Amazon removed sort prices low to high from on-kindle store

[Cootey]

Originally Posted by DNSB

OTOH, both companies recommendations still suck big time. I read mostly science fiction and fantasy so I keep getting recommendations for "I was an alien shifter's kidnapped mate". If nothing else, the chances of having enough genetic material in common to allow reproduction is minuscule at best.

You would think that both companies are interested in making money and would target us better. I have never purchased a book with a beefcake boy on the cover, paranormal or otherwise, yet the onslaught continues.

Kobo does a better job of targeting me, however. I think Amazon takes the Netflix approach, pushing current best sellers over actually serving content I would be even remotely interested in.

[Uncle Robin]

Originally Posted by Cootey

Kobo does a better job of targeting me, however. I think Amazon takes the Netflix approach, pushing current best sellers over actually serving content I would be even remotely interested in.

Kobo's recs on the homepage are not a million miles off, except for the fact that 98/100 of their "SF/Fantasy" books are fantasy (ugh!) not SF, but that's hardly a Kobo-specific problem. What does annoy me with their homepage recs is the endless barrage of audiobook recommendations. They would have to pay me to use an audiobook, a development which seems unlikely

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

Amazon's search at some point decided it'll do whatever the heck it wants, like inserting non-free books between free books when sorting by price, years ago.

And books that are absolutely unrelated to the search. It's rubbish.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by Quoth

And books that are absolutely unrelated to the search. It's rubbish.

But they're "sponsored"! Having fully half your search results polluted with important "sponsored" crap is obviously far more important than, say, actually giving your customers what they asked for and are, uh, more likely to buy...

[tomsem]

Note it has nothing to do with which Kindle you have. The Storefront is basically a web page designed for Kindles. It looks and functions pretty much the same on all of them. In particular it is not tied to firmware updates.

This raises a question: did this (no price sorting or prices shown in listings) actually change recently? My memory is far from complete and accurate but I don’t remember seeing these features. But then, I prefer browsing and purchasing with a browser on my phone, rather than on a Kindle (which is inferior in many ways, not the least of which it is slow).

[binaryhermit]

Given that the kindle store not-infrequently says it's "updating the store experience" when you open it, I think it's more like an electron app in concept (cached web stuff in a browser rendering engine) than an actual webpage.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by binaryhermit

Given that the kindle store not-infrequently says it's "updating the store experience" when you open it, I think it's more like an electron app in concept (cached web stuff in a browser rendering engine) than an actual webpage.

Same difference

[binaryhermit]

Not exactly, though I would say it's more or less splitting hairs at this point...

[drofgnal]

Even more irritating than not being able to get a proper sort to find the freebie versions of classics on amazon is the inability to find proper new releases. Whenever I click on new releases I get pages of repackaged classics, of course at a cost. They are all sold by someone named Demarque. I get the same thing when i select new releases for 30 days or 90 days. The filter is set to featured. Why would they be featured? I tried filtering by publication date and still get a lot of 'Demarque' classics.

I've taken to sifting through new releases on Barnes and Nobles' website. At least I get a proper display of new releases. Prior to the pandemic we have one near work an I'd get a cup of coffee and browse there.

[MarjaE]

Also the inability to exclude certain terms from each search. Or to include certain terms. I keep getting results which lack any of the terms I'm looking for. "e-ink" is likely to give printer supplies and ips glowscreens.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by drofgnal

Even more irritating than not being able to get a proper sort to find the freebie versions of classics on amazon is the inability to find proper new releases. Whenever I click on new releases I get pages of repackaged classics, of course at a cost. They are all sold by someone named Demarque. I get the same thing when i select new releases for 30 days or 90 days. The filter is set to featured. Why would they be featured? I tried filtering by publication date and still get a lot of 'Demarque' classics.

I've taken to sifting through new releases on Barnes and Nobles' website. At least I get a proper display of new releases. Prior to the pandemic we have one near work an I'd get a cup of coffee and browse there.

I see what you mean about De Marque. They are Featured because the publisher is paying for placement, and Amazon makes that sort order the default. New Releases seems particularly useless because it is so inundated with such promotions, and there is no way to filter them out. Even if you could filter out the promoted books, there would still be too many to go through.

Personally I avoid freebie (public domain) classics like the plague. They’re often poorly formatted or have many typos. Amazon seems to have given up on weeding these out, but it is like whack a mole.

For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, I highly recommend AmazonClassics editions (go to advanced Search and type ‘AmazonClassics’ for Publisher. They are well formatted and include audiobook companions so you can listen with Audible or do immersion reading on the tablet/phone apps. There are only around 300 currently. For translated works, maybe you can find better translations, but you’ll pay for them.

Otherwise I’m partial to Delphi Complete Works of… books for public domain content. Again, they have consistent formatting and navigation, and they’re very affordable ($2.99 for everything the author wrote — in case you ever want to read it).

[drofgnal]

Originally Posted by tomsem

I see what you mean about De Marque. They are Featured because the publisher is paying for placement, and Amazon makes that sort order the default. New Releases seems particularly useless because it is so inundated with such promotions, and there is no way to filter them out. Even if you could filter out the promoted books, there would still be too many to go through.

Personally I avoid freebie (public domain) classics like the plague. They’re often poorly formatted or have many typos. Amazon seems to have given up on weeding these out, but it is like whack a mole.

For Kindle Unlimited subscribers, I highly recommend AmazonClassics editions (go to advanced Search and type ‘AmazonClassics’ for Publisher. They are well formatted and include audiobook companions so you can listen with Audible or do immersion reading on the tablet/phone apps. There are only around 300 currently. For translated works, maybe you can find better translations, but you’ll pay for them.

Otherwise I’m partial to Delphi Complete Works of… books for public domain content. Again, they have consistent formatting and navigation, and they’re very affordable ($2.99 for everything the author wrote — in case you ever want to read it).

I just got through reading Ben Hur, one of the free classics. It was well formatted, even having x-ray enabled, but you are right, it's hit and miss.

[drofgnal]

Something else I discovered while trying to find the freebie version of A Time Machine (HG Wells) is that when you sort by price low to high, it sorts by the kindle unlimited price, not the actual kindle price so you may not see the freebie.

[Quoth]

It's a pain you can't filter out prime/unlimited or not to your address on Amazon Searches.