day 69 - a day off

 Today is the 6th day of the 10th week, the 10th day of the 3rd month, the 69th day of 2023, and:

• Festival of Life in the Cracks Day
• Harriet Tubman Day 
• Histotechnology Professionals Day
• International Bagpipe Day
• International Day of Awesomeness
• International Day of Women Judges
• Landline Telephone Day - I still pay for a landline through Verizon,  convinced that if there is a disaster and cell phone coverage poofed, I would still be able to call out [thank you, Day After Tomorrow where landlines became a plot point].  It's even listed, but I never answer it because I literally never use it, except for now or then when I  use it to call my cell phone because I've racked my brain and cannot find the cell phone.  Usually I have to call multiple times as I wander about, tracking the ringing
• Mario Day
• Middle Name Pride Day - middle names mean something in our family.  My middle name, as well as my daughter's,  is Ann, my mother's middle name was Anna, and my grandmother's was Anne .  My son's middle name is Carroll, the same as his father's and his grandfather's.   When my father died, I started using my maiden name as my middle name
• National Blueberry Popover Day
• National Preschooler's Day
• National Ranch Day - the salad dressing 
• National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
• Pack Your Lunch Day
• Salvation Army Day
• US Paper Money Day

Today I decided I needed a day off from work - well from sitting at my workstation in the office at least.  I have plans to do things around the apartment, including the laundry that has been building up, and hopefully to get enough rest that I can go over and visit my granddaughters tomorrow.

Just got a message this morning from Amazon that has left me fuming.  They are eliminating no less than five of the magazine subscriptions I have been getting through my Kindle service. 

•  Analog Science Fiction & Fact - will be available under the new program  
• Asimov's Science Fiction - will be available under the new program 
• Lightspeed Magazine
• Clarkesworld Magazine
• Uncanny Magazine

And yes, I like sci fi and the short story format and yes I read all of them each month.  I also have a digital subscription to the Washington Post, which I can easily switch to an online access as I really don't read it on the Kindle.  I would also have the ability to subscribe to Fantasy & Science Fiction, which I don't do right now.  The other three?  Past issues can be bought individually, but apparently they have not agreed to be part of Amazon's new program.

Amazon's purpose is glaringly obvious - to force Kindle users, even those on Prime, to subscribe to "Kindle Unlimited." This subscription is another $9.99 a month on top of the $139 annual [or $14.99 monthly] cost of Prime membership.  It offers the benefit of being able to borrow rather than buy books and audible books as well.  Nice feature, but these days I tend to buy rather than borrow and I have ignored Amazon's blatant intents to convince me, as an active Kindle user and purchaser,  the additional money is worth it.  Since their blandishments have not succeeded - and I suspect I am far from the only hold out -  Amazon is now getting more manipulative.   

One has to pay to renew each one of these magazines separately when you do so through Amazon, so yes, the individual publishers are still getting the annual revenue, although I do not doubt that it is a reduced by an Amazon servicing fee.   I now have to contact each one of the publications not offered, and see what other arrangements can be made - and in some cases, I will have to go back to paper, which after the ease of access/readability anywhere at anytime, I find most annoying, or just let my subscription lapse.  The issue is, even when they offer the Kindle format, I have not found it easy to download and send my issues to the Kindle.  I subscribe to Locus and have not been very good about jumping through the hoops to do so and may end up letting my subscription lapse as a result.

The end result?  I will probably roll over and add Kindle Unlimited to my monthly expenses, taking the "special offer" that will only last a couple of months and locking myself into the future price increases that are inevitable. 

I am painfully aware that I am enabling Jeff Bezos relentless march to an ugly oligopoly, needlessly enriching the SOB, and decreasing my disposable income at a time when I should be looking to eliminate expenses, but Amazon is just so blasted convenient!  

*sighs*