Kindle News and Tips: How to Email Pictures to your Kindle Fire, and Webpages to your Kindle

Miscellaneous News

Opposing Views's Andrew McClain, Science area, asks: "Can You Put Pictures on Your Kindle via Email?" and then answers the question.

McClain points out that you can send photos to your Kindle Fire's email address, as "personal documents" (under the "Docs" tab at the top of the device).

  There are two ways to find out what a Kindle device's email address is.

  1. If your Kindle Fire isn't nearby, you can use the browser on your computer or another tablet or phone to check your Amazon "Manage Your Kindle" area - in this case, specifically, the "Personal Docs Settings" page, which has the listing of your "Send-to-Kindle EMail Settings," which is especially useful when you have more than one type of Kindle.

    OR

  2. If you have your Kindle Fire at hand, use the method described by McClain in his general instructions:

' STEP 1
Tap the "Settings" icon, and then select "More..." then "My Account."
Your Kindle Fire email address appears below your name.

STEP 2
Send an email to your Kindle Fire address with your image attached to it.

STEP 3
Activate your Kindle Fire's Wi-Fi. The image will appear in the carousel after several minutes.  Tap on it to open the image.  The image also appears on the "Docs" tab. '

Reminder on how to send WEBpages to your Kindle as "Personal Documents"

Amazon's own Send to Kindle for Google Chrome was the latest method and it's been updated recently.  Here's the general Amazon page for SendtoKindle from Firefox also, as well as from PC and Mac via Email, or from an Android device.  It's quite straightforward.

 In the blog article of August 17, 2012, linked just above, I'd mentioned that my own favorite "SendTo" method for Kindles has been SendtoReader's because I can use it with any browser, on the PC or on my Kindle Fire and other Android tablets.

  The excellent comments received on the original article about SendtoReader and then to the later blog article about the updated feature are a very interesting read.  The author, Sergey Pozhilov, is extremely responsive to questions and requests for added features.

---

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

  NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 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 - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - ~£89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $199

*OTHER International* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China Japan - Amazon 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.

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: Now a Vivaldi "Big Box" mp3 album for 99c. Kindle Paperwhite thoughts in the news. Two Off-Topic news alerts.

Yet another composer Big Box of full works on mp3
Big Vivaldi Box - This one, released February 26 as part of the Bach Guild/Vanguard series, has 'only' 7.5 hours of music on it, on 138 tracks.

From the Bach Guild's notes in the reviews section:
  "...Alirio Diaz, Julius Baker, the musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic and the inexhaustible I Solisti di Zagreb's Antonio Janigro all embraced Vivaldi, and got to cherry pick the best of these new concertos that were coming out of the libraries, unearthed by music scholars with sudden free reign to this material...

  "Again, it's slightly insane to apologize for only 7+ hours of music for .99 - but what you have here is almost every note of Vivaldi that The Bach Guild recorded.  We have eliminated duplications, substituting the new Vivaldi concerto recordings from the late 1970s, which have been, oddly, harder to get than the marvelous 1950s-era I Solisti and Chamber Orchestra of Vienna State Opera recordings.  We wanted to give our members a better sounding choice - and fresher material as well ... So while it may only be 7.5 hours long - almost all of it is brand new to the digital world...As we mentioned earlier, we have made a choice to prefer newer, stereo takes rather than mono performances."

The Bach Guild also notes in a probably not-much-seen comments area to a customer review, that the currently missing big Beethoven Box WAS "pulled down while we correct some tracking issues.  We apologize for the errors."  So, that'll be back.


A spate of personal-style Kindle Paperwhite reviews as the front-lit e-reader is released worldwide and purchased, late, in the U.S. as well ...

"New Kindle a sight for sore eyes" - Herald Sun, Australia, by Jennifer Dudley-Nicholson, March 6.

  "The Paperwhite only recently arrived in Australia after a four-month wait but it's fast making fans and not just for its glow...The main attraction is that light, however, and it's not a feature Amazon has added hastily.  The LED lighting lies at the top of the screen, angled towards the E-Ink display so it doesn't shine directly into the reader's eyes.

  Despite its positioning, the entire screen seems consistently illuminated and the lighting is subtle enough, in most environments, that you don't think about it.  It's also worth noting that only the wi-fi Paperwhite model is available in Australian stores currently, though it can be bought from Amazon.
  Small issues aside, the Kindle Paperwhite is clearly a standout and the finest e-book reader to date..."

"Kindle Paperwhite is my new favorite gadget, via om.es national news service.
  This one's about transitioning from a 2nd generation Kindle to the Paperwhite.  The writer keeps the Kindle 2 for writing, as he's used to the physical keyboard on it (and apparently is a very patient person).

  That article, from March 6 also, turns out to be written by Wayne Williams, who 3 weeks ago wrote "Why I Love Kindle" - published by betanews, an article written after he had his first novel published.  The comments posted to that article are interesting.

  As with many others, Williams resisted anything like a Kindle, since he loved books and "couldn't ever imagine switching to an ebooks reader" but was then given the device for Christmas, 2009, and despite his reservations, "fell in love with it almost immediately."

  For those of us with e-Ink Kindles, who bought one early, the story is familiar.
In that same year, 2009, I wrote the following in a blog entry (bold-facing mine):

' For me, who had not read much for years when not on the computer..., it's been interesting to see how pulled I am to read on the Kindle.
  In trying to explain it to the members of a writer's blog area (Catching Days, by Cynthia Newberry Martin) who had been lamenting the popularity of the Kindle because they love the look, smell and feel of books (do visit them, very good conversations there), I wrote on June 28 [2009]:

" I finally realized that the rectangle acts as a sort of magic window for me (as a paper book does for others) into other worlds, so much of it available to me at any given time, depending on my mood, my need to learn something I ordinarily wouldn’t but have downloaded a book for, and I never wonder 'where did I put that book' or regret leaving it at home when out and about.  Every book I’m currently interested in is with me whenever I leave the house.  And then there are the newspapers and magazines.  I am, most of all, info-drawn.

We who Kindle quite a bit sometimes joke that we are book readers, not book sniffers :-) But more seriously, what is a book ?

A collection and special distribution of words written by someone who wants to tell me something, who wants me to get lost in the world created by that person.  When an author sits down to write, I don’t think that s/he is thinking about what the cover will look like (though that always comes later) or what the layout of the externals will be.

What I experience when reading on my Kindle is — without attention to those eye-catching externals — something that feels like direct contact with the author’s mind..." '

Back to Williams' similar reactions (bold-facing mine):

' Despite my passion for technology I was concerned that I wouldn’t enjoy reading a book on the Kindle as much as reading a real, proper, made-of-paper novel, but it turns out the exact opposite is true. You forget, once you’ve gotten used to how the E Ink display flickers when you "turn" pages, that you’re reading on an alien, electronic device, because your mind concentrates on the words, not the way they’re being delivered.  On the message, not the medium. '

Now Williams has his Paperwhite.  He explains what he likes about it.
  "Moving around is just a case of touching the left and right sides of the screen to turn pages, and tapping the top of the display to access the menu. If you want to look up a word you just press and hold it for a bit, then let go and the definition pops up. You can share and highlight text or add notes in the same way."  You'll find his many other reasons at his article.


Off-topic alerts I happened to see while reading e-reader news

Bumble Bee, Chicken of the Sea tuna cans recalled over contamination worries - March 7, 2013

NECC insider describes fraud at heart of meningitis outbreak.  This includes links to a few news stories, including a CBS News one dated March 7 about the shipment of "17,000 vials of a contaminated steroid to 23 states" [used to relieve chronic pain} "and now a fungus is inside them."
  "The full investigation can be seen this Sunday (today) on "60 Minutes" at 7 p.m. ET."

---

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!

Kindle Fire News: Kindle Fire's fast-growing popularity: 2nd most popular tablet vendor...Gets Green Throttle gaming system before Google Play

"Amazon: The Second Most Desirable Tablet Vendor" - per BGR

BGR's Tero Kuittinen wrote that headline yesterday, when they took a look at a survey by Yankee Group that showed the Kindle Fire as the "second most desirable vendor among consumers planning to buy a tablet" per BGR, while the graph showed survey responses to "What brand tablet do you intend to buy?"

Of course, Apple, at 47% of US Consumers citing that brand, leads the pack with its iPad, the first one released almost 3 years ago.  Yankee Group's report focuses on Samsung's plans to double their tablet sales in 2013, but while they've been in that business for awhile, the graph shows a somewhat higher percentage of consumers intending to buy an Amazon Kindle Fire tablet.  Now, the 7% vs 6% number isn't statistically meaningful, but what stands out is it came from virtually nowhere to "squeeze ahead" of both Samsung and Hewlett-Packard, not to mention the other biggies such as Dell, Motorola and HTC.  As BGR puts it:

' The jumped-up bookshop has managed to seriously challenge leading hardware companies. '

They point out that the Nook's continuing inability to make its mark in consumer mindshare (and not mentioned in the survey) will continue to be a factor in Kindle tablet's momentum.

  In fact, Yankee Group doesn't mention Amazon's survey results, and its own story about the Nook's problems had some interesting wording in it:

About Barnes & Noble Board chairman Leonard Riggio's plans to buy all the assets of the bookseller's retail business while excluding the Nook business, CEO William Lynch put it this way:

  “We see substantial value in what we’ve built with our Nook business in only two years, and we believe it’s the right time to investigate our options to unlock that value.”

  "Unlock" is the new "Dump."

  In my blog article (Feb. 14) detailing three big reasons that B&N's tablet, with good hardware, could not succeed in B&N's closed-off view of the world, it should be clearly seen how difficult it will be for another company to make it work.  I didn't even mention the well-known problem of a non-competitive ecosystem for that tablet.

  In fact, in the same Yankee Group article, Yankee Group Research VP Carl Howe doesn't mention the long-range planning that has been Amazon's basic mode nor that store's ability to profit from the presence of desktop- and tablet-using consumers exploring all that is retailed at Amazon, not all of it with smallest margins.

  He looks at it from a more limited point of view:

“Barnes & Noble is experiencing the pain that comes from competing with an irrational market competitor, Amazon.  Amazon doesn’t try to make money from its Kindle e-readers, while Barnes & Noble thinks making money on hardware would be a good idea..."

  Um...

  Back to BGR's Tero Kuittinen. "...if the tablet market continues shifting towards the sub-$200 price bracket, Amazon is now best-positioned to benefit from the trend."

  Yes.  And would the auto industry offer only more expensive cars and ignore those whose priorities would lean toward economy autos?  Would Sony make TVs only in the most expensive range?  It's not so much about shifting but scaling.


Green Throttle launches Kindle Fire HD gaming system with local multiplayer support
In line with the above, TechSpot's Jose Vilches writes that "Led by Guitar Hero co-creator Charles Huang, Green Throttle aims to turn any Android device into a gaming platform by pairing it with a dual-stick gamepad and what they call a multitiered gaming system housed on an Android app."

Surprisingly, the Green Throttle Arena app is available for the Kindle Fire HD (both the 7" and 8.9" models) before it rolls out to the Google Play Store by the end of the month, for other Android-based tablets and smartphones, "starting with the Samsung Galaxy S3 (which means my Kindle Fire gets it well before my Samsung Galaxy S2).

  The Atlas controller

' connects via Bluetooth to the Kindle Fire HD, which itself pipes out video and audio from the Arena app to an HDTV via a micro HDMI cable.  Fire everything up and you can start gaming on your living room TV. '

(Some of us already have an HDMI cable to show Kindle Fire videos and web browsing on an HDTV.)

Of course, one would have to buy the hardware first.  Amazon carries both the Single Controller and 2-Player Bundle and they're eligible for Prime shipping.
  The free app itself already has two reviews, but although they are Amazon Verified Purchases, both are from reviewers who started reviewing at the time this product was released.  There are no hardware reviews yet for either controller product.

  AFTER I wrote this, I saw that TechSpot wrote this from Venture Beat's article by Rus McLaughlin.  There's more detail in that article.  McLaughlin writes:

' The Arena app leverages existing mobile hardware and creates a central hub for finding, buying, and playing games.  Connect your device to a television using a Micro HDMI cable, and those games automatically scale to the HD picture.  I watched a simple twin-stick shooter go from a 7-inch tablet screen to a 55-inch LCD with absolutely no loss in image quality. '

  As for the reason the Kindle Fire was chosen for the first release of Arena:

' “It’s a way to promote different game developers and different games that work with our controllers,” says Matt Crowley, an alumnus of Nokia, Palm, and Philips Electronics now serving as Green Throttle’s chief operating officer.  “We decided to do our commercial release on the Kindle Fire — it’s marketed as a $199 e-book, but it’s actually a pretty good gaming system.” '

  McLaughlin adds:

' Priority goes to the devices that make the games look good. The hardware itself handles the negotiation for scaling up to an HDTV...
...
...the powerhouse game consoles set to release this fall could find themselves at a severe disadvantage. Green Throttle’s hardcore gaming system will run on hundreds of popular devices that iterate on a yearly basis, and with a (perceived) entry cost of $40, it will easily run consumers 1/10th or less the likely purchase price of a PlayStation 4. '

The display resolution of the Kindle Fire HD 7" is 1280 x 800 pixels, suitable for a 720p HDTV.
The Kindle Fire HD 8.9" is 1920 x 1200 and would more likely fill a very large HDTV screen better.

VIDEO: VentureBeat's GamesBeat has an exclusive video on how this new gaming hub works (setup, mostly), presented by Jason Woodward, the low-key designer of the Arena software, though they don't actually show a game being played.  They should issue follow-up, higher-energy video though.
  NOTE: Kindle-Edition subscribers of the blog won't be able to get the video on their e-Ink Kindles.

Update - The Sacramento Bee has a PR release that details existing and upcoming games.

---

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

  NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 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 - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - ~£89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $199

*OTHER International* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China Japan - Amazon 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.

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: A good Handel "Big Box" mp3 album with 302 tracks, for 99 cents temporarily. Ongoing free and bargain book links added.

A special price on another newly-released mp3 album from Bach Guild/Vanguard Classics (Feb. 19, 2013)

Big Handel Box mp3 album

As mentioned recently, the promo price reported on January 15, for the Beethoven Big Box mp3 offering didn't last long, and the Beethoven mp3 album page is now gone, not listed currently, and it's likely that they took it down to correct tracks and track listings identified by customers for that box at the time.  Even then, the same customer reviewers considered it a must-buy, for those interested in classical music, at 99c with the errors noted.

The Big Mozart Box, released January 2013 with 131 tracks and still (as of March 4) being made available for 99 cents for the entire album, also has many excellent performances by some big name recording artists.  The blog article for that one was just 2 weeks ago.

  The newly released Big Handel Box mp3 album continues the series, presenting works with all movements present and in correct sequence, unlike what's seen with compilations sold by others.  But the Bach Guild/Vangard Classics label has a good reputation for its collection back to the 60s, and the general sound quality on them is considered quite good, overall, with apparently few exceptions noted.

There are 302 tracks in this 99c album, with about 14 hours of music.
  Much of it involves vocal works with orchestra, but there are 2 oboe concertos plus the Water Music Suite, and 6 flute sonatas, several of the latter are well known.

  Some of the works use countertenors, an acquired taste, and the lead countertenor here, Alfred Deller, used a head tone and vibrato that doesn't usually appeal to me particularly, but he has a great reputation for musicianship, and his son, Mark, who sings the works with him is excellent.  If you're wanting to become familiar with Handel's output, this is a very good way to do that, for the 99 cents for the 302 tracks.

  They're mainstream performances by forces popular a few decades ago and are not in the "original instrument period performance" style popular with some of us today, though I enjoy the older, somewhat more romantic style when I'm in that mood, and many listeners prefer that in general.

  The Bach Guild uses the review-space to explain a lot of it. Some points made:

' ... This set does include a marvelous, really marvelous collection of high quality performances of Handel’s vocal and choral output.   Most of it is new to digital download - almost all of the vocal performances are new to Amazon’s customers.
...
...we do like to please the knowledgeable customers who are looking for previously unreleased material - and we’ve seen in some of the longer reviews some members are very in-tune with what is available and what isn’t.  The “goodies” in this set are the Rutgers University Choir recordings of the Chandos Anthems, which has been completely unavailable digitally until now, and has been out of print on CD for almost 20 years.  The recording of Alexander’s Feast is only available digitally as part of a much larger set. Same with my own personal favorite, the recording that leads off this box, the Ode on the Birthday of Queen Anne, with that magical opening “Eternal Source”, a favorite recording of Alfred Deller and Seymour Solomon of Vanguard. There are also some oboe concerti that have never been available digitally as well.'
...
... some recordings are mono; there are no stereo sources. We really have no way in this space to indicate that. We will try to do it on our web site... '

Customer JGK has identified two labeling errors - the music for tracks 271 and 272 are switched, so he switches the files in the player.

Customer Roberto Arboleda Z pointed out two errors on track 220 at marks 2:13 and 4:11 (blips, I guess).

With 16 customer reviews so far, there are 14 reviewers giving 5 stars and two giving 3 stars, the latter including the hearing of two 'errors' heard on one track and one wish for mp3 bit rates higher than 320.

Stephen M. Lerch, a Vine Voice reviewer wrote that he couldn't hear "a single issue with the compression used on this set," adding that "the vast majority of the tracks sound amazing" and that 'some' tracks with sound that is "a little muddy" probaby owe that to the source.

From customer Mark E. Stenroos,

' This is yet another GREAT bargain from Vanguard that simply defies belief. There are many really fine recordings in this set that - while not pure gold - are at least shiny, and are worth a helluvalot more than 99¢.
You get COMPLETE recordings of the Water Music, Alexander's Feast, Judas Maccabeus, Messiah, Saul and a host of other Handel standards. Incredible! '

At any rate you can preview any of the tracks before spending the $0.99.

  Mp3 albums are, at this point, not generally available outside the U.S. though.


MP3 pages at Amazon
For those looking for something else and who've not been to the Amazon mp3 pages before, here's the page of MP3 Songs, with categories listed and previews available.

  As ever, mp3's bought from Amazon are given free storage in the Cloud so they're playable at any time from any computer or mobile device and can also be downloaded to to play from your computer, tablet, or phone.  Here's an explanation of Cloud Player.



  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 Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources. 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 News: Amazon's new 'Add-on' Item shipping option. Flipboard on Kindle Fire gets nicely formatted NY Times articles

Amazon's new Add-On Item shipping option

These new items "ship with orders that include $25 or more of items shipped by Amazon, excluding gift cards."

I noticed that some low-priced items ($3 to $6 or so), EVEN when shipped from and sold by Amazon.com (normally eligible for Prime shipping), currently carry the label "Add-on Item."

  I also noted that, even for Prime members, these lower-cost items are not shippable for Prime shipping benefits of FREE Two-Day Shipping," until they can be combined with an Amazon Prime order of "$25 or more" -- in which case it THEN arrives with free two-day shipping.

  They add that "Non-Prime members can combine Add-on Items with other items to take advantage of FREE Super Saver Shipping."

  One of the advantages of Prime shipping at $79/year (the Instant Video and Kindle Lending Library perks are added to the basic shipping benefits) has been that you did not have to wait until you had an order of $25 or more to get two-day shipping.

  On these, though, if I'm reading it correctly, they would either require a wait until you could add them to either a $25+ Amazon Prime order to get Prime's 2-day shipping or combine them "with other items" but somehow NOT get that 2-day shipping feature.

  It looks, at first read, like a cutting back of that particular, important Prime benefit (no minimum order) for items such as:
  1. a $5.99 bottle of Jarrow Formulas lozenges, shipped from and sold by Amazon.com itself, or
  2. a $3.49 card with Clover beading needles

The explanation you see in the image that heads this blog article is that

"This item is available because of the new Add-on program," which allows Amazon "to offer thousands of low-priced items that would be cost-prohibitive to ship on their own."
  They ship with "qualifying orders over $25" and are eligible for Free shipping (2 days on Prime or longer on Super Saver Shipping).

A question I have then: Why can't one of these, "shipped from and sold by Amazon.com," be added to a PRIME order of UNDER $25 and given free 2-day shipping along with that Prime order that's under $25?  It would be shipped from Amazon and not shipped "on its own" -- so why is it 2-day-shippable only for Prime orders OVER $25?
  When did we have $25 minimums on Prime shipping?

At the "About Amazon Prime page," I don't see descriptions anymore about not having to bunch your orders to reach $25, but at the same time they don't say there that a Prime order has to be $25 or more.

  But here's a Prime benefit listed that I've not seen before nor seen as an option when buying items.  I've italicized some of it.

' FREE No Rush Shipping for typical delivery one week after placing an order.

Note: You may receive promotional credit for selecting No-Rush Shipping.  Credit will be automatically applied to your Amazon.com account once the first package from a No-Rush Shipping-eligible order ships.  You'll receive an e-mail as soon as the credit is available.  You may select No-Rush Shipping as many times as it's offered to you, but you won't be eligible for the credit if you cancel your No-Rush Shipping order or return items from it. '

So, it looks to me as if the Prime Shipping program may be costing Amazon more than anticipated.  Again, this is my immediate take.  If you've other thoughts on it, please add your thoughts to the comments area or to the Facebook page, which is easier for some.

  If true, the "fixes" involved keep a "free" shipping of an item available while adding a minimum-$ order when needing, in Prime, the 2-day shipment on an "Add-on" item.   The two-day shipping on even smaller items has been a boon and seems still available for some Prime orders.

I think that on any yearly program purchases, if any benefits are somewhat changed, these should be spelled out.
  If the program is not working for them that well in the way they began it, or they are working with less-flexible agreements with shippers (and maybe all the new Agreements on Instant Video fare which is part of Prime have raised costs quite a bit), they should just say so.  There are still benefits to the program.


The Flipboard Kindle Fire and Android App now has some very nicely formatted features from The New York Times.  From a Business Wire release:

' The New York Times (NYTimes.com) today launched The New York Times on Flipboard for Android and Kindle Fire, which delivers the latest news and award-winning journalism of The New York Times, designed and formatted for optimal reading on Flipboard’s apps for Android phone and tablet devices and the Amazon Kindle Fire tablet.
  . . .
Following authentication within Flipboard, existing Times subscribers will have full access to all content on both Android and Kindle Fire. As with other New York Times news applications, the Top News section is free. '

Details and pricing for the various subscription plans are available at The NY Times site.

TechnologyTell's Juli Monroe likes it better on her Android (Nexus 7) than on the iPad.  In the Apple iOS version there is an ad with each article, she writes, which she doesn't mind, but she's not seen them yet in the Android version, except for a "quick ad between articles reminding me to subscribe to the digital version of the Times for full access)."  As with many of us (I already have a newspaper subscription and I've been enjoying the NY Times Latest News blog stream about 5 times a day on the Paperwhite, at $1.99/mo.), she has the free account and receives only "Top Stories" (there are quite a few).

  And also like many of us who use the Flipboard app, it's her favorite news reader on all her devices.  I think it's a beautiful news app, full of surprises, though there are some who prefer all-text and other layouts, as described in this blog's earlier story on Flipboard.  Flipboard was introduced in the this blog story 5 days before that.


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!

March's Monthly 100 Kindle Books for $3.99 or less - Editors' Choices + Free non-classics by publication date + discounted-book alerts

MARCH 2013's 100 Kindle Books deal, for $3.99 or less


I highlight the monthly deal at or near the beginning of the month for those who don't know about it or might not remember.

  This group of 100 Kindle books range from $1.99 to $3.99, as usual for this monthly deal, and are "hand-selected" by Amazon's Editors each month.

What you'll see on that special monthly-deals page (UK version is here) are new for March 2013.

(US Link: amzn.to/100kbooks-2to4,  UK Link: amzn.to/100kbooks-2to4uk)


Amazon's current discounts on accessories for Kindle e-Reader and Kindle Fire
  1. Up to 30% on covers for Kindle eReaders
  2. Up to 50% on covers for Kindle Fire (Gen 2) and Kindle Fire HD tablets


Amazon's Ongoing Special Deals
  1. Select Outlet deals
  2. Goldbox and Lightning deals

Today's Goldbox Deal of the day is maybe useful with a tablet:
Sony MDR-XB600 Extra Bass Headphones, at 60% off: "...hard-hitting hooks with 40mm drivers engineered for extended bass response. Newly developed urethane ear pads [for] comfort and noise isolation" with "dual-folding, swivel cup design"


FREE KINDLE BOOKS (Non-classics) for March (and February)
I've updated the "Temporarily-free books -- Non-classics" search results to show free contemporary Kindle books for MARCH, sorted by publication-date, as of today, March 1, 2013.  There are only a few shown on the first day of any month, and these include pre-orders due that month.  As ever, on the first day of the month, most of these are listed as "free preview" of whatever chapters chosen, some are short stories, and a few not-entire-family-safe titles may show up.

  Here, also, are the current Search results for still free Kindle non-classics, by publication date during the last month (February).


The Kindle Daily Deal page
for any given day now shows a lot of books since it includes children's books, a couple of genre-specific deals, and the monthly daily deals as well.


Discounted / Price Dropped Kindle eBooks II - the ongoing Kindle Forum message thread
  There is an ongoing message thread in which Kindle owners share information on recent drops in pricing on specific Kindle books, often with some added info by the person posting it.

  Here's a link to the thread, starting at a Feb. 25 posting that includes some books still on sale Mar. 1.
  Still discounted heavily today are highly-rated books from the larger publishers .   These tend to be very short-term discounts.
  One still on sale at $1.99 is Nexus, by Ramez Naam, very positively reviewed by mainstream reviewers (Wired, Wall St. Journal, Booklist, Publishers Weekly) and highly rated in 151 customer reviews that average 4.8 of 5 stars.

  The forum topic link I gave is to a specific day to start, in this case, 2/25, as mentioned, but you can look at previous days or keep up with ongoing alerts after that, as Amazon keeps track of the last message# that you read, so that you can start from there next time.  Most of the better deals seem around $1.99-$4.99 but there are many larger-publishing house deals included that tend to end in a DAY, so you'd need to double-check the current pricing of ANY Kindle books that interest you to see if the discounts are still active.

  Again, prices are discounted for only a very short time, too often, and are promos, and that's another reason to watch the list.

---

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

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 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 - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - ~£89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $199

*OTHER International* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi: $139 & 3G/Wifi: $199 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China Japan - Amazon 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.

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 News: Kindle for IOS v 3.6.2 Update Fixes Registration Issue and Other Bugs

Kindle for iOS Update to v3.6.2 released at Apple iTunes at about 3pm today (2/27/13)

The odd situation had the update v3.6.1 info on the iOS devices cautioning people NOT to install it (strange they didn't just drop the update file but I suppose they had good reasons having to do with their need for cooperation with Apple's own update processes).

At the Kindle Community Forum Message Thread on this update, there is advice given to people who did install the earlier v3.6.1 version (see below).

For those who did NOT install v3.6.1, getting the v3.6.2 version is proving to be a smooth process.

HOWEVER, for those who DID download the earlier v3.6.1 from yesterday, Forum Moderator Abigail R., an Amazon Official, has this advice:

' Abigail R. - Forum Moderator says:


Hi all,

If you upgraded your Kindle for iPad or iPhone software to version 3.6.1, you may have been prompted to register the app again.

If you are seeing a "license exceeded" error when you try to download books, please do the following:

1. Visit Manage Your Kindle at http://www.amazon.com/myk
2. Locate your Kindle application in the "Manage your Devices" section
3. Click the "Deregister" link
4. Open the Kindle app on your device and enter your Amazon account e-mail address and password

Once you've re-registered the app, you may need to download your books again.

We apologize for any inconvenience this causes. Version 3.6.2 is now available for download to fix registration errors. '

For the Kindle for iOS update to v3.6.2, go to the Apple iTunes Kindle for iOS page.

  There, Apple describes "What's New in Version 3.6.2"
  . Fix for Registration Issue
  . Various Bug Fixes and Security Fixes



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 News: AVOID Kindle for iOS Update to v3.6.1

CAUTION: DO NOT update Kindle for iOS to v3.6.1 yet

At the Kindle Community Forum Message Thread on this update, Kindle iPhone and iPad users discuss the many problems with Update v3.6.1 released late last night (2/26). The iTunes page dates the release of v3.6.1 as of 2/27 though.

UPDATE - v3.6.2 released at 3pm Wed. 2/27 to fix the registration problem.
  See later post about that.

EARLIER:
Examples of what's being said:

' I updated via App store upgrades to 3.6.1 on an iPhone 5. This version of the application did not preserve the device registration, and I was forced to re-register the device. I had book samples, which I use for my queue of new books to purchase, on the device. These were lost. Amazon.com does not maintain a listing of the samples downloaded.

The only way to get this version to work was to register as a new device. That is what caused [the] loss of data stored on the iPhone.

----------
I also had to re-register my iPhone and have to re-download over 500 Ebooks! Please Fix!

----------
...has not only caused me to lose a potential shopping list, it has also cost Amazon (and authors) revenue as I have no way to recover the Samples and no written record of what they were. Best guess is that I had about 6-8 books as samples, I probably would have bought 4 of them at $10 (average) each. Loss to Amazon is not just my $40 that I won't spend, but multiply that by the number of other users who will run into this....

----------
Made me re-register my iPad and is now showing my iPad device as my second iPad. I only have the one iPad. I logged in using my same email and password too.
Spoke with customer service. She said she had been getting calls on this and would report to app development. I had several partially read books that I've lost my place in, and I also used the books on my device to keep track of what I've read. Not happy!

----------
When I entered my amazon login information in order to restore my books, received the message that none exist. Do not upgrade!

----------
It shows my iPad as a 3rd device and won't allow me to download from the cloud because "the license limit exceeded." I saw the warning after it started to download. The warning looked like every other description of any upgrade. Couldn't stop the download once in progress.

----------
I only have one iPad and it registered a second one. '

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 Fire Tip: The ScreenDim Kindle Fire and Android app, an eye saver when reading

ScreenDim Full

While reading a Kindle forum question by someone hoping for a larger e-Ink Kindle like the old 9.7" DX, to be used only for reading, I saw another informative post by Amazon Kindle Forum Pro Josh1120, who feels Amazon is unlikely to do that but replied that the larger Kindle Fire is worth considering as an alternative, explaining that:   "You'll miss the e-ink display but the improvements in the KFHD display combined with an app like ScreenDim that enables you to control brightness and contrast independently comes close to an e-ink reading experience in most cases."   Since I've always wanted to be able to control the contrast of a display when reading, I downloaded the app.  The trial version is free but lasts only 3 days, and the "full" version is 99 cents.

 Ironically, the paid 'full' version has a higher customer rating than the trial version, with 73 customer reviews and an average rating of 4.8 stars.  The free 3-day trial version is here.

  Amazon's "Test Drive Now" instantly on either your computer or your tablet is a great feature, giving you an idea of what the app is like, although the actual app worked better than it does in the test drive mode.

  The higher increase/decrease line is for brightness and the lower one's for contrast.
  For me, the lower levels of dimness of any of the Kindle Fire models are good enough, but there are books in which I've wanted higher contrast when seeing light blue links.

In customer reviews, others find the built-in dimmest light-setting still too bright, one person writing that at night, in "my darkest closet, was able to reduce the brightness setting below Kindle Fire's lowest, and read comfortably without backlighting."

  When you have a setting you like, you can long-press one of the pre-sets and save it to that or to a name you designate.

  As with the Speaker Boost app, you access it for further adjustments while listening or reading -- tapping the screen near the middle (not on the edges since that will turn a page), which brings up the Amazon top and side menus, and then swiping down from the top left as you do when viewing Notifications.  That gives you access to the opened-app and its further adjustment features.

  One customer finds it works especially well for the original Kindle Fire which lacks contrast when dimmed in the normal way but retains much of its contrast when dimmed while ScreenDim is active.

  Contrary to one review, this works fine on the Kindle Fire HD 7" and Amazon notes it as working on all the Kindle Fire models.

  I always have the Paperwhite with me, but I do find myself reading books more often on a Kindle Fire tablet than with the eReader mainly because I use it for other features and I've been surprised to find that it is unexpectedly comfortable (for my eyes) for reading when the brightness is dimmed fairly low, especially since I use the 'Aa' options to use a Sepia background (and others can use the white text against black background).



For links to the various current Kindle models that apply to countries outside the U.S., am adding the reference listing rather than try to include alternate links in the body of the text.

---

  NOTES on newer Kindles.

US: Updated Kindle Fire 2 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 - $119/$139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $179/$199 Kindle Keybd 3G - $139/$159, Free slow web Kindle DX - $379 $299 Discontinued

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £69 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - ~£89 Refurb'd Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - £109 Kindle Paperwhite 3G, UK - £169 Kindle Fire 2, UK -  £129 Kindle Fire HD 7" 16/32GB, UK - £159/199 Canada - Kindlestore, CDN-$ Kindle Basic, NoTouch - $89 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi - $139 Kindle Paperwhite, WiFi+3G - $199

*OTHER International* Kindle NoTouch Basic - $89 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB Paperwhite WiFi $139, 3G/Wifi $199 France Boutique Kindle Deutschland - Kindle Store Italia - Kindle Store Spain - Tienda Kindle Brazil - Amazon Brazil China - Amazon China Japan - Amazon 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.

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: Amazon highlighting more Kindle book discounts on special-feature pages now

Amazon's highlighting of multiple Kindle book deal pages

Coming off news of Amazon's sea change on focused website promotion of free Kindle books, the Kindle book areas have more book deals or discounts than usual.

  On your left is the image and link for the main Kindle Books page and the various deals available, stacked one on top of the other.
  Shortcut: amzn.to/kbooksmain

 The 'Browse' column on the left of the main Kindle books page has an unusual item near the top currently, under "Kindle Book Deals," and that's "The Big Deal..."  See below.



The Big Deal feature promises
  "Up to 88% Off More than 500 Kindle Books."

This special feature page is good through March 10, and carries the usual disclaimers re any territory restrictions and possibly changing selection of books offered at any time.

  The Big Deal page is organized by:

  . Featured Deals
  . Editors' Picks: $2.99 or Less
  . Big Deal Books by Category
  . Humor & enetertainment
  . Cookbooks, Food & Wine
  . Children's Books
  . Business & Investing
  . Fantasy

  Shortcut: amzn.to/thebigdeal-kbooks



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 news: Amazon now -heavily- discouraging focused website promotion of free Kindle books. Possible reasons? Update2

Primarily Free Kindle Books promotions on websites are now heavily discouraged by Amazon

There's been indication for awhile that Amazon has been shifting emphasis from their various free-Kindle book promos to get more attention for Kindle books that bring them revenue (considering news that their margins are thin, partially due to reinvestment in expansion and jobs), although the free-Kindle book carrot will continue to be offered.

They just no longer want them promoted... at least not as a focus on websites belonging to Amazon affiliates.

  This week brings news of a stronger effort on Amazon's part to strongly discourage affiliate website promotion of those free Kindle books, an action which will have an effect on authors who have relied on the free-book promotions but will now see little activity on those books if people have a difficult time ever finding the promotions.

  Since the free-book promotions had been a bonus for authors, from what I understand (someone correct me if I'm mistaken there), for authors who did not place their e-books elsewhere, that will probably cause larger distribution of those e-books (which for e-book audiences is a good thing) and a possible decrease in growth of the Kindle Owners Lending Library unless Amazon develops more ways to entice authors toward Amazon exclusivity.

  This affects authors and the Kindle audience (and I personally believe that 600+ free books briefly available daily HAS caused some people to feel they have little to reason to buy books anymore and was a mistake on Amazon's part).  But their new action seems harsh on bloggers whose sites were emphasizing the availability of free books.

The Associates program fee FAQ that Nate Hoffelder points to is a public page in the informational area in which they let website owners know about the Associates program.  And the new clause is now definitely news.

  Friday, many passed along the new Amazon affiliate clause as explained by the Amazon fee FAQ discussed by Nate, though I read it a bit differently, because Amazon wrote it as a set of 3 conditions, rather than 2 conditions that then lead to the initial point.
  Here's the FAQ explanation of the clause, linked by Nate, and by the Goodereader site.

 I'm bold-facing the 3rd condition, which is presented by Amazon first and is connected to the other conditions with the word "and" (rather than saying 'determined by the 2 add'l conditions:

'1. What is changing for Associates who refer free Kindle eBook sales?
Starting March 1, 2013, Associates who we determine are promoting primarily free Kindle eBooks and meet both conditions below for a given month will not be eligible for any advertising fees for that month within the Amazon Associates Program. This change will not affect advertising fees earned prior to March 1, 2013.

1. At least 80% of all Kindle eBooks ordered and downloaded during Sessions attributed to your Special Links are free Kindle eBooks
2. 20,000 or more free Kindle eBooks are ordered and downloaded during Sessions attributed to your Special Links '

AS written, the first condition is that a site or Amazon associate is "promoting primarily free Kindle eBooks.
  THEN, it adds "AND" meets both conditions below that first statement.

  Clearly, attorneys know that the word ‘AND’ above should be changed to “WHEN they” if the first statement is not to be taken as part of the set of circumstances defining what could cause income to be eliminated for a month.

  That could be carelessness from the legal dept but I doubt it.  The page states, furthermore, that "This change will affect far less than 0.1% of Associates.

Update2 - And here's the Operating Agreement Clause eff. March 1, 2013: [Emphases mine]

' Associates Program Advertising Fee Schedule – Limitations on Advertising Fee Rates for Certain Products

March 1, 2013 version
The following is added at the end of the sub-section:

“In addition, notwithstanding the advertising fee rates described on this page or anything to the contrary contained in this Operating Agreement, if we determine you are primarily promoting free Kindle eBooks (i.e., eBooks for which the customer purchase price is $0.00), YOU WILL NOT BE ELIGIBLE TO EARN ANY ADVERTISING FEES DURING ANY MONTH IN WHICH YOU MEET THE FOLLOWING CONDITIONS:
(a) 20,000 or more free Kindle eBooks are ordered and downloaded during Sessions attributed to your Special Links; and
(b) At least 80% of all Kindle eBooks ordered and downloaded during Sessions attributed to your Special Links are free Kindle eBooks.” '

 So my read is that they are targeting sites that were built primarily to feature the many free Kindle books Amazon releases each day.  And they now explain their new policy by pointing out that "the program is designed to compensate advertising partners for referring paid business to Amazon."
  One could assume that sites that were built to, and continue to, provide other information in a solid way to their audiences are not targeted here for total elimination of fees but they will make it very difficult for those site owners to support their sites now.

  "Partners" is a strong word for this situation.  When a radio or TV announcer tells you about a special product and pricing and gives you a website and phone number to get more info or to take advantage of that offer, they receive payment for the advertisement but aren't called partners, though contracts are always signed in those cases.

  Few people are aware that Amazon has "over two million affiliates" (Associates).

  Amazon means business here, as they will still show affiliates what an Associate/Affiliate WOULD have earned for a given month if they had not been even indirectly responsible for so many downloads of free books.


RECENT Indications of Amazon's shift in focus
I always save many articles I've read but decided not to post (yet) for various reasons, but there is one that's germane to this recent turn of events and was of interest to me, so this is a good blog entry for it.

  The article, by Edward W. Robertson, is titled, "Did Amazon Change Algorithms to Protect Their Readers?: The Ten Thousand Gatekeepers of KDP Select" and was posted February 12, 2013.

' ... last May, Amazon drastically changed their popularity lists (available on the left sidebar of the main Kindle store) to change the way free downloads were factored into the ranks ... I was asked whether this change was done in order to present readers with better books.
The short answer: yes.
The longer answer: not necessarily better books, but certainly more profitable ones... '

  The article has details on how free-books came to outrank paid books, pushing them off the top.

  "The result is that a lot of books with lower commercial appeal wound up displacing books with higher commercial appeal.  On Amazon's popularity lists, 1000 free downloads beat 100 paid sales, and new Select books were picking up thousands of free downloads every single day.
  The gatekeepers weren't strong enough to keep out the low-appeal books, meaning readers were less likely to buy the books in front of them or to be satisfied with the titles they did purchase."

  He noted a new algorithm in May.  List placements no longer were based on giving free downloads equal weight with paid sales but was "something near a 10:1 scale" and "instead of weighting the last 1-7 days of sales + downloads, it looked at the last 30."

  Read his article for all the details on how the number of downloads needed were affected and the impact on authors, though with a somewhat better experience for the Kindle owner looking for an appealing book.

  From what I've gathered, this is a harsh turn of events for some websites that have put a lot of effort into promoting the very books that Amazon itself has been promoting as 'loss leaders' with the idea that other sales would result that would more than compensate for whatever losses, but now the other sales won't be credited to website owners whose sites are seen as "primarily promoting free e-books" (which I think is the key phrase).

  Nate Hoffelder talks about website owners not being able to control what consumers will do when arriving at Amazon for more info.  They may look at a paid book but see many Amazon ads about free books and then get some and these, by Affiliate program rules, will be attributed to the website owner and count against the site.  Again, though, very important (as written) is the clause about determining Associates who are "promoting primarily" free Kindle eBooks AND who meet the two other conditions as well.

  It SEEMS that some sites that do focus heavily on free e-books but also are focusing quite heavily on on paid books are not going to be penalized in this way, so the issue seems to be to change drastically the initial pages of those websites to point to paid books but the problem remains that the ratio of free books 'ordered' to any that are paid are acknowledged to be on the order of 15:1 at the least and I really think it's more like 25:1 from what I've seen on the free-book discussion groups.

  The avid readers active on Amazon Kindle book-forums are gobbling up 50 a day, often, and some on the Amazon Kindle forums have complained that Amazon servers are "too slow" on the Kindle Management page to find one of their 16,000 to 20,000+ Kindle books that they've picked up, most of them for free.  While these are extremes, they indicate a bit of a problem in connection with the attraction of free vs paid, but I'm just stating the obvious here, and that's why this is such a problem for Amazon and its authors and now probably quite a few websites that were just supporting Amazon's own focus on free Kindle books.

  But, once more, if authors decide, as a result of this change, to make their e-books available on other sites as well as Amazon's I think that's a good thing.  Amazon (and any other bookstores) shouldn't need exclusives, when it comes to books, to sell well.


One further thought (Updated at 2:23pm - original post 6:08am)
Besides what was discussed above as reasons for Amazon's decision, I had to wonder what could be a problem for Amazon besides the 'cost' of losing sales on non-free books (which I think is actually fairly substantial not because heavy free-book downloaders would start buying more books -- I don't think they would) but because there is now a general idea with many of Amazon's "avid readers" that there is little reason to pay for a book when so many are free for a brief period if you spend time each day hunting them all down (who has time to read after that?).

  Len Edgerly's 18-minute interview with Jeff Bezos July included Bezos' observation, when discussing 3G models of various Kindles, that "people who buy that Kindle are the people who read the most."
  The only models with 3G currently are e-Ink models -- and the Kindle 1 and 2, still used by many who just want to read and not web, do not have WiFi capability so these will always entail 3G costs for book downloads for Amazon.

  It used to be felt that even the slow web access possible with the first 3 models would deter heavy usage, and that's very likely true, but with the advent of free Kindle books to be downloaded, that would be ALL on 3G, payable by Amazon with the still very-much used older Kindles (I have family and friends who still use Kindle 1 and 2 because these still meet their needs).

  On Kindle forum posts, people mention downloading tons of books daily.  WiFi was not necessary for Kindle homes until the tablets came, and as a result, e-Ink Kindle owners are often using 3G even when the newer models have WiFi capabilities.  This is almost certainly one real cost and not just a theoretical one.

  In a period of lower net profits and very low margins, with a focus on long term goals via expansion of warehouses (not to even mention Amazon Web Svcs) and job opportunities opened up in the U.S. plus global expansion of Kindle devices to other countries (for which there is a lot of demand), any unnecessary costs would have to be cut.  They have stockholder pressures.

  Publisher pressure after the DOJ and State lawsuit fallout which was not kind to the large publishers, as well as market pressures in connection with the slowing rate of growth of e-book sales generally, and the competition for market share of paid books are very likely heavy factors as well.

Will the changes affect most Kindle owners?  Readers of this blog?  Or will the reduced website promotions available not make that big a difference for most Kindle owners?  For authors, there IS a fairly large effect.  Will a change to very low-cost promos make a difference?  Let me know in the Comments section here or, if preferred, in the easier talk areas of the Facebook page.



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!