Who sows honor, reaps virtue

iPad Google+ Coffee

For her 12th birthday my daughter was given an iPad mini to replace her Kindle. My wife and I had her family pitch in what they could. When she received the gift she was the most excited I have ever seen her. The iPad mini was a hit.

But I kept seeing her with her Kindle, quietly reading. I asked her about that and she told me that the Amazon.com books she borrowed via the Kindle Owner's Lending Library were not showing up on the Kindle app but they did show up on the Kindle. I figured that it must be some setting that had to be activated so I picked up the iPad mini and started poking around the Kindle app. After about 15 minutes I gave up and sent Amazon.com support a note -- via the app.

Borrowed books don't seem to show up on Kindle for iOS.

A few hours later I received the following response.

Hello,

I'm sorry to hear the trouble you had with borrowed book from Kindle Owner's Lending Library.

I regret to inform you that, borrowing books from kindle owner's lending Library through Kindle reading applications is not available.

Kindle Owners' Lending Library titles can only be borrowed and read on any registered Kindle device, but not on free Kindle reading applications.Therefore, due to restriction, you were not able to access the book on your Kindle for iPad.

I understand this feature would’ve made Kindle reading application more efficient and convenient to use but currently this feature is not yet included.

However, I've considered your comments to be passed on to Kindle Team to improve the selection and service we provide to Prime Customers. It is always important for us to hear how customers react to all aspects as your valuable feedback will help us in making future advancements. I'm glad you took time to write to us.

In addition to our large selection, one of the benefits we try very hard to offer our customers is convenience. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience you experienced in this case.

Thanks for your interest in Kindle.

Thank you for your inquiry. Did I solve your problem?

If yes, please click here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/survey?p=AX0E6FU1YQOQC&k=hy

If no, please click here:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/survey?p=AX0E6FU1YQOQC&k=hn

Slaghitha

Amazon.com

Your feedback is helping us build Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company.

To manage your Kindle and content online, visit:
http://www.amazon.com/cs/manageyourkindle

What? Basically "Earth's Most Customer-Centric Company" has decided that customers using anything other than a Kindle must not have access to the "Kindle Owner's Lending Library". I'm not sure how this benefits Amazon.com. I know it doesn't benefit my daughter and I'm certain that we will not be purchasing anymore books from Amazon.com.

Author: Khürt Williams

A human who works in information security and enjoys photography, Formula 1 and craft ale. #nobridge

2 thoughts on “Who sows honor, reaps virtue”

  1. I've been on the fence for a long time on whether I should switch from iBooks to Amazon's Kindle app. Amazon does have more selection and you can technically view your books on different types of devices. But when I really considered my viewing habits, I couldn't see myself using anything other than an iPad to read digital media. That's not to say it is impossible that Amazon will ever come out with a better product than Apple in the future. They just have a really high bar they need to surpass in order to get people to switch. From what I can see Apple has a major lead on other competing companies and will continue to do so for a long time. Combine that with viewing options that are on par with the Kindle app and a book store design that in my opinion is much better than Amazon, I can't see myself switching to Kindle anytime soon.

    1. Hi Mike,
      I've used a few different apps for reading electronics books. I find most of the ebook readers to be about the same from a user experience perspectives. I've used Kobo, iBooks, Kindle, Readmill and Get Abstract (does as the name suggest). So far, my least favorite app is the Kindle. I don't like the fact that all books on the platform are in the proprietary Kindle format. No ePub support at all but Amazon.com does have the largest catalog. iBooks has a smaller catalog but supports the ePub format and, I agree, a great book store design. All the free or self published books that I find on the web cab be downloaded to iBooks.

      Readmill is my favorite eBook reading application although it has limited platform support and a possibly a small catalog. The user interface is easy to use and the store is powered by ... many online bookstores except for iBooks and Kindle. I prefer the sliding animation for switching pages instead of that horrible skeumorphic animation of the other reader.

      With Readmill, you purchase an ePub or PDF somewhere on the web. Upload any ePubs, PDFs or ACSM files (The ACSM file is the license for the PDF or EPUB book you bought) and they will be automatically synced over to Readmill for iPad.

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