Amazon is doing a very good job of enticing people to buy the Kindle Fire. I opted to get a Kindle Touch instead of the Fire or an iPad. What's interesting is that I don't even think about getting an iPad.
I would have gotten one had Apple upgraded the camera for the iPad. But then the announcement for the Fire and Kindle Touch came out. All other tablet makers have been trying to compete with Apple by copying Apple. Amazon has created compelling reasons to consider it's devices and I think the strategy will be a great success. They aren't copying Apple.
What's shocking is how much Google has dropped the ball. They have Youtube and Google books and could have created compelling reasons to buy Android devices. I don't think about Youtube when I want to rent a movie I can't get on Netflix. It's clear that pretty soon I'll ditch Netflix and just go with Amazon Prime. This is even more likely given that books will be part of Amazon Prime.
You weren't interested in the iPad, were interested in the Kindle Fire, but got a touch instead? Is that right? I've got the HP Touchpad, and don't really use it. I don't think the tablet market is as important as the marketing hype is saying it is. I suspect we are going to see more dedicated touch devices for specific uses, like the kindle (non-fire) rather than the do-everything tablets that you'll just take everywhere.
As far as Google dropping the ball on the YouTube/Netflix thing, YouTube wasn't about renting or watching full length videos. It is very difficult to occupy two concepts in the consumers mind. YouTube was always about UGC, so the transition to now also having mainstream content was always going to be a huge challenge for google and opportunity for competitors. At the same time, I don't think Google has yet released a compelling 'store' for getting content. what do you think?
Cool. I'm a lot less uncomfortable with DRM-restricted content on a limited appliance, if it's presented honestly as a temporary rental on subsidized hardware that's substantially cheaper than a legitimate purchase including first-sale rights.
I'm surprised the time period is so much longer than it takes to read one book, though. Netflix got a very strong start offering "keep n DVDs, we don't care which ones, swap them every day or two if USPS can keep up". An all-you-can-eat version of this for $50ish/month would be compelling.
This is the major move, much bigger than just boosting sales of Kindle and Amazon Prime. Amazon is testing a books by subscription service. They're using Kindle owners with Prime to limit their test market to good loyal customers. They're limiting the number of books you can check out to control their costs during the test, but it's likely the copyright owner gets some payout per read. With this limited test Amazon will understand the business model and technical requirements to roll this out on a much larger scale.
I expect we'll see an Amazon book subscription service for all Kindle readers with a payment plan based on the number of books you can check out at a time and the number of books you can check out per month.
“One book can be borrowed at a time, and there are no due dates. You can borrow a new book as frequently as once a month, directly on your registered Kindle device, and you will be prompted to return the book that you are currently borrowing.”
Well, they would still like you to buy books. But this is a great supplement. I can also get free ebook "loans" from my local library, but with a 2 week loan period and there's often a waiting list to get popular books.
Once a month seems extremely reasonable to me, but obviously it all depends on your personal reading habits. I read every day on the train to work, and it takes me about 2 months to finish a 1000 page novel.
I've been tempted to get Amazon Prime. The free shipping is great, and with their video streaming, I could also get rid of Netflix. This book deal is even sweeter, of course.
However, I really like Netflix. If AP's movie selection was different enough, I'd almost just subscribe to both. But in my browsing of Amazons selection, it seems they only have what Netflix has, just less of it
I see Amazon trying to build itself, at high cost (I'm sure the Prime membership doesn't cover all of the videos/books licensing plus free 2 day shipping), as the major source of digital entertainment content delivered through the Internet.
Once they've become the primary source and particularly if they're able to control access through their own hardware (Kindle devices), they'll be able to negotiate from a position of power with content providers. Without this type of negotiating power, Amazon (or any other digital media medium like Pandora, Netflix) will always be at the mercy of content creators.
Obviously, Amazon also has its dominant Internet retailing business so its in a good place regardless of whether the digital media services are successful. They now just want to rule the Internet world too.
Does anyone know if your bookmarks and annotations stay saved on your Kindle even after returning the ebook? It's all I really care about after having finished a book - saving my bookmarks/annotations for future reference.
Bookmarks, notes, and highlights are all available on Kindle Owners' Lending Library titles, and will be saved to your Amazon.com account. Should you ever borrow or purchase the book in the future, your notes and highlights will be available for you.
I don't know for sure about this new prime lending in particular, but if it works the way the public library lending does, then the answer is 'yes'. With ebooks you check out from the library to your kindle, your bookmarks remain if you later check that same book out, or even purchase it.
Does Prime make a lot of sense in the US? In Germany I don't quite get it, because mail only takes two days anyway. It seems at most I would save a day here or then with a certain probability. Not enough to warrant the cost, and one book per month doesn't change that much.
It actually makes a lot of sense. The thing you need to remember about the US is that it is huge. Oftentimes, when you order something, it has to be shipped from ~3000 miles away. The 'standard' shipping time is 3-5 days, but is more often closer to a week.
Guaranteed 2 day shipping is very convenient, and well worth the $80 a year it costs. Especially when you consider the included streaming of movies, TV shows, and now book subscriptions.
(Disclaimer: I've been working with Amazon for a while but have been a Prime member for much longer.) It's also the free shipping on any order that's important. It's free shipping on any order, whereas I think normally you need to spend at least $25 or $50 to get free shipping. This enables me to purchase anything on Amazon whenever I want without worrying about added cost and turns shopping into an almost entirely asynchronous experience. It's a huge time savings.
For $80, it's a minor luxury. I could certainly do without it, but it's nice to have since Amazon rarely delivers to here in two or three days without Prime. It's especially useful around the holidays where Amazon's free shipping may get slower, even taking a day or two to ship after ordering, while Prime is still fast.
I live near Washington, and a lot of items with Prime get bumped up to overnight shipping for free. Without Prime, there's a decent chance that something will end up coming from California by ground shipping, which can take a week.
Totally worth it. I was itching for a Kindle, but held out for the iPad. However, less than a year after getting the iPad I purchased a Kindle as well. The Kindle is a great reading device, especially outdoors. The battery life is fantastic and the screen is gorgeous.
Nice thing is too, for the books that you purchase, it will automatically sync your last page read ... so you can start reading on the Kindle, switch over to iPad, go back to the Kindle ... all without losing your place and while maintaining your highlights and notes.
Yeah, a large, heavy book fell on my Kindle, breaking the screen. I took that as an excuse to get an iPad, and while I have loved owning one of those, I just bought a replacement Kindle, because the reading experience is just plain better.
This could be the start of a good thing, but I am really itching for them to get a more reasonable limit to how often you can get a new book, not because I read that much but because I don't waste time on books that aren't great.
However I see no reason for them to not included any book in the offer. If a particular publisher isn't interested remove his book from Amazon completely.
I searched but none seemed to mention it here so far... but how are they going to prevent piracy? How will they ensure that the borrowed books cannot be easily stored somewhere else permanently?
With the same DRM they already use I suppose (I don't have a kindle, so I don't know any details). If it was possible to store the books somewhere else, people would be already doing that to share the books.
I guess I'm just not the target audience. For the record, I borrow three longer novels from the local library every one or two weeks (depending on how busy I am with work and life).
For you, maybe, but that's awfully short sighted. It's an insanely cheap way to intice people to buy a Kindle device. I don't have a lot of time to read, but Kindle's are cheap compared to the price of books. I was considering getting a Kindle but chickened out because I don't read as often as I might like, but now, with a free book a month? I'm probably going to pick it up for Christmas.
I have to think this will convert potential buyers.
Edit: Disclosure, I just flew with only an algorithms book. It's fun to read on the way to the interview, not so much on the way back.
Any suggestions on books from the list? I couldn't find an easy way to see which books are included and it would be great to compile a suggested reading list from it.
You can do this from Kindle.. Go to Kindle Store and then to Owner's Lending Library. There are categories and subcategories and books are sorted by bestselling
I think it's a great question. I have an older generation Kindle 2, so do about half of my kindle shopping via a computer. It's too slow otherwise. (More specifically, browsing via a computer, specific purchases sometimes through the kindle.) I'd love to be able to filter to the lending library through my desktop.
If I have to browse lending title over 3G, I'm less likely to do it. Maybe that's the point.
[+] [-] yequalsx|14 years ago|reply
I would have gotten one had Apple upgraded the camera for the iPad. But then the announcement for the Fire and Kindle Touch came out. All other tablet makers have been trying to compete with Apple by copying Apple. Amazon has created compelling reasons to consider it's devices and I think the strategy will be a great success. They aren't copying Apple.
What's shocking is how much Google has dropped the ball. They have Youtube and Google books and could have created compelling reasons to buy Android devices. I don't think about Youtube when I want to rent a movie I can't get on Netflix. It's clear that pretty soon I'll ditch Netflix and just go with Amazon Prime. This is even more likely given that books will be part of Amazon Prime.
[+] [-] pedalpete|14 years ago|reply
You weren't interested in the iPad, were interested in the Kindle Fire, but got a touch instead? Is that right? I've got the HP Touchpad, and don't really use it. I don't think the tablet market is as important as the marketing hype is saying it is. I suspect we are going to see more dedicated touch devices for specific uses, like the kindle (non-fire) rather than the do-everything tablets that you'll just take everywhere.
As far as Google dropping the ball on the YouTube/Netflix thing, YouTube wasn't about renting or watching full length videos. It is very difficult to occupy two concepts in the consumers mind. YouTube was always about UGC, so the transition to now also having mainstream content was always going to be a huge challenge for google and opportunity for competitors. At the same time, I don't think Google has yet released a compelling 'store' for getting content. what do you think?
[+] [-] prodigal_erik|14 years ago|reply
I'm surprised the time period is so much longer than it takes to read one book, though. Netflix got a very strong start offering "keep n DVDs, we don't care which ones, swap them every day or two if USPS can keep up". An all-you-can-eat version of this for $50ish/month would be compelling.
[+] [-] KevinEldon|14 years ago|reply
I expect we'll see an Amazon book subscription service for all Kindle readers with a payment plan based on the number of books you can check out at a time and the number of books you can check out per month.
[+] [-] thomasgerbe|14 years ago|reply
Hmm only once a month? That seems rather low.
[+] [-] res0nat0r|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ja27|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] baddox|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] davidw|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] danso|14 years ago|reply
However, I really like Netflix. If AP's movie selection was different enough, I'd almost just subscribe to both. But in my browsing of Amazons selection, it seems they only have what Netflix has, just less of it
[+] [-] vsl2|14 years ago|reply
Once they've become the primary source and particularly if they're able to control access through their own hardware (Kindle devices), they'll be able to negotiate from a position of power with content providers. Without this type of negotiating power, Amazon (or any other digital media medium like Pandora, Netflix) will always be at the mercy of content creators.
Obviously, Amazon also has its dominant Internet retailing business so its in a good place regardless of whether the digital media services are successful. They now just want to rule the Internet world too.
[+] [-] dym|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dsplittgerber|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adestefan|14 years ago|reply
Bookmarks, notes, and highlights are all available on Kindle Owners' Lending Library titles, and will be saved to your Amazon.com account. Should you ever borrow or purchase the book in the future, your notes and highlights will be available for you.
[+] [-] palebluedot|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Tichy|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] trobertson|14 years ago|reply
Guaranteed 2 day shipping is very convenient, and well worth the $80 a year it costs. Especially when you consider the included streaming of movies, TV shows, and now book subscriptions.
[+] [-] peripitea|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smackfu|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mikeash|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bennesvig|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 13rules|14 years ago|reply
Nice thing is too, for the books that you purchase, it will automatically sync your last page read ... so you can start reading on the Kindle, switch over to iPad, go back to the Kindle ... all without losing your place and while maintaining your highlights and notes.
[+] [-] aheilbut|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] icarus_drowning|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chrisledet|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tomjen3|14 years ago|reply
However I see no reason for them to not included any book in the offer. If a particular publisher isn't interested remove his book from Amazon completely.
[+] [-] altrego99|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] smackfu|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] kiiski|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ComputerGuru|14 years ago|reply
That makes it pretty much useless.
EDIT
I guess I'm just not the target audience. For the record, I borrow three longer novels from the local library every one or two weeks (depending on how busy I am with work and life).
[+] [-] unknown|14 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] drivebyacct2|14 years ago|reply
I have to think this will convert potential buyers.
Edit: Disclosure, I just flew with only an algorithms book. It's fun to read on the way to the interview, not so much on the way back.
[+] [-] joebo|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ryanfitz|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jroid|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] alttag|14 years ago|reply
If I have to browse lending title over 3G, I'm less likely to do it. Maybe that's the point.
[+] [-] chrisledet|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] RusAlexander|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] BadassFractal|14 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fashionfshi|14 years ago|reply
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[+] [-] thedangler|14 years ago|reply
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