what the data inputter (or programming function) decided.
  Sometimes it sorts by last name even when showing first name + last nane (with no commas), but sometimes it sorts by First name under those circumstances.  No real change here, unfortunately.

  The sorting options are by title, author or purchase date, with options for ascending and descending order for each.

  EXPIRED library books show up now under Loans (a category under "All" box) even after you've tried to delete them forever, but this way we can see what we've borrowed, probably read, and returned.

  Also, while there are apparently more steps now to do a loan of a Kindle book to a friend,
  KaJoLa points out that::
    "I just did a book loan today right from the product page.  Maybe you would want to try that.  It was quite simple."

  NON-Kindle books (in .mobi, PDF, or txt format and not purchased from Amazon) are placed in the "Docs" category rather than the "Books" category.

  Settings and information for In-app subscriptions are now at the new layout's Subscription Settings


From customer discussions at the Kindle Community Forums:

FoundQuilting adds that the processes are now faster because
  "...you no longer have to wait for it to load all your books before you can start doing stuff with them."

CBP the bookworm points out "an easy way to delete pending deliveries that you no longer want to have delivered.  "Just bring up the ["Pending Deliveries"] category [found under "Books" box], select, and delete.  Easy!"

Re requesting an Update for a book book you purchased earlier:
  In the individual Cover view, if there is an Update for a book, that info shows when you click on "Actions" box to the left of the book title.

CBP the bookworm writes "...in Settings [a top-menu option on that page], click on "automatic book update" and opt in...

  And, for individual books, available updates show up for the book when there's an update available for it -- click on 'Actions' box for that book title to see this.  I've usually received emails from Amazon when there are book updates available, with the option to download it, or not.

Snowlady Sandy writes:
A nice thing about the search, for example , is that if you type Christmas then it will give you books of a Christmas theme, the word Christmas doesn't have to be in the title... The book All I Have To Give will come up as well as Sara In Montana..."


Other changes
If you have thousands of books, the main control page just keeps adding information as you scroll down it and it's therefore a slow process, so it's best to do a search for a given book.

  Add that this long forever-scrolling page (for those with thousands of books) can use up a lot of computer memory and become more sluggish as it goes -- worse, if you have thousands of books, you won't be able to view them all on that page.

At a certain point, depending on your computer, or when performing delete actions on multiple items, it can stop at a given point, taking you back to the beginning.  No fun in those cases.  Don't try to do too much at a time.
  Depending on your computer, maybe, some can perform an action on up to 10 items at a time. Others find they can, at least initially, act on up to 25 at a time).

SO, remember the SEARCH option as well as options to start from the opposite end of a sort or to display books by another display category (title, author, or purchase date).

  NOTE:  to return to the beginning of your full list of books after a Search action, you need to empty the search box.

Viewing the new Manage Your Kindle ["Content and Devices"] page on a SMALLER device (laptop or tablet), if you don't have a computer to do this, can seem difficult, as the normal resizing and zooming of FONTs doesn't work and the page can be unreadable then.

  Customer monilee writes:
  " I received an email from Amazon.  Just in case anyone else had a problem reading the newest myk page you have to triple tap on that page to enlarge it.  Made it much easier for me to use once I could see it. '

 BUT that did NOT work for my HDX 8.9" Kindle Fire Tablet, while my Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Windows 8.1 laptop CAN resize the page and fonts normally -- the Kindle Fire HDX resists any attempt to zoom the Manage Your Kindle and Devices page or fonts on fixed-size pages.  The page is readable, as-is, on the larger 8.9" HDX tablet though.

  [Update 6/16/14:  In the Comments section of this post, Tom Semple wrote that he believed this function would have to be enabled in "Accessibility" settings.
  Sure enough that's true; On my 8.9" Kindle Fire HDX, I found the setting labeled as "Screen Magnifier" option under the 'Accessibility' setting.
  My Kindle Fire HD 7" Gen 1 (Yr 2012) does NOT have this feature, but I think it's probably enabled in Yr 2013's Kindle Fire HD Gen 2.

  After enabling the Screen Magnifier, you can triple-tap on a page layout that normally doesn't allow zoomed enlargements of the text, and the text will be larger and definitely easier to read.  To get the text size back to normal setting, triple-tap the display again.  (Thanks, Tom! -- End of update]

Upshot
SO, it seems the new page is being rolled out in a second phase, starting a couple of days ago.

Most won't see it right away, I imagine.  I'm usually among the last to get new updates, so I thought I should get some info together, because the first phase of this was very confusing to some.  That earlier version (some reported that they were later returned to seeing the old Manage Your Kindle page) had an option to show the list of books with cover images but apparently that was just too slow-loading for anyone and that's no longer an option at this time.  (I'm glad).

   There were reports of an interesting new option in that first version, involving the option to select a device to see which books were already downloaded to it (those titles had checkmarks beside them)  and also showed 'downloadable' arrows for books in the Cloud library that were not on the device.  This interesting feature isn't on my version of the new Content and Kindle-compatible Device management page, but maybe they'll try adding that again later.

I'll be interested in what readers discover: joys or pains, etc., and any workarounds you've found.




Current Kindle Models for reference, plus free-ebook search links.
US:
New Kindle Fire HD 7" 2nd Gen - $139/169
Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16-64GB - $229/269/309
Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 16-64GB - $379/429/479
- with 4G added: $479/529/579
Kindle Fire HD 8.9" 16GB - 1st Gen $269 $229
  $299 Price rise ~2/24/14
- 32GB w/ no special-offers: $314
Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $69/$89
Kindle Touch WiFi - $99
Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi - $119/$139
Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi+3G - $189
Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free web
Kindle DX - $379 $199
UK:
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £59
Kindle Paperwhite 2, WiFi
£109
Kindle Paperwhite2 3G, UK
£169
Kindle Fire Basic HD 8/16GB, UK
 from £119
Kindle Fire HDX 7" 16-64GB, UK
from £199. 4G/3G
Kindle Fire HDX 8.9" 16-64GB, UK - from £329. 4G/3G

CANADA - Kindlestore, CDN-$
Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $79
Kindle Paperwhite 2 - $139
Kindle Paperwhite 2, 3G - $209
KFire HD Yr 2012 7" $214,  8.9" $244.
Yr 2013 KFires: HD Gen2, HDX line
India - Amazon India


*OTHER Int'l pages*
Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89
Paperwhite 2 WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $209
KFire HD Yr 2012: 7" $214,  8.9" $244
Yr 2013: HD Gen2 + HDX line

Australia Kindlestore
France Boutique Kindle
Deutschland - Kindle Store
Italia - Kindle Store
Spain - Tienda Kindle
Brazil - Amazon Brazil
China - Amazon China [?]
Amazon Japan - Japan


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.

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(Older posts have older Kindle model info. For latest models, see CURRENT KINDLES page. )
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Questions & feedback are welcome in the Comment areas (tho' spam is deleted). Thanks!

Sunday, June 20, 2010

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!

Thursday, September 24, 2009

A bit more on the iRex DR800Sg e-reader


UPDATE to the main iRex e-reader story

At the left are the Kindle DX and the iRex DR800Sg side by side.

  For the $89 difference between the two:

1.  PDFs will be considerably smaller on the iRex and, as I mentioned yesterday, they are already often too small on the Kindle DX.
2.  The 3G wireless for the Kindle allows web browsing with no limits on sites and with brief emails doable.  This allows direct downloads to the Kindle device from a few other bookstores.
But the iRex wireless will go only to the Barnes and Noble store and to NewspaperDirect and no emails would be possible.

  Where the iRex will shine is in the look of the periodicals it can bring you from the NewspaperDirect site (as well as the choices available), as those are laid out as they are with the actual newspapers rather than using the generic text used for the Kindle subscriptions with just a few photos for the latter.  The SD card will be needed for the added storage space that'll take.
  Questions:
  How much will the iRex's periodical-subscription costs be?  No word on that yet.
  What will be the speed be like, with the e-Ink screen?

SOME QUOTES FROM WEDNESDAY answered a few questions:

STYLUS NOTE-TAKING NOT READY YET
and WHY NOT a HAND-TOUCHSCREEN?

PC World/internetnews.com
  Kevin Hamilton, CEO for IREX in North America, explained that
' "Instead of a finger-driven touchscreen, the DR800SG uses a magnetic resonance stylus, in part to maintain the brightness of the display," said Brons.
  He said the additional transparent touch layer needed to enable finger navigation would have decreased screen brightness by 15 to 20 percent.
  Hamilton noted that Sony's Reader uses just such a touch layer, with the expected detrimental effect on brightness.  Clicking is performed with the stylus or by pushing down on the flip bar [on the left side), which is pushed from side to side for page-turns.

 He added that while the device is ready for electronic ink based note taking, the application that enables the function wasn't quite ready but would be added later as a free update.

 The edge of the unit is blank except for a power switch and a mini-USB socket. Installed in the battery compartment on the back is a 2GB SD Card, which can hold up to 1,500 e-books and can be replaced with a larger-capacity card. '

AIRTIME CHARGES LATER MAYBE
'  He noted, however, that there may be airtime charges for future vertical business applications if they consume a significant amount of wireless bandwidth. '

THE KINDLE'S UNNECESSARY BELLS & WHISTLES?
NetbookBoards.com has this:
' IRex CEO Hans Brons has taken some shots at the Kindle already, hinting that Amazon’s device is too limited and at the same time too fancy.
“We’ve tried to create [an] as neutral as possible device – without any whistles and bells and what have you.” '
Well, that's one way of saying iRex doesn't have some bells & whistles that the Kindles offer, such as web-browsing and email capability + easier notetaking capabilities while iRex currently has ready only the virtual keyboard.  But maybe NetbookBoards was a bit harsh on the statement there.


FULL CONTENT FROM NEWSPAPERS, ADS TOO, HELPS PUBLISHER REVENUES
InternetNews quotes a statement at NewspaperDirect pointing out that full content of periodicals will be downloaded with no missing pieces, and with all the ads:
'...PressReader allows users to download over 1,000 full-content newspapers in their original format, with all the articles, pictures, cartoons and advertisements found in the printed editions.  This ensures that all 1,000 publications on the iRex are recognized as audited paid circulation by international audit bureaus, a critical factor for publishers looking to increase revenues and reach. '

VIDEOS - The first one mentions that the iRex DR800Sg software doesn't work with Macs currently.
  As I mentioned yesterday, the newspaper layout is a BIG plus.  Watch CNet's videoclip on the new 8.1" model and then the youtube video by "pressdisplay" showing what the iRex newspaper editions are like although this one is showing the larger 10" iRex DR1000S.

  They're beautiful but if you look at these from the perspective of someone about to READ the content shown, the print is really tiny so at times there may be a lot of zooming involved.  Note that in the first video though, which is on today's 8.1" model, the newspaper layout is for the full page and when you stylus-click an article you want to read, you get a very straight text-version of the story that looks easy to read.

  Again, the size is iffy.  Large for a novel and small for pdfs and newspapers.  If they ever bring down the cost of the 10" model ($989 for the iRex DR1000s) that'll be the one that works for serious academic and business use once the interface problems reported are gone. 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.

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(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!

Thursday, May 28, 2009

Going from the Kindle 2 to, or adding, a DX

When Amazon released the Kindle 2 in February, many Kindle 1 owners decided to sell their Kindle 1's to get a Kindle 2.
  Soon, some Kindle 2 owners will move to or add Kindle DX units.

Amazon has a terrific feature which allows one person to share Kindle books purchased from Amazon with up to 5 other Kindle units IF the other Kindles are under that person's account -- meaning the account owner pays for all Amazon Kindle books ordered by any of the other Kindle users.

However, when it comes to subscriptions to Kindle versions of newspapers or magazines, this can't be done. Amazon explains that publishers have demanded that a newspaper or magazine be allowed on only one unit. A subscription owner can't share a morning newspaper with another household member, even, except to give up the Kindle for awhile.

Books purchased from Amazon are backed up and kept on their servers for owners to re-download when wanted if these had been deleted from the Kindle to save the mind from the sight of too many books in the listing.  Amazon even backs up (with approval) any highlighting or notes made so that these are also downloadable with the book as needed.

Preparation by Amazon
Amazon will need to address one area of confusion that will arise (and already has caused some unhappiness when an owner receives a Kindle replacement for a defective or malfunctioning unit).

The problem is the inability to open, for viewing on the replacement or subsequent Kindle, any older magazine or newspaper issues that were purchased more than 7 issues past.
  In the non-Kindle world, owners like to stack up older magazines to read individual articles later or to revisit them.

For Kindlers who buy magazines and want to keep them for reference (the library concept again, including the NY Sunday Times with its book reviews and its Sunday Magazine), the benefit is the ability to search their Kindles for references in those older book reviews or world news.

This traditional use of older periodicals is possible currently only if a Kindle owner keeps these older issues on the current Kindle and also keeps the current Kindle -- but it's not possible if wanting to view these on a replacement Kindle, even when upgrading and spending more for the next unit.

  When the old Kindle (even a malfunctioning one) is gone, so are the older issues.

The reason for the problem
Newspapers and magazines are kept on Amazon servers for only the last seven issues or so.  But these issues can stay on the original Kindle and of course they can be backed up onto the owner's computer(s) -- and therein lies a problem that will be seen more when customers add a DX to the household or move to the DX from the Kindle 2.

Why? Because many have decided to order a DX for reading the newspaper at home or for reading PDFs while at the office - while using the Kindle 2 as a more portable device outside the home for reading current news and books.  Or they are selling their Kindle 2, with old subscription issues on it.

Decision to be made
An individual who owns both a Kindle 2 and a DX will have to decide which unit will get the periodicals -- the one used when commuting to work?  Or the big one at home, which is marketed as better for newsreaders and PDFs?

As before, the DX is better for reading newspapers but older magazine articles won't be openable on the DX even if the user's Kindle 2 is sold.
  As mentioned, this happened to many when moving from the Kindle 1 to the Kindle 2.

There IS a solution, and I hope Amazon addresses this before the situation is a surprise to new DX owners moving from the older Kindles:
SOLUTION:
Allow Kindle owners to upload, to an Amazon area, the older magazine issues - those older magazine files have fields that give the specific ID of the older Kindle unit and, as a result, the older issues can be read only on the unit that has an ID matching the device ID number in those fields.

  Amazon could have a batch process in place that would replace the files' fields for device ID information with the ID for the owner's new current Kindle device.
This is a DRM (Digital-Rights-Management) or copyright issue - a very hot topic right now in the e-books area.  Respect for Copyrighted works is important to most creators of work, and to their publishers.
  However, there's such a thing as unnecessarily restrictive execution of copyright protection procedures that don't permit an owner of a purchased magazine to be able to read older issues except with one device which may no longer be functioning or which has been sold to another person.

  I've talked with customer representatives about this but they have received no information as to how this will be handled for the DX purchases.  I'm hoping Amazon will have a solution in place before the release though.

  A post to a forum today reminded me that Customer Service, while very responsive to any problems with individual Kindles, moves slowly on some issues important to Kindle owners such as the long standing one in which customer Ted Inoue has requested that Amazon let him know if his darker fonts installed by many happy Kindle owners might void the warranty.  He presented the recommended font-set sampes to the Developers via Customer Service some time ago.

  The Kindle-1 customizable-screensavers-installation (similar in scope of external modification) received assurances from Customer Service that the install would not void the Kindle 1 warranty.   Inoue is still awaiting word on his recommended font-sets (they exist as trials or tests) for use by Amazon, as are other Amazon customers, hoping to keep using the added fonts that help with screen-contrast issues for some. 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.

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(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!

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