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With everything Amazon is doing these days it’s easy to forget that they got their start with books. Kindle e-book readers and apps are still their bread and butter. Today they updated their Kindle app for Android with an awesome new feature. Amazon is putting their ownership of Audible to good use by finally integrating it into the Kindle reading app. Users can now seamlessly switch between reading and listening to their favorite books.
Whispersync now works for voice as well, which means you can pick up an audio book right where you left off across devices. It also means your audio and text will always be in sync. Switching between the audio and text happens right inside the Kindle app. You can read while you’re relaxing at home and listen while you’re on the train. The only downside is not every book in Amazon’s library has an audio version, but it’s getting better every day. Do you use audio books more than actual books? How often do you read?
I thought Amazon got their start with online shopping.
They got their start selling books. Why they named their digital reader Kindle is beyond me.
It allows you to turn paper books into kindling????
so, if you buy the audio book, does it include the kindle book?
woohoo!! now if Amazon can start offering a combo deal to get both.. i commute a lot but can read faster than a book can be read so enjoy each when appropriate
I read faster while driving and listening to the audio book at the same time.
After seeing Stephen Colbert take down amazon for their anti-competitive behavior (can’t find a working, international link ATM), I went to Powell’s Bookstore then on to Kobo. Kobo is an eReader competitor to the Kindle, and I had never given it serious thought. Still, I checked, and it did have several of the books I was going to buy through amazon for nearly the same price.
So, screw amazon for trying to screw me. Now my first choice for books will be Kobo. Making an account was easy enough, and the reader works about as well as the Kindle app does.
http://rakuten.kobobooks.com/ (if that link doesn’t work for you, just google “kobo”)
The parent company for Kobo, Rakuten, is also a storefront for many things other than books. I have used them numerous times here in Japan.
So, please feed the competition. We will all be better off as a result.
Why not just get a Nook?
I wasn’t advocating anyone buying a dedicated eBook reader. I was talking bookstores (to be used with apps). I have near a half-dozen eReader apps installed, but when buying eBooks, I choose amazon, Google Play, or now Kobo. B&N books aren’t available here in Japan (neither is the app).
(eBook reader apps for android)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_Android_e-book_reader_software
The Nook and Kobo, hardware or app, can both read ePub, and the Kindle can’t. That is a big consideration on the hardware front.
Whatever the case, explore alternatives to Kindle and to amazon. Amazon is trying to screw the customer the same as Microsoft did with Office document formats and trying to kill Netscape. The big difference is we still have more choice in eBooks now. We don’t need to wait for lawsuits and their much, much higher thresholds. An informed market should be able to slap down amazon hard now. I’m seeing a lot of resentment online to anyone selling books in only amazon, so it is already happening.
If I upgrade my Kindle app will it make my Droid Razr run slow?
This is swell and all, but I still have to buy the audio version and the text version. When the heck are we going to start getting bundles? Or getting a digital copy if you get the physical copy, like a lot of movies/tv and music does now? Oh, I just remembered about corporate greed. Silly me.