[HN Gopher] Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions fo...
___________________________________________________________________
Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and
print
Author : marban
Score : 321 points
Date : 2023-03-17 03:59 UTC (19 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.niemanlab.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.niemanlab.org)
| tylerekahn wrote:
| I built a service for reading RSS feeds on your Kindle in their
| newspaper format. As far as I know, I went the farthest compared
| to any competing service in terms of reproducing the format
| exactly with the highest fidelity and full feature set (it
| required a lot of time and stubborn effort to reverse engineer
| it).
|
| https://omreader.co
|
| Unfortunately it seems like they are discontinuing support for
| using the Send-to-Kindle functionality for .mobi files and I
| hadn't really been able to devote attention to it given some
| other things I had to attend to so it's now defunct.
|
| If anyone has anymore information on the status of loading .mobi
| files onto a Kindle, I'd be interested to hear about it.
| ncphil wrote:
| I subscribed to the NYT and a few magazines like The Atlantic
| when Kindle originally launched and really enjoyed the
| experience, but got out of the habit of reading them and dropped
| those subs long before prices went up. It was "too good to be
| true" from the beginning, and I think the knowledge it would just
| become another money pit contributed to my losing interest. Sort
| of like how that old Saab with its overheating engine helped me
| get over the allure of car ownership.
| jonstewart wrote:
| I get The New Yorker through Amazon, and it's a much nicer
| experience using the Kindle app on my iPad than fooling around
| with the buggy New Yorker app. Shame. I will not, of course, be
| getting one of these Amazon subscriptions.
| longnguyen wrote:
| Shameless plug: I build a tool to forward RSS feeds and
| newsletters to Kindle automatically[0]. While it could not
| replace the official periodicals, it works pretty well for my
| personal reading workflow.
|
| Consider giving it a try if you're looking for an alternative.
|
| [0]: https://ktool.io
| edu115 wrote:
| 9EUR/month for Platinum, which is the only option with more
| than 5 RSS feeds, is a bit too much in my opinion.
|
| I think if you could keep it sub-5EUR/$ you'd get a lot more
| subscribers.
| longnguyen wrote:
| Thanks for the suggestion. I gotta admit I'm constantly
| improving my profile. Your feedback is well noted and I am
| will work on it soon.
| wrycoder wrote:
| Yes, almost the price of a Kindle every year is too high
| just to send content, no matter how well done.
|
| Is there a problem hitting the Kindle storage limit?
| donohoe wrote:
| I'm thinking of setting up a service for the org I work at.
| I'll give it a go!
| jacobjwebber wrote:
| Just signed up! This looks v good
| ncphil wrote:
| When Kindle first came out my kids were just starting to get
| into reading more, so I wrote a perl script to poll various RSS
| feed that emailed their own personalized "newsletter" to the
| Kindle for each of them. It was a fun project, but I don't
| think they paid it much attention. Eventually the feeds I was
| using all went defunct or threw so many errors I abandoned it.
| longnguyen wrote:
| I'm sure it was fun working on that project. Parsing web
| content and packaging into epub is so much fun.
|
| But handling Amazon bugs is not :(
| ohgodplsno wrote:
| Reminder that Calibre [https://calibre-ebook.com/about] has the
| ability to send news sources directly to your Kindle, handles
| news sources that require a subscription like the NYT
| [https://manual.calibre-ebook.com/news.html], as well as
| literally any RSS feed. The only thing Calibre needs is a better
| UI, but that's not too different from most OSS projects. It is
| better than anything Amazon could ever hope to offer and as a
| bonus you don't give the bald man more money to destroy society.
| precompute wrote:
| I think it's also possible to set up Calibre on a RPi (or
| similar) connected to the internet and have it send the azw3
| files of the chosen rss feeds / newspaper feeds to a kindle via
| email.
| tonybologna420 wrote:
| How is the data going from Calibre to the Kindle itself? Do you
| need to keep Calibre running on a machine that's also using the
| same wifi connection as your Kindle? Does the data get sent
| using the Kindle email address? Somehow through a Calibre
| server?
|
| I was curious how this is done and couldn't find any
| information on the Calibre website. Thanks.
| ohgodplsno wrote:
| So, I haven't used my Kindle for a while, and the last one I
| have is a 2nd gen, but the options I know:
|
| - Plug in your Kindle on your PC, let it sync manually.
| Calibre has an option to know if it already synced or not,
| and will automatically start the news sync the moment you
| plug it in.
|
| - Send it through the email address. This does require
| Calibre to be running _somewhere_, on your desktop, your
| laptop, hell, even a phone port would be a great idea.
|
| There might be things on wifi, but I've sticked to these two
| options. There's no Calibre server to speak of.
| [deleted]
| NiloCK wrote:
| Almost every day there is a front page story on HN about some
| service shutting down, some account being locked without
| recourse, some purchased (licensed) media being clawed back from
| its owner (user) because the usage no longer serves the interests
| of the platform (or, is no longer estimated to be an optimal
| service of the platform's interests).
|
| But at the same time the overwhelming sentiment here (I know -
| plurality of opinions, no true news-hacker, etc) is that
| decentralized compute platforms with strong guarantees on durable
| permissionless interoperability are, at _best_ , a solution
| looking for a problem.
|
| If this Amazon story disappoints, frustrates, frightens you,
| please consider for a moment that _this_ is the problem that web3
| wants to solve.
| Illniyar wrote:
| No one is saying that decentralized compute platforms are a
| problem.
|
| Torrents, IPFS, seti.home etc... were quite popular.
|
| It's blockchain that is the problem. It is the inherent massive
| massive waste and inefficiencies in that technology that
| prompts everyone to say that there are more efficent ways to do
| it, and in the end something that can do the same thing more
| efficiently is better.
| lancesells wrote:
| I don't agree with this. web3 does nothing to be the size of a
| big box store (amazon, wal-mart, etc.) or creating the hardware
| to read it on, or having publishers sign up for it, or any of
| the marketing that goes along with it.
|
| An drm-free .epub file is all someone needs for this to be
| solved. It's overkill to have some immutable record running
| until eternity for those that purchased People magazine.
| noitpmeder wrote:
| Vote with your wallet people. If you don't like this move (and
| what it implies), then spend your dollars somewhere other than
| Kindle/Amazon.
| ben7799 wrote:
| This has been doomed from the start. I bought the first kindle
| that supported this when it was introduced, I think it was around
| 2010 and have always occasionally bought issues here or there
| thinking it would improve.
|
| The newspapers never wanted this to succeed. They always wanted
| to drive you to the website or make you buy the paper copy. They
| never were happy with the prices on the Kindle, and they couldn't
| deal with the fact that the Kindle editions didn't allow them
| unlimited ads.
|
| My local big newspaper never even put all their sections into the
| kindle edition. They charged a lot for a subscription, but the
| website/digital edition of the paper was even more, they want
| about $30/month for access to the website even though it's
| completely loaded with ads. It's basically all too expensive and
| too low quality for what they want to charge versus what
| $30/month is expected to offer for other services on the
| internet.
|
| I'm sure the newspapers hate it but stuff like Apple News+ has
| the right model. It's not a massive price gouge, the ads are
| there but are limited, and they do at least get some money, and
| iPads and such are a better place to read newspaper/magazine
| content then the kindle is.
| fullshark wrote:
| It is depressing how little Amazon cares about the Kindle, a
| device that would have seemed utterly magical 25 years ago as the
| internet matured, is just a low margin monopoly it maintains.
| ben7799 wrote:
| They obviously care about the Kindle a lot with respect to
| reading books. They have regularly designed new hardware and
| the hardware has gotten very good and very affordable.
|
| The book side seems awesome. Magazines and newspapers have
| always just kind of sucked, and a lot of that is on the
| magazine and newspaper companies, not on Amazon. Why should
| Amazon pour money into it if sales are terrible because the
| Magazines and Newspapers sabotage the whole thing? The
| subscriptions & sales will never take off as long as it costs
| more than going to the website and the content is incomplete
| compared to visiting the website. And the navigation will
| always be more clumsy on the kindle. It makes for a perfect
| storm for content that you navigate around more than a book.
| 8ytecoder wrote:
| Right, the formatting and reading experience has been off. I
| know for a fact that Amazon does the heavy lifting in
| converting to ebook format and delivering it.
| braunboffel wrote:
| > low margin monopoly it maintains.
|
| Please help me understand what you mean by monopoly. What is
| exclusive to Amazon? Aren't there competitors like Kobo, Onyx,
| etc?
| Kneecaps07 wrote:
| A monopoly just means you control the prices of a particular
| market. Amazon, in my opinion, absolutely has control of the
| ebook market. If they lower prices, everyone else has to
| lower theirs to keep up.
| braunboffel wrote:
| > Amazon, in my opinion, absolutely has control of the
| ebook market. If they lower prices, everyone else has to
| lower theirs to keep up.
|
| Uhm? Would you like to try explaining that again?
| danjoredd wrote:
| not OP but why would the average person buy a book from
| example.com for 15 dollars when Amazon sells it for 10?
| Here or there there might be a person who pays the extra
| 5 out of principle, but most people are going to buy from
| Amazon because that's what they know, and its cheaper
| anyway. In order to make money, other stores are going to
| need to match Amazon or beat it just to enter the public
| consciousness a little bit. Thats why Amazon kinda
| controls the ebook market
| cygnus2512 wrote:
| Back in 2015, I had a opportunity to work with a group of
| volunteers (non-profit organization that focused on community
| development in rural areas of Africa) and started using Kindles
| loaded with newspapers and magazines from the Kindle Newsstand as
| part of an education program. The whole group would visit
| villages and set up reading stations with the Kindles. That
| program over time, became so successful that it attracted the
| attention of other non-profit organizations, as well as
| government officials and educators. Like the political leaders
| talked about these kindles for many years and still do. The use
| of Kindles and other digital devices in education programs has
| become such an effective tool to reach out to remote and
| underprivileged areas around the world, and the world will miss
| Kindle Newsstand! Thanks for playing a role in providing access
| to reading materials in these communities:)
| ravel-bar-foo wrote:
| Around 2013 our university digitized their newspaper displays.
| Prior to the renovation, newspapers were posted daily in large
| vertical glass-covered display cases in the student lounge of
| the library (the library would buy and post two copies so all
| pages were face up). Tens of students at a time would slowly
| walk down the row of newspapers reading during their study
| breaks and quietly chatting while sipping on coffee.
|
| After the lounge was renovated and made into a digital media
| space this culture completely disappeared. I saw maybe two
| people use the digital kiosks to read newspapers in the
| subsequent year. It was heartbreaking to see the culture of
| community newspaper reading just collapse.
| jabroni_salad wrote:
| That glass display sounds extremely cool. Due to bus
| scheduling I would always have 20 minutes to kill before some
| classes and I would definitely have visited that.
|
| I appreciate the reason for the kiosks (decently private,
| better access for those who need it) but they are competing
| with my personal laptop.
| bookofjoe wrote:
| Newseum closed at the end of 2019
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newseum
|
| >The Today's Front Pages Gallery presented daily front
| pages from more than 80 international newspapers. The
| Today's Front Pages Gallery is still available on the
| Newseum's website
| [https://www.freedomforum.org/todaysfrontpages/#1], along
| with a few other galleries.
|
| When I went to Washington, D.C. (a couple times) I'd lose
| myself in front of this gallery: absolutely fascinating to
| see how the world was viewed each day from so many
| different perspectives.
| massysett wrote:
| I work blocks away from the former Newseum and would
| routinely walk over there to look at the front pages. As
| years went by it seemed both increasingly anachronistic
| yet still relevant. The sheets of paper were static in a
| nice way that countered the ephemeral nature of the
| ticker that scrolled inside the building.
| JohnFen wrote:
| It's really hard to nail down, and even harder to explain to
| a lot of techies (who tend not to even believe it's a thing),
| but there is something about print-on-paper that just doesn't
| translate over to electronic displays.
|
| I don't think it has to do with the actual appearance of the
| page, or even the feeling of the page when you touch it. I
| don't know what it is. But I know a lot of people (including
| myself) who react differently between the two media.
|
| Printed words-on-paper is more immersive, somehow. There's
| less separation between the writing and the reader. I assume
| that's not true for everyone, but it's true for a substantial
| percentage of people.
| om42 wrote:
| Agreed, it also means no/less distractions and maybe that's
| what is happening. I get close to the words-on-paper
| immersive feeling when using e-ink style tablets (like
| supernote which tries really hard to not be more than a
| journal). But just knowing I can interact with it makes it
| less immersive. Something about words on paper are static
| and the information in front of me isn't changing makes it
| feel more immersive.
| WalterBright wrote:
| Every once in a while on HN, somebody posts about having
| taken a very large e-ink display and hooking it to an arduino
| to, daily, just post the front page of a newspaper. The thing
| is then just hung on a wall.
|
| I'd love to have that, but those displays are $5000 or so.
|
| If a business has a waiting room, it would be a fine thing to
| hang on the wall there.
| bombcar wrote:
| I remember the local library had these wood slat sticks
| they'd put the papers on, and you'd have today's paper on the
| top of this standing height desk, and the previous week or
| two would be underneath it; it was VERY nice for glancing at
| headlines or reading a page or two when passing by.
| SentientAtom wrote:
| Seems there is a psychological effect at play. I imagine a
| social ritual of standing and reading something that is
| always in-focus requiring no scrolling is far more appealing.
| ravel-bar-foo wrote:
| I can't quite pin words on it, but just intuitively it
| feels like there is less barrier to reading and more of a
| break from studying when the newspapers are printed and
| sitting there than when you have to swipe on a screen.
| frosted-flakes wrote:
| It's the size of the page. You can never replicate
| holding up a huge newspaper sheet with a digital screen.
| I really miss physical newspapers.
| Ensorceled wrote:
| Scanning in that fashion is also far faster, more
| comfortable and efficient.
|
| I used to flip through newspapers rather quickly scanning
| the headlines and first paragraph and reading more
| interesting articles in depth. Scanning this way is almost
| impossible digitally. Also headlines were more useful and
| articles actually had informative first paragraph instead
| of just "scroll some more" hooks.
| wrycoder wrote:
| I find that many of the magazines on Apple News+ have
| innovative navigation techniques that allow me to scan
| quickly. The throughput is high enough not to be laggy.
| ilyt wrote:
| It is pretty possible digitally, at least I haven't had
| much problems doing it with PDFs on good fast reader.
|
| Just not in the web way where going further almost always
| incurs some load time so it is impossible to skim, and it
| always wants to shove ad in-between
| Ensorceled wrote:
| Yeah, it can get close with a lot of work, but I can
| still scan multiple articles on a large print newspaper
| faster just by flipping the page.
| mhb wrote:
| An attention-getting and expensive (but universities seem
| like they could afford it) could be a giant e-ink version.
| bibanez wrote:
| There is one at my university. It's custom software and it
| breaks all the time, such a waste of energy because no one
| reads it!
| tonymet wrote:
| How does the hardware stand up over time ?
| mdavidn wrote:
| I am really disappointed by this. These days, I mostly use my
| (fifth) Kindle when flying on aircraft, and there I mostly read
| The Economist or The Atlantic.
|
| They don't publish offline media for laptops. I don't own a
| tablet. My phone battery is precious on trips. I guess I'll just
| look for paper copies at the terminal again...?
| DoingIsLearning wrote:
| > They don't publish in an offline format for laptops. I don't
| own a tablet.
|
| The conclusion to draw is that you clearly don't own your
| ereader either.
|
| I mean DRM does not stop those unwilling to pay. If the only
| achievement of DRM is to annoy the people who are willing to
| pay, i wonder if it likely increases rather than reduces
| piracy. There is no reason why you shouldn't be able to be
| served an open epub with your magazine subscription.
| Talanes wrote:
| The problem isn't putting the content onto the device, that's
| very easy to do. The problem is that the content isn't being
| published in any offline-viewable formats anymore, so there's
| nothing to transfer.
| [deleted]
| mdavidn wrote:
| I'm not sure who you're preaching to. I've owned five of
| these devices over the past 14 years. I accept DRM for the
| things I read on it. If the publishers offered a DRM-laden
| edition that I could read offline on my laptop, I would find
| that to be a compelling option.
| Talanes wrote:
| Not to mention that DRM on the Kindle isn't a hardware-side
| constraint. The device will happily accept DRM-free files
| side-loaded onto it.
| rendaw wrote:
| While maybe not what GP was getting at, it sounds like
| you're frustrated that they don't offer a format, not that
| they don't offer a DRM-free version. That sounds like being
| frustrated your owner only gives you dry kibble.
| HyperSane wrote:
| Can't you use the Kindle app on your laptop?
| mdavidn wrote:
| I don't see how this helps? If I could get The Economist in
| the Kindle app, then I could still get it on my Kindle.
| lmm wrote:
| That doesn't help, the issue is these things are no longer
| going to be published on the Kindle platform at all.
| thazework wrote:
| For the Economist you should be able to download offline
| editions through the app-
| https://myaccount.economist.com/s/article/Whats-included-in-...
| chaorace wrote:
| Is it really the same experience, though? In newsstand
| publications, you can swipe up/down to skip articles and
| there's a special 2-pane ToC that lets you navigate by
| sections. I'm not even sure if the epub format has the
| capability to provide magazine-specific integrations like
| these.
| iz_zi wrote:
| Why haven't you invested in a open source alternative that
| doesn't limit your choices?
| daveoc64 wrote:
| You've not understood the problem.
|
| The problem is not the devices that support DRM.
|
| Many ereaders support some form of DRM, but that doesn't stop
| you reading both free and paid content without DRM.
|
| The problem is that the content (Newspapers/Magazine) is not
| made available via a suitable medium to continue reading it
| on an ereader.
| mdavidn wrote:
| What would an "open source alternative" to The Economist look
| like exactly?
| [deleted]
| iz_zi wrote:
| I meant the e reader, not the economist, to clarify.
| iz_zi wrote:
| Also there are many open source e readers, that include e
| ink technology too. Amazon tried but idk something's
| off.. smells like Microsoft... a bit if you ask me :^)
| [deleted]
| BossingAround wrote:
| Ah yes, the DRM that is solved by buying a device which
| does not support said DRM.
| [deleted]
| cheeze wrote:
| Do people not fly with a USB battery on trips these days?
| robk wrote:
| Calibre from command line + email to Kindle works fine if you
| have any kind of machine that's online (or even a free tier
| Oracle VPS)
| mesh wrote:
| fyi, if you have a subscription to the Economist, you can read
| each edition offline via their mobile app. Available every
| Thursday.
|
| You can also listen to it, but that doesnt work offline.
| lasr_velocirptr wrote:
| It does work offline. I don't remember the exact steps on how
| to do it.
|
| Basically, you can get an rss feed with credentials imported
| into podcast app of your choice and just download the episode
| before going offline.
|
| I prefer this approach since 1) It works offline 2) I can use
| podcast player of my choice with much better UX than the
| economist app
| mesh wrote:
| Ahh, you are saying the Economists app just uses RSS behind
| the scenes? Why didn't I think of that!?!
|
| This actually solves real problems for me as I have to
| often drive through areas where I have no coverage, and I
| listen to the economist (much to the chagrin of my wife who
| is riding with me).
|
| Thanks!
|
| edit: Found the info, its actually on the Economists site
| (looks like you have to login):
|
| https://www.economist.com/audio-edition
| lasr_velocirptr wrote:
| Welcome!
|
| Yup. That's the link. You can just log in there if you
| have subscription and grab the rss url
|
| It will look like
|
| https://www.economist.com/audio-edition-
| podcast/<auth_token>...
|
| You can paste that into a podcast app of your choice. I
| use pocket casts on iOS which works with the above url
| for sure
| damontal wrote:
| You can use Calibre to download the Economist each week and
| send it to your kindle.
| dehrmann wrote:
| Sure, but I wish I didn't have to jump through these hoops.
| Sunspark wrote:
| Did you know that airplanes have power outlets at foot level,
| sometimes USB ports higher up? You could simply bring your
| phone charger with you on the plane..
| kube-system wrote:
| This varies by configuration. Some aircraft and airlines do
| not.
|
| Only one out of the last 25 or so flights I've been on have
| an outlet.
|
| For example, Southwest is one of the worlds largest airlines
| and didn't have outlets on any of its 700+ airplanes.
| (Neither AC nor USB) They just announced they will start
| ordering jets with USB ports starting this year.
|
| Also it is fairly common for short haul or regional jets to
| lack power outlets as well.
| Sunspark wrote:
| Surprising to hear that such a large airline wouldn't have
| power outlets in 2023 but perhaps it makes sense, because
| Southwest doesn't really do "long flights". Good info for
| fliers to be aware of.
|
| For Southwest and short haul fliers, I would then recommend
| an USB battery bank. They come in large capacities now
| which would cover several full charges.
| gnicholas wrote:
| I no longer have USB-A, which is the only USB receptacle I've
| ever seen on a plane.
| rationalist wrote:
| They make USB-A to USB-C adapters.
| gnicholas wrote:
| True, but if I'm traveling I'm not likely to bring a
| second phone charger cable just for this, especially
| because they can't charge as fast as USB-C cables. I
| bring a USB-C brick for my computer and USB-C to
| lightning cable for my iPhone.
| mrwh wrote:
| I had to read the email I got about this several times because it
| didn't seem to make sense. Hang on, my New York Times
| subscription is going to end in September and then... that's it?
| The Kindle is wonderful for reading newspapers on, and now -
| what? And why? I'm sure that someone has a very good reason for
| the change. I'm also sure that I've never seen a deprecation so
| poorly communicated.
| somenameforme wrote:
| From reading the article and its subsequent links, it sounds
| like they're trying to transition from a la carte purchases, to
| an all-in-one Netflix model. It's probably just a power play
| against publishers - swap to Kindle Unlimited and take a
| [presumably] smaller cut, or get nothing at all. And I'd expect
| it to work.
| dehrmann wrote:
| I've had a Kindle subscription to The Atlantic for a long
| time. I only look at it from time to time, but the price is
| low, and I don't feel guilty when I read their website for
| free. I couldn't quickly find out if they're even on Kindle
| Unlimited, and I don't read enough to make KU worth it.
| kaishiro wrote:
| "I'm sure that someone has a very good reason for the change."
|
| Call me jaded, but the older I get the less faith I have that
| this is actually true.
| mrwh wrote:
| Oh to be clear, I'm including "VP responsible gets a bonus".
| I certainly don't mean necessarily a good reason for the rest
| of us!
| CobrastanJorji wrote:
| Amazon doesn't want you to have a subscription to the New York
| Times. Amazon wants you to have a subscription to Amazon
| Unlimited, which would include access to the New York Times.
| Amazon would then pay the New York Times and all other
| periodicals an amount that Amazon thinks is fair based on how
| many people are reading their articles, like Amazon Unlimited
| books.
|
| This is very bad for big periodicals with many subscribers.
| Under the current model, they get a predictable amount of
| income and are motivated by keeping the bar high for their
| content, lest they lose subscribers. Under the new model, their
| income is entirely based on how many people pick up that issue
| and read it, which makes it very hard to budget. It also likely
| means an inevitable slide into "politician SLAMMED other
| politican, and you'll NEVER BELIEVE what happened next"
| headlines, since extra clicks are very directly your
| periodical's source of income.
|
| This is very good news for Amazon because it gives them far
| more bargaining power against publishers. Right now, if The New
| York Times decides that Amazon's terms favor Amazon too
| strongly, the Times walks, and Amazon doesn't get any more
| money from Times subscribers. Under this system, if the Times
| walks because Amazon terms favor Amazon too strongly, Amazon
| keeps the subscribers.
|
| This is moderately good news for customers who read a bunch of
| stuff on Amazon Unlimited. You now get to read whatever you
| like for probably around the same cost, and the stuff you
| naturally choose to read will end up getting a bit of money
| from it. Yay.
|
| This is probably moderately good news for niche, popcorn
| periodicals. If you have a "Werewolf Romance Weekly Short
| Fiction" magazine or "DIY Productivity Tip Of the Week"
| newsletter, you'll quite possibly make way more money by
| attracting idly browsing Amazon Unlimited customers than you
| would have been able to if you had needed to convince people to
| subscribe to your service.
| andyjohnson0 wrote:
| > Amazon would then pay the New York Times and all other
| periodicals an amount that Amazon thinks is fair based on how
| many people are reading their articles
|
| Presumably this would only happen after the NYT has first
| paid Amazon for access to the platform.
| SentientAtom wrote:
| Horrific to see another business model get put on rails
| resulting in a lowering of quality. Reminds me of MSN firing
| their news team and having AI journalists write all the
| articles. Now you get large walls of text with no overall
| message that often times are devoid of any conclusions.
| emsy wrote:
| In other words they're begging to be regulated.
| ben7799 wrote:
| The NYT has held their quality standards up pretty well, but
| most of the newspaper industry had already raced all the way
| to the bottom by the time Amazon ever launched the Kindle
| newsstand.
|
| That ship basically sailed away a long time ago. Newspapers
| gave everything away for free, raced the content to the
| bottom, and then after nearly 20 years of that finally
| realized it didn't work.
|
| The content in your online newspaper needs to be very, very
| good if you want $20-30/month to read it versus the
| aggregated news services wanting $9.99/month to read news
| from a wide swath of sources. NYT is good, but it's terrible
| at replacing your local news sources.
| ikari_pl wrote:
| Amazon shuts down subscriptions for me while saying Kindle
| Unlimited is not available in my country.
| greyman wrote:
| I remember, that in Slovakia we had something like an "Amazon
| Unlimited", it was called Piano, but it ultimately didn't
| work. The problem was, that for large publishers it was not
| profitable, and the system more or less favoured small
| publishers. But after a few largest publishers left the
| platform, the whole offering was weak and not worth it.
| atchoo wrote:
| If that's the strategy, it's weird that not even WaPo (a
| Bezos property) is on Kindle Unlimited when announcing sun-
| setting newspaper subscriptions.
| PradeetPatel wrote:
| Thank you for the thoughtful explanation. I never thought
| about it from that angle before, that is such a powerful move
| from Amazon that I believe most of us can learn something
| from.
| ohgodplsno wrote:
| "I'm sure we could learn something from how Amazon
| contributes to the destruction of something already both so
| fragile and crucial, the press" isn't exactly a good look,
| but go ahead.
| kqr wrote:
| It's also known as "commoditise your complement":
| https://gwern.net/complement
| brutusurp wrote:
| Except customers will just leave Amazon. Like they are
| doing with Music, and Video, and Prime. This move
| disadvantages everyone except Amazon. It should be
| investigated by SEC.
| DharmaPolice wrote:
| If customers leave Amazon surely that disadvantages
| Amazon too?
| [deleted]
| andrepd wrote:
| > that is such a powerful move from Amazon that I believe
| most of us can learn something from.
|
| I don't think that was the intended message here.
| CatWChainsaw wrote:
| Is Amazon Unlimited a different product than Kindle
| Unlimited?
| Espressosaurus wrote:
| I've seen how they've made it harder and harder to download
| your entire music collection, as well as how they're pushing
| their music streaming.
|
| At this point I'm just waiting for the same thing to happen
| to their ala cart music service, and it's very disappointing.
| snickerbockers wrote:
| So basically they're transitioning to the "extinguish" phase
| of their business model?
| concordDance wrote:
| The headline based selection process you describe has been
| going on for over a decade now. And yes, the damage has been
| bad.
| tootie wrote:
| Aside from the NY Times and maybe Conde Nast this will be
| Amazon squeezing blood from a stone. Most publishers are
| barely treading water right now and are getting killed by
| off-platform news consumption.
| ako wrote:
| At the same time, having to subscribe to specific periodical
| keeps me from doing it all. I see the these subscribe pop-ups
| every time I visit a newspaper, at least 5 different
| newspapers per day. It is just not affordable to have 5
| subscriptions, so I end up subscribing to none.
| flakeoil wrote:
| You could try readly.com. It's around 12 USD/month for a
| huge amount of magazines and news papers.
| rchaud wrote:
| These aggregators usually do not include 100% of the
| papers's content.
| tbran wrote:
| Just pick one to support. You can still visit all 5.
|
| Preferably a local paper.
| Ma8ee wrote:
| I pay something like EUR5 to The Guardian and $2 to NYT
| (which I read very occasionally) every months. And then
| another EUR15 to a Swedish newspaper. That is very cheap to
| support independent journalism.
| favaq wrote:
| I hope your calling The Guardian and especially the
| CIA... I mean the NYT "independent journalism" is an
| elaborate joke.
| Ma8ee wrote:
| Why do you think so?
| JPws_Prntr_Fngr wrote:
| Because publications like the NYT depend on access for
| their "journalism" [0]. Independent/investigative
| journalism requires an adversarial relationship to power,
| and looks more like [1]. In past decades, the
| establishment was occasionally forced to grapple with
| this [2] [3] but at this point the public discussion is
| so captured, it's no longer necessary.
|
| Chomsky's _Manufacturing Consent_ lays it out in depth.
|
| [0] https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/aug/29
| /corres... [1] https://wikileaks.org/opcw-douma/releases/
| [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Committee [3]
| https://www.nytimes.com/1977/12/27/archives/cia-
| established-...
| chiefalchemist wrote:
| Not the original commentor.
|
| As a longer time and now former NYT reader, it has
| definitely fallen off. It's abandoned balance and
| objectivity for trite left-leaning talking points. The
| breakup came when I realized I could not longer trust it
| to inform me to the depth and breadth I needed.
|
| At this point, it's an average news publication - notice
| I didn't say journalism - riding on the fumes of its
| history. It's not bad. But every since the internet its
| become more and more generic.
| bentlegen wrote:
| Wow, $2 is a good deal. I feel I paid that little to
| start, but now NYT charges me $20 CAD a month. I
| regularly debate whether it's worth it or not, and it
| definitely stops me from subscribing to other
| publications.
| Ma8ee wrote:
| They always increase the price after a year, and I go
| through the cancelling forms in their website until they
| offer me the lower price again. I guess that they know
| how little I actually use the subscription, so it's no
| point in trying to get more money from me.
| TedDoesntTalk wrote:
| Good luck canceling that subscription.
| Ma8ee wrote:
| They have made it easier. It used to be that you had to
| call, but now you can do it on the web.
| torstenvl wrote:
| I had nine months of chargebacks before I finally got NYT
| to stop charging me.
| eitally wrote:
| They have made it easier [by law] for subscribers [in
| California].
| rchaud wrote:
| Paypal has a one-click cancel option for any recurring
| payment.
| drtz wrote:
| This really isn't a big deal if you use credit card
| policy to your advantage.
|
| When I canceled a subscription to a local paper (Dallas
| Morning News), their policy said I had to call to cancel.
| Instead, I sent an email informing them I was rescinding
| authorization to charge my credit card.
|
| They initially responded stating that I had to call to
| cancel my subscription. One more email reminding them
| that charging my card without authorization would be
| credit card fraud turned out to be enough to have the
| phone call requirement dropped.
| gibolt wrote:
| Having the option to do either seems like the better
| approach for a consumer.
|
| Worded differently, removing one of two options is worse
| for the consumer.
| fastball wrote:
| But that's not the current reality, as basically no
| newspapers are on Kindle Unlimited.
| AdamN wrote:
| Or even worse is Apple News where it's pieces of major
| newspapers like the WSJ and then dumbed down newspapers
| like USA Today and nothing of the caliber of Financial
| Times.
|
| What I want is an app/site that has all the news, strong
| blocklists so I can get rid of junk (USA Today), stuff
| I'm just not interested in (Wrestling Today if such a
| thing exists), and get more stuff that I didn't know
| existed (Upper Siberian Mining Monthly :-))!
| janfoeh wrote:
| https://www.pressreader.com might be worth a look. I only
| have limited access through my German library card, but
| what I've seen so far I liked.
| unsui wrote:
| Whoa.
|
| Where has this been all my life?
|
| Reasonable price, great selection of periodicals and
| newspapers.
|
| Definite value.
| jrochkind1 wrote:
| > Amazon wants you to have a subscription to Amazon
| Unlimited, which would include access to the New York Times.
| Amazon would then pay the New York Times and all other
| periodicals an amount that Amazon thinks is fair based on how
| many people are reading their articles, like Amazon Unlimited
| books.
|
| The "spotify model".
|
| It's pretty bad for content creators. It is great for the
| distribution platform in the middle position. I think it's
| arguably pretty good for consumers, at least initially -- but
| generally the point is locking in consumers to eventually
| squeeze them, and I don't think it's great for _society_,
| which of course effects "consumers".
|
| Giblin and Doctorow's _Chokepoint Capitalism_ is worth
| checking out. https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/710957
| /chokepoint-c...
| chemmail wrote:
| Basically Amazon went Spotify on Prints ass.
| vishnugupta wrote:
| For a bunch of reasons I'm done with Kindle. For a decade
| (~2010-2020) I've bought hundreds of books and read quite a few
| on Kindle. But from late last year when I started reading
| physical books again (Kindle version wasn't available) I've
| gotten to appreciate the physical form again. Nice fonts, ease
| of flipping pages, random access etc., And as an added
| advantage my kids now get to see my taste and maybe find some
| of books interesting just because they are on a rack. I'm back
| to building my physical library. Could also be due to me
| growing old. But I don't want to beholden to Amazon's whims.
| kqr wrote:
| I like this idea a lot, but the size of many of the books I
| read constrains me. I can slip the kindle into my pocket when
| going on an errand and read while waiting in line, etc. A
| physical book -- even a "pocket" book -- would necessitate
| some sort of carrying vessel.
|
| Similar for magazines. I did subscribe to print issues back
| when I spent long times commuting on a train because I could
| just as well bring a print issue then. But now that I move a
| lot by walking or biking and would prefer to avoid bringing a
| bag of stuff -- I don't see it as equally likely.
|
| How do you deal with that?
| bombcar wrote:
| The cost of buying both the physical and kindle version
| ain't much more.
|
| Or if you sail the high sees under letters of marque, you
| could buy the physical and "obtain" a digital copy.
| frereubu wrote:
| I'm not the person you're responding to but I'm the same as
| them, having gone back to physical books. I don't take
| books with me on errands, I read saved articles on my
| phone. Going on holiday I make a small selection and just
| have to live with that restriction. It doesn't feel like a
| particular problem because I've made the conscious decision
| to do it. There are trade-offs, but for me they feel worth
| it. The upsides beside the improved (for me) aesthetic are
| that your book doesn't run out of battery (I recognise that
| Kindle batteries last for a long time though) and no people
| or systems know what I'm reading, where I've read to etc. I
| find the gamification of reading on Kindle - certificates,
| streaks etc - extremely off-putting. I also like having
| physical books on the shelf, as it's a much more
| pleasurable experience than scrolling through the books on
| a Kindle and can be much more serendipitous. It's also a
| nice way of reminding myself of the books I still have to
| read. There's a nice article on that here:
| https://bigthink.com/neuropsych/do-i-own-too-many-books/
| vishnugupta wrote:
| These are more or less exactly my reasons.
|
| Last decade I more or less binged on books. I was chasing
| some useless metrics like number of books read. But COVID
| induced mass isolation made me take things easy and go
| slow. Since then I've learned to enjoy the process of
| reading and I realised physical books enable exactly
| that. So I don't feel like losing out if I'm not reading
| when I'm on an errand or I've some free time on my hand.
| Now when I step out I just absorb the surroundings and if
| I've to wait out somewhere I just wait without doing
| anything.
|
| Also, I've reduced my range of interests from about 10-12
| to 2-3 and I simultaneously read 3-4 books to get
| different viewpoints. And I take it real slow. I go a few
| days without reading any page it's totally cool. It helps
| me absorb and internalise the content slowly and
| thoroughly.
|
| And I'm really enjoying the process of re-building my
| physical library because this time I'm doing it more
| deliberately.
| frereubu wrote:
| Yes, totally agree on the more mindful rebuilding of my
| physical library.
| bobmaxup wrote:
| I only use my kindle to read books I didn't pay for.
|
| There are plenty of books from the past without copyright
| restrictions! Think about all the catching up you could do!
|
| Also, you can read pirated books on your kindle device.
| ThatMedicIsASpy wrote:
| If I read a book I constantly jump to the same line. With
| adjusted fonts, font size, line spacing I do not have these
| issues. My kindle is jailbroken and runs KOreader. Even more
| funny the lowest brightness setting 0 would still have
| backlight on (stock FW - Kindle PW3). This isn't the case
| anymore. I read in bed on the sides and nothing is more
| annoying than a big book to hold.
|
| If I want to read fast I prefer one word on the screen at
| 250-450 words per minute.
| teruakohatu wrote:
| Not to mention that the ebooks are not cheaper, or if they
| are not by much.
| Ma8ee wrote:
| The moment you want to lend a friend a copy they are more
| expensive.
| TheGreatCabbage wrote:
| Lately I've taken to reading almost only classic
| literature; since books published before 1923 are in the
| public domain, the ebooks are very cheap indeed (i.e.
| completely free via Project Gutenberg).
|
| The other advantage of this approach is that classic works
| are better than the books I was reading before, and there
| are enough of them to last me several years at least.
| BossingAround wrote:
| This was mind blowing to me. I can understand games did not
| become much cheaper by being electronic-only (though it did
| give rise to much cheaper indie games) but like 16 years
| ago when Kindle came out, I thought paperless books would
| slash the consumer prices by _at least_ half. Turns out the
| publisher just increased their margins.
| andrepd wrote:
| While the author's share has not increased at all.
| [deleted]
| rchaud wrote:
| This is where used books win, and why physical books need
| to exist. I will never purchase a digital file for $9.99.
| I have however purchased PDFs directly from the writer's
| website, usually for no more than $5, which is OK.
| tbihl wrote:
| >I will never purchase a digital file for $9.99.
|
| _License_
| [deleted]
| themadturk wrote:
| I refuse to go back to physical books. The Kindle is far
| easier to hold than a physical book. Ultimately it is more
| portable, because all books are the same size, no matter how
| many pages they have, and I can read them on multiple
| devices. The fonts are adjustable, which my eyes are not. I
| can have thousands of books in my library, which I cannot
| contain in my house.
|
| The advantages of Kindle (or similar eInk readers) are
| overwhelming to me. Are the prices too high? Maybe, but if
| they're the same as print prices, what am I losing? (Ignoring
| the question of DRM and whether or not I own my digital
| editions or not.)
| thazework wrote:
| Absolutely agree on it being poorly communicated, only heard
| about in this thread!
|
| In terms of alternatives, buying an Android powered E-reader
| and subscribing to the publication via the app or the
| e-newspaper service could work, although it will not be as
| optimized for E ink of course. The advantage of Boox and other
| Android E-readers is that you can access whatever you want, and
| the browsing experience for text heavy websites is decent.
| ilt wrote:
| Exactly! Especially since most mobile browsers have a decent
| reading mode these days.
| emodendroket wrote:
| I honestly found it a much more pleasant way to read the LRB than
| the print version but I guess it doesn't do much good to serve a
| small customer base.
| PaulHoule wrote:
| I had a paper subscription to _The Economist_ through AMZN that I
| was planning to eliminate (subscribe directly) as part of a plan
| to eliminate all my recurring bills to AMZN and it's convenient
| that they did it for me.
| komali2 wrote:
| > Amazon hasn't shared its exact reason for the change (the
| company's statement to publishers is here), but one obvious
| explanation is that relatively few people are buying these
| subscriptions and it doesn't make financial sense to continue to
| support them. Instead, Amazon wants publishers to add their
| content to its $9.99/month digital subscription program, Kindle
| Unlimited, which includes a bunch of magazines
|
| I'm pretty confident that "Amazon wants publishers to add their
| content to Kindle Unlimited" is the ONLY reason, and that it
| wouldn't matter how much revenue was generated through direct
| payments to publishers. This is the Way, after all, of modern
| platform monopoly. It's highly profitable.
| brutusurp wrote:
| This is to consolidate offerings, and drive more money to
| Amazon and less to 3rd parties. Just like retail, and skills.
| How is this not under investigation.
| Mindwipe wrote:
| The more obvious explanation is that a lot of the Kindle team
| were let go in the recent layoffs, and there now isn't enough
| people to run the service so everything non-essential is going
| to shift people over to keeping the lights on (the same is
| happening to the remnants of the Comixology team).
| btzs wrote:
| What I like about my subscription of the German weekly newspaper
| 'Die Zeit' is that they allow sending the mobi directly to your
| Send-To-Kindle-email address.
|
| Are you aware of other magazines offering that?
| joker99 wrote:
| Love that feature! Every wednesday, I get it automatically
| pushed to my kindle and it's fabulous! The only annoying part:
| it's not really optimised for a small screen and graphics are
| often left out, but hey, it's still great!
| zol wrote:
| What a huge step backwards! I have an infant and am trying to
| move more of my content consumption including news to Kindle vs
| iPhone. Even at one years old she's already forming an unhealthy
| relationship with smart phones given how much she sees her
| parents using them so I'm trying to cut down as much as possible.
| Interestingly, like a physical book, the kindle doesn't get much
| reaction from her.
| Lolaccount wrote:
| Hmm, with the changes at Amazon Music (on Sonos at least), this
| is the first time I've noticed some proper, consistent chipping
| away at the benefits of an Amazon Prime membership.
|
| I jumped ship to Amazon after Google actively prevented me from
| paying them (!).
|
| Time to stop lying to myself and go 100% local.
| trts wrote:
| What was it they changed about Music?
| Kneecaps07 wrote:
| If you use it through your Prime subscription you can now
| only listen to their playlists. You can't specify a specific
| album by a specific artist.
| wrycoder wrote:
| Prime Muzak, iow.
| ss108 wrote:
| To be clear, this doesn't affect subscriptions bought via Amazon
| that people read on the Kindle app on iPads and Android tablets?
| pgib wrote:
| Sure hope 2600 finds a new means of distribution. It was super
| convenient going to my Kindle and was a no-brainer to subscribe.
| nischalsamji wrote:
| what will happen to the old 2600 magazines? I have been a
| subscriber since 2015. sad to see this going away
| aestetix wrote:
| 2600 is working on a solution.
|
| https://twitter.com/2600/status/1634298291599859712
| sohkamyung wrote:
| If you have an Overdrive Library subscription, you can try
| checking its magazine section to see if your library subscribes
| to the magazine(s) you read.
|
| Locally, my Library has Time, Newsweek, The New Yorker, etc. It
| used to also have The Economist, but that appears to have
| recently vanished.
|
| For subscriptions to SFF magazines, try WeightlessBooks which
| offers subscription to a number of magazines [1]
|
| [1] https://weightlessbooks.com/category/magazine/
| goosedragons wrote:
| Some libraries might also have a digital newspaper
| subscription. Won't work on a Kindle but will work on a tablet
| and you can get eink tablets too now. Mine has most newspapers
| except the really big ones.
| seanosaur wrote:
| I noticed the same thing re: The Economist through Libby (which
| I think is still Overdrive but prettier?). I wonder if The
| Economist is quickly pulling away from public libraries?
| 8ytecoder wrote:
| They just got added to PressReader. Economist was gone for a
| while from my library and related apps as a magazine. I could
| still read the articles.
| nottorp wrote:
| > For subscriptions to SFF magazines, try WeightlessBooks which
| offers subscription to a number of magazines
|
| No Asimov's at first glance. Asimov's do offer a non-amazon
| electronic subscription through some other web site, but it
| looks like it's only readable through their app. If I go off
| Kindle, I might as well go DRM free.
| sohkamyung wrote:
| Yes, no Asimovs or Analog on WeightlessBooks, unfortunately.
| The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Ficton is there, though.
| nottorp wrote:
| At least... F&SF is the other subscription I just lost :)
| emodendroket wrote:
| To my mind a significant part of the value proposition for the
| Kindle edition is you don't have to do anything and it just
| gets delivered to the device.
| no_butterscotch wrote:
| ah yea this was going to be my follow-up to the post you
| replied to, can I use the library app(s) (Overdrive, Libby,
| Axis, etc) to subscribe to new editions of these mags as they
| arrive at the library?
|
| ...the obvious answer from a business standpoint is of course
| for the magazines to not allow this, but I'm not going to
| remember to go look at some edition
| sohkamyung wrote:
| Libby does have a smart tags feature that can be used to
| alert you about new magazines [1]. (Libby is the library
| app developed by Overdrive.)
|
| > Can I be notified when new magazine issues are available?
|
| > Yes! You can use a "Notify Me" smart tag in Libby to get
| a notification when new issues of a magazine are available
| at your library.
|
| [1] https://help.libbyapp.com/en-us/6224.htm
| lasr_velocirptr wrote:
| I wasn't able to find any integration with overdrive in Canada
| when I last tried the kindle. The Kobo's here do work
| seamlessly with overdrive but only for ebooks though, no
| magazines or audiobooks
| goosedragons wrote:
| Kindle don't work with overdrive anywhere except for the
| United States.
| sohkamyung wrote:
| Yes, the Kobo doesn't work with magazines either for me.
|
| An alternative is to use the Libby App on the phone. You can
| also download the magazines for offline reading.
|
| Or you could use the Libbyapp [1] on the browser to sign in
| to your Overdrive account, borrow and read the magazines.
|
| [1] https://libbyapp.com/
| lasr_velocirptr wrote:
| yup. That's what I do right now when I want to check out
| magazines. Though, I will admit that's not often
|
| With that being said, it would be amazing if Kobo can
| implement support for magazines so that you could use eink
| displays for reading magazines in a park on a sunny day
| without any glare
| sohkamyung wrote:
| I believe it should be possible for some magazines. I
| read some issues of The Economist and National Geographic
| magazine, and they come with a 'reader mode' where the
| magazine page formatting is removed, and you are
| presented with bare text and images, like the Reader Mode
| in Firefox (and Chrome?).
|
| That should work on a Kobo. But it requires Overdrive to
| recognize this and push the readable formatted magazine
| to the Kobo.
| bublyboi wrote:
| Damn. This was a really useful tool for me to manage all my
| magazine subscriptions without dealing with shady auto-renewal
| practices by publishers.
| wrycoder wrote:
| Try Apple News+
| myvoiceismypass wrote:
| Apple News+ is digital-only. I really enjoy reading
| magazines, and Amazon had been managing most of my
| subscriptions until now.
| bublyboi wrote:
| Same, I prefer to unplug and read the physical magazines.
| Is there a decent alternative service for managing my
| physical magazine subscriptions?
|
| I have 3 subscriptions that I only have because Amazon
| makes them easy to manage/renew/cancel
| freetanga wrote:
| While I loved the kindle and still own one, I have since moved on
| an eink android reader with an isolated google account.
|
| Calibre, Overdrive, RSS, Syncthing and obsidian plus a small
| portable Bluetooth keyboard and I can read and take notes
| anywhere.
| albatrosstrophy wrote:
| You seem to be describing an Android tablet with e-ink display.
| Aside from Remarkable, what else is out there worth buying?
| SSLy wrote:
| Kobo Sage or Libra 2 are also worth a look.
| freetanga wrote:
| Supernote, Onyx have a wide range of options.
|
| Onyx relationship with Open Source licensing is... delicate.
| This could be a stopper for some.
|
| I had a Remarkable 1 but I feel the company is trying to be
| the next Apple. Everything now is subscription. Shame, as The
| reading experience was good, writing was excellent, software
| was open but clunky.
| Tachyooon wrote:
| I can't wait until e-paper tablets become mainstream and
| more companies start making them. Having a generic OS like
| Android or Linux, instead of the closed off system of a
| kindle or whatever, would be amazing. Imagine how many
| different kinds of apps you can run on something like that.
|
| With colour e-paper screens slowly picking up speed it's
| going to be even more interesting. Right now their quality
| is going to be disappointing if you expect the same quality
| as your phone or laptop, but it's an enormous step up from
| greyscale screens - and it's still getting better.
| Galanwe wrote:
| I used the Remarkable 1 for many years, until recently I
| got bored of _hum_ converting _hum_ my kindle library to
| epub to read on the remarkable.
|
| I switched to an Onyx Boox Tab X (effectively an android
| tablet with eink screen) and wouldn't go back.
|
| I have the Kindle reader app and can read very comfortably
| all my books, with the same comfort as with a Kindle
| device.
|
| But I can also take meeting notes, brainstorm, etc thanks
| to the writing capabilities similar to the Remarkable.
|
| As a bonus, I can also use it as a whiteboard in video
| calls.
| blitzar wrote:
| > $879.99
|
| Jeepers - not sure I am going to swap my $50 kindle for
| that one.
| idonotknowwhy wrote:
| Calibre let's you convert in bulk fwiw
| giovannibonetti wrote:
| I think the reason for the shutdown of the service is that the
| price customers are actually willing to pay for news has
| decreased a lot since the web took over it. Nowadays there are so
| many free or cheap ways to get informed online that paying tens
| of dollars a month to subscribe to one or two newspapers seems
| relative expensive.
|
| That's why successful outlets like The Economist put so much
| emphasis into convincing potential customers that accurate
| information is valuable. It sure is, but people have to be
| constantly reminded of it.
| tootie wrote:
| I think not enough is made of the damage caused by aggregators.
| And I don't just mean like reddit I mean things like The Hill
| or Huff Po that pay for subscriptions to original reporting and
| then digest everything they write with a clickbait headline and
| leech all the ad dollars away from the people who did the hard
| work.
| asdfiwerio wrote:
| Deep down people value both entertainment and being informed.
| The issue is if someone isn't thinking the two look the same,
| especially if the enticing title is something you already
| believe. Clickbait journalism is just yellow journalism 2.0. We
| need desperately need some laws to setup some basic guardrails
| on what can be called and marketed as journalism or news.
| ben7799 wrote:
| Reader's price expectations had already dropped to $0.00/month
| before the Kindle newsstand launched.
|
| The newspapers had already set the price to free for about
| 10-15 years before Amazon launched the Kindle newsstand.
|
| The newspapers for the most part have still never made the
| online quality as good as the print copy too.
|
| People cannot discount that these papers all put up free
| editions on the web for a long time and didn't realize the
| damage till the print subscriptions tanked.
| mabbo wrote:
| There's something to be said for today's business model that much
| of big tech uses: "First we build it, then we get customers who
| love it, then we try to figure out how to monetize it- and kill
| it if we don't".
|
| Google is, of course, the king of this model, but it feels as
| though the entire industry fully embraces it. I'm waiting for the
| day my Alexa shuts itself off forever because I still don't see
| how it makes a dime.
| cmiles74 wrote:
| Amazon is definitely making money on these subscriptions. IMHO,
| they simply want to make even more money by pushing everyone
| onto "Unlimited". Maybe more like "how to super-monetize it".
| Amorymeltzer wrote:
| This is essentially Cory Doctorow's "Enshittification":
| <https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/#hey-guys>,
| briefly discussed here at
| <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34480479>
| pungentcomment wrote:
| I read somewhere that it's a huge money loser for Amazon. Alexa
| being such a big part of Amazon's identity, could they shut it
| down without losing face though?
| maushu wrote:
| When you can't find the source of revenue then that generally
| means you are the source of revenue.
| randomint64 wrote:
| [dead]
| VLM wrote:
| Isn't the graph of magazine subscriptions pretty rough looking
| over the last decades?
| nashashmi wrote:
| So the individual subscription model directly competes with their
| Amazon Kindle unlimited. This is about harnessing control for
| themselves. And when control of journalism is harnessed directly
| by the corporations they can prevent bad news about Amazon from
| being published, and they definitely can prevent "false" news of
| Amazon, being published
| kdamica wrote:
| I actually canceled my WaPo subscription because I couldn't
| figure out how to remove it from my Kindle.
| snickerbockers wrote:
| What happens to people's back catalogs of old magazines? Can they
| still read those or is Amazon laughing all the way to the bank?
|
| When i was a kid i lost my music collection to the yahoo music
| store shutting down, and it's left an impression on me even
| though it wasn't a very large collection. It's the reason why ive
| held out on buying an ereader until they drop the drm.
| idonotknowwhy wrote:
| You can use a tool called Calibre to strip DRM from your
| ebooks. Also let's your side load them onto a different branded
| device so you're not locked in.
|
| Eg. I moved from kindle to kobo and was able to bring my
| content with me
| criddell wrote:
| The DeDRM tools don't work with lots of new books from
| Amazon. The days of easily stripped DRM on Amazon books seems
| to be coming to an end.
| jzb wrote:
| If you have an older Kindle, you can download the older
| format, I believe. I still have a Kindle DX for this.
| criddell wrote:
| True but it's not ideal. You lose the typographic
| improvements that you get in the newer format. Still,
| it's better than nothing and I've read that some people
| have purchased a used, older Kindle just to get access to
| the older file format.
| cpill wrote:
| zlibrary dude
| Aromasin wrote:
| Get a Boox if you want a DRM-free e-reader. I read exclusively
| books and papers that I host on my home NAS; no DRM content. I
| use Calibre so I can read them on Phone, Tablet, or E-Reader
| from anywhere.
| [deleted]
| thomasthetrain wrote:
| Yes, you can still read those[1]:
|
| > Will I lose access to issues for my Kindle Newsstand
| subscription that have already been delivered to my library? >
| No, you will continue to be able to read any issues already
| delivered by visiting Your Kindle Library.
|
| [1] https://www.amazon.com/kindle-dbs/arp/B0BX8LN3BP
| bookofjoe wrote:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35125450
| thazework wrote:
| Cutting off access to information in such a barbaric, offhanded
| way is the logical conclusion of the monopoly structure that
| enabled Amazon to do this without repercussion. A triple monopoly
| in this case Amazon/Kindle/ E ink.
|
| This will disproportionately impact those who do not live in the
| US/UK and rely on their subscription as the only reasonable means
| of timely access.
|
| I urge you to write to write to jeff@amazon.com to voice your
| displeasure.
| braunboffel wrote:
| > monopoly structure that enabled Amazon to do this without
| repercussion
|
| What monopoly structure?
| thazework wrote:
| Eink: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26143779
|
| Combine that with Amazon's newstand dominance in Eink news
| delivery, and the end result is that newstand's closure
| leaves readers with no viable alternative.
| sourcecodeplz wrote:
| When you have power, you use it...
| deelowe wrote:
| Why? This makes no sense. Is it really that difficult for them to
| maintain?
| radicaldreamer wrote:
| Kindle in general doesn't seem to make enough revenue to
| justify the engineering effort/expense. Its languished as a
| Bezos passion project and is being killed slowly.
| michaelt wrote:
| They've released 11 generations of the hardware, I think it
| might be doing OK.
| AdmiralAsshat wrote:
| Here's hoping this encourages some online newspapers/periodicals
| to start releasing their digital editions as native EPUBs. I like
| to read with an e-reader, but I have a Kobo, and the only
| magazine I ever subscribed to that would give me an EPUB was
| LinuxJournal (R.I.P). Everything else was either PDF, or assumed
| you were hooked into the Kindle ecosystem.
| [deleted]
| Multiplayer wrote:
| FWIW the Apple News app has an incredible number of Magazines and
| Newspapers. News+ $10 monthly subscription is a solid deal.
| tgv wrote:
| I has the same problem as outlined higher up: it moves money
| from the newspaper to the tech moloch, that can then exert
| control over the news. The paper will be forced to "popularize"
| its article stream (Did Aliens Invade the White House?) to the
| detriment of free news gathering and democracy, all for 30
| silver coins.
| ben7799 wrote:
| The problem is a lot of the papers and newspapers want more
| money for a subscription to one single magazine or newspaper
| than the entire Apple News+ subscription.
|
| And especially the newspapers already dropped their content
| quality decades ago before things like Apple News or the
| Kindle even existed.
| marban wrote:
| Still US-only though
| toyg wrote:
| Apple News is the unhealthy model Amazon is trying to follow.
|
| Yet again, Apple leads the market into digital feudalism, and
| their fanboys are happy to lead the charge.
| criddell wrote:
| It's hard to say if it's unhealthy or not. It's basically the
| same model as Spotify. Is streaming music bad for the music
| industry? It's not obvious to me what the answer is.
|
| I subscribe to Apple News and the $120 / year is far, far
| more than I was spending on magazine subscriptions in the
| past.
| justeleblanc wrote:
| You can't compare entertainment (music) with journalism.
| The economics are completely different. You'll listen to
| the same song dozens of times, you're not going to read the
| same news article dozens of times, for example.
|
| I guess it does say a lot about the state of the press if
| people conflate the two so easily, though.
| criddell wrote:
| You're missing the forest for the trees. Do the details
| of pay per play vs pay per read really matter?
|
| The point is that because of service X, business Y gets
| more money from me than they would otherwise. How typical
| am I of service X subscribers? As a group, are rights
| holders getting more money from us or less?
| kccqzy wrote:
| I don't need an incredible number of magazines and newspapers--
| I don't have time to an incredible number of magazines anyways.
| I only want a small handful of them that are high quality, that
| I can read by my bedside without a phone. Currently I'm just
| subscribed to The Economist via Amazon.
| tzs wrote:
| A couple months ago I cancelled my Apple News+ subscription
| because they take too long to fix it when it breaks.
|
| Several months ago all of the newspapers I was reading through
| it stopped updating, or slowed down to one or two stories a
| day. Over the next week or two they slowly improved and got
| back to normal.
|
| But then it happened again. And this time they haven't fixed
| it. The Seattle Times newest stories are 15 weeks old now.
|
| The San Jose Mercury News "Top Stories" section at the moment
| has stories with ages 1x1d, 2x1w, 1x2w, 1x3w, 1x4w, 1x6w, 2x8w,
| 2x9w, 1x12w, 1x14w, and so on.
|
| It was similar for the Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street
| Journal when I cancelled. I don't know if they have been fixed
| or not since they are only in News+. The Seattle Times and the
| Mercury News are in regular News so I'm able to check them to
| see if they are fixed.
| rchaud wrote:
| > Very disappointing. I had only recently discovered that I
| actually enjoy reading my local newspaper when it's on the Kindle
| as opposed to the paper's poorly designed website and frequently
| broken app.
|
| Back when I had a NYT subscription, I'd use Ublock's element
| zapper to remove the "other article links block" that would show
| up halfway through an article. But still, reading it on a web
| page didn't feel right, so I used "Print to PDF" and never looked
| back. Now I have a personal archive of articles backed up and
| highlighted, ready for me to revisit even if my subscription has
| lapsed.
|
| Not all sites work on "Reader Mode", but all sites can still be
| printed (for now).
| zw123456 wrote:
| I recently went to the AWP Conference
| (https://www.awpwriter.org/). It was very interesting to walk
| around the exhibition hall and talk with all these small
| independent book publishers and presses. I bought a couple of
| books, one is a poetry book, which I confess, I have never bought
| a book of poetry before, but the author was there and signed it
| and I sort of fell in love with her and her poems.
|
| I asked a number of the people from these independent publishers
| what they thought about Amazon. I was surprised at their answers,
| it varied of course but they agreed it was somewhat of a love
| hate relationship. On the one hand, Amazon gave them a
| marketplace, but on the other hand, they could be a bit of a
| malevolent master. There were also a number of literary magazines
| there and they had similar feelings.
|
| I wish Amazon could find a way to do more to support the literary
| world, seeing all these brilliant little presses often who
| specialize in various genres that give new authors opportunities.
| moi2388 wrote:
| They need to at least provide an option for other publishers to
| also get their content on the kindle, other than Amazon's own
| subscription service.
|
| Otherwise they are using an advantage in one market (devices) to
| obtain an advantage in a different market (online content).
|
| The EU will eat them alive if they try that anti-competitive
| behaviour.
| EduardoBautista wrote:
| They can by sending it to your Kindle email for that device.
| Instapaper does this to send you your saved items.
| moi2388 wrote:
| Good to know. So it's just a free tier that's being removed?
| That seems fair enough
| thomasthetrain wrote:
| It warrants an investigation, but maybe publishers don't even
| distribute that much via Amazon devices. In this case, the
| competitive effects would be small.
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