Amazon Updates Kindle for iOS App With New Design and Goodreads Integration

[Defthand]

You don’t own an ebook, companies can and have modified and removed ebooks without the Kindle owners consent -see Amazon and the “1984” & “Animal Farm” ebook deletions- and there isn’t a large price advantage between physically printed books and ebooks, which was supposed to be a big difference between physical and electronic media. Amazon is the largest source for ebooks, not quite a monopoly but close. Yes there are sites with public domain ebooks that you can convert and load into your Kindle, either the device or the app, but the quality is even worse than standard ebooks and it requires (admittedly simple) extra steps to acquire.

You can’t give an ebook to a friend or sell the ebook. Technically when you die the rights to that book do also, you can’t leave your library to anyone. Right now the only real advantage is the ability to travel with hundreds, and if you have access to the internet, millions of books in a small portable device.

I was initially buying ebooks but with the costs, map/pictures formatting problems and the legal restrictions imposed upon me for using ebooks I have gone back to buying physical books.

You’re correct about the disadvantages you listed. It’s puzzling that digital books aren’t much cheaper than their printed counterparts. Especially, since sharing purchases is thwarted. It’s not surprising though that Amazon, which originated as a book seller, is opening physical bookstores to sell physical books. So relieved that bookstores and print aren’t kowtowing to a culture or generation that can’t read more than 140 characters at a glance.

 

[Loge]

It’s puzzling that digital books aren’t much cheaper than their printed counterparts. .

The biggest cost of most books is the content and that is the same in a digital version. And of course you can get out of copyright ebooks for nothing, which are 100% cheaper than their physical counter parts.

 

[SteveW928]

The number of books was an original reason I started buying ebooks. I have 6 bookshelves full of books. Besides which my wife and me have an additional 30 boxes we’ve moved from place to place, at least at the last count. My current solution is, after reading, to sort the books. I tend to re-read books that I really like. Those go on the bookshelf. Books I’ve read, but don’t have an interest in re-reading go to a used book store, where I get some money back. Which leads back to one of my points. Ebooks that I’ve bought and never re-read sit in my cloud library, useless.

Yes, it's also important to consider why you're buying them. For example, most of my books are used for reference, and aside from hauling them around, it's quicker to search then digitally. If you like shelves of books in your study, or the smell of paper, or keep classics as an 'investment' of sorts, etc. it can be quite different. For me, it comes down to practicality and I'm (currently) less concerned about how to lend them or hand them down, etc.

Or, maybe for the person that just plows through fiction or romance novel after another, it might be argued that you are saving paper/resources and have almost zero value for them after you've read them once. So, it's going to vary for each person.

That said, I think some of the problem need to be addressed. We *should* be able to loan e-books out. The technology is available. And, we *should* be able to sell them. Again, this isn't a technical impossibility.

The real dilemma is when you start considering more expensive books (i.e.: $100 plus). It's really hard to 'rent' one of those, even if ultimately more practical.

 

[Ntombi]

Okay, I have an iPad/iPhone, and this app, why do I need a kindle?

Kindle has no colours, kindle has no apps...

I have an iPhone, an iPad, and a Kindle Paperwhite. I read newspapers and magazines on any of the three, but books are never read on an iDevice.

I am a huge reader. I spend more time reading books than any other leisure activity. The only books I read are physical books and books on my Kindle. Reading on the kindle is as close to reading a physical book as possible. No backlight (which I find wearying when reading, rather than interacting with words, like I do on my iPhone & iPad), I can easily read it in bright sunlight or a very dark room, both without strain. I don’t use apps, I don’t bother with color (I read the occasional graphic novel on my iPad).

I know some people are fine reading on the iPad, even prefer it, I can’t do it. It’s too much like faffing about, not actual reading.

 

[ClearScreen]

I like the Kindle device for reading novels and such -- longer battery life, lighter, easier to read in direct sunlight.

I use the Kindle app on iOS and macOS for reading technical material. When doing the latter, the Kindle apps shortcomings are unfortunately glaringly obvious. The annotation features are seriously lacking compared to those available in modern PDF apps (I like PDF Expert or GoodNotes, depending on what I want to do).

The new iOS Kindle app looks fine and all, but it STILL doesn't support split screen. So frustrating; at this point, after many two years of waiting for Amazon to support this, I actively avoid Kindle textbooks and buy PDF versions of books even if they cost twice as much. But DRM-free PDF versions of many books do not exist and I'm forced to get a Kindle version.

I wouldn't mind that if the Kindle app supported split screen so I could have the Kindle open in one screen and GoodNotes in another. But even after 2 years Amazon doesn't do that. At this point, it almost has to be willful neglect, given that every other app I use has supported this feature for a long time. (And I wouldn't even begin to hope that Amazon would support drag and drop from the Kindle into another app.)

 

[Amplelink]

I have an iPhone, an iPad, and a Kindle Paperwhite. I read newspapers and magazines on any of the three, but books are never read on an iDevice.

I am a huge reader. I spend more time reading books than any other leisure activity. The only books I read are physical books and books on my Kindle. Reading on the kindle is as close to reading a physical book as possible. No backlight (which I find wearying when reading, rather than interacting with words, like I do on my iPhone & iPad), I can easily read it in bright sunlight or a very dark room, both without strain. I don’t use apps, I don’t bother with color (I read the occasional graphic novel on my iPad).

I know some people are fine reading on the iPad, even prefer it, I can’t do it. It’s too much like faffing about, not actual reading.

Just curious, but what’s your profession? Always really curious what people who read a lot do for a living.

Anyway, my beef is that Amazon won’t update the iOS app for the iPhone X. I feel like I’m reading on an iPhone 4 screen.

 

[Ntombi]

Just curious, but what’s your profession? Always really curious what people who read a lot do for a living.

Anyway, my beef is that Amazon won’t update the iOS app for the iPhone X. I feel like I’m reading on an iPhone 4 screen.

I’m disabled now, but I was a college administrator. I also edited academic papers on the side.

But I sort of fell into that; I was an actor first.

 

[ClearScreen]

Just curious, but what’s your profession? Always really curious what people who read a lot do for a living.

Chemistry professor.

 

[Harmonious Zen]

Still waiting for the Kindle app to support iPhone X...