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Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

niemanlab.org

131–140 of 259 posts

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

#131

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 p…

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.

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

#132

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://weig…

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.

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

#133
post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But that's not the current reality, as basically no newspapers are on Kindle Unlimited.

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 Mini…

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.

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

#134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention that the ebooks are not cheaper, or if they are not by much.

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.

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

#135
post #39

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…

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.

Just pick one to support. You can still visit all 5.

Preferably a local paper.

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

#136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Good luck canceling that subscription.

They have made it easier. It used to be that you had to call, but now you can do it on the web.

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

#137
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay something like €5 to The Guardian and $2 to NYT (which I read very occasionally) every months. And then another €15 to a Swedish newspaper. That is very cheap to support independent journalism.

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.

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.

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

#138
post #98
post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I pay something like €5 to The Guardian and $2 to NYT (which I read very occasionally) every months. And then another €15 to a Swedish newspaper. That is very cheap to support independent journalism.

I hope your calling The Guardian and especially the CIA... I mean the NYT "independent journalism" is an elaborate joke.

Why do you think so?

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

#139
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.

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

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to mention that the ebooks are not cheaper, or if they are not by much.

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.

[deleted]
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