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Amazon shuts newspaper and magazine subscriptions for Kindle and print

niemanlab.org

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

#191

Post by drtz »

TedDoesntTalk wrote: post #72
bentlegen wrote: post #69

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.

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.

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

#192

Post by braunboffel »

fullshark wrote: post #162

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.

> 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?

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

#193

Post by braunboffel »

thazework wrote: post #52

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.c…

> monopoly structure that enabled Amazon to do this without repercussion

What monopoly structure?

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

#194

Post by Kneecaps07 »

braunboffel wrote: post #192
fullshark wrote: post #162

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.

> 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?

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.

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

#195

Post by lasr_velocirptr »

mesh wrote: post #64
lasr_velocirptr wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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/a…

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

/index.xml" rel="nofollow">https://www.economist.com/audio-edition-podcast/...

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

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

#196

Post by Kneecaps07 »

trts wrote: post #165
Lolaccount wrote: post #154

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.

What was it they changed about Music?

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.

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

#197

Post by bombcar »

kqr wrote: post #85
vishnugupta wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 iss…

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.

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

#198

Post by myvoiceismypass »

wrycoder wrote: post #185
bublyboi wrote: post #178

Damn. This was a really useful tool for me to manage all my magazine subscriptions without dealing with shady auto-renewal practices by publishers.

Try Apple News+

Apple News+ is digital-only. I really enjoy reading magazines, and Amazon had been managing most of my subscriptions until now.

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

#199

Post by ben7799 »

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.

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

#200

Post by tonybologna420 »

ohgodplsno wrote: post #86

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 offe…

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.

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