pubslush:

Oh, Amazon, you never cease to amaze us. The newest marketing plan Amazon is promoting encourages consumers to walk out of retail stores, taking their money and their business with them. Amazon is promising a 5%, up to $15 discount to anyone who downloads and uses their new barcode app….

I really don’t know how I feel about this, especially since I’ve basically done this without the app and added savings. However, it’s far from my only method of purchasing books, and I generally only do it at another massive retailer and never at small, independent books shops. I buy fewer books than I used to for many reasons, and yet I still buy so many that I like getting discounts where I can. 

Still, I get huffy when one company turns what should be healthy market competition into an attempt to create a massive monopoly — which is what this feels like.

The Kindle, it is here. I maaaaaay have flounced around the office like a child on Christmas morning when the UPS guy got here. I then maaaaaaay have turned very only child and began demanding of my coworkers and the Kindle that they all bend to my every whim… for about thirty minutes while I started up and registered my new awesome toy serious business tool.

I mean, my new, very grown up tool to be used for reading more books, writing more notes, and watching so many movies and shows on Netflix and Amazon and playing silly games and hugging technology until I curse it when it doesn’t act perfect generally assisting me in being a better connected, more professional writer.

It’s having a few growing pains adapting to my trying to get it to merge and sync all the things instantaneously, but our relationship is generally off to a good start.

Now, I need a name for it. Help a gal out, would you?

— Lily

PS - I also would like to purchase a nice case for it, preferably one that I can make stand up, from Etsy or some other site where individuals make cool stuff. I’d rather give some hardworking craftsperson my monies than shell out slightly less to Amazon for something not as individualized. Any ideas for that are welcome as well.

It’s Kindle-ing time!

I think I’m finally breaking into the world of e-reader tablet-esque devices this Friday and getting myself a Kindle Fire.

It’s probably not the best way to spend funds right now, but I’m getting a good deal on it and though I could get a Nook Color for about the same price, I generally like Amazon’s reader/cloud/app stuffs better. So, Kindle it is.

Hopefully it’ll help me read more and not just feed my Netflix addiction further since I can watch movies on it, too. 

— Lily