My Kindle doesn't show ads, because I didn't buy the version that shows ads. I have never had a book deleted from my Kindle by Amazon.
There was a single instance of a couple of George Orwell's books being removed from user devices in July 2009. Customers had the purchase price they paid refunded. It was done because the company selling those books didn't actually have the rights to sell them. Afterwards, Jeff Bezos apologised and described it as "stupid, thoughtless, and painfully out of line with our principles". It is therefore unlikely to happen again.
Given the commercial structure of Amazon e-Books, does it make sense to buy something that gives you as a reader more rights (e.g. when you die)? Perhaps. But I know what I've got into, so has every other Kindle owner on Earth.
You do you, but your stated premise against Kindle is at best a little inaccurate and outdated, and at worst comes across perhaps a little hyperbolic.
>Afterwards, Jeff Bezos apologised [...] It is therefore unlikely to happen again.
If it's still technically possible (it is), it will happen again. It's implemented to be used, even if occasionally. And mere existence of this feature is a clear declaration, you don't own it, you rent it. Many people may find it acceptable, taking other circumstances, but it's a big bold minus.
If you buy a kindle that is specifically advertised as having ads(and therefore being sold for less money), then yes, you will get ads. If you don't want them, buy the ad free version.
And the deletion from your library happened...once? Over millions of titles available?
Totally agree that the optics on this were horrendous. And Amazon admitted as much 13 years ago.
The only slight thing I’ll say in their defense is that since the uploaded (it was through a self-service system) didn’t have the rights to upload those books (essentially, a third-party pirated the book, uploaded it to Amazon’s servers and then sold the book they didn’t have rights to), I understand the thought process that you’d delete and refund. It’s not like this was a legitimate book they removed. It was literally pirated. Removing books from purchaser’s devices was absolutely the wrong move and has created negative PR for Amazon for 13 years because of one bad decision. But Amazon has admitted it was the wrong move and to my knowledge hasn’t done it again.
In fact, there are a number of books I’ve bought from Amazon over the years that are no longer available on Kindle for a variety of reasons (sometimes publishers pull them, sometimes authors) that I can still download retroactively to any of my devices. So if I’m going to be locked into any ecosystem, and this is just me, I’d rather be locked into the ecosystem that has had its DRM cracked pretty succinctly (meaning I can use my purchases on non-Amazon devices or apps) and that has an insanely robust library of books. Oh, and that integrates with my Audible library.
Compare that to iBooks, where the DRM hasn’t been broken (at least, not the current scheme. Some people have had success using insanely old versions of iTunes and DRM rippers from more than a decade ago, but that’s not a reliable or approachable method) and I can’t read any of those books on my Eink devices, or Kobo, which doesn’t have as robust of a library and has always had that weird store-brand Frosted Flakes feeling, and I’m very happy to be inside the Kindle world.
Plus, my Kindle Oasis has truly been a treat. (I said I would never buy one and now have bought two, so jokes on me).
Also, if you buy the one with ads (because it's cheaper), you can literally just go on amazon customer support chat and ask them nicely to turn them off. It's worked for the few kindles I've owned
When Steam removes a game, it means they no longer sell it, but they don't remove it from your computer nor stop you from downloading it if you already adquired it.
Typically, yes - but they have also removed games from user libraries, preventing them from ever downloading the game again - exactly like Amazon has done in that one instance with an eBook.
My point is - OP said that "once is enough" - well by that metric, I'm asking if they also don't use steam, because Steam has done exactly this at least once in the past.
Can't believe there is such a thing of having an Ereader with ads. Ok it's cheaper but come on, that really shows us how low they think of us. I can understand for a free product but for something you pay ... like seriously!
They're only on the lock screen, never when you're actually reading. I've had the same ad for years (because I use the device with Wi-Fi off) and have no idea what's on it since I never paid any attention.
I know, right? Poorer people should just suck it up instead of having the option to get it cheaper. Wait another month to buy it and don’t offend my aesthetics.
That's a different argument to the one you were making. And frankly the "why isn't this cheaper, hasn't the company profited enough" argument is never a very compelling one. Amazon isn't a charity.
Well they already got profits on their bookstore, why would they need to make a version where you got ads on top of that. I guess if we follow your logic they could build phones, consoles and TVs with ads too. I can understand free books with ads but not the hardware/software that reads it.
So that you decide if you want to buy the one with ads (eww, gross!) or the one without ads (woohoo, I beat the system for a tenner!). Meanwhile Amazon are happy you bought one of them rather than deciding to buy one or not.
The ads are the front cover of some other book on the lock screen instead of the one you're reading. I dislike a lot of Amazon's methods but this one scenario is honestly a contender for least invasive advert still in use 2022.
You know, hardware isn't free, right? Each Kindle model requires R&D, design, testing, manufacturing, lots of work to product, beyond the ability to show books. Sure Amazon makes money off the books, too, but those files aren't free to store on a server (and the servers aren't free), or free to send to you over the Internet, and so on. Ads support hardware cost. If you don't want to see ads, buy the one without ads.
Both Kobo and Kindle include ads on their home screen. Heck, they even have complete storefronts built in. While I realize this isn't what most people mean by ads, I'm a bit old fashioned and don't see much of a difference.
If you want something that is truly ad-free, try the KOReader software.
An ad replaces the "screen saver" when you unlock the device (until you swipe it away), and there's a small banner at the bottom of the book list in the main menu. You probably bought a more expensive version with no ads. They can also be removed later for a small fee, or you can simply never enable wi-fi and there will be no ads at all.
