Sunday, June 15, 2008

missing use case and the hidden media library

[Edit: Comments have pointed out that I almost had found all the pieces, as download delivery is available from the Media Library. Although maybe not from the UK, where I was. Apparently, you order it, then go to the media library for a download.]

Several people recommended Clay's new book on this trip. Here Comes Everybody was on my list, but with extra endorsements it moved to the front of the queue. Now that I have my Kindle, I'm trying to minimize my physical book purchases. Amazon's Whispernet -- their wireless delivery mechanism to Kindle -- only functions in the United States, but since Kindle is obviously targeted at travelers, there must be a "download to my computer and copy via USB"-option, right?

Nope.

Now, in this case, I'll wait to get home and purchase the book then, but what if I was out of reading material and just grabbed it here? Lost opportunity for Amazon.

Speaking of Amazon, the link to Clay's book is Amazon Associate enabled, so in theory I get a small payment if you buy via that link. I hadn't used the associate links before and wanted to see their user-experience. Quite nice, although it has some bugs. Attempting to build an associate link to Kindle generated an empty page and the link generator failed to find the Kindle edition of the book. [Edit: the link is to the Kindle edition but I'm not sure why the link generator picked that one]

In clicking around trying to find a download option for the Kindle book, I discovered Amazon's "your media library", which I hadn't seen before. Is anybody using this? Does the web camera bar code reader work? It seems to aggregate your Amazon purchases, as well as any item that you click "I own this" when adjusting the recommendations. Odd to find a feature with a lot of work thrown into it just lurking on Amazon's site.

12 comments:

Douglas said...

The Media Library function reputes to allow what you want Cory (ie., buy and download via USB, blah blah). The only reason I "know" is that I got one of the first run of kindle's, and for some production reason, Sprint had turned many of their cell connection (and hence WhisperNet) off.

That said, the only time I've tried it, from that lovely city where I spend so much time, I got an error message: The Amazon store is not available in this geographic region.

So there.

Mailman said...

You definitely can download a book from the media library and copy it over via USB. I did this, as Whispernet was down when my Kindle arrived. I am not clear as to whether this was something the Amazon support agent activated for me or if it's always available to everyone.

riffraff814 said...

Funny, that's the book I'm reading right now! (dead trees version)

Unknown said...

good
talal from cairo
www.dreamof-talal.blogspot.com

Brooxi said...

Congratulations on being recognized as a blogger of note this week!

Anonymous said...

I saw Kindle on Martha Stewart's show earlier this spring; I'm looking forward to trying it out. Congrats on the Blog of Note!

Vandal said...

when they die you'll thank me

Oberon said...

......i am the mirror......what do you see?

High Power Rocketry said...

: )

Fun Food Eater said...

congrats on getting inducted into the Blogs of Note!!!

Everymatter said...

congratulation for being on Blog of Note

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