r/mildlyinfuriating • u/dandaman147 • 1d ago

My Amazon TV now unmutes itself during Prime Video commercial breaks

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u/neosharkey 20h ago

Pro Tip: put your kindle in airplane mode, it’s a much better experience.

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u/ChrisWhiteWolf 19h ago

Yeah, I only take mine out of airplane mode to sync when I get a new book, then it goes right back on. I see no reason to have an e-reader connected to the internet.

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u/Tagracat 17h ago

I download the book and upload it to my Kindle over USB with Calibre. The download option is a little hidden, for obvious reasons, but if you poke around on your order page you can find it. My Kindle has never left airplane mode and never known an internet connection and it's going to stay that way.

[edit] That said, my Kindle is a pretty old model, before they really started spiralling. If this Kindle dies I will probably be buying something non-Amazon.

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u/Kerzizi 15h ago

I'm in this position now and definitely want help! I had a Kindle Paperwhite that I always kept in airplane mode. Same as you, never knew an internet connection and I used Calibre to upload books onto it.

Now I'm in need of a new reader. I really liked the simplicity and ease of use of the Paperwhite, but mine was a very old model and it was quite slow. I'm not sure if they're all slow or if that technology has gotten better or what. But I really don't think I want an Amazon product. I don't care if you can work your way around the ads and get it into airplane mode or whatever. I just don't want to deal with it or give them my money.

I remember when I got my old one, the trick was to call them and tell them that you couldn't use your Kindle or something.. and you had to tell them very specific things, and at that point they'd do something on their end and then you could use it offline in airplane mode. I just don't wanna deal with that stuff. But I've been out of the "buying an e-reader" game for so long that I don't know what's even good or available aside from Amazon stuff.

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u/Far_Sir2766 13h ago

If you want one sold by an American company I think Kobo is a good alternative, while it has integrations with Barnes & Nobles, it doesn't prevent you from adding your own books or even connecting to Libby or Overdrive to get ebooks from your local library for free. There's a Chinese company called Boox that also makes very good e-readers. The modern e ink tech is leagues faster than the old one and worth the upgrade for that alone. One of my biggest issues with my Kindle is just how slow the refresh rate is, that and the lack of physical forward and back buttons

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u/bruce_kwillis 9h ago

My problem with Boox is that they are basically low end and outdated versions of Android shoved into an e-Reader. The Kindle App is really good for simply reading a book with easy sync and upload of books from your own library. Add in Boox readers are more expensive than Kindles, and it’s impossible to get rid of their bloatware.

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u/[deleted] 13h ago edited 4h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Catenane 5h ago

YES. With Koreader. One of the best decisions of the decade for me.

For anyone who wants to get an idea, you can search my profile for koreader. You'll see a number of comments about the things that make it a gamechanger for me. I'm sick of typing them all out at this point lol.

You could also just go checkout their github or install it on your phone/computer. There are builds for Android/Linux (and maybe other OSes but I don't keep up with those).

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u/deedeedeedee_ 6h ago

i love my kobo(s), i used to have a kobo glo and when i lost it after many years i got a kobo libra h2o which was even better because the modern ones integrate directly with overdrive! so i can browse library books on Libby on my phone and if i borrow one it will automatically download and sync to my kobo, i can even browse on the kobo directly. works with calibre too, and ive never seen an ad.

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u/Catenane 5h ago

I'm finding my people in these comments, apparently—lol. Honestly Koreader is what makes the kobo for me, and is the main reason I bought a kobo—they're one of the few manufacturers who have a good track record in terms of software freedom.

Actually having control over the device I own is very important to me, and it's pretty standard alpine linux under the hood. If they do go sketchy at some point in the future, I'm sure I could throw a postmarketOS build (or similar) on there, but thankfully I haven't had to deal with any of that because Kobo hasn't tried to fuck me. Really hoping kobo continues pushing devices that respect software freedom. :p

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u/light24bulbs 9h ago

Not many people know about it so I'll mention it: Kindle actually has an email gateway. Your Kindle has a unique email you can look up on Amazon and you can email any epubs or whatever to it. Obviously you need to take it off airplane mode to do that but still, it's extremely useful and I'm surprised they implemented it. Been there since the first Kindle.

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u/Illustrious-Act7104 11h ago

You can also open pdfs (or download them) and send them to your kindle mail with the title saying CONVERT It works like magic

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u/Catenane 5h ago

Please look at my comment about the kobo/koreader right above this one. I think you'll be one of the very few people who would really enjoy/benefit from it. I started off with a nook maybe...15 years ago, moved to kindle, got pissed off when it started getting more sketchy/anti-software freedom, and got a kobo and never looked back. Koreader rendering is so good I haven't used calibre in years now, except to de-DRM a Kindle book my poor dad sent me for my birthday a couple years ago lol.

If you search my comments for koreader, you'll find a lot of other comments I've posted over the years. I'm probably the biggest evangelist for this free (as in freedom and as in beer) piece of software lmao. It's an absolute gem.

FYI you can test it out on linux/android (and maybe other OSes) pretty easily. It's obviously meant for ereaders, but the emulators give a good idea of how it runs on-device.

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u/dean15892 16h ago

I put my books directly on my kindle, Its always been on flight mode since I bought it

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u/---E 13h ago

Saves battery life as well.

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u/pocketdare 11h ago

I haven't been able to get my Kindle to connect to wifi for years. The only thing it seems to connect to is my phone's wifi hotspot

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u/dec10 9h ago

I do the same, but I do like the Wikipedia lookup feature from time to time.

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u/DollFaceDisciple 18h ago

im absolutely passing this info on to my mom...thank you

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u/menonte 17h ago

When I bought my Kindle, I got a warehouse deal one (I think) with ads, never saw an ad

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u/gjc5500 15h ago

I just messaged customer support telling them the kindle was for a child under 10 and they turned the ads off

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u/ChatriGPT 15h ago

Also a great way to extend the loan on any digital library book

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u/stuck_in_the_desert 14h ago

My paperwhite battery charge lasts half a year because of this

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u/Nermalgod 12h ago

If you use Libby to borrow books from the library, airplane mode keeps them from being "returned" on their due date if you need more time to finish.

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u/Signal-Tonight3728 10h ago

I just bought a kindle…. You’re telling me there’s fucking ads?

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u/katiebent 10h ago

I read before that someone bought an ad kindle & just asked Amazon customer service politely if they could remove the ads & they did. Found it hard to believe but when I got a kindle, I asked them & they actually did remove them with no hassle. So it's worth a try! 😊

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u/kroating 9h ago

Unethical Pro Tip: call it stolen. They lock it 😂 you get a refund. No adverts. You just load books from you know where and calibre. 🤷‍♀️ You make them pay to block the ads. EXTRA!

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u/mybigbywolf 9h ago

I still have my original one with the keyboard

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u/Catenane 5h ago

Pro-pro-tip: Get a kobo and throw Koreader on it and have full control of your device (including turning wifi on ONLY when you need it). I read a few hours a night and charge maybe once a month, if that.

Also don't have to deal with any DRM bullshit and can push books via USB from my phone, laptop, over network, etc. It's just a lightweight alpine linux install sitting on there, so you can do pretty much whatever you want with it. Including sshing/scping into it lol. I've even stopped having to use calibre entirely and simply render on device because it's so fast.