Skip to main content

Amazon allows Kindle owners to pay extra to remove advertisements

Kindle_Features

Those of you who are tired of staring at advertisements when playing around with the ad-supported Kindle now have an option to remove the advertisements for an additional fee paid directly to Amazon. The difference in price between the ad-supported model and regular model is $30, the exact fee needed to ditch the advertisements. The lowest cost ad-supported model sells for $79 while the model without ads can be purchased for $109. However, the difference on the Kindle Touch models is slightly more at $40. An ad-supported Kindle Touch sells for $99 while the regular model sells for $139. An ad-supported Kindle Touch 3G sells for $149 while the regular model is priced at $189. 

Kindle with Special Offers - BuickTo remove the advertisements and pay the upgrade fee, users can go to the “Manage Your Devices” page and unsubscribe from “Special Offers.” Fair warning: once the Kindle has been rid of the advertisements, it’s impossible to revert to the previous ad-supported model and get a refund on the upgrade fee. Amazon Special Offers come in the form of full-page screensavers and small ads on the homescreen. This upgrade program allows users to purchase the ad-supported models from Amazon and measure their level of annoyance with the advertisements. This also allows users that receive an ad-supported Kindle as a gift to upgrade and ditch the advertisements. 

Only the tablet-style Kindle Fire is currently without an ad-supported model. It’s likely that Amazon will roll out an ad-supported version of the tablet after the initial launch, likely taking advantage of the expanded media capabilities of the device.  The Kindle Fire is launching next month on November 15 and can be preordered for a cost of $199. Amazon is positioning the Kindle Fire as a media consumption device, designed to sell access to movies, music, books, magazines and games through Amazon’s marketplace.

Correction: Special Offers do not appear on the screen while reading e-books on the Kindle.  They do appear while reading through content on the Home Page. 

Editors' Recommendations

Mike Flacy
By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…
Why AI will never rule the world
image depicting AI, with neurons branching out from humanoid head

Call it the Skynet hypothesis, Artificial General Intelligence, or the advent of the Singularity -- for years, AI experts and non-experts alike have fretted (and, for a small group, celebrated) the idea that artificial intelligence may one day become smarter than humans.

According to the theory, advances in AI -- specifically of the machine learning type that's able to take on new information and rewrite its code accordingly -- will eventually catch up with the wetware of the biological brain. In this interpretation of events, every AI advance from Jeopardy-winning IBM machines to the massive AI language model GPT-3 is taking humanity one step closer to an existential threat. We're literally building our soon-to-be-sentient successors.

Read more
The best hurricane trackers for Android and iOS in 2022
Truck caught in gale force winds.

Hurricane season strikes fear into the hearts of those who live in its direct path, as well as distanced loved ones who worry for their safety. If you've ever sat up all night in a state of panic for a family member caught home alone in the middle of a destructive storm, dependent only on intermittent live TV reports for updates, a hurricane tracker app is a must-have tool. There are plenty of hurricane trackers that can help you prepare for these perilous events, monitor their progress while underway, and assist in recovery. We've gathered the best apps for following storms, predicting storm paths, and delivering on-the-ground advice for shelter and emergency services. Most are free to download and are ad-supported. Premium versions remove ads and add additional features.

You may lose power during a storm, so consider purchasing a portable power source,  just in case. We have a few handy suggestions for some of the best portable generators and power stations available. 

Read more
Don’t buy the Meta Quest Pro for gaming. It’s a metaverse headset first
Meta Quest Pro enables 3D modeling in mixed reality.

Last week’s Meta Connect started off promising on the gaming front. Viewers got release dates for Iron Man VR, an upcoming Quest game that was previously a PS VR exclusive, as well as Among Us VR. Meta, which owns Facebook, also announced that it was acquiring three major VR game studios -- Armature Studio, Camouflaj Team, and Twisted Pixel -- although we don’t know what they’re working on just yet.

Unfortunately, that’s where the Meta Connect's gaming section mostly ended. Besides tiny glimpses and a look into fitness, video games were not the show's focus. Instead, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wanted to focus on what seemed to be his company’s real vision of VR's future, which involves a lot of legs and a lot of work with the Quest Pro, a mixed reality headset that'll cost a whopping $1,500.

Read more