Amazon's Kindle Compass Stealth Launch Annoys Kindle Users

Amazon launched the Kindle Compass, a Kindle-based magazine, without fanfare at the end of last week - and annoyed some Kindle users by suggesting that they had been automatically subscribed to a publication that would cost them money, according to eBookNewser.

The company later released a statement apologizing for any confusion, stating that the subscription was currently available only to randomly chosen Kindle users, and that it would "always be free."

This has obviously been in the planning for a while, since Fusible.com reported that Amazon registered the domain name "kindlecompass.com" back in June 2011. The web address is currently not active.

In an email to one of Kindle Compass's unwitting subscribers, Amazon describe it as "an editorial magazine designed to help customers get the most out of their Kindle reading experience."

Early users report that its content is currently very similar to the Seattle-based company's existing Omnivoracious blog, which runs blogposts about books as well as video interviews with authors.

Considering the size of its potential audience, Omnivoracious currently has very few comments from users, and little presence in the book-reading community. The new Kindle Compass e-magazine could well be an attempt to better leverage their book-focused editorial content, and perhaps replace or augment Omnivoracious's coverage in an e-reader format.

There is also another possible reason for the new e-magazine's launch. Potential rival website Bookish, bankrolled by Hachette, Simon & Schuster and Penguin, is due to launch later this year, featuring editorial-driven content alongside the option to buy digital and physical books.

The Kindle Compass may be an early attempt from Amazon to cover similar territory, using editorial content in order to encourage Kindle owners to purchase more ebooks, direct from the Kindle store.

At the time of writing, Amazon had not responded to a request for comment.


(Disclosure: AOL, the parent company of The Huffington Post, is providing advertising and traffic support for Bookish.)

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Comments

[Buck Winthrop]

04:17 PM on 01/11/2012

One day soon all books will be read this way.

[nikhilg82]

07:15 AM on 01/11/2012

Test Message

[Rich Cash]

06:57 AM on 01/11/2012

I was downsized from my job in July 2010. I got a Kindle a few months later, and it's absolutely saved my life. I've been an inveterate reader all my life. After losing my job, I could no longer afford to buy books, and could barely afford the gas it would take to go to my local library. Purely out of boredom one day, I looked up "David Copperfield" and found it was free as was all of Charles Dickens work. I've since downloaded the complete works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Rudyard Kipling, Edgar Allen Poe, Mark Twain,and Edgar Rice Burrougs, all for less than $6.00. Damn I love my Kindle!

[ChelleAgain]

09:06 AM on 01/11/2012

Yep, books before 1923 are in the public domain ... free. Sometimes paying a dollar or two gets you better formatting.

[Blarg]

03:08 AM on 01/12/2012

The first 100 books I downloaded on my Kindle were all free.

I'm in the same position you are, and got a kindle for the same reason. It's cheaper to buy a kindle and download free books than to drive down to the library.

[Satirist1]

04:38 AM on 01/11/2012

That's why I love my Nook touch.

[cshander25]

02:29 PM on 05/01/2012

Yep, books before 1923 are in the public domain ... free. Sometimes paying a dollar or two gets you better formatting. http://www.amazonghost.com

[MichaelAKD]

12:44 AM on 01/11/2012

i recently went to pick up a new pair of glasses, lucky for me i knew what i needed and what it would cost prior in advance. upon arrival employees tried to get me to buy additional goods implying they were non-optional when that wasn't the case. at one point they were going to do additional tests which of course cost more and hadn't even asked me if i wanted them. later when getting lenses they added up everything and gave me a "final" price. I asked the salesperson why so high? his response he'd only added what i needed. i then looked over the paperwork only to find the padded options that substantially upped the cost. ever gotten one of those "free, no interest" offers only to find out if not paid in full to the penny by the end of the specified time period that you were stuck with the full amount of interest regardless. a retail clothing store advertizes a big sale but the night before ups prices so when customers return for those "big" savings they actually pay full price. some may write off this deal with amazon as minor but i do not ascribe to that view. what i see here is yet another example of how as consumers the burden falls on us to be ever vigilant as ethically bankrupt businesses attempt any and all ploys to squeeze every last dollar out of our wallets.

[Riverhippy]

02:43 PM on 01/10/2012

I love my Kindle Fire.

[Skygazer]

02:14 PM on 01/10/2012

Bezos and Amazon. Unworthy of trust.

[weareallzombies]

01:51 PM on 01/10/2012

Everyone seems so whiny these days.

[monilove42]

01:40 PM on 01/10/2012

Received a Kindle Fire for Christmas and I really like it.

[Jim8]

01:18 PM on 01/10/2012

I was reading Steve Jobs biography on my Kindle. As he went on and on about how the cursor keys should be eliminated (in the 1990's) my attention was drawn to the cursor keys on my Kindle.

[Subsoil73]

02:38 PM on 01/10/2012

On your Kindle, the cursor keys take the place of a mouse. I'm assuming Jobs was speaking of deleting the cursor keys only on devices equipped with a mouse.

[jdmccallum]

06:16 PM on 01/10/2012

...and if your mouse fails for some reason your stuffed.

[Jim8]

09:36 PM on 01/10/2012

Does an iPad have a mouse?

[beerbagger]

12:49 PM on 01/10/2012

Who isn't annoyed these days...? "Happily satisfied & content" now that would be breaking news!

[Attikai]

12:00 PM on 01/10/2012

This sort of seems like a manufactured issue. Personally, I really like my Kindle Fire, and have no major complaints. I guess that's why they had to make something up to put out a negative headline which is pretty sad.

[ChelleAgain]

11:27 PM on 01/10/2012

I know ... saw the headline and thought, well, I'm not annoye. After having read the article, I AM now annoyed ... that I wasn't picked. :)

[Maxiesid]

11:53 AM on 01/10/2012

So, let me see if I got the point of this whole article that has a headline 'Amazon Kindle Compass Stealth launch annoys Kindle users' So the company launched a magazine and announced it and a couple of users thought they were going to have to pay for it, but then found out they weren't... so they were annoyed for what? Three minutes? A half a day? So the Compass launch, stealth or not, was not what annoyed these users, it was the idea they would have to pay for something they didn't sign up for.. and when that was denied, they probably were no longer annoyed? I dont get it, what was the point of the article again?

[Tolms]

11:33 AM on 01/10/2012

I truly hate HuffPo for all these biased negitive stories about Kindle. It's sad.

I love my Kindle Fire.

[BUTCHER99]

12:14 PM on 01/10/2012

LO see no negativity in the post. It pretty much just says there is a new mag out for kindle users and it is free. Not really negative.

[mairs]

01:05 PM on 01/10/2012

"...annoys Kindle users". That is negative.

[Blarg]

03:12 AM on 01/12/2012

There has been a cluster of "e-books are the death of reading" articles here lately. Really silly stuff.

[Tolms]

11:31 AM on 01/12/2012

Agreed. I still buy books.

[shirlyujest]

11:14 AM on 01/10/2012

I gave myself a Kindle Fire for Christmas and it's the best gift ever! There's so much material out there now, in so many formats, however, I'm wondering if there's even a need for a Compass. Wait a minute...a compass? Maybe it does have a purpose. I'll wait and see.