Shejidan / Latest kindle tweek

**Posted by Pence** 9/27/2023 11:32 am

I went to check out a novel a friend had mentioned on my kindle this morning and tried to download a sample. No sample. I called amazon and was told that my 3 year old kindle was now to old to download samples! Has anyone else run into this problem?
The 'samples' are often inadequate but are at least an attempt to provide a feel for the writing. Now that new e-books are in the 10-12dollar range buying blind is rediculous.

**Posted by Surtac** 9/27/2023 6:47 pm

I haven't seen that particular issue but I haven't tried to use the sample feature. I should try - I think my current kindle device - a paperwhite - is 3 years old or thereabouts.
My issues with Amazon's kindle ecosystem are to do with inconsistencies in product/content availability and pricing., as well as what looks to me like enforced market restrictions.
My kindle account is anchored on Amazon US ad has been for many years now. But ever since Amazon AU started up, they have been trying to get me to move my kindle library there instead. But I believe that to be a backwards step - it's a smaller market with more restricted choice and higher pricing. and I know of people who have made that choice and now seriously regret having done so. So I won't do it.
Instead, I have to put up with ebooks I want not appearing to be available to me on Amazon US but smirking at me on Amazon AU. It includes such things as CJs Alliance Rising. as well as Olga Tokarczuk's latest.
I'm not happy.

**Posted by Aja Jin** 9/27/2023 8:39 pm

I use the Kindle app on my ipad (and phone on occasion), no issues.

**Posted by Surtac** 9/27/2023 9:34 pm

Yeah, to reiterate, my kindle issues are not with my kindle device or the application associated with it - I use it happily on a Windows pc (mostly), an Android phone, an ipad and a paperwhite kindle device , and I really like the multiple device synchronisation feature. The collections feature I also find useful for aggregating subsets of my kindle library for different houehold family members.

No, my kindle issues are all to do with the enforced limitation and marginalisation of available content between separate Amazon marketplace entities and apparent geographical boundaries. There is no consistent universal availabilty of kindle content, nor is its pricing universally uniform.

I don't know why this has to be the case in 2023. I suspect some of it harks back to the 'good old days' of different geographic regional market rights for physical books, and is now largely irrelevant. Yet still it lingers, like a bad smell.

**Posted by starexplorer** 9/28/2023 12:44 pm

To Pence’s point, perhaps viewing the samples could be accomplished on a computer or on the kindle app on a mobile device, and then you could decide whether to purchase the full book after?

**Posted by Pence** 9/28/2023 6:45 pm

Yes Star, samples can be accessed with my desk top. I should be grateful instead of grumpy. This is going to drastically cut down impulse purchasing of random novels!

**Posted by Pence** 10/02/2023 10:53 am

And the evil empire has returned the sample option to the 'older' kindles. Guess they realised that they would loose sales!