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Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

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Re: Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

#81

Post by Mindwipe »

komali2 wrote: post #25

> 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 p…

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).

Re: Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

#82

Post by michaelt »

radicaldreamer wrote: post #9
deelowe wrote: post #7

Why? This makes no sense. Is it really that difficult for them to maintain?

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.

They've released 11 generations of the hardware, I think it might be doing OK.

Re: Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

#83

Post by ohgodplsno »

PradeetPatel wrote: post #28
CobrastanJorji wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 subscr…

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.

"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.

Re: Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

#84

Post by daveoc64 »

iz_zi wrote: post #17
mdavidn wrote: post #2

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...?

Why haven’t you invested in a open source alternative that doesn’t limit your choices?

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.

Re: Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

#85

Post by kqr »

vishnugupta wrote: post #35
mrwh wrote: post #3

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.

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…

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?

Re: Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

#86

Post by ohgodplsno »

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.

Re: Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

#87

Post by toyg »

Multiplayer wrote: post #8

FWIW the Apple News app has an incredible number of Magazines and Newspapers. News+ $10 monthly subscription is a solid deal.

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.

Re: Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

#88

Post by greyman »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #21
mrwh wrote: post #3

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.

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 subscr…

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.

Re: Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

#89

Post by ThatMedicIsASpy »

vishnugupta wrote: post #35
mrwh wrote: post #3

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.

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…

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.

Re: Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

#90

Post by snickerbockers »

CobrastanJorji wrote: post #21
mrwh wrote: post #3

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.

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 subscr…

So basically they're transitioning to the "extinguish" phase of their business model?
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