Kindle...apps

Today's rant is about Kindle Apps.  Maybe I should call it a ramble, though there will be a bit of ranting.

Today's subject is Kindle Apps.  I have never used the Kindle App for iOS…I don't do Apple.  So, I cannot comment on that.  I do have a fair amount of experience with the Kindle App for Android, and frankly, I like it.  My problem is that I don't really like Android.  I would prefer to use Windows 10 Mobile, but that is for a different rant.

So, I like the Kindle App for Android.  It has lots of nice customization settings, and I can make it look the way I like.  Now, it even connects with Goodreads, which is where I keep track of what I am reading from year to year.

The problem arises, because I prefer to use my Dell Venue 8 Pro for reading.  I don't read on my phone, which is Android.

Up until recently, there was a Kindle App for Windows that you could get through the Windows Store.  It worked a lot like the Android app, and I liked it.  When I did not like the Windows app was when it did not work the Android app. 

In the Windows app, there was a strange glitch where it would open, but in a tiny ribbon down the center of the screen.  If you rotate the tablet and let the app reconfigure itself in landscape mode, then the problem goes away, including when you rotate back to portrait mode.

Now, above you may have noted the "Up until recently," and yes, Amazon pulled the app from the store and you can no longer get it.  This leaves Windows PCs with only one choice, the Kindle for PC app.

The Kindle for PC app sucks.

There is no other way to say it.  It is terrible, and it lacks important features, like Collections and Documents.  But it's biggest failing is the simple fact that it is clearly designed for desktop PCs with monitors in landscape mode, which means…and this is important…at least to me…

It sucks hard when used on a tablet, especially an 8-9" tablet

This may sound odd, but one thing is clear to me.  The Android Kindle app is designed for reading.  Kindle for PC is not.  I should specify that when I say the Android Kindle app is designed for reading, I mean, not only that reading is its primary purpose, but that reading is the only thing that the app does well.  The app is terrible for managing your collection of books, though it does have the slightly useful feature called Collections.  Which as I stated, all Windows Kindle apps, both new and old do not have.

I am not sure exactly what the Kindle for PC app is intended for.  You can read in it, but it clearly was not designed for that, and yet it really isn't any better for managing your books.

I believe that the real problem is that Amazon doesn't care about PC users.  They do not see a PC as a good way to read books, and they have put no time into figuring out how to make reading on your PC an enjoyable experience.  If they had, the Kindle for PC app would be better.

However, I did find a solution to one problem.  Above I mentioned a feature called Documents.  The Kindle app can read several formats of documents.  If you have the Kindle for Android app, and you connect it to your Amazon account, you can go to amazon.com and you can manage your devices.  That is, you can look at a list of all the Kindle devices you have, whether they be actual Kindles, or a device with the Kindle app. 

I even have a couple extra devices, because Samsung installed Kindle on my phone, and I installed it as well.  Actually, I have 10 at this moment, and I have disabled a couple and plan to do a few more.  But, there's more…

Android Kindle devices get an email address.

Yep, usually your Amazon account name at kindle.com.  Now, here is the interesting part, and I do not know how many of you know this.  If you send an email to that address, and you attach a file, then that file gets added to your digital content under Documents, and assuming that the file is one that Kindle can read, you can use the app to open it…but only on the Android app (and maybe actual Kindle devices and iOS, not sure about those).

You cannot access Documents on Kindle for PC.  I have that directly from an Amazon Support Tech, after waiting a very long time while he checked.

That is the end of my Rant/Ramble about Kindle…apps.

Next, I am going to talk about something that Amazon left out of all the Kindle apps, management.

Whose Live Anyway?

I was a big fan of the show Whose Line is it Anyway?  Now, for those who do not remember, the show started off on BBC radio, and then moved to the TV.  Clive Anderson was the host of the British TV show, and there were a variety of guests, all of whom were improvisational comedians.  Clive would take suggestions from the audience and then the guests who improvise little scenes based on the suggestions.  The comedians were a mix of British and Americans.

When the British version went off the air, it was brought to the US by Drew Carey, who acted as the host, and again with a variety of guest comedians.

And now…..

Whose Live Anyway?

A travelling show, featuring two of the staples of the TV shows, Ryan Stiles and Greg Proops, and two other performers who, at least they claim, appeared on the show.  They didn't say which one.

However, who is in it is not really all that important, though the familiar faces make it easy to believe that the show will be good.

Was it, you ask?

Yes.

90 minutes of Improv, and good improv.

They did take audience suggestions, and one of the funnier things was the comedians trying to make out what the audience was shouting.  I think it got too much, because towards the end, Greg Proops came right out to the front of the stage and tried getting suggestions from specific audience members in the first few rows.  Greg had his anti-heckler hat on and while not being rude, at one point, after a man yelled something from the back of the audience, he looked up…

"I'm not talking to you Mr. White Male Privilege."

And he followed it up with a hand gesture of a mouth closing.

Probably the funniest bit was the pose-able comedian bit.  They brought up two audience members, and then improvised a scene about two artists at the Pecan Street Festival.  Few outside of Austin are going to know that the Pecan Street Festival is a local arts festival that happens on Sixth Street, which used to be named Pecan Street.  The two ladies had to move the comedians about, since they stood completely still unless their arms were moved…and their legs.  It led to lots of hilarious poses.

They did a piece where they made two audience members provide sound effects.  Jeff B. Davis improvised a song for an audience member whose son called her a demon unicorn.  They also did a bit called "New Choice" that I had never seen before, where two comedians did a scene and at random a third would say "New Choice" and that meant that the actor who said the previous line had to come up with a line with a different choice.  It worked very well.

Before the show, they gave about 20 people in the audience strips of paper and pens and asked them to write down a line of dialogue on the paper.  They then collected the paper, and improvised a skit, while randomly pulling out and reading a line from a strip.  This was hilarious, because in virtually all cases, the lines on the strips had nothing to do with what they had been improvising, which meant that the skit kept making abrupt turns.

Unfortunately, there are only two more dates in this Tour, and they are in Las Vegas next weekend, but if you get a chance, I can highly recommend Whose Live Anyway.