Consumerist
kindle 2
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warnings
You Can't Use A Barnes & Noble Gift Card For Ebooks
Update: Barnes & Noble says they're changing this policy. If you or someone you know is getting a nook, Barnes & Noble's version of the Kindle, this year and you want to use a gift card to fill it with books, forget it. For mysterious reasons, the retailer won't allow it. (By contrast, Amazon does.) More » -
ebooks
Sony's Ebook Store Prices Too High? Try Shortcovers
Michael bought a Sony Pocket Reader last month, but with the exception of $10 bestsellers, he's finding that other books he wants are priced higher than he's willing to pay. For example, Tad Friend's memoir Cheerful Money is $10 on Amazon and at Barnes & Noble, but $17.49 from Sony. Michael wants to know if we have any advice on how to get Sony to lower their prices. More » -
fraud prevention
Kindle Fees Trigger Fraud Alert On Visa Card
Considering the growing amount of credit card fraud, it's not surprising that banks are becoming more and more vigilant about identifying suspicious transactions. It's too bad they haven't been as successful at filtering out false positives or promptly notifying customers, as James Fallows at The Atlantic recently discovered when he got his account frozen for sending files to his Kindle.
"Maybe Amazon and Visa should talk?" [The Atlantic]
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Kindle coming to a PC near you next month. Amazon's Kindle software will be available as a free download for PC users starting next month. Versions for Macs and BlackBerrys will be available next year. All will have DRM, though users will be spared the pain of having to download their locked-down lit via AT&T's 3G network, which has replaced Sprint's more reliable data network in recent hardware Kindles.
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ebooks
B&N Ebook Reader Lets You Loan A Book Just Once
One of the big selling points about the Nook, the new ebook reader introduced this week by Barnes & Noble, is that unlike Amazon they'll let you virtually "loan" your ebook to a friend for up to 14 days (if the publisher allows it). What they don't tell you—some smart readers over at MobileRead sussed it out—is that you can only do this one time per book. You'd better lend wisely—and your friend had better finish that book within 14 days. More » -
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follow-ups
Man Twists Amazon's Arm, Gets It To Accept Money It Gave Away
Joshua had a problem with Amazon. He and his wife bought Kindles, broke one and went for a return/exchange, in which the couple ended up with a new Kindle and $300 of Amazon's money in its account. More » -
wondrous tales of the amazon
Amazon Is Just Giving Money Away Now
It's not often that we get an email from a reader complaining about a company that gives him money and won't take it back, but with Amazon, anything is possible. More » -
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trust amazon
Amazon Clarifies When It Will Remove Kindle Books
As part of a settlement with the customer who sued Amazon over the 1984 fiasco this past summer, Amazon has clarified under what circumstances it can delete your books. Notably, Amazon is not saying that it will never again delete books, which keeps the Kindle in the "do not buy" list for consumers who want unequivocal ownership of the items they purchase. In fact, despite the muted praise Amazon is receiving for doing this, the best we can say about the clarification is that it's about time, but that it still doesn't address the fundamental ownership issues raised by the Kindle licensing system. More » -
apologies
Amazon Offers $30 Credits To Orwell Kindle Swindle Victims
A post on Amazon's Kindle support forum yesterday says the company is sending out emails with offers of $30 to customers who had their George Orwell purchases erased from their devices earlier this summer. More » -
buying blind
Amazon Answers My Questions, Sort Of, About Kindle Licenses
Let's get straight to the bad news: although Amazon did answer my questions, their answers included "we're working on that," "I don't know," and "I don't know (but it's the publishers' fault)." To be fair to the "Kindle Specialist" I spoke with this morning, he has promised to talk to the Kindle marketing department—why marketing? these are DRM issues!—and get back to me with better answers. Until then, this is what the average consumer can expect from a Kindle ebook license. More » -
Later this month, Sony will start selling a $199 ebook reader through Walmart and other retailers ($100 less than the Kindle). They're also dropping the price of new releases to $9.99, which is what Amazon sells ebook licenses for. [Consumer Reports]
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sorry
Bezos Apologizes For Kindle's Orwellian Moment
Nearly a week after Amazon remotely deleted 1984 and Animal Farm from customers' Kindles because they weren't licensed, head Kindle-cheerleader Jeff Bezos posted this statement on the Kindle Community discussion board on Amazon.com. More » -
overextended
Get Ready For More AT&T Data Slowdowns
Oh jeez, AT&T, don't you have enough on your plate? You can't handle your iPhone customers as it is. TechCrunch says some customers' voicemails go missing for days or even weeks, you can't enable MMS because there's no room for it on your system, and the "faster" 3GS isn't any faster at all on your network. Now comes word that you'll be the one providing so-called "connectitivty" for Barnes & Noble's new ebook reader coming out next year. The result: more congestion for every AT&T customer. More » -
how to
How To Load Up Your Kindle With Non-Amazon Ebooks
So you've got a Kindle, and you have books on it, and you want to keep those books—no matter what Amazon or a publisher decides you deserve in the future. Your legal options are limited, but you do have some. More » -
doubleplusungood
Amazon Deletes Your Books, Has Always Been At War With Eastasia
Sure, electronic books are portable and have all sorts of advantages. But Borders has not, to date, broken into my house and stolen back my copy of The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide.
That's what happened to Kindle owners who had purchased copies of 1984 and Animal Farm by George Orwell. Amazon stole a page from the totalitarian, history-revising regime portrayed in 1984. Literally. As in, took back every snazzy digitally rendered page back. Amazon deleted the books from the accounts and even the Kindles of purchasers, and credited their accounts. Kindle users are, understandably, sort of freaked out. More »
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rebates
Recent Kindle Purchaser? Ask About The Rebate
Jeff wrote in to say he requested and received a $60 rebate on his new Kindle purchase from Amazon yesterday.
More »Received my new Kindle today, same day I heard about their price drop to $299. Obviously I wanted to see if I could get some cash back. Did their customer callback and got a call as soon as I hit OK. CSR said the shipping cutoff for a partial refund was July 8th and that they'd be crediting me $60 in 2-3 days.
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Everyone keeps reporting it, so we feel like we should also mention it here: Amazon has dropped the price on its normal-sized Kindle to $299. [Consumer Reports]
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