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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

#21

Post by CobrastanJorji »

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 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.

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

#22

Post by mesh »

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...?

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.

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

#23

Post by mdavidn »

DoingIsLearning wrote: post #11
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...?

> 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 m…

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.

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

#24

Post by [deleted] »

Talanes wrote: post #20
DoingIsLearning wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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 m…

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]

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

#25

Post by komali2 »

> 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.

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

#26

Post by zol »

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.

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

#27

Post by Sunspark »

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...?

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..

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

#28

Post by PradeetPatel »

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…

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.

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

#30

Post by Espressosaurus »

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'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.

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