[Glynnis]

Does the Kindle version of the Sunday New York Times include the book reviews?

I know there are some features/articles from the print edition that don't appear in the Kindle version (crossword, etc.).

Thought I'd ask someone who's already subscribing before I try it out ... the book reviews are my favorite part, so I'm hoping they've been included (would make sense to me, but ...).

Glynnis

 

[Leslie]

Yes, the full book review is included. The entire Sunday New York Times magazine is included, too.

It seems the only things that are missing are the crossword, classified ads and all ads in general, and the box scores.

L

 

[Glynnis]

Thank you! I'm going to give it a try. Really looking forward to reading the NYT without inky fingers, a stack of ads and sections that I'm not interested in, a size that I can handle easily and no more having to hunt for the continuation of an article ... not to mention no more big piles of newspaper to recycle!

Glynnis

 

[Leslie]

Thank you! I'm going to give it a try. Really looking forward to reading the NYT without inky fingers, a stack of ads and sections that I'm not interested in, a size that I can handle easily and no more having to hunt for the continuation of an article ... not to mention no more big piles of newspaper to recycle!

Glynnis

I love my subscription. I did the trial, never thinking I would subscribe but I did and I am hooked.

L

 

[Essensia]

I love my subscription. I did the trial, never thinking I would subscribe but I did and I am hooked.

Ditto, Leslie. I'd forgotten how good a newspaper can be.

Glynnis, welcome, and enjoy!

 

[stevene9]

It's funny how different people react differently. I tried a number of newspapers and hated them on the Kindle. I can't look at a page and see all the headlines at once, then maybe skim the first paragraph or so to see if I really want to read it. Doing it on the Kindle is too cumbersome for me. Just my personal tastes.

Steve

 

[Glynnis]

I logged on to my Amazon account this morning looking forward to downloading and reading the NY Times. I live in an area that doesn't have Whispernet service, so I planned to download it to my computer and then transfer the paper to my Kindle with the USB. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way ... yet.

Manage My Kindle shows my NYT subscription as "pending" ... when I click on the little "+" sign next to the subscription title, I'm given the choice of downloading to my computer or sending wirelessly to my Kindle. When I clicked on download, I got an error message. I tried this a couple of times before contacting customer service.

First I used the Call Me Back contact method - this was so fast that my phone rang almost as soon as I had clicked to connect. Unfortunately this took me to the general Amazon customer service, not Kindle Customer Service. I got the phone number for Kindle CS (866-321-8851) and called them (this was early, 5:30 am Pacific - I was up and eager to read the paper!), but their hours are 6 am - 10 pm Pacific. The first CS rep I spoke to checked my account but wasn't able to figure out why I wasn't able to download it either, so he transferred me to a Kindle Digital Specialist. When I explained what I had done, the DS said that I could only receive subscription publications directly to my Kindle through Whispernet, not by downloading them to my computer. Then I explained that there is a download to computer button on the subscription information, but it doesn't work. This is, as we learned, a new feature that Amazon is working on ... but, like they say, not quite ready for prime time.

The really positive part, of course, is that soon (hopefully) folks like me, who live far off the Whispernet path, will be able to download and transfer subscriptions - just like we can now do with books and other digital media on Amazon. In the meantime, the Kindle DS has written up a ticket to the developers to resolve the problem. It may be that they are doing some beta testing with this feature, but I should have an answer Monday or Tuesday. The DS will also send me an email to let me know what happens with this. Because the clock is ticking on my 14-day trial, but the DS wants to keep my pending order in the que so they can use it to test the solution to the problem, he credited my account with a month's free subscription. How cool is that? I'm happy to be a guinea pig and let them use my order to test the new feature ... and will be even happier when I can enjoy reading the Times on my Kindle

Two thumbs up to the Amazon Kindle Customer Service department ... especially the Digital Specialists ... great way to keep customers happy, even when they can't fix the problem immediately. For now I'll still have to wait for my Dead Tree Newspaper to arrive (it's 7:30 am and it's still not here) ...

Glynnis

 

[Betsy the Quilter]

Gotta love Amazon's customer support!  And thanks, good info about magazine subscriptions!

Betsy

 

[mwb]

I don't subscribe to the NYT but I'm often tempted. But the wonderful world of the Kindle has me subscribing to three newspapers (Boston Globe, International Herald Tribune, Washington Post.)

Before that I hadn't subscribed to a newspaper in more than a decade. And probably still wouldn't if it weren't for the Kindle.

Not having the paper arrive before I leave for work and hoping it will still be there when I get back - thing of the past.

Not knowing what condition it would arrive in when it was delivered - thing of the past.

Having piles of wasted paper that I have to bundle for recycling - thing of the past.

Now, I get my three papers in the morning when I turn my kindle and whispernet on (around 5:30 - 5:45 AM.) They download quickly as I make my bed. And I read them on the subway on the way to work.

It's just great.

----------------
Listening to: Kaushiki Chakrabarty - Dadra (Raga Pilu) - Kaushiki Chakrabarty, Yogesh Samsi, Braj
via FoxyTunes

 

[Leslie]

Glynnis,

Just a bit of info, if you contact CS again.

I started my subscription to the NYT right after I got my Kindle back in April. Because I have Whispernet, that's how I downloaded it every day. However, I spent most of the month of September in Europe. I was able to download the paper and transfer with the USB every day...no problem at all.

Maybe the difference is that your subscription is new whereas mine was "established." But, like I said, USB transferring worked just fine for my 3 week trip.

L

 

[Glynnis]

I started my subscription to the NYT right after I got my Kindle back in April. Because I have Whispernet, that's how I downloaded it every day. However, I spent most of the month of September in Europe. I was able to download the paper and transfer with the USB every day...no problem at all. Maybe the difference is that your subscription is new whereas mine was "established." But, like I said, USB transferring worked just fine for my 3 week trip.

That's good to know, Leslie! With the weather and the holidays, I still haven't taken my Kindle on a road trip to Whispernet Land (an hour and a half away) to test that out. Rich may be going there today (he's shopping for a new digital camera) and, hopefully, I can talk him into take K with him and testing out the wireless features. Maybe the NYT will come that way. But, if I have to wait and talk to CS again, I'll be sure to tell them "Leslie sent me -- she can download the paper, so we know it can be done!" I'm sure they'll figure out a way to make it happen.

BTW, I also asked the Kindle Digital Specialist if there's a way for me to clear out the books that are also "pending" wireless delivery in my Manage Your Kindle. All of the books I've ordered are sitting there waiting to make wireless contact with my Kindle, but since I've already downloaded them all to my computer and transferred them to Kindle with the USB, I don't want to have them download again. The KDS said that after a while these pending orders will consolidate and stop being shown as pending, but there's no way for me - unless I'm using Whispernet - to clear them from the wireless pipeline myself. Anyone know of a different solution? It seems to me that when you select to download to your computer instead of using wireless delivery, the Amazon system shouldn't put them in the wireless delivery que anyway. If I want to send or download any of the books again, at some future time, I can do that from Manage My Kindle instead. The KDS also thought that the Amazon system would check my Kindle content first to see if these documents already exist and skip sending them if they are on the Kindle or an SD card. Hopefully this will work if hubby takes it for a Whispernet test drive later today.

Glynnis (finally, 8:30 am, our DTN - dead tree newspaper - arrived)

 

[Kelly G]

This is interesting.  I too live far from WhisperLand and so my Kindle has not been connected to Amazon via the network.  I've downloaded material (books and guides) through the USB and that is working just fine.  I also show pending shipments to my Kindle, of the same name, but I'm starting to believe that until you have a first Whispernet connection, there are a few oddities going on with the My Kindle account.  I'm traveling to WhisperLand tomorrow evening, so I'll get a first try.  I have a book sample on the wait list as well as books I've already downloaded via wire, so it will be interesting to see how this plays out.

 

[Robin]

I have been getting the NYT on my Kindle for the past week & have been rather happy with it. I have put my paper Sunday subscription on hold to be sure I like it tomorrow before I stop the paper version altogether. I like the short article list to "browse" and the option to skip to next article or next section to pass those articles I don't want to read. I also took it out for breakfast & it fit nicely on the restaurant table without shuffling around like a paper version, and I flew with it this week which was much nicer too. It's impossible to read a paper newspaper on a plan now without constantly elbowing your seatmates.

 

[Leslie]

Keep in mind that if you do get to a Whispernet area and download a book, it will replace the file that is there. It won't make a second copy. Also, you might want to go to settings and make sure that "backups and annotations" are enabled. That will keep your files with notes and bookmarks and so on.

L

 

[Glynnis]

Keep in mind that if you do get to a Whispernet area and download a book, it will replace the file that is there. It won't make a second copy. Also, you might want to go to settings and make sure that "backups and annotations" are enabled. That will keep your files with notes and bookmarks and so on.

L

Thanks for this nugget, Leslie -- since I'll now have some time to prepare (Rich decided not to go today - snow forecast and he didn't want to risk getting stuck) I'm going to move the books ordered from Amazon to my computer temporarily before we test out the Whispernet. That way I can just delete the new downloads and transfer the books we're in the process of reading back to Kindle when we've finished testing Whispernet. Or, maybe I'll just keep all of my Amazon books on my SD card and take that out of K before using Whispernet ... I'll have to give this some more thought before we test it out. Sure would be nice if Amazon could figure out a way to let me clear the que from my computer instead, but I suppose those of us without regular Whispernet access are in a small minority. Thanks again for the tip on this -- glad I didn't rush off before knowing about it!!

Glynnis

 

[Leslie]

Using another example from my trip to Switzerland and Germany:

While I was there, I downloaded the New York Times, as I said. Also, during that month, The Surgeon popped up as a free book so I "bought" that and downloaded it with the USB cable. It wouldn't open on my Kindle (I got a message to contact customer service) but since I was traveling, I didn't have time to mess with it and just let it be (I had other books to read on the flight home from Frankfurt).

When I got back to Boston, I flipped on the Whispernet. The latest version of the NYT downloaded, along with The Surgeon (which had been sitting in the "pending delivery" queue for a week or so, even though I had transferred it with the cable). This time, the book opened just fine.

I have no idea what exactly the issue was and like I said, I was traveling, so I didn't have time to troubleshoot. Was it the fact that the IP address I was connecting from was not in the US, even though I had a US amazon account? Did I just happen to download a corrupted file that would have worked if I tried a second download? Who knows.

There is alot about the Kindle that isn't perfect, yet, so the best course of action seems to be to try things in different ways and see what works.

L

 

[Glynnis]

A little update for folks who don't live/work in a Whispernet area --

My husband took Cynnau (our K) on a little road trip today to Whispernet Land (90 minutes from home). We hadn't tested out the wireless service yet and wanted to make sure it works before our 30 days are up.

Before sending them off, I moved all of my documents from the K's memory to my SD card and removed the card. That way I wouldn't run into the problem that Leslie alerted me to -- the wireless downloads overwriting the books I'd already downloaded to computer and transferred to the K with the USB. I'll delete everything but the NY Times from the K's internal memory and reinstall the SD card when she's back home in a few hours.

The Whispernet worked like a charm. Rich was parked in the car and called me on his cell to walk through it with him in case there was a problem. He was in a great spot - all bars at full strength. When he connected to "Content Manager" it automatically downloaded 7 books, 2 documents I sent for conversion and the Sunday NY Times ... all in a heartbeat (honestly, less than a minute for all this content). He checked out the Kindle Store, that worked fine too. He opened up the NY Times and said, "Wow, you're really going to like this! I get dibs on reading it first." I guess I'll have to give in on that ... this time, LOL. I tried, but couldn't resist telling him to turn off the Whispernet and the power, and lock Cynnau in the glove box before heading to his next stop ... otherwise I'd be worrying about a Kindlenapping while he's off shopping for a new camera.

Now that we've downloaded the NY Times by Whispernet, I'll see if I can download it to the computer tomorrow morning. If not, I'll wait for help from the Kindle developers handling the work ticket from my call yesterday. Either way, I'm anxious to read my first newspaper on the K later today!

Glynnis

 

[ak rain]

the free USA TODAY on Dec 26 transferred easily from computer. My reading list is too distracting to read newspaper so I am not subscribing. I thought it real nice though. It would be different if my husband read it. He prefers paper version and crossword.

Sylvia

 

[Glynnis]

I had a great time last night (once it was finally my turn with Cynnau) reading the Sunday NYTimes. I also tried out the bookmarking feature, marking the articles from the the Articles List that I wanted to go back and read. When I was done browsing the sections, I went to My Notes & Marks to return to the bookmarked articles.

This morning I was able to download today's NYTimes from the Amazon site (Manage My Kindle) to my computer and transfer it to the K with the USB cable without any trouble.

We won't be cancelling our regularly delivered paper -- it's not likely to be available in a Kindle version for a really long time (fairly small circulation) -- since we do also like to keep up with local news too. Rich and I switched media and both spent a lot more time reading news this morning than we normally do. On the plus side, we'll both spend less time reading Google News on our computers.

So, after a little hassle on the front-end (not being able to start up the subscription without the Whispernet download initially), it's working fine and we both really enjoy reading the Kindle version very much.

Glynnis

 

[Leslie]

That's great. Thanks for the update, Glynnis!

L