# Kindle with special offer. Does it bother you?



## barth (Jan 19, 2010)

I will probably buy the new paperwhite Kindle. Is it worth it, in your opinion, to pay $20 less and buy the one with special offer? People that have it, do you wish you didn't? Is it only present at startup? I hope it's not present while you're in a book.

Thanks


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## VondaZ (Apr 21, 2009)

I've always paid extra not to have ads on my Kindle until my Kindle screen broke and I decided to replace it with the K4 that was on sale for $47. I got the ads on that one because it was really only a temporary Kindle to hold me over until the new lighted Kindles came out, so I wanted to spend as little as possible.

I actually found that I don't mind the ads on the Kindle. While I didn't mind the dead author screensaver, they hadn't changed at all since my first Kindle and I was getting kind of sick of them. Ads for books and movies and television events were kind of refreshing as something different.

The ads only appear on the sleep screen and there is a small ad on the bottom of the home screen. There are no ads once you are inside a book.

Since I have had mine (about a month and a half), I haven't seen any special offers except the one for $10 gift card when you use your Discover on Amazon, but I don't have a Discover Card, so I couldn't take advantage of that. However, I have only had it for a month and a half.

Because it was less annoying than I expected, I ordered my Paperwhite with the ads. I figure if I get sick of them, I can buy out of them. I am still hoping they will have some special offers I can take advantage of that will eventually cover the cost of buying out of the ads if I so choose.


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## SeymourKopath (Jul 24, 2012)

barth said:


> I will probably buy the new paperwhite Kindle. Is it worth it, in your opinion, to pay $20 less and buy the one with special offer? People that have it, do you wish you didn't? Is it only present at startup? I hope it's not present while you're in a book.
> 
> Thanks


I've had my Touch w/ Special Offers for 3.5 months. The ads are not at all intrusive. You see one when the device is asleep. You see one on the Home Screen, on the bottom inch of the screen. That's it! *You don't see any ads when reading a book*. Truth be told, I really don't even notice the ads.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

They're not present while in a book.

Just on the screensaver (lock screen) and a banner add on the home page.  I've not had an SO Kindle, but ordered one with the PW as I know the adds won't bother me as I don't pay any attention to the lock screen, and only go to the home screen a couple times a month when I finish a book and need to open the next one.


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## Hadou (Jun 1, 2011)

The ads have never really bothered me.  I've actually taken advantage of some of the things that were advertised (since I wouldn't have found them otherwise).  

I am a victim of Amazon's ads.  And I am not complaining.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

As the others have said, they're not in books. At All.  You see them on the sleep screen only, and a small banner at the bottom of the home page.

But, here's the thing: if you order the one with the offers and decide that you don't want them, it is very easy to buy out.  Anytime.  You just go to the Manage Your Devices section of Manage Your Kindle and click the link where it shows you're subscribed.  The notice will advise you of what the buy out charge is -- essentially the difference in price between it and what you would have paid in the first place if you'd ordered without -- and it's done.  Next time you sync up they'll go away and you'll be back to stock sleep images.  

The 'dead author' series, by the way, is gone. . . . . . now it's things like semi-close ups of typewriter keys, or bunches of pencils -- either eraser ends or points.  I've also seen cassette tapes packed into a box, rolled up magazines packed tubelike into something, and a close up of a guitar fretboard, among other things on my original Fire.  I'd expect similar images in the eInk devices.


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## SMRG (Aug 2, 2012)

I really thought this would bother me and I would never pay money to get a device that gives me ads. But I ended up getting a K4 for free after using a couple of special offers as they were clearing the shelves for the new ones, and as it turns out the ads are no big deal at all. I mean they are nothing. I have a Nook as well, and the ads are not more bothersome or annoying than the pictures of dead authors that the Nook uses.


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## GBear (Apr 23, 2009)

If you leave Whispernet off, does the Kindle just keep showing the same special offer or ad indefinitely (or until you turn Whispernet back on and sync up again)?

My Kindle has been heavily used but offline since March.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

GBear -- I pretty much have my WiFi on all the time but I think, yes, if you leave it off, you'll just keep seeing the same things.  I don't think it'll ever revert to non ad pictures. Of course, some of the things on offer may no longer be available.  

There is usually a rotation of anywhere from 6 to 15 ads that generally come up in order.  When you connect, there are also 'spares' that are downloaded that start coming up when programmed too by date -- Amazon local deals, for example, or short time sale items.  

There was also some anectodal discussion early on that if you left WiFi off or were out of range for too long that, even when you turned it on you might not get anything new.  Like the stuff to be downloaded got clogged in the pipeline.  A call to Amazon fixed things for the folks that happened to.  It didn't affect other usability of the device -- downloading of books, for instance.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

If you leave your Kindle offline long enough, I do think the SOs drop off and you see the non SO screensavers until you next connect...  I thought someone reported that here....  

Betsy


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

If you have the SO model and you don't connect, after a while you start getting prompted to connect to update your offers.  I ended up buying out the offers on my Mom's Touch to keep her from having to do that.  Hers is 3G, but when I opted out, I had to connect it to wifi to reset things.


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## sparklemotion (Jan 13, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> If you leave your Kindle offline long enough, I do think the SOs drop off and you see the non SO screensavers until you next connect... I thought someone reported that here....
> Betsy


That's true, that has happened to me as I often leave wi-fi off for awhile. For those of you that leave wi-fi on all the time, how do you find your battery life?

Regarding the thread topic, the ads don't bother me at all since they are not in the book. In fact, sometimes it's nice to see the offers. I have used them a few times.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

sparklemotion said:


> That's true, that has happened to me as I often leave wi-fi off for awhile. For those of you that leave wi-fi on all the time, how do you find your battery life?


On a WiFi only K3, I leave the wifi on all the time and charge once a month or so (I read 30 mins a day or so on average probably).

There's not much difference in the battery life estimates Amazon provided for wifi on/off on the wifi only model back when they gave both estimates. For the K3 I think it was estimated at 3 weeks with wifi on, 4 weeks with it off, and 10 days with 3g on IIRC (and that's when they were basing in on an hour of use a day, rather than the 30 minutes a day they started using when B&N used it for their estimates). A lot more difference with the 3g models since the 3g antenna uses more power I guess.

For the Paperwhite they don't break it down, and just list it as 8 weeks with wifi off and light at level 10. So no way to be sure. But in general wifi being on doesn't eat that much power on devices these days.


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## annelb (Nov 8, 2008)

The ads are not a bother at all. I have taken advantage of some of the offers too. If they ever put them inside the books, well then I would complain.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

mooshie78 said:


> But in general wifi being on doesn't eat that much power on devices these days.


I'd tend to agree, with the caveat that it depends a little bit on how strong the signal is. I'm thinking if there's no WiFi in range and the Kindle keeps trying to find one, it's going to use more juice. Or if the signal is very weak. But a reasonably strong signal and the Kindle won't really be using much to stay connected.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I'd tend to agree, with the caveat that it depends a little bit on how strong the signal is. I'm thinking if there's no WiFi in range and the Kindle keeps trying to find one, it's going to use more juice. Or if the signal is very weak. But a reasonably strong signal and the Kindle won't really be using much to stay connected.


Definitely true. And for most people who are just using the Kindle at home its a non-issue unless you have a huge house as the wifi signal from today's routers should be strong throughout the house. Even more so if you're in an apartment or condo.


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## omadonna (Nov 5, 2011)

I actually forget they are there. I mean, truly. When someone makes me aware (like here on the forum) of a special offer, I am often surprised to see it right there at the bottom of the screen and I TOTALLY missed seeing it until I specifically looked for it.


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## JuliMonroe (Apr 25, 2011)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I'd tend to agree, with the caveat that it depends a little bit on how strong the signal is. I'm thinking if there's no WiFi in range and the Kindle keeps trying to find one, it's going to use more juice. Or if the signal is very weak. But a reasonably strong signal and the Kindle won't really be using much to stay connected.


I'll have to test it out. I've always turned off WiFi when not using it on my Kindle, but now that I think about it, I leave it on for my iPad and iPhone too, and it doesn't destroy their battery life. Guess the Kindle should be about the same.

Makes it easier to switch between books on the various devices.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Yep.  That's why I leave mine on.  I read a good bit on my iPhone Kindle app when out and about, and that way it can always sync up to wherever I left off on the Kindle at home.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

on the current kindles the ads show for a brief second while you turn on your kindle (and on the bottom of the home page).

since the PW cover supposedly turns the PW on and off, you'll probably only see the tiny ad on the home page.


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## VondaZ (Apr 21, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> The 'dead author' series, by the way, is gone. . . . . . now it's things like semi-close ups of typewriter keys, or bunches of pencils -- either eraser ends or points. I've also seen cassette tapes packed into a box, rolled up magazines packed tubelike into something, and a close up of a guitar fretboard, among other things on my original Fire. I'd expect similar images in the eInk devices.


Is this true for the Kindle Keyboard models as well? All the KK's in my family still have the dead authors - but we don't keep wifi on so maybe we missed some updates?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

The Touch that I have has a little problem with syncing (yes, I've called CS about it). I have discovered that if I leave the WiFi on all the time, the problem goes away so that's what I've been doing. I used to be a fanatical "turn the WiFi off" person because I thought it was discharging the battery (and maybe back on the K1, it was). Anyway, even with the WiFi always on, I have good battery life and just plug it in to charge every now and then. 

I did have a problem with the battery draining very quickly back in April, but Betsy and Ann helped me sort it out that I had some un-indexed books and files on my Touch. Constant indexing seems to be a battery-drainer. WiFi is not.

Do you realize that if on the PW, the battery charge lasts 8 weeks (as they claim) you'd only need to charge your Kindle 6x/yr? Is that a bizarre idea? I'm charging my iPhone twice a day these days. I can't imagine charging my Kindle only every other month!

L


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

VondaZ said:


> Is this true for the Kindle Keyboard models as well? All the KK's in my family still have the dead authors - but we don't keep wifi on so maybe we missed some updates?


No change on the KK that I'm aware of. My K3 still has the same screen savers it always did and I have all the updates.

Not sure if new ones ship with different screen savers though.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Leslie said:


> TI used to be a fanatical "turn the WiFi off" person because I thought it was discharging the battery (and maybe back on the K1, it was). Anyway, even with the WiFi always on, I have good battery life and just plug it in to charge every now and then.


That's because the K1 was 3G. Leaving wireless turned on with the 3G models does drain the battery noticeably faster. With the wifi only models it doesn't make nearly as much difference.


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## barth (Jan 19, 2010)

Thanks for all the replies!
I think I will go with the one with ads.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

mooshie78 said:


> That's because the K1 was 3G. Leaving wireless turned on with the 3G models does drain the battery noticeably faster. With the wifi only models it doesn't make nearly as much difference.


Good point, although my Touch has 3G too. Anyway, I'm not keeping any sort of scientific track so my anecdotal evidence may be wrong, but it doesn't feel like the battery runs down very fast.

I would guess that another complicating factor (in making comparisons) is that the KT battery has holds a charge longer overall, than the K1 ever did.

L


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Yeah, battery tech has improved for sure.

The 3G touch will drain faster with wireless on than the wifi only touch will with wifi on.  But both are better than the earlier Kindle models due to having a better battery.


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## Cloysterpete (Aug 21, 2010)

I just hate ads full stop, if there's a version without ads then I'll always buy it, even at double the cost. It's my product no one else's, I decide what's on there and I didn't put adverts on the thing so I don't want to see them there, it would feel like I was renting the product off of Amazon to keep seeing ads all the time.

I always delete free apps if there ad supported and I've had to stop using the Facebook app in iPad as it just full of adverts now, piece of crap. Even the ads they put at the bottom of the Paperwhite home page annoy me and I don't even have the device yet.

The discussion of Facebook ads has been moved here. If you have a comment about Facebook ads, please click on the link.


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## LuvHorses (Sep 11, 2012)

Cloysterpete said:


> and I've had to stop using the Facebook app in iPad as it just full of adverts now, piece of crap. Even the ads they put at the bottom of the Paperwhite home page annoy me and I don't even have the device yet.


Huh? I have been using Facebook app for iPad ever since it came out. There are no ads?? I know using web browser to access Facebook has ads, but the main facebook app doesnt.

But I agree about not wanting ads on kindle. I ordered kindle version with no ads also.


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## cagnes (Oct 13, 2009)

mooshie78 said:


> Do you realize that if on the PW, the battery charge lasts 8 weeks (as they claim) you'd only need to charge your Kindle 6x/yr? Is that a bizarre idea? I'm charging my iPhone twice a day these days. I can't imagine charging my Kindle only every other month!


That estimate is based on reading 30 minutes a day. The Touch is also reported a battery life of 2 months & I usually charge mine once or twice a week & read on average 2-3 hrs per day. I could go a little longer between charging, but I never tend to let it go lower than 25%... too worried to have it die on me while reading.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Cloysterpete said:


> I always delete free apps if there ad supported and I've had to stop using the Facebook app in iPad as it just full of adverts now, piece of crap. Even the ads they put at the bottom of the Paperwhite home page annoy me and I don't even have the device yet.


If you ordered the device without special offers (as you said) then there won't be any ads at the bottom of the page.

L


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## Cloysterpete (Aug 21, 2010)

Leslie said:


> If you ordered the device without special offers (as you said) then there won't be any ads at the bottom of the page.
> 
> L


There are adverts for books that you may like on your homepage, will they be gone?. If not then there is no ad free version at all.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Cloysterpete said:


> There are adverts for books that you may like on your homepage, will they be gone?. If not then there is no ad free version at all.


True on that. We don't know if one can turn off that recommended reads section yet or not as all we've seen is pictures that show it. Hopefully that can be toggled off. And it may not show up in list view perhaps, and only be in cover view. Will have to wait for the PW to be out to find out for sure probably.


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## sparklemotion (Jan 13, 2011)

Leslie said:


> I did have a problem with the battery draining very quickly back in April, but Betsy and Ann helped me sort it out that I had some un-indexed books and files on my Touch. Constant indexing seems to be a battery-drainer. WiFi is not.


That's interesting as my kindle touch battery seems to drain down rather quickly. I wonder if I have the same problem. Would you mind sharing what you did to resolve it?


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

sparklemotion said:


> That's interesting as my kindle touch battery seems to drain down rather quickly. I wonder if I have the same problem. Would you mind sharing what you did to resolve it?


Sure. Go to the home page. Choose a word to search for and type it in the search box at the top. You want to pick a word that you know is in a document on your Kindle, but you don't want a super common word like "the." I just picked "Hmong" because I am reading a book about Hmong refugees. Type "go" to complete the search.

On the page of search results, go down to the bottom of the list and see if there are any items that could not be searched because they were not indexed. These might be the things causing the problem (they were in my case). Delete from the Kindle. Do the search again.

When there are no unindexed items, you can re-load the item(s) you deleted. Add them one at a time and give the Kindle time to index the files (this might take awhile). If the same item doesn't index a second time (this didn't happen to me) the file might be corrupt. In my case, the file did index when re-loaded so I was all set. If it continues to cause problems and is an Amazon book, call CS. If it's a document from another source, you may want to decide how important it is to have on your Kindle or if you can re-create the file in some way.

Let me know if this works for you!

L


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## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

My Facebook is same as Betsy's. Back to the ads. I don't mind them at all. I like the chance to save on services in the area the book ads.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Leslie said:


> Sure. Go to the home page. Choose a word to search for and type it in the search box at the top. You want to pick a word that you know is in a document on your Kindle, but you don't want a super common word like "the." I just picked "Hmong" because I am reading a book about Hmong refugees. Type "go" to complete the search.
> 
> On the page of search results, go down to the bottom of the list and see if there are any items that could not be searched because they were not indexed. These might be the things causing the problem (they were in my case). Delete from the Kindle. Do the search again.
> 
> ...


Actually, it works even better to search for a 'word' that you know won't appear at all. . . .like xqptr.


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## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Actually, it works even better to search for a 'word' that you know won't appear at all. . . .like xqptr.


Really? I thought you needed a word that would show up in at least one book. Well...thanks Ann!


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## sparklemotion (Jan 13, 2011)

Leslie said:


> Sure. Go to the home page. Choose a word to search for and type it in the search box at the top. You want to pick a word that you know is in a document on your Kindle, but you don't want a super common word like "the." I just picked "Hmong" because I am reading a book about Hmong refugees. Type "go" to complete the search.
> 
> On the page of search results, go down to the bottom of the list and see if there are any items that could not be searched because they were not indexed. These might be the things causing the problem (they were in my case). Delete from the Kindle. Do the search again.
> 
> ...


Thank you vey much, Leslie!  I don't appear to have any books that need indexing so hmm... I also tried searching for a word that I know won't appear at all too. (thank you for adding that, Ann) I've no idea why my battery life on my touch isn't all that great.  Ah well. I have the new paperwhite on order so yay.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Leslie said:


> Really? I thought you needed a word that would show up in at least one book. Well...thanks Ann!


I guess the thing is, it can be hard to pick a word that is a real word but won't show up much. And if you get one that has a lot of responses, it takes a lot longer to search for some reason -- I guess because it has to then output all the results along with the line that says how much is indexed. If you pick something that doesn't exist at all, it comes back pretty fast with a 'couldn't find it' message. So go with nonsense -- the kindle doesn't care: it doesn't know it's nonsense.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I've moved the discussion of Facebook ads to its own thread, in Not Quite Kindle. You can find the discussion here:
http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,127032.0.html

Thanks for understanding!

Betsy
KB Moderator


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## BTackitt (Dec 15, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I guess the thing is, it can be hard to pick a word that is a real word but won't show up much. And if you get one that has a lot of responses, it takes a lot longer to search for some reason -- I guess because it has to then output all the results along with the line that says how much is indexed. If you pick something that doesn't exist at all, it comes back pretty fast with a 'couldn't find it' message. So go with nonsense -- the kindle doesn't care: it doesn't know it's nonsense.


I use griege, which is an obscure term for a woven fabric as it comes from the loom and before it has been submitted to the finishing process.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

And me. . .rather than trying to think up an obscure word, I prefer to just randomly hit keys. . . .like xpqlsr. . . .or idjrsp.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Which is definitely easier to do on a K4.  

Betsy


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## Ephany (Mar 9, 2009)

I recently opted my daughter's touch out of special offers. Some of the book covers bothered her. It was $20 to opt out, but I'm sure the difference was more than $20 when we bought it, so I'm content with the decision. She keeps bringing me her touch and asking me to identify what's on her screen now though when the pictures change. Guess she's never seen the inside of a typewriter.


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## telracs (Jul 12, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> And me. . .rather than trying to think up an obscure word, I prefer to just randomly hit keys. . . .like xpqlsr. . . .or idjrsp.


i use ppps (it's in a couple of books, but not many)


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## gaidinsgirl (Feb 1, 2011)

The ads have never bothered me at all until now. Every time I look at my kindle ( touch) it is showing the paper white ad and making me want it. lol.


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## BradW (Sep 6, 2012)

gaidinsgirl said:


> The ads have never bothered me at all until now. Every time I look at my kindle ( touch) it is showing the paper white ad and making me want it. lol.


Really? I wondered if they'd do that. But I haven't seen any paperwhite ads on my K3 yet. What kind of a "special offer" are they offering?


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

The special offers haven't been very special in quite some time; they've mostly just been "ads."


Betsy


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## gaidinsgirl (Feb 1, 2011)

BradW said:


> Really? I wondered if they'd do that. But I haven't seen any paperwhite ads on my K3 yet. What kind of a "special offer" are they offering?


yea, no offer about it. just a picture of it and a buy it on your kindle option. There is one real offer to every 5 or 6 ad's lately. Most are new movie releases.


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## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

The ads don't bother me at all (in fact I like them better than most of the old screen savers) and as long as Amazon continues to give people an option to opt out of them I will be happy.  I always want the option to get rid of them if they ever do start to bug me.

Amazon worried me for a bit after the announcement of the Fire HD; their initial special offers only idea would have guaranteed I stop buying Kindles in the future.  I'm glad they listened to people's concerns and gave them back the option to opt out.


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## luvmy4brats (Nov 9, 2008)

Cloysterpete said:


> There are adverts for books that you may like on your homepage, will they be gone?. If not then there is no ad free version at all.


There are recommendations for books you might like on the Fire's homepage, but I'm not sure they're going to be on the PW. They aren't on the Touch or Baby.


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Luvmy4brats said:


> There are recommendations for books you might like on the Fire's homepage, but I'm not sure they're going to be on the PW. They aren't on the Touch or Baby.


Some screens and videos showed there is a row of "recommended for you) on the bottom of the home page on the PW when you have it in book cover view.

Here's a pic derek alvah posted in another thread I was just reading.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

It's like that on the Fire HD also.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Luvmy4brats said:


> There are recommendations for books you might like on the Fire's homepage, but I'm not sure they're going to be on the PW. They aren't on the Touch or Baby.


The difference with the PW is that it has a 'book cover' view. . . . . the previous Kindles do not.

I'm guessing that in cover view, the suggestions will be there; in list view they won't.

FWIW, on apps, when on the HOME screen, there are recommended books; when showing what's on the Device, the covers are still there, but no recommendations.

Sent from my Kindle Fire HD


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## northofdivision (Sep 7, 2010)

**Update.. Nice point Telrac. Didn't see your post. That little banner on the home screen would annoy the crap out of me. New stance. Pay the money and remove the ads!)

With the paperwhite if you case it with that new magnet OEM case, ads won't really matter, right? with that case its sleeps and shuts off sleep based on the cover being open. Under this concept, if you keep it covered, you couldn't even see the ads even if you wanted to (albeit for a second as your flipping it open is probably just a tad faster than e-ink shutting on, no? That said, i'm from the camp that will always pay the extra. I gets ads all over my techworld with apps, commercials, on banners, the last place of solace in life these days for me is books. I want my kindles to dictate that freedom away from people selling me ish and promoting crap. 30 bucks for that bit of freedom is well worth it to me (which leads back to the top of this argument (get a case and only pay 10 bucks extra than you would if you had the ads removed. assuming this magnet works as advertised).


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## Lee (Nov 7, 2008)

When I got my K4 I got it with Special Offers.  At first it was okay, the ads didn't seem intrusive.  But over time, it seemed like there was less variety to the ads and they seemed to be aiming at one particular demographic, i.e. women.  I started to feel as if I was carrying around a women's magazine instead of a Kindle.  So I bought out of Special Offers, and I like it much better without any ads at all.  So from now on, whenever I buy a new Kindle I'll always get it without Special Offers.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

northofdivision said:


> I want my kindles to dictate that freedom away from people selling me ish and promoting crap. 30 bucks for that bit of freedom is well worth it to me (which leads back to the top of this argument (get a case and only pay 10 bucks extra than you would if you had the ads removed. assuming this magnet works as advertised).


If the ads bother you that much, you should be aware that there is still a small banner at the bottom of the home screen that will be there even if you don't see the lockscreen ads.

It doesn't bother me, but it sounds like it would bother you.

Betsy


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

Lee brings up a good point. I, too, notice the predominantly feminine slant in the ads. No real problem with that, but you'd think that if Amazon track what I've bought they could tailor their ads a bit more. I mean, if I go to the Amazon web pages I'm inundated by ads related to what I've purchased in the past.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

A feminine slant?  I don't even look at the ads anymore, so I'll take your word for it.    Right now, the ad on my Touch is for Snow White & the Huntsman Blu-Ray Combo Pack.

I guess I'll start noticing them again for awhile now!  

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Yeah. . . I'm not feeling a feminine slant either.  So I went and looked to see what was there 

Right now on the Fire the offers are an Intel UltraBook, a Discover card promo, a Kindle extended warranty promo, an ATT promo, an ad for the new Penny Marshall book, and the Titanic movie on blue ray.

On the K4 is Snow White (as Betsy mentioned), the Kindle daily deal, Discover, Intel Ultrabook, the Penny Marshall book, a book called "Seed", the Paperwhite, a book called "Flowertown", a book called "Grave of Angels", the Fire HD, the Fire HD8.9", and the Fire HD8.9 with 4G.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Maybe the offers read feminine to the guys because, as my twelve year old grandson would say about a movie:  "Not enough shooting."  

Betsy


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## Mandykins (Sep 24, 2012)

When I was deciding which Kindle to buy I kept going back and forth on whether I needed a 3G model or wifi only and then once that was decided I had to figure out if I wanted ads or not. I have the Kindle 4 with special offers, it was the perfect Kindle for me. The ads do not interfere with reading at all and that's really all that I cared about. I just wish they offered more special offers rather than just ads.


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## SMRG (Aug 2, 2012)

I didn't know they ever intended to have actual special offers. I assumed that was a euphemism for advertisement.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Initially, they very much were special offers, available only to owners of the SO Kindles.  We had a thread somewhere.

I suspect that the success of the program was its own worst enemy....there are a LOT of SO Kindles out there.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

SMRG said:


> I didn't know they ever intended to have actual special offers. I assumed that was a euphemism for advertisement.


No, they have had some true special offers. Discounts on covers or vouchers for MP3's. Just a couple of days ago there was one came up on my HD7 that was get 1 of a selection of books for $1. These were books that were regularly priced $4 to $6 as I recall. Mostly myster/thriller types.

So some of the offers are more like coupons. Others are basically ads.


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## GhiiZhar (May 23, 2010)

Ads are becoming so pervasive that I think it's time to start resisting them when, and where we can. I get 50+ ad junk mail per day at work (in spite of an aggressive ad filter), and probably as many in my personal addresses. Ads are appearing on TV while watching a show!

A while back I read about a system in Japan that "sensed" when a person was nearby and sent ads to their cell phones whilst they are "captive" in a subway car. 

As Jean-Luc said "The line must be drawn here! This far, no further!"

OK, that's a little over dramatic , but I will gladly pay $15 to remove the ads, and I will loudly complain about the "Recommendations" that remain after paying for ad removal.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

GhiiZhar said:


> OK, that's a little over dramatic , but I will gladly pay $15 to remove the ads, and I will loudly complain about the "Recommendations" that remain after paying for ad removal.


Or, you could just say, "This device isn't for me, for this reason," and not buy it.

Me: ads are easily ignored. . . .and I kinda like the recommendations. . . . . .


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

And, just to clarify, the "Recommendations" row also shows information about apps or subscriptions when those are the focus on the Carousel.  So it's more than just recommendations.

That being said, you certainly should let Amazon know if there's something you don't like about the device.  Which is to say, contact Amazon.  Complaining here about it doesn't really do anything other than give you an opportunity to vent and/or participate in the discussion. 

I like the row, myself, because it does have extra stuff in it...and may even take advantage of the Recommendations occasionally.

Betsy


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## GhiiZhar (May 23, 2010)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Or, you could just say, "This device isn't for me, for this reason," and not buy it.


I only have only posted about 90 messages here, butto the best of my knowledge, none have been complaints about any Kindle. I have owned several (K2, K3, DXG, Touch). As a matter of fact, I believe my postings have been positive, and hopefully some have been helpful. I was not complaining about the Fire HD as a device, as a matter of fact I have two on order.

I participated in this discussion specifically because it asked "Does it bother you?". As they are right now, perhaps the ads are not so bothersome for some. If we don't let Amazon that they do bother some of us, the ads will only get more pervasive - that's the nature of advertising business. I have communicated directly with Amazon and let them know my preference. The last thing I want to see is for any Kindle to become loaded with ads like commercial TV.

Thanks for pointing out my option to not buy one.....it makes me feel my opinion on this subject was unwelcomed though.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

GhilZhar,

in fact, this thread has gone on for three pages, so you are not alone in not liking the ads.  And in not liking the "recommendations."  I think Ann was just responding to your comment that you would continue to complain loudly about the ads--that if they bother you that much, perhaps not buying the device would be a better choice than having something you hated there.

And I consistently suggest that people complain directly to Amazon about things they don't like!

That being said, it appears that Amazon is planning an update to allow people to opt out of recommendations, too, so they've heard you!

Have a great evening...

Betsy


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## GhiiZhar (May 23, 2010)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> That being said, it appears that Amazon is planning an update to allow people to opt out of recommendations, too, so they've heard you!


*Thanks for that information!*

Perhaps I should amend my "complain loudly" comment to say "complainly loudly to Amazon". I agree that complaining in forums, and not to Amazon is not productive. I only complained in this thread because opinions were solicited.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

GhiiZhar said:


> *Thanks for that information!*
> 
> Perhaps I should amend my "complain loudly" comment to say "complainly loudly to Amazon". I agree that complaining in forums, and not to Amazon is not productive. I only complained in this thread because opinions were solicited.


And are welcome...we just like to remind people to do both. 

Somewhere in one of the threads here, Ann posted about the info about opting out of recommendations...I'll see if I can find it!

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Here 'tis:



Ann in Arlington said:


> Found this on an Amazon help forum at Amazon -- props to Bufo Calvin of _I Love My Kindle_ for the link:
> 
> http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/forums/kindleqna/ref=cm_cd_tft_tp?ie=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1GLDPZMNR1X53&cdThread=Tx1WEM06OFQ59MC
> 
> ...


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## Cardinal (Feb 24, 2010)

I'm not fond of the ad at the bottom of the home screen, so for the Paperwhite Kindle I elected not to get the Special Offers version.


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