# Is Kindle's fate doomed?



## andreix (Jan 14, 2014)

How sustainable is Amazon's hold on the e-reader industry?


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

I don't know.  They have more books and better customer service than the competitors so I would say pretty sustainable.  They are coming out with new devices every year so that also says sustainability.

What did you hear?


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## Guest (Jan 14, 2014)

I think they'll stay strong for quite some time to come.


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## andreix (Jan 14, 2014)

What would it take to compete?


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

andreix said:


> What would it take to compete?


Good customer service, good selection of books, a variety of devices. For a look at competitors, look at Kobo, apple and B&N.
Are you thinking of getting in the business?
Are you a writer?


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

All things change and nothing lasts forever. 

I'm not sure how much of a 'hold' Amazon has on the ebook industry. There are some good eInk ePub readers out there, and you can buy many if not most of the same books from other sources.

Amazon could stop selling ebooks tomorrow and the ebook industry would go on.

Without such good customer service, though.   


Mike


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Amazon is the current leader in ebooks, I'd say. And maybe in ebook readers.

They were the first to come out with a reasonably affordable device coupled with a HUGE inventory. They weren't the first to offer a device -- but theirs was more attractively priced with some killer features (like wireless downloading of content) coupled with a store that had a much wider selection.

And they've kept improving the device. That said, the current best kindle is probably not now better than it's competitors. In fact, they kind of USE their competitors, as there are Kindle 'apps' that work on Android, Apple, and Windows based devices. So even if you don't have a kindle device, you can read books from Amazon. By contrast, you can't get things from iTunes unless you have an Apple device.

Amazon also had the early win on the size of their inventory though other vendors are catching up. They've said their goal is to eventually be able to offer every book ever written. They were the first to open up to independent authors, some of whom had great stories to tell, but didn't fit into the slots traditional publishing has available.

In terms of customer service, they are the winner by a large margin. Their device warranty is a year (more or less standard) and folks have almost never been given any trouble when the call and say their device isn't working. They'll usually do some troubleshooting, but are quick to simply offer a replacement -- even for folks who admit that it's broken because they sat on it.  In fact, even if it's a device that's well out of warranty, they've been known to do a free replacement if it's just stopped working for no good reason, and in the case of accidental breakage they'll often offer a discount on a replacement -- which is certainly not something they'd have to do. When they do this, they _send the new device right away_. And you can send the broken one back after you've received the replacement.  Really, that's pretty remarkable. Of course, if you don't return the first one, they will charge for the second, but you have a whole month to get that done.

They have a great return policy on ebooks as well. They recognize folks may sometimes buy a book they really didn't mean to or want, so you can return a kindle book within 7 days. So if you find you already read the book, or it's not at all well formatted, as long as you find this out within the first week, you can return if you want. Maybe it's the right title but by a different author. Or maybe your kid or a friend was playing with your device and bought something not realizing. You Can RETURN IT. And, actually, if it's a case of being poorly formatted, or badly produced -- in other words, a defective product -- they'll often refund your money on those books even after the 7 days. No other ebook store will do that.


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## backslidr (Nov 23, 2012)

Amazon has the US market pretty much to themselves with good products and great customer service. B&N stumbled on both accounts and Kobo got shut down when Borders closed their doors. Kobo is big in the rest of the world and has better, more featured ereaders, but worldwide Amazon is gaining. If Amazon wants to dominate in the rest of the world they just need to quit playing catch up with companies like Kobo and put out the best ereader. Amazon is so fixed on certain price points that they evidently can't afford more features. Other companies charge a few dollars more, but give much more. If Amazon left, the eBook business would go on, but I don't think they will and one of these days they'll quit messing around and put out the best reader on the market. Hopefully.


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## HappyGuy (Nov 3, 2008)

My guess is that they'll stay. I think they could really enhance their hold if they would add ePub as a recognized format for their reader. Seems like most libraries are going that way.


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## The Hooded Claw (Oct 12, 2009)

As mentioned by others, Amazon is pretty dominant right now. Especially in the United States. It is very likely that this will eventually change, in the 1990s Microsoft appeared to denominate the computer business. Many people worried that Microsoft would have a monopoly and would be unchallenged and have too much power. These worries did not come to pass, now Microsoft is still a major company but it is finding it hard to compete with Apple and even with Amazon. Technology and events changed to remove Microsoft's dominance. This could happen to Amazon in the book business as well. We can't know what the cause will be, it could be a lack of flexibility by Amazon or it could be that some new development will make the book business not that important.


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## Chad Winters (Oct 28, 2008)

I think lock in is important to consider, I have bought so many ebooks from Amazon already that it would take a lot to make me switch to another and have 2 separate libraries


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## stevene9 (Nov 9, 2008)

I think it would take an extraordinary technological advance in a competing reader along with an enormous push to get a larger inventory of ebooks by a competitor. Assuming there is not a large difference in the readers, most people will go where the inventory of books is the greatest and it is easy to use and download. I think Amazon is safe for at least the next 20 years, probably more.

Steve


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## Adaman14 (Mar 20, 2013)

Amazon is going to be around for quite some time.  The reader is a temporary device.  I love my Kindles, but my library is a database which is not device dependent (Calibre).  I assume that any format changes in my lifetime will be handled by a conversion processes which will use any of the available format options from Calibre as a source file. For those who use Amazon for library management, Send to Kindle, and the many great features these provide take heart in the fact that Amazon is now the best choice IMHO.


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## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

I don't think the Kindle or Amazon's ebooks are going any where but I download all my books to my hard drive and safe guard my investment.


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## BillSmithBooksDotCom (Nov 4, 2012)

Amazon does so much so well (and most of their competitors don't do basic things well, like search or customer service), that their dominance of ebooks seems pretty assured for the foreseeable future. 

The Amazon eco-system is really good, very seamless and easy for customers. Great prices, great search, great recommendations, generous returns policies. They do everything better than everybody else. 

Amazon is pretty good to the authors, too...even the worst of Amazon's terms are a huge improvement over the best terms any traditional publisher offers an author. Authors have every reason to promote the Amazon ecosystem (at this point).

As long as Amazon keeps that in perspective, they will continue to succeed. Keep the authors happy, keep the readers happy and take a small percentage as the middleman -- a small percentage of a huge business is generally a lot better than a big percentage of a small business.

Here are what I perceive as the opportunities to compete with Amazon:

1) Allow DRM-free direct downloads, the way Smashwords does. 

(My big gripe with Amazon is that I can only download my books, even DRM-free ones, when I am using the kindle app or device. 

I am old school, I want to buy and download to my computer the way I can with an MP3 podcast or save a web page to my hard drive or download from Smashwords, Manybooks, etc. so I can keep backups or use it when, heaven forbid, I don't have Internet access.

If the book is DRM-free, it ought to be as simple as just downloading the book to any device and read on any device, any platform, with or without an app.)

1.1) Make sure people understand how easy and painless sideloading is. I mean, it's not hard...but most people just don't know. You're not going to be able to compete on hardware. Apps are something you can do. But you still need to make sure people understand how easy it is to sideload.

2) This would be a minor advantage, but I would like basic HTML file downloads. I know, sounds silly, but hear me out -- with basic HTML file downloads, an "ebook" can be read in any web browser, so it opens the ebook up to older computers and easy file conversion with far less hassle for readers. 

Probably not many people care about this...but I would sure appreciate it.

(A basic HTML file with a separate cover would work, a zip if you have images...I know, Epubs are just zips of bundled HTML and graphics but when you unzip them, there are normally lots of different files...most books as basic HTML could be just a single file with graphics in an attached folder.) 

3) Amazon has amazing customer service, great recommendations and also boughts -- I think there is an opportunity if a distributor can make it easy and friendly for readers to build a great community that is loyal to the vendor, with reviews, recommendations, etc. to direct readers to your website. Amazon does it very, very well...but there is room for someone else to do this and become "the other guy," just like there is room for Burger King alongside McDonalds.

(This is why the Goodreads acquisition is such a big deal...building a good comparable community is going to be really hard unless Amazon drops the ball and "Facebook's" their community to the point where it is unusable.)

4) Use the ebook bargain sites to direct traffic -- right now it's all Amazon, Amazon, Amazon, but if a rival can convince the multitude of promo sites like BookBubs, Pixel of Inks, etc. to link to them as well (through generous affiliate payments, etc.), there is a chance to siphon off a good chunk of business. It will take time, but the opportunity is there.

5) Leverage free -- there was a lot of tumult when Amazon started restricting payments if you had too high a percentage of free affiliate referrals. A distributor that embraces free and encourages lots of downloads -- and THEN figures out how to convert those freebies into paying customers -- could use that to gain a lot of leverage in the market.

6) Make it more attractive for Authors to promote your service over Amazon -- A classic example of this is sub $2.99 books -- Amazon pays 35%. With Smashwords, you get 56 cents on a 99 cent sale, $1.99 book, you earn nearly 70%, etc. -- this is a huge difference for the author, so they have a lot to gain by pushing readers to a higher percentage website for their lower-priced books.

7) Everything changes if Amazon does something stupid, like mandating you join Select to get the 70% referral rate, etc. I'm sure they won't dare until they are convinced they have enough market control to get away with it -- and even then, they may realize that the bad publicity, etc. wouldn't be worth it and they are perfectly happy with just leaving things the way they are now. But, if they DO make a policy change that enrages the authors or readers (very unlikely), momentum could shift away from them in a matter of months. 

(A major shift like that would probably take a couple of years for it to become obvious to the rest of the world, but you'd be able to see the trend lines pretty quickly.)

I don't see Amazon doing anything spectacularly stupid in the near future, but you never can tell.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

I am pretty sure that the world's largest online retailer is going nowhere.  They have great customer service and their e-books are the greatest marketing idea ever.
Cheap books get me in the door.  From there I can go on to buy music, dvds, clothes, drugs, groceries, etc.
I am also reasonably sure that they are not gonna sell you 1000's of dollars worth of books then take them away from you.  
I also don't see their hardware going away either.    Now I do see that it keeps improving.

Not to mention their customer service rocks.


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## 68564 (Mar 17, 2013)

Amazon is here to stay, but the market is ripe for a competitor to rise up and take a piece for themselves. The potential competitors right now are:

B&N: They have all the pieces - even a solid customer base - they just need to stop flip-flopping around on whether or not they want to play and make a concentrated drive. 

Kobo: They have all the pieces, though a smaller customer foot print, they just need to stop messing up their web site, stop messing with authors, and make a run for the US market

Google: Google is just playing games right now. They have the money and the customer base. If they should ever take the ebook marketplace seriously, they can compete at Amazon's level. 

Apple: Apple is not really pushing much in to ebooks, they are looking at the textbook space mainly. They have all the pieces, esply the locked in customer base and cash reserve, they could overnight move in and take Amazon on. Even as little effort they have put in, they seem to have one of the biggest shares of the market behind Amazon.

As you can see there are several options among companies that have the financial resources, and ability, to compete - but so far they have all been pretty ADD about their approach. Any of them could sweep into the market overnight and start stealing market share. 

The only people making a focused drive to compete are the smaller players, of those only Smashwords seems to be gaining ground. 

The US Ebook market is the majority of the world's ebook share by a long shot, and Amazon is the majority holder in the US Market so they have a very strong base to launch into the world from and they appear to be making that play.


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## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

BillSmithBooksDotCom said:


> 1) Allow DRM-free direct downloads, the way Smashwords does.
> 
> (My big gripe with Amazon is that I can only download my books, even DRM-free ones, when I am using the kindle app or device.


You can download any DRM-free books you've bought directly. You just pick "Download and transfer via USB". You don't need to be within the app or on a device.


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## Xopher (May 14, 2009)

What has been keeping Amazon in the lead is the book publishers' inflexibility towards the digital market. If publishers wanted to hurt Amazon's ebook business, they would need to compete directly with Amazon. Not only do they have to compete with the retail side, but also revamp their deals with writers - things like prompt payouts and better sale reporting. The publishing industry hasn't shown any interest in modernizing their business model. As long as they stick to their methods, and Amazon keeps working on pleasing writers and readers, Amazon will have an edge.


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## alawston (Jun 3, 2012)

I think the Kindle device itself has already lost its edge. If I was a newcomer to e-books today, I think I'd probably go for a cheaper E-ink reader, perhaps one of the Kobo models. And there are still plenty of people who don't read e-books.

But with the app bringing people's libraries to phones, tablets, and computer screens, not to mention the "locked-in" aspect of access to all the books you've already bought from Amazon, I think the Kindle brand will be with us for some time to come. In the long run, though, I think e-readers are probably going to fall by the wayside.


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## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

Kobo's firmware is buggy and kind of crappy. There are a fair number of complaints regarding the Kobo. And it seems like once they get the firmware in good shape they release a firmware that the is crap. And Kobo's customer service is lacking.


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## cinisajoy (Mar 10, 2013)

Xopher said:


> What has been keeping Amazon in the lead is the book publishers' inflexibility towards the digital market. If publishers wanted to hurt Amazon's ebook business, they would need to compete directly with Amazon. Not only do they have to compete with the retail side, but also revamp their deals with writers - things like prompt payouts and better sale reporting. The publishing industry hasn't shown any interest in modernizing their business model. As long as they stick to their methods, and Amazon keeps working on pleasing writers and readers, Amazon will have an edge.


You have me confused. Publishers have been using Amazon to sell books since Amazon got its start as a book seller. I am pretty sure they all have good contracts with Amazon. As far as being inflexible what are you talking about. Most of the best sellers now are in digital form.
Why change something that works? That is like saying Monfort needs to sell its meat directly to the public and not use grocery stores.


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## backslidr (Nov 23, 2012)

MamaProfCrash said:


> Kobo's firmware is buggy and kind of crappy. There are a fair number of complaints regarding the Kobo. And it seems like once they get the firmware in good shape they release a firmware that the is crap. And Kobo's customer service is lacking.


I now have three Kobo's, the Aura, Aura HD and the Mini and I'm having no problems at all unlike the pw2 with the freezing and rebooting issues I had until I deleted nearly all my books off it. From what I've seen on other boards are the ones who are having problems are generally the ones who like to tinker with them and change things in the config files and things. Same is true for people who like to mess around with their Kindles. Being new to Kobo you may be right, they may have had more problems in the past, I don't know, but their current firmware certainly seems quite stable now.


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## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

I have never owned a Kobo, I just read the comments at Mobile Read. People love them or hate them. There does not seem to be a middle ground. From what I ahve read, the problems are not with folks who have messed with their devices but that they seem to randomly strike. And as the problems are found, the firmware is patched. The final patch or two tend to lead to a great device but getting there is described as being painful.

Even if the number of folks having a problem with their Kobo is a small minority (I think it is a minority, but think that it is closer to 10% then 1%), the Kobo is not a rival to Amazon yet. It is not advertised well in the US and the customer service is poor. Until Kobo decides to actually make a push in the US, it remains a small market device.

Toss in ADE 3 being released and some of the possible problems with that (ADE 2 stopping working, books not formateed for ADE3 not being readable, ADE3 only books that cannot be read on older e-readers) and you could set up a situation where more people move to Amazon.


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## Eltanin Publishing (Mar 24, 2011)

There are 2 significant things that bug me about Kobo.

1. If the ebook contains an image that is larger than the screen, the kobo chops off part of the image. Kindles shrink large images to fit on the screen. So as a publisher, I have to plan for the lowest-resolution kobo and have to include smaller images. People with higher-res kobos suffer because they don't get to have the larger images.

2. The PW light gradually increases from almost nothing to pretty bright. The kobo glo light has a big jump from off to the lowest setting. You can't set it very low.


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## backslidr (Nov 23, 2012)

Eltanin Publishing said:


> There are 2 significant things that bug me about Kobo.
> 
> 1. If the ebook contains an image that is larger than the screen, the kobo chops off part of the image. Kindles shrink large images to fit on the screen. So as a publisher, I have to plan for the lowest-resolution kobo and have to include smaller images. People with higher-res kobos suffer because they don't get to have the larger images.
> 
> 2. The PW light gradually increases from almost nothing to pretty bright. The kobo glo light has a big jump from off to the lowest setting. You can't set it very low.


I understand that the older model Glo did that but the newer models get much dimmer. Still, there is much to like with Kobo such as more fonts and the ability to adjust font sizes and weight. More line spacing and margin options, showing number of pages left in chapter, time left in chapter and in next chapter, reading stats, book opening the first time to the front cover and the book cover as the screen saver. The Aura has the ability to change lighting by sliding two fingers up or down the screen. You can also change the screen from right to left hand page turns and it also includes integration with Pocket. Im a long time Kindle user starting with the K1, but I've been very impressed with Kobo.


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## BillSmithBooksDotCom (Nov 4, 2012)

Eltanin Publishing said:


> You can download any DRM-free books you've bought directly. You just pick "Download and transfer via USB". You don't need to be within the app or on a device.


I wish it were that simple. To use that option, you MUST have a registered Kindle device.

I have Kindle for PC on my Windows box but I hardly ever use Windows because, well, it's Windows and the godawful mess that OS is.

My main operating system is Linux and while I can read on the web, there is no download and transfer to USB option.

I much prefer Smashwords, Weightless, AngryRobot and the host of indie retailers (and places like ManyBooks) that allow you to just pick the format you want to download and download the book, without having to read on only their approved apps/devices.

It shouldn't matter with Amazon on DRM-free books, since you can use Calibre or any number of web-based services to format shift if you want.


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## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

I am assuming that you are aware that you can download Mobi versions from Indie stores and move them to your Kindle via the USB cord. At least, the folks at Mobile Read talk about buying books from those same Indie sites, downloading them to their computers, and transfering them to their Kindles. Since the books do not have DRM, they find the process pretty easy with no magic words involved. What I could be missing is that the USB transfer doesn't work between a Linux system and a Kindle for some reason?

If I am understanding you correctly, Kindle for PC does not work with Linux? I know I have read some posts at Mobile Reads were people have discussed using Wine and being able to use Kindle for PC but it just makes me want to get a drink because I know nothing about Linux and I am assuming that Wine is a special browser for Linux just like Kit Kat is an android update and not just a yummy candy bar... 

For folks on a regular PC, buying books to put on an unregistered Kindle is easy enough.You download a copy of Kindle for PC, donwload the book to your computer chosing the Kindle for PC option, you open up Calibre or some similar package, you say some special magic words that people on this board don't discuss, you move magically altered book to your unregistered Kindle via a USB cord. 

hehehe I just figured out that KB is full of ebook Muggles. (giggles)


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

What MamaProfCrash is describing is stripping the DRM from Amazon books.  It is against the Amazon terms of service and, no, we don't allow discussion here of how to do so, nor links to sites that explain how to do so.


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## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

See, Muggles (winks)

Given his knowledge, he very well knew what I was discussing. I try and beat around the bush around here.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

My post was to make it clear that this sort of thing IS AGAINST the Amazon terms of service.  I can't assume that all 60,000 members of this board are aware of what you're talking about or, if they are, that it is against terms of service.

Yes, one can disable the DRM.
No, we're not going to enable you in doing that via this board because we respect Amazon's policy.

There isn't really any need to beat about the bush.  Perfectly easy to just say, "you can do what you want by stripping DRM, but that's against Amazon's ToS and we don't discuss the 'how to' on this board." Which is true.


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## QuantumIguana (Dec 29, 2010)

In the unlikely event that Amazon went under, the other companies would really like to have your business. If they could negotiate it with the publishers, they could offer you access to all the books you had on your Kindle. It wouldn't actually cost them anything. The publishers might not feel motivated to allow this just so people could switch from Amazon to Kobo, but if Amazon went under, the publishers might be highly motivated to allow this. If Amazon went under and people lost access to their cloud storage on their Kindles, they might become so frustrated they wouldn't buy as many books, and that's not good for the publishers.

Another possibility is that a company like Kobo or B&N might simply buy out the Amazon accounts, it would be an asset the creditors could sell. You would then create a Kobo account, and it would have the books from your previous Kindle account.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I am also of the opinion that if Amazon goes under, the Terms of Service no longer apply -- so one could, if necessary, strip the DRM so as to make your content readable on whatever devices are available.  

But, really, it's not something I worry about at all.


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## Taking my troll a$$ outta here (Apr 8, 2013)

Ann in Arlington said:


> When they do this, they _send the new device right away_. And you can send the broken one back after you've received the replacement.  Really, that's pretty remarkable. Of course, if you don't return the first one, they will charge for the second, but you have a whole month to get that done.


Yes, this ^^. Their customer service rocks. I did whine a little that I use it frequently with my "send to kindle" program for document editing, but they overnight mailed me one before I sent the broken one back. 
They will keep me as a customer.


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## Mandy (Dec 27, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Amazon is the current leader in ebooks, I'd say. And maybe in ebook readers.
> 
> In terms of customer service, they are the winner by a large margin. Their device warranty is a year (more or less standard) and folks have almost never been given any trouble when the call and say their device isn't working. They'll usually do some troubleshooting, but are quick to simply offer a replacement -- even for folks who admit that it's broken because they sat on it.  In fact, even if it's a device that's well out of warranty, they've been known to do a free replacement if it's just stopped working for no good reason, and in the case of accidental breakage they'll often offer a discount on a replacement -- which is certainly not something they'd have to do. When they do this, they _send the new device right away_. And you can send the broken one back after you've received the replacement.  Really, that's pretty remarkable. Of course, if you don't return the first one, they will charge for the second, but you have a whole month to get that done.


This. Back when I was trying to decide between the K2 and the newly released Nook (I was salivating over the color book covers on the screen!), the Kindle finally won out. Amazon's excellent customer service was the tipping point. The Nook users were already grumbling over malfunctioning devices and poor customer service.

Then there was the time I accidentally leaned my elbow on my beloved K2 and the screen shattered. My warranty had either just expired or was about to. I nervously called Amazon, thinking I was SOL since my own negligence broke my K2, but they cheerfully sent a replacement which arrived the very next day. As long as Amazon has a foot in the ebook/ereader business, they've got my loyalty.


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## BillSmithBooksDotCom (Nov 4, 2012)

My comments about being able to direct download books was in the context of:

1) what opportunities do Amazon's competitors have to challenge Amazon's dominance
2) Why can't I just download my legally purchased ebooks (if they are DRM-free)?

No, there is no Kindle for Linux app. And no, I am not advocating DRM-stripping or anything else that violates the Amazon TOS.

And while there are *ways* to download books on Linux if you are willing to jump through hoops, using Wine, etc., Amazon shouldn't stand in the way of taking my money the way they do. 

For DRM-free books only, it should not matter to Amazon. Just take my money and let me download my book. 

This is a concept that was mastered on much of the Internet decades ago -- Amazon even allows this with their MP3 store (for single songs only, if you buy an album you have to use the Windows downloader) -- but NOT their Kindle store.

Amazon is far from alone in this -- Nook, Kobo and ITunes all commit the "walled garden" sin. With or without DRM, you can only download using their software and/or devices.

And several of their competitors -- Smashwords, Baen, Weightless, RobotTradingCompany, BookViewCafe, BooksforaBuck, Solaris (through RebellionStore.com), DriveThruCafe, Paizo, DragonMount, Closed-Circle, ReAnimus, PhoenixPick, books sold through Gumroad, and many others -- figured this out YEARS ago. 

This is an opportunity for competitors to get a leg up on Amazon. Anyone who cares about being assured legal access to their books in their future should really care about this issue. (Anyone who got screwed on Microsoft's "Plays for sure" or the demise of Fictionwise or EA's "must always be connected DRM" or anyone who is about to get screwed with the new Adobe ebook reader software should sympathize with why this issue matters -- and understand why this is an opportunity for Amazon's competitors.)


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## RedGolum (Nov 2, 2011)

I get books from a number of non Amazon sites (Baen for instance)  

You can download them directly, or use the "Send to Kindle" app to do so.

I use the Calibre software to keep my libary organized, and that is a great option also.


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## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

Amazon doesn't insist on a book having DRM, the Publishers insist on DRM. So if the book has DRM at Amazon, it will at BN, Sony, iBooks, Kobo, and won't be available at independent stores. And that is not because the bookstores want it that way but because the Publishers want it that way. Go have a chat with the Publishers about DRM.

Most people are unaware that DRM exists, they buy a Kindle, they buy books from Amazon, no problem. Substitue BN, Kobo, or Apple for Amazon. The people who are aware of DRM, at this site and others, are aware of the restrictions that come with it. Some decide that since it violates the TOS they won't remove it. Others decide that fair use is more important and remove it. Still others don't care about TOS and care about paying the least possible for a book and remove it. 

But 90% of the population (a number I pulled out of thin air, it might be higher) could care less about DRM and so it is not an issue that Amazon is worried about.

The only reason for Amazon to care about it is that DRM free books would make it easier for people with different devices to buy from Amazon for their devices.


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