Amazon loosens free-shipping restrictions. More on Family Library Sharing feature. Free and low-cost Kindle book - Search-link options for February for contemporary, non-classics + other bargain pages (US, UK, Canada) + Kindle discount-alerts by customers + Kindle Unlimited Audible w/ Whispersync. UPDATED March 2, 2015)

FIRST, a couple of news stories that should be of interest to Amazon's customers

Amazon now allows items from multiple merchants to be combined to qualify for free shipping on orders of $35 and above.

  Until late January, all items in the cart didn't qualify unless they were all being purchased from the same seller.

  Now, eligible items from multiple merchants -- including those that don't ship through Amazon -- can be combined to qualify for the free shipping minimum.   You'll see "Free Shipping" as a label on the product pages for 'qualifying' items

  Consumerist offers detailed definitions for "Sold by Amazon" - "Fulfilled by Amazon" and Fulfilled by Seller."

  How the new system works:

' This week’s change affects items that are “fulfilled by seller,” but the seller doesn’t charge separate shipping.  Let’s say, for example, that you’re buying two toys: one is shipped from Amazon and costs $9, and the other is shipped directly from the seller’s warehouse and costs $27. Even though Amazon isn’t involved in shipping the more expensive item, it still counts toward your total for free shipping. '

David Pogue explains How to Set up Amazon's Family Library
Pogue's instructions were written for Yahoo! Tech.
  His first article was on how the new Family Sharing feature "could save you 50% on your ebooks, apps, movies, music, and TV shows."

  The older method of sharing Kindle books has been to have people share one Amazon account, and up to 6 people could share access to a Kindle book, but there was no way to keep your separate last-page-read nor your own annotations.  (Parental controls in more recent models help with the older problem of children having access to the parents' books credit card purchasing.)  Pogue adds, re the new Family feature:

' This feature lets you share your online purchases with other people, even if they have their own separate accounts.  In theory, these other people are your family members, but there’s nothing to stop you from filling those slots with, say, your friends or roommates.

[ Kindleworld note: See Pogue's caution about this at the end of the set-up instructions in the 2nd article. ]

. . .   Amazon lets you share only Kindle ebooks, audiobooks, and apps.  You can’t share TV shows, movies, or music with this feature. (Amazon says that, later this year, you’ll also be able to share Prime Instant Videos, if you’re a Prime member.)

  Furthermore, only two people (adults, each with a different Amazon account) can see each other’s stuff everywhere Kindle books can be read: not just on Kindle e-readers, but also in the Kindle apps on tablets, phones, and computers, and even on the Amazon website. '

  There's more detail about sharing books with children, in a more limited way, and on fewer devices.

  He also mentions the older feature of publishers' tightly-controlled Lending capability for only certain Kindle books and for only 14 days maximum, to be used only ONCE, ever, for a given book.  Needless to say, this was not a very popular feature, since the publishers haven't approved many of their more popular Kindle books for this type of lending.

  Again, Pogue's second article is on How to set up Family Library.  It's very well illustrated.  Note that he adds this caution:

' By the way: Don’t try to get clever.  You can’t use the Family Library feature to let lots of different people read your books for free.  If you delete your partner from the “household” you’ve set up (so that a new person can read your books, for example), then neither you nor your partner is allowed to join a Family Sharing arrangement again for six months. '

All right. March's Kindle book deals - Updated from earlier February entry
    February 2015  March 2015.
    Also, all currently free non-classics sorted by:
    Publication Date   Bestselling    High ratings

  There are only a few shown on the first few days of any month, and these include pre-orders due that month -- most of these are listed as "free preview" of whatever chapters chosen, some are short stories, and a few (overnight) not-entirely-family-safe titles may show up.


[The below monthly book deals entry was updated from February to March selections.]
The special monthly book deals for March 2015 -- where to find them, etc.

MARCH 2015's monthly Kindle Books deal, for $3.99 or less (See UK listing here.)

For those who want to quickly look first at only the ones that are star-rated at 4 or above, here is Amazon's page for that.  These details are for people new to the monthly feature or to this blog.

  On the main monthly Kindle book deals page, separate categories are highlighted, using Amazon's usual horizontally-scrolling pick-lists, for the following topics highlighted on the main page. They link to "See all" at the bottom of each horizontally-scrolled category row [ I'm adding direct links to the full category listings ]:

  1. History and by Avg Customer Rating
  2. Science Fiction & Fantasy and by Avg Customer Rating
  3. Biography and Memoirs and by Avg Customer Rating
  4. Literary Fiction Deals and by Avg Customer Rating
  5. Religion and Spirituality and by Avg Customer Rating

  6. Whispersync for Voice and by Avg Customer Rating     Audible book with Kindle book

        The Whispersync category has sometimes shown up with an explanation that the corresponding audio book is also sold at the monthly-deal price, if wanted.

  ' Now you can seamlessly switch between reading featured Kindle books and listening to them without ever losing your place...
  First, purchase the Kindle book for $3.99 or less. Then add the narration from Audible for $3.99 or less to enable the feature. '

  The Whispersync category is always listed in the left column of the main Monthly Deals page (there are about 53 of these Whispersync-ready books in March's deals).  They're also included in the overall scrolled monthly deals that can be sorted by several options at the bottom of that main page.

  Note that the newish Kindle Unlimited subscription program includes many of these as part of Kindle Unlimited so that there's no added charge for the Audible book, for KU subscribers.

The main monthly deals page also tends to show, on the right, two vertically-scrolling categories:
  1. A list of Bestsellers
  2. Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense highlighted + more in the linked full list w/ sorting options)
      Here's that fuller listing by Avg Customer Rating

THEN, at the bottom of the new main monthly Kindle book-deals page, they offer the FULL current monthly listing, defaulting to sorting by "New and Popular" and there are 117 in all today, currently, but the number may vary.

  Here's a direct link to that Full-listing (US), sorted by "New and Popular" for the month, so
    it's a good one to bookmark if you just want to jump to that) and
    you can choose another sort option for this full listing, such as
        Avg Customer Rating or by Price: Low to High

These options should make it easier to find books of interest to you.

The pricing for March's group of Kindle books include 99c books to $3.99 (there were no 99-cent ones for December's monthly deal.

  The Kindle books you'll see on this special monthly-deals page  (UK version here) are new for March.

(US Link: amzn.to/mkbooks-1to4,  UK Link: amzn.to/100kbooks-1to4uk)

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

Also:
    Highly rated, under $1

    In addition, Amazon still quietly carries: "Mostly 99c Kindle Books" page, which is a different Amazon listing from the one for highly rated Kindle books under $1.

    Amazon Top 100   (Also, UK-only)

    Amazon's own Limited Time Free Promos.

    NEWer are 50 Kindle Book Deals for $2 Each.  These are all labeled Kindle Unlimited and are from the subscription set of 700,000+ Kindle books. This particular set of discounts is valid through the end of the month, March 31, 2015.

    Also, there's a recently added umbrella page, Kindle Book Deals, for the many types of Kindle book deals available at any given time, so it's another good one to bookmark, along with the page you're reading :-)

    for students (and their parents), there is a special page for eTextbooks you can "Rent, Buy or Try eTextbooks for Free."
  They point out that "you can save up to 80% off the print list price when you rent and up to 60% off the print list price when you buy eTextbooks."

Two ongoing pages you may want to bookmark
1. Free Kindle Non-Classics - includes the above bargain links among other ones.
2. KINDLE SUPPORT info
  This has an "Often Asked" section which has a lot of good info in it. Updated 7/2/14.

---

DISCOUNTED / Price Dropped Kindle eBooks III - the ongoing Kindle Forum message thread
  This 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.


The below is for February and NOT updated for March
  For March, go to the first link for the message thread ending Feb. 2 and then click at top right to go to the Last Post and then work backwards to get applicable discount-alerts for the last couple of days (the discounts are only temporary).

  - Not-updated portion below
  Here's a link to the thread, which includes many books with large price drops.  I'm starting at a January 30 posting page that includes books that are still on sale today, Feb. 2.  On that beginning page is a very topical book, "The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science, and Fear" by Seth Mnookin, which was $9.99 but is $2.99 on Kindle today (and will probably end tonight).
  From the product description: "In 1998 Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist with a history of self-promotion, published a paper with a shocking allegation: the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine might cause autism. The media seized hold of the story and, in the process, helped to launch one of the most devastating health scares ever. In the years to come Wakefield would be revealed as a profiteer in league with class-action lawyers, and he would eventually lose his medical license.  Meanwhile one study after another failed to find any link between childhood vaccines and autism." (Actually, it's more complicated than that.)

  I didn't look any further.   The books discussed in this forum thread tend to be very short-term discounts.

  That forum topic link is to a specific post to start, in this case, a book alert on Jan. 30, as mentioned.  You can browse previous posts or days, or keep up with ongoing alerts after that, because Amazon keeps track of the last message# that you read, so that you can start from there next time.

  While many of the better deals seem to be around $1.99-$4.99, there usually are a decent number of larger-publishing house deals included (primarily price-matching) 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, Kindle book prices are discounted for only a very short time, too often, and are promos, and that's another reason to watch the list.  Most of the large-publisher discounts last only one or two days even when they originate the discount.


DISCOUNTS ON ACCESSORIES Amazon's current pages (some, ongoing) on accessories for Kindle e-Reader and Kindle Fire
  1. Up to 50% (higher discount than usual) on cases for Kindle eReaders
  2. Up to 50% on cases for Kindle Fire (Gen 2) and Kindle Fire HD tablets but NOT HDX tablets
  3. Accessories for all Kindles, with some discounted.


For larger discounts, there are the ongoing pages:
  For US
Goldbox and Lightning Deals which sometimes include bigger one-day sales and
Select-Outlet Deals
Warehouse Deals
Other warehouse deals - more gift oriented
Your Amazon coupons


  For UK and Canada:
UK - Today's Deals
Clearance and Overstocks - UK
Warehouse Deals - UK
  (Includes "Deep Discounts on used and open-box iPads and tablets")

Canada - The Deals Store


Recently-built Kindle Outlet Store - US
A few months ago, Amazon put together a Kindle Outlet Store to feature their certified refurbished Kindle devices at a somewhat lower cost.


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Kindle Book Tips: A book on The New Yorker cartoonists is one of the Kindle Daily Deals today + a recommended book for history buffs ("Exodus Lost")

Unusual Kindle Daily Deal book today

I don't check the Kindle Daily Deal every day but did look just now and saw one in today's batch that New Yorker Cartoon fans might not want to miss.

"I Only Read It for the Cartoons: The New Yorker's Most Brilliantly Twisted Artists"
is $1.99 today.  Published October 2014.


  From editorial reviews:

“Everyone who's ever had their mind blown by a New Yorker cartoon has wondered about the twisted, perforated, skewed, and fizzy geniuses that create them. This book is our Rosetta Stone. It explains who these wonderful weirdos are, how they acquire their odd, delicious ideas, and how those ideas migrate fantastically to paper and then press. We are in enormous debt to Richard Gehr for tracking these artists down, for charming them, disarming them, and translating their lives and work into wise and elegant prose. Books like this should cost a fortune.” —David Shenk, author of The Genius in All of Us

"A great New Yorker cartoon goes deeper than it looks, and Richard Gehr's masterful profiles of the magazine's artists reveal the rich weirdness and intense craft behind their doodly bursts of wit." —Douglas Wolk, author of Reading Comics

“[Gehr’s] knowledge of the history and culture of the magazine, and his incisive, revealing interviews, make for great reading…When Roz Chast, George Booth, Ed Koren, and all the rest read this book, I think they will be delighted—as will you.” —Matt Groening, creator of The Simpsons, from the foreword

A favorite non-fiction book

I'm adding a favorite book of mine that some readers of the New Yorker might like:

Exodus Lost [Kindle Edition] by S. C. Compton
  As with the first book above, Amazon's editors picked this for their "Best Books of 2014" feature.

It's an extensively-researched, in-depth look into the origins of Mexican and Western civilizations, with intriguing parallels noted with the history of other areas of the world.  What's unusual is how very readable it is, although that will be so mainly for history buffs.

The author, Stephen Compton, "dedicated 14 years to the research and writing of Exodus Lost, including travels to archaeological sites in Egypt, Mexico, Greece, Israel, and Turkey and to relevant museum and library holdings across Mexico, Europe, and America.
  He currently edits academic journals in the fields of history and literature for Oxford University Press.

  From editorial reviews:
"Exodus Lost is a first-rate intellectual adventure.  Its fresh perspective and new revelations make for a thoughtful and captivating journey into the roots of Mesoamerican and Western civilizations. I highly recommend this thought-provoking new book."
—Dr. Jonathan Fanton, eminent historian, leading human rights advocate, former President of the New School for Social Research, and retired President of the MacArthur Foundation

"Exodus Lost is a page-turner... I highly recommend this fascinating, educational read by a scholar refreshingly willing to think "out of the box."
—Dr. David Kaufman, Linguistic Anthropologist

The well-illustrated book includes 126 photos, maps, and engravings and, as a result. may take somewhat longer than usual to download.  Both books offer the "Look Inside" feature.

---

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


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Amazon Alert - Today Only, Prime program 25% off, at lowest price, to celebrate Golden Globe awards. Also, free today -- full 10-half-hour series "Transparent"... And, reminder: The Big Deal Kindle book sale ends Sunday.

From Amazon's Press Release about Saturday's celebration of Golden Globes with ONE-day offer of PRIME Free 2-day Shipping program at $72 for 1 year (rather than $99 - for new Prime customers only, US) plus Free viewing of all 10 episodes of Transparent for ALL customers today.

---

"In Celebration of Golden Globe Wins, Amazon is Making All Ten Transparent Episodes Free to Watch This Saturday Only—No Membership Required

This Saturday, starting at 12:01 a.m. ET and concluding at 11:59 p.m. PT, everyone can watch Transparent using the Amazon Instant Video app for TVs, connected devices and mobile devices, or online at Amazon.com/Transparent Also in celebration of Transparent and the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards, customers can sign up for Amazon Prime for just $72 this Saturday"

---

As said, NO Prime membership is required for the one day free viewing of all episodes.
  Variety says that this can be viewed for free in the UK and Germany as well.

From the same press release:

"Anyone can watch the Transparent series at no cost on Saturday using the Amazon Instant Video app for TVs, connected devices and mobile devices, or online at Amazon.com/Transparent."

Amazon's press release points out that this series has been "the no. 1 ranked series on Prime Instant Video since the show’s launch.  Also proving popular among critics, the show clocked in a near-perfect score on Rotten Tomatoes with a 98 percent critic rating, and a 91 Metascore on Metacritic."

  "Also on Saturday and in celebration of the 72nd Annual Golden Globe Awards, Amazon Prime will be available for just $72 - a more than 25 percent savings.  New members can sign up for this limited-time Prime offer at Amazon.com/TransparentPrime. '

That $72/yr rate - Why?
Amazon has never offered Prime at this low an annual rate, which works out to $6 per month for a year.  (It started almost a decade ago at $79/yr and is now $99/yr normally.)  It's partly whimsical, as Amazon's series is the first Online Series ever to win "Top Series" and it happened at the 72nd Annual awards show.
  (After 1 yr, it would be renewable at $99 but can be cancelled.)

 A reminder of what the Prime shipping program includes:

1. FREE Two-Day Shipping on millions of items
   
2. Unlimited, ad-free access to over a million songs, with scrolling display of lyrics
   
3. Instant streaming of over 17,000 movies and TV shows with Prime Instant Video (many are downloadable)
   
4. Free unlimited photo storage in Amazon Cloud Drive (each photo file can be up to 2 GB each)
   
5. Read free books each month through Kindle First and the Kindle Owners' Lending Library
       No Waiting Period. No Due Dates.

Reminder Alert: The Big Deal -- up to 85% off Kindle books ends Sunday January 25 at 11:59pm
MORE KINDLE BOOKS TO BROWSE   Amazon's The Big Deal ends Sunday. - 413 Kindle books at up to 85% off

It's effective through January 25, and the page carries the usual disclaimer re varying selection and pricing of books offered outside the U.S.

For those who didn't read about this feature, which started January 9   The Big Deal page is organized this time by:
  . Mystery and Thrillers
  . Romance
  . Science Fiction & Fantasy Deals
  . Contemporary Fiction
  . Biography & Memoir Deals
  . Teen Book Deals
  . Children's Books
  . Religion & Spirituality Deals

On the right of the page is a list of the Top 10 Best Sellers of the group and
  an option to "See all Best Sellers in The Big Deal..."
  That latter is the top selling 100 out of the 413 offered.

" These lists, updated hourly, contain bestselling items. Here you can discover the best The Big Deal in Amazon Best Sellers ... For non-U.S. customers, Kindle content availability and pricing will vary. "

The bottom of that page is a scrolling list of the currently 413 books, one by one, with a default sort of "New and Popular" and alternate sorts:
  16 per page, if you choose (inside the gray strip bar above the list) the Orange grid for "Detail"
      OR
  60 per page, if you choose the 4-cell, gray icon for "Image" which will show mainly book covers and basic info.
  The shortcut, if you type it on an eReader or tablet: bit.ly/thebigdeal-jan2015



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Kindle Fire and Android Tip: Interesting Mars news story today plus Amazon's Free App of the Day: Exploration Mars (normally $2.99)

 
First photo is from a news story received today on the possibility of ancient life existing on Mars.
This is a very interesting article on correspondences between formations seen there under varying conditions and those we know of here.

Second photo is from Amazon's Free Android App of the Day, normally $2.99 and one that many families (and schools) will want to explore. Some beautiful work was put in on this, and it's very informative.

I'm just sending off this alert, as there are only 5-1/2 hours left, after I noticed it, and those who are tuning in might want to take advantage of it.






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Quick Alert - Amazon Echo appears actually orderable now (by those requesting notices), with a similar product-page display, so availability could be missed. Updated to add video explanation-demo-discussion

Amazon's Echo appears to be available for pre-order by those who had signed up for alerts.

Below is the regular reference set on this blog for what Amazon's Echo is said to do, plus beta-run customers' discussions of that, and an early news-site review when Amazon had generally not been sending out review copies of the device, while they gathered info on what the more or less paying beta-testing customers wanted from it.  Amazon's been adding features daily, as reported in the forum threads.


Amazon Echo - $99 for Prime

    Echo-tests video + discussions 1, 2

    ZDNet review + What's inside?

[Added 1/15/15]
    Explained in video by fast-talkers
    The taller guy talks so fast that I had to turn Youtube's Closed Captions ON. Alexa understood him better than I did.


Note: If you decide to go ahead and buy it after having gotten a notice or 'invite' (if you had signed up for a notice), it'll say $199, but after going through the Cart process, they apply the PRIME member discount of $100, for a total of $99 before tax.
  Another household Amazon account under your Prime acct gets the $99 Prime price also.

Note 2: Availability is 4-6 months.

More on this later, but the discussions linked to will help.


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Kindle Tip: Hundreds of educational books up to 75% off today only. Amazon Studios signs Woody Allen to write and direct a TV series

Today's Kindle Daily Deal (today only is an unusual one.

I was seeing a lot of books showing up today in the Kindle Forum's customer-recommended large discounts thread, which were largely historical or very popular older books, and wondered why there were so many.  So I checked the Kindle Daily Deal and saw that today's deal involves, as you can see in the banner screenshot,
"Hundreds of Educational Books, Up to 75% off."

Worth a look for those interested in non-fiction, not often seen in the larger-discounted sales.

Ends tonight, 1/13/15.


New York Times article on the announcement today from Amazon Studios, after their big win at the Golden Globes the other night:
Woody Allen will write and direct TV Series for Amazon

  And here are a A myriad of other news takes on this by major news sites like Daily Beast, TIME, People, etc.



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Amazon Studios' TV series "Transparent" makes history at the Golden Globes as the first online show to ever win the top series prize, comedy or drama. Ir took a best actor award also.

Amazon makes history at the Golden Globes Awards show

I completely missed the Golden Globes last night - forgot it was on and forgot Amazon Studios' dark comedy series, Transparent, had been nominated, although I did post about the historic nomination when it happened.

Who wudda thunk??

Bear in mind that Prime shipping program members are able to watch TV shows like this at no added cost (40,000 video episodes are included).

The first story, late last night, by Variety - "Amazon, ‘Transparent’ Make History at Golden Globes" - included the following:

' Transparent” won the Golden Globe for best TV series, musical or comedy and star Jeffrey Tambor won best actor.

On the red carpet prior to the ceremony, creator Jill Soloway admitted she considered other homes for the series, but Amazon ended up being a perfect fit. “You want to be somewhere where they’re passionate about you,” she noted. “And they’ve been wonderful.”
. . .
A visibly choked up Tambor thanked Soloway for the opportunity, noting, “I’m 70 years old, these (roles) don’t come along.” He added that he was grateful, “Not for the reviews or for awards…just to get it right. I’m just honored.” '

Variety's second story, this afternoon - "Golden Globes Winner Amazon Is Hollywood’s ‘New Best Friend’" - made these points.

' With two major wins at the Golden Globes, Amazon Studios is now a contender in Hollywood.

The digital network earned its bona fides as a competitive force in TV by landing trophies for best comedy for its critically praised “Transparent” and actor for series star Jeffrey Tambor.
. . .
“Transparent,” which bowed as a series in September after its pilot debuted in February, has been the most talked-about and critically praised entry from Amazon so far...
. . .
Not only was it Amazon’s first-ever Golden Globe award, “Transparent” also became the first online show to ever win a top series prize, comedy or drama, at the annual fete.

Amazon Studios topper Roy Price called the Globe wins “a thrilling dream come true” for the studio and the “Transparent” team.
. . .
Amazon takes the unusual approach of posting its pilots online and making pickup decisions in part based on feedback from viewers.
. . .
... Series creator Jill Soloway and Tambor heaped praise on Amazon for taking the chance on an unconventional story. In “Transparent,” Tambor plays a 70-year-old father who comes out as transgender to his adult children.

“They have guts and they have taste,” said Tambor of Amazon. He also called the streaming service his “new best friend” in his acceptance speech. '

Soloway talks about her own parent's story having inspired her.   Read the rest of the article here.

Other points made
CNBC writes:
"Amazon is debuting four original series in 2015 backed by high profile Hollywood names such as Marc Foster, the director of action blockbuster World War Z and James Bond movie Quantam of Solace.
. . .
Seattle-based Amazon spent around $2 billion on content for its streaming services in 2014, while Netflix splashed out $3 billion. This includes securing the rights for other shows as well as bankrolling original content. Both companies have indicated that they plan to spend more on original productions."

Businessweek writes:
"...winning a Golden Globe for best television comedy for Transparent instantly afforded its Prime Instant Video platform newfound credibility as a venue for first-rate original programming.
  The win for best TV comedy, in fact, let Amazon surpass Netflix in the race for streaming-video awards: House of Cards has so far won Golden Globes only for its stars, including last night's win by Kevin Spacey.
. . .
"... Laura Martin, a media analyst for Needham & Co....says Amazon’s Golden Globe has given it “a positive halo effect on all original programming they’re creating.”  An award is “the best marketing you can buy because it’s free and it’s about quality.”

FT.com reports:
"The online retailer launched its studio division in 2010 and has steadily increased its output every year since, offering its streaming service to Amazon Prime delivery programme subscribers.

  It struck a three-year deal worth about $300m with HBO in 2014 to stream old episodes of hit shows such as The Sopranos and has invested millions of dollars more on its line-up of original shows, which includes Transparent and Alpha House, a political comedy.
. . .
  Amazon and Netflix have led the charge in original production, using streaming technology to take their programming direct to consumers. Streaming has upended the traditional TV model, with many younger people “cutting the cord” on expensive cable or satellite packages."


  Here's the page to view Transparent
  Remember that there's no added cost for Prime shipping members.



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Kindle tips: The Big Deal is back - Over 400 Kindle books at up to 85% off - through Jan. 25. Also, Amazon Editors' January "Must Read" list of 10 books

MORE KINDLE BOOKS TO BROWSE

Well, it's back. I'm repeating Amazon's now and then announcement that their The Big Deal is here again
- 413 Kindle books at up to 85% off

This special feature page discounts are effective through January 25, and the page carries the usual disclaimer re varying selection and pricing of books offered outside the U.S.

  The Big Deal page is organized this time by:

  . Mystery and Thrillers
  . Romance
  . Science Fiction & Fantasy Deals
  . Contemporary Fiction
  . Biography & Memoir Deals
  . Teen Book Deals
  . Children's Books
  . Religion & Spirituality Deals

On the right of the page is a list of the Top 10 Best Sellers of the group and
  an option to "See all Best Sellers in The Big Deal..."

  That latter is the top selling 100 out of the 413 offered.

" These lists, updated hourly, contain bestselling items. Here you can discover the best The Big Deal in Amazon Best Sellers ... For non-U.S. customers, Kindle content availability and pricing will vary. "

The bottom of the page is a scrolling list of the currently 413 books, one by one, with a default sort of "New and Popular" and alternate sorts:
  16 per page, if you choose (inside the gray strip bar above the list) the Orange grid for "Detail"
      OR
  60 per page, if you choose the 4-cell, gray icon for "Image" which will show mainly book covers and basic info.

  The shortcut, if you type it on an eReader or tablet: bit.ly/thebigdeal-jan2015


Amazon announced its "Must-Read" January picks of the month
  These are NOT discounted books but I thought some might want to see what they are.,

Amazon Books Editors' January Picks of the Month

See How Small: A Novel		Scott Blackwood
West of Sunset		Stewart O'Nan
Sweetland: A Novel		Michael Crummey
Leaving Before the Rains Come		Alexandra Fuller
Black River		S. M. Hulse
The Train to Crystal City: FDR's Secret   Prisoner Exchange Program    America's Only Family Internment    Camp During World War II		Jan Jarboe Russell
The Girl on the Train: A Novel		Paula Hawkins
The First Bad Man: A Novel		Miranda July
It Was Me All Along: A Memoir		Andie Mitchell
Golden Son: Book II of the Red Rising   Trilogy		Pierce Brown
The Secret Wisdom of the Earth		Christopher Scotton

Source: I received an email about the "Must-reads," but they're also featured on the their web page for Best of Month



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Kindle Book Discounts Alert: Some Large Discounts by Big 5 publishers reported yesterday and still discounted tonight (Jan. 11). These usually end in 1-2 days.

Unusually large discounts on books by Big 5 publishers - reported yesterday, still on sale today, Jan. 11, 2015.

Some of the discounted books posted on January 10 are no longer discounted tonight, so the ones below won't likely last long.

Although this is late reporting for yesterday, those of you reading the blog entry today who are interested in sudden and short-term discounted prices like these can try these tonight and maybe tomorrow (but they rarely last more than 1-2 days if the discounts are by the Big 5 publishers.

Thought it was worth noting, however, as most of the sales have not been as interesting the last few days.
  I included some non-Big5 because they were put on temporary discount and have good reviews.

Temporarily reduced - still available at reported prices as of 7pm PST Sunday night

' Reported by Caroline Chan
  [Not a Big5 publisher title but one that became free and seems well-regarded.]
Tight Budget, Tight Stomach: The Top 50 Foods for Busting Belly Fat on a Budget
by Nicholas J. Meyer
4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
Was $2.99 - Free today

=======
Reported by Bookish
The Blue Zones, Second Edition: 9 Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest
Dan Buettner
NatGeo Publisher
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (103 customer reviews)
Prior price (not given) - $2.99 today

+++
Commentary on the Torah [Kindle Edition]
Richard Elliott Friedman (Author)
HarperCollins Publishers
Prior price (not given) - $3.99

=======
Reported by KAragon
Snow Angels: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
Stewart O'Nan (Author)
Sold by: Macmillan
3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (33 customer reviews)
Was $7.99 $2.99 today

+++
Vaclav & Lena: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
Haley Tanner (Author)
Sold by: Random House LLC
4.1 out of 5 stars See all reviews (62 customer reviews)
Was $9.99 $1.99 Today

+++
The Art Restorer: A Novel [Kindle Edition]
Julián Sánchez (Author)
Barcelona eBooks
4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
Was $7.99 - $1.99 today

+++
The Heavens Are Empty: Discovering the Lost Town of Trochenbrod [Kindle Edition]
Avrom Bendavid-Val (Author), Jonathan Safran Foer (Preface)
Pegasus
4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
Was $11.99 - $1.99 Today

=======
Reported by luv2read
Last Chants: A Willa Jansson Mystery [Kindle Edition]
Lia Matera (Author)
Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales In
3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
Was: $13.99 - $0.99 today

+++
Star Witness: A Willa Jansson Mystery
Lia Matera (Author)
Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
4.8 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
Was $13.99 - $0.99 today

+++
Havana Twist: An Earl Swagger Novel
Lia Matera
Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
Was: $11.12 - $0.99 today

+++
Who is Conrad Hirst?: A Novel
Kevin Wignall (Author)
Sold by: Simon and Schuster Digital Sales Inc
3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
(Whispersync audio $3.99 with purchase)
Finalist 2008 Edgar Award for Best Paperback
Was $10.99 - $0.99 today

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Free and low-cost Kindle books: Search-link options for January for contemporary, non-classics + other bargain pages (US, UK, Canada), w/ 2 New pages + Kindle discount-alerts by customers + Kindle Unlimited Audible w/ Whispersync. Updated.

January 8, 2015 - This includes a quick reminder that the free Kindle book search options in the reference section (right-column of blog) were updated for January.

Regular readers of the blog are aware of the following links, but I repost them (and often add new ones) each month or two, for those who are new to the blog or are looking for a refresher on what's available.

These include some less-known links for avid bargain Kindle book hunters

    December 2014  January 2015.
    Also, all currently free non-classics sorted by:
    Publication Date   Bestselling    High ratings

  There are only a few shown on the first few days of any month, and these include pre-orders due that month -- most of these are listed as "free preview" of whatever chapters chosen, some are short stories, and a few (overnight) not-entire-family-safe titles may show up. Since this is Jan. 8, the listing will include more already available, full books

    Highly rated, under $1

    In addition, Amazon still quietly carries: "Mostly 99c Kindle Books" page, which is a different Amazon listing from the one for highly rated Kindle books under $1.

    Amazon Top 100   (Also, UK-only)

    Amazon's own Limited Time Free Promos.

    NEWer are 50 Kindle Book Deals for $2 Each.  These appear to be selections from the Kindle Unlimited subscription set of 700,000+ Kindle books

    Also, there's a new umbrella page, Kindle Book Deals, for the many types of Kindle book deals available at any given time, so it's another good one to bookmark, along with the page you're reading :-)

    And Amazon has a reminder out today that for students (and their parents), there is a special page for eTextbooks you can "Rent, Buy or Try eTextbooks for Free."


Two ongoing pages you may want to bookmark
1. Free Kindle Non-Classics - includes the above bargain links among other ones and will be further updated this week
2. KINDLE SUPPORT info
  This has an "Often Asked" section which has a lot of good info in it. Updated 7/2/14.


Also for newcomers to the Kindle or to this blog, here are the special monthly book deals for January 2015 -- where to find them, etc.


JANUARY 2015's monthly Kindle Books deal, for $3.99 or less (See UK listing here.)

For those who want to quickly look first at only the ones that are star-rated at 4 or above, here is Amazon's page for that.

  On the main monthly Kindle book deals page, separate categories are highlighted, using Amazon's usual horizontally-scrolling pick-lists, for the following topics highlighted on the main page. They link to "See all" at the bottom of each horizontally-scrolled category row [ I'm adding direct links to the full category listings ]:

  1. History and by Avg Customer Rating
  2. Science Fiction & Fantasy and by Avg Customer Rating
  3. Biography and Memoirs and by Avg Customer Rating
  4. Literary Fiction Deals and by Avg Customer Rating
  5. Religion and Spirituality and by Avg Customer Rating

  6. Whispersync for Voice and by Avg Customer Rating     Audible book with Kindle book


        The Whispersync category has sometimes shown up with an explanation that the corresponding audio book is also sold at the monthly-deal price, if wanted.

  ' Now you can seamlessly switch between reading featured Kindle books and listening to them without ever losing your place...
  First, purchase the Kindle book for $3.99 or less. Then add the narration from Audible for $3.99 or less to enable the feature. '

  The Whispersync category is back on the main Monthly Deals page (there are about 59 of these Whispersync-ready books in January's deals).  They're also included in the overall scrolled monthly deals that can be sorted by several options at the bottom of that main page.

Note that the new Kindle Unlimited subscription program includes many of these as part of Kindle Unlimited so that there's no added charge for the Audible book.

The main monthly deals page also tends to show, on the right, two vertically-scrolling categories:
  1. A list of Bestsellers
  2. Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense highlighted + more in the linked full list w/ sorting options)
      Here's that fuller listing by Avg Customer Rating

THEN, at the bottom of the new main monthly Kindle book-deals page, they offer the FULL current monthly listing, defaulting to sorting by "New and Popular" and there are 108 in all, currently, but the number may vary.

  Here's a direct link to that Full-listing (US), sorted by "New and Popular" for the month, so
    it's a good one to bookmark if you just want to jump to that) and
    you can choose another sort option for this full listing, such as
        Avg Customer Rating or by Price: Low to High

These options should make it easier to find books of interest to you.

The pricing for January's group of Kindle books returns to including 99c books to $3.99 (there were no 99-cent ones for December's monthly deal.

  The Kindle books you'll see on this special monthly-deals page  (UK version here) are new for January.

(US Link: amzn.to/mkbooks-1to4,  UK Link: amzn.to/100kbooks-1to4uk)


The ongoing Kindle Daily Deals page
for any given day usually shows a lot of books since it includes children's books, a couple of genre-specific deals, and the monthly daily deals as well.  Today, January 8, they include 12 first-in-series books.

---

DISCOUNTED / Price Dropped Kindle eBooks III - the ongoing Kindle Forum message thread
  This 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, which includes many books with large price drops.  I'm starting at a January 4 posting page that includes books that are still on sale today, Jan. 8 (some are highly rated). The first posting is on "My Autobiography (Neversink)" by Charlie Chaplin, which was $9.99 but is $1.99 on Kindle today.

Edited article to add that today's listings in that thread include several books from Simon & Schuster at large discount and also a book that received rave reviews in 2012, Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk.

  The books discussed in this forum thread tend to be very short-term discounts.

  That forum topic link is to a specific post to start, in this case, a book alert on Jan. 4, as mentioned.  You can browse previous posts or days, or keep up with ongoing alerts after that, because Amazon keeps track of the last message# that you read, so that you can start from there next time.

  While many of the better deals seem to be around $1.99-$4.99, there usually are a decent number of larger-publishing house deals included (primarily price-matching) 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, Kindle book prices are discounted for only a very short time, too often, and are promos, and that's another reason to watch the list.  Most of the large-publisher discounts last only one or two days even when they originate the discount.


DISCOUNTS ON ACCESSORIES Amazon's current pages (some, ongoing) on accessories for Kindle e-Reader and Kindle Fire
  1. Up to 50% (higher discount than usual) on cases for Kindle eReaders
  2. Up to 50% on cases for Kindle Fire (Gen 2) and Kindle Fire HD tablets but NOT HDX tablets
  3. Accessories for all Kindles, with some discounted.


For larger discounts, there are the ongoing pages:
  For US
Goldbox and Lightning Deals which sometimes include bigger one-day sales and
Select-Outlet Deals
Warehouse Deals
Other warehouse deals - more gift oriented
Your Amazon coupons


  For UK and Canada:
UK - Today's Deals
Seasonal Discounts and Sales - UK ('January Clearance')
Warehouse Deals - UK

Canada - The Deals Store


Recently-built Kindle Outlet Store - US
A few months ago, Amazon put together a Kindle Outlet Store to feature their certified refurbished Kindle devices at a somewhat lower cost.


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Quick Note re update to article on How to Install non-Amazon Apps on Kindle Fire HD and HDX tablets + planned blog topics

Quick note to those reading news feeds

I updated the blog article on How to install non-Amazon apps on the Kindle Fire tablets - to cover newer tablets too, clarify some aspects, add a note about other methods, and to link to the revised articles on how to get Flash working on later Kindle Fire models.

The news feeds don't bring updated older blog articles to the top, so this is just an alert, which I may delete from the main page eventually, since this quick alert is mainly for newsfeed apps that don't "see" the updated blog entry otherwise.

With the New Year, some blog posts I'm planning to do in the coming weeks include:

New Photos+video Cloud storage at no added costs and new general backup features
  (for settings) of the new Fire OS
Update on the progress of Fire OS updates and retrofitting for that OS on older Kindle Fires,
  with software updates v4.1.1, v4.5.1, and v4.5.2 so far.
  Fixes that are starting to come for sound issues for some, missing dictionaries, and missing personal highlights
Collections feature changes...but that depends on whether or not they were intentional
Most recent iOS app update
Hachette, Simon & Schuster, and McMillan agreements and what they may or may not mean.
Small external speakers for tablets and even eInk Readers
New keyboard alternative(s) on the Kindle Fires
Whatever might be happening with Amazon Echo and its nearest competitor


If you've any requests for article topics, let me know at andrys [at] panix [dot] com or at the Comments area here. Thanks.



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Amazon's holiday content, free, or on special sale only during this week. A few deals are -were- only until midnight Christmas Day.

Special sales announced by Amazon for this holiday week

On Dec 24, I focused on the 40 Android apps worth $220 available for free "until" December 26.  I don't know whether Amazon means until December 26 starts (which is the normal meaning) or until the end of December 26.  In the past, they've stipulated 11:59pm on a given date or they've used the word "through" a particular day.  So, to be certain you get the apps you want from these, aim for the end of Christmas day.


For those just opening new Kindle tablets and e-readers or those who have not looked at the free and low-cost specials available at any given time, there are ongoing specials for a day or for a month (or unstipulated "limited time") at Amazon.  These are listed and linked to at the recent Free and low-cost Kindle books article.  There are a lot of varied free offerings included in that article.


Today-only through tonight, special Goldbox deal
The ongoing daily Goldbox page is featuring for today and tonight (Dec 25, 2014) this Gold Box Deal of the Day: Up to 50% Off Digital Music, Books, Movies, Games, and Apps


Amazon added a "Kindle Book Sale: Up to 65% off" page of books at $1.99 each, which appear to be from the Kindle-Unlimited feature.
  This one started December 25, 2014 and is "through January 25, 2015."
  Note that some at Amazon are clearer by using "through" a given date rather than 'until' (which can be misleading.)

What Amazon calls its Kindle Book Deals for the current day, including the Daily deals, Monthly Deals and Countdown Deals (had never heard of the latter).  These include books with up to 85% discount.

  Amazon's press release adds that: "Starting December 25th and running through the New Year popular Kindle books from best-selling authors will be up to 85% off, including titles from James Patterson, David Baldacci, Rick Riordan, Sandra Brown, Kristin Hannah, Jeff Kinney and Barbara Freethy."
  These will change, though, daily, as to what is featured, from what I can see.


Amazon Device Deals - Amazon's statement on holiday specials for its Kindle tablets and eReaders

' Amazon Device Deals
For a limited time, customers can get $20 off Amazon Fire TV (now $79), $25 off Fire HD 7 (now $114), $20 off [basic] Kindle (now $59) and $20 off Kindle Paperwhite (now $99). '

Amazon's new pages for gifting of Digital Content
There are now pages dedicated to
. gifting Prime Content and
. gifting Kindle books.
  The benefits that come with the gifting for the recipient are described in their statement from the holiday press release:

Customers can easily gift friends and family all the digital content they love.

Give the gift of Amazon Prime and customers automatically get access not only to
  fast, free Two-Day shipping on millions of items,
      but they can immediately start streaming
  tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes with Prime Instant Video,
  one million songs and
  hundreds of playlists with Prime Music,
  free unlimited Photo Storage with Cloud Drive,
  early access to select Lightning Deals and
  access to more than 700,000 books to borrow with the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.
Learn more and schedule your gift delivery at amazon.com/giftprime.

[The giftprime page clarifies that
    'If the recipient is already a Prime member, the gift can be exchanged for an Amazon.com Gift Card.
     The one-year gift membership does not automatically renew.' ]

Kindle books can be given as a gift to anyone with an email address, and
recipients can read a Kindle book gift on any compatible Fire or Kindle device, or free Kindle reading app.
Learn more at amazon.com/kindlegifting [which is actually Kindle book gifting].

Amazon Coins provide an easy way to give the gift of apps and games--simply choose the amount of Coins to gift, who[m] to gift them to and when to have them delivered.  Learn more at amazon.com/giftcoins.

And, in connection with Amazon Prime membership, Amazon's holiday week deals include the following in Amazon Prime Music, Amazon writes:

Prime members can also listen to a variety of popular holiday albums and songs on Prime Music without added cost, including the Christmas album from a cappella group Pentatonix--PTXmas (Deluxe Edition), Mariah Carey's fan-favorite and classic Merry Christmas album and the Christmas album from crooner Michael Bublé, among many more.

  Prime members can also explore a selection of hand-crafted holiday playlists on Prime Music including 50 Great Christmas Songs and Yule Love This as well as Prime Music Stations such as Holiday Classics, Holiday Favorites, Country Christmas and Relaxing Christmas for easy, ad-free holiday listening.

In addition, on [what's left of] December 25th, Amazon's Digital Music Store will offer top albums, including Ariana Grande--My Everything, Frozen (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Guardians of the Galaxy: Awesome Mix Vol. 1 (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack), Imagine Dragons--Night Visions, OneRepublic--Native [+digital booklet], Sam Smith--In The Lonely Hour, and more for $3.99 as part of the Digital Gold Box Daily Deal at amazon.com/gp/goldbox.

Since I didn't get the Christmas Day Prime Music apps listed before the day but there are still 3 hours left on the East Coast and 6 hours on the West Coast, I'll stop here and get this up for those who are still exploring with their new tablets or eReaders.


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Amazon's 40-free-apps bundle (worth $220) "Until December 26" - A few choice ones noted. Updated 12/24-25 - Added UK and Canada's pages

Amazon's offering a 40-Apps bundle: Apps that cost (total $220) but which are free through Dec. 26, 2014
  Though it's called "Free App of the Day Bundle" it's apparently free until the day after Christmas, which makes more sense.  I've edited the title.  But they say "until" rather than "through" so note that wording.

The Muscular System Manual app shown here might help with physiology classes, but the main reason I used this app's image as the lead is that the normal cost of this app is set for $64 but it's free for the next couple of days.

  I had not looked at most of the 40 apps to see what prices were but was curious about this educational one.

  WELL, they added, on the bundle-listing page, after I typed that, the prices for each app -- very helpful.


  For UK and Canada - (specific items shown for U.S. are also available on UK and Canada's bundle pages)
  The 40 free app of day bundle page in the UK
  The 40 free app of day bundle page in Canada




Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary, 8th edition
  Normally $30.99.


Others that jumped out at me as possibly useful as well as fun
are shown below.


OTHER free apps until Dec 26 - 38 more, but a couple of noteworthy ones
Photo Transfer app - nornally $1.99.   From the product description:

  Get Your Transfer
Photo Transfer App allows you to easily transfer photos and videos from your Android device to your computer as well as exchange photos from and to another Android device, iPhone, or iPad using your Wi-Fi network.

  Androids and Apples
Upload multiple photos from your computer to your device. Transfer photos and videos from one Android device to another over Wi-Fi; no cables are necessary. Transfer photos from your Android device to an iPhone or iPad and vice versa.

Please note: to transfer photos from to an Android device to an iPhone/iPhone, both devices must have Photo Transfer App installed. Access to a Wi-Fi network is required for this application to work. Some public Wi-Fi networks, such as hotels or public spaces, may be configured to block communication between devices.

iReal Pro - Music Book & Play Along - normally $12.99
  This was "~One of Time Magazine's 50 Best Inventions of 2010~"

  Included in the product-images set is a video that shows you how to use it.
  I was impressed that not only can you choose the key of any song but you can also choose the type of rhythm to use when playing along with the piece.  From the description:

  Practice makes perfect. iReal Pro offers an easy-to-use tool to help musicians of all levels master their art. It simulates a real-sounding band that can accompany you as you practice. The app also lets you create and collect chord charts of your favorite songs for reference.

  “It’s the perfect technology for a practicing musician: high-quality digital audio, mixable, transposable into any key and completely mobile. Now every aspiring musician has a backup band in their pocket.” – Tim Westergren, Pandora Founder

• It's a Book:
Create, edit, print, share and collect chord charts of your favorite songs for reference while practicing or performing.

• It's a Band:
Practice with a realistic sounding piano (or guitar), bass and drum accompaniments for any downloaded or user-created chord chart.

FEATURES:
Have a virtual band accompany you as you practice
• Choose from 35 different accompaniment styles. (More available with In-App purchase)
• 15 Jazz Styles: Afro 12/8, Ballad Even, Ballad Swing, Bossa Nova, Double Time Swing, Even 8ths, Gypsy Jazz, Latin, Latin/Swing, Long Notes, Medium Swing, Medium Up Swing, Slow Swing, Swing Two/Four, Up Tempo Swing
• 8 Latin Styles: Argentina-Tango, Brazil-Bossa Acoustic, Brazil-Bossa Electric, Brazil-Samba, Cuba-Bolero, Cuba-Cha Cha Cha, Cuba-Son Montuno 2-3, Cuba-Son Montuno 3-2
• 12 Pop Styles: 12/8 Rock, Bluegrass, Country, Disco, Funk, Reggae, RnB, Rock, Shuffle, Slow Rock, Smooth, Soul
• Personalize each style with a variety of sounds including piano, fender rhodes, acoustic and electric guitars, acoustic and electric basses, drums, vibraphone, organ, and more

Play, edit, and import any songs you want
• 1000s of songs can be imported from the forums in a few simple steps
• Edit existing songs or create your own with the Editor
• The Player will play any song that you edit or create
• Create multiple editable playlists
. . . View the rest of this at the product page

Also included are Root Explorer and Plex (the latter for those with Plex servers).


Also, the regular SINGLE free app of the day
  How the Grinch Stole Christmas - normally $4.99.


This Christmas bundle is definitely worth a look, and, again, they're available now through Dec. 26.

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