3mo ago

F**k Amazon

133 comments

Is that Matt fucking Parker?
- I worked with him last year for Pi Day and I can confirm he's legit as nice in person as he is on camera. Also he never swears, unlike James Grime who's a hilarious potty mouth :D
  
  I haven’t watched a Numberphile video in a while, probably not since the lockdowns. I have to say, James Grime doesn’t give that impression at all. Something about James “singing banana” Grime being a hilarious potty mouth is in itself very funny to me.
- The Matt Parker? Of Parker Square fame?
  
  Yeah but probably better known for Asteroid 314159 right?
- I love Matt but it was very confusing seeing him peeking out of my memes
- Zoom on his jacked XD Video to this meme YT Video
- Well I guess it's a bit of a Parker meme tbh

Blank template:
- Nice, I haven't seen this template with Matt Parker before!
- I've also uploaded it to imgflip.com
- who's that guy and why not use the original?
  
  Matt Parker is a YouTuber who teaches about cool math shit. He is here instead of Drake because Drake is a hunk of human shit.
- Thanks!

Oh, I had no idea Goodreads was owned by Amazon. Thanks! I'll definitely make a switch.
- Now do IMDB
  
  Movies: Letterboxd
  TV Shows: Serializd
  For books, I too use Storygraph. But I might switch to Hardcover later. I have been using Storygraph for like 3 years and in that time nothing really changed, improved there in my opinion. Socialization is almost non-existent. They still don't have "profile" pages for authors. If you click on an author, all of their books are just thrown in there together in one place. No filters, no picture of the author, nothing.
  Hardcover looks interesting, it's a bit like letterboxd, that's why I like it. App is a little bit slow and I wish more people used it because there is not a lot of reviews and ratings for books. So if you want an alternative to goodreads, which has a lot of users, then storygraph is probably the only option.
  
  ~ https://www.themoviedb.org/
  
  I've used trakd for a number of years with no major complaints. Its cools being able to look up an actor and see the "seen in" section, as I have it set up to automatically track my watches in jellyfin/IINA and then I manually enter the ones I watch on streaming services

https://hardcover.app/ is another good one.
I use it and storygraph both

Using ephebophile Drake's Hotline Bling meme format. 🚫
Replacing him with Matt Parker who just wants to see the world learn. 🙌

Last month I had an unusual charge on my credit card, saying "audible". I don't have an audible account, neither does my wife (she used to have one but even then it was charged through Google play, not directly to the card). I checked all of our emails and even checked both our Amazon accounts (don't remember why exactly I got clued to checking Amazon), but nothing there matched with anything we had purchased. So I notified my bank, replaced my card an all that.
One week goes by and suddenly my wife's Amazon account is nuked. Most of the books she bought for her kindle, lost. Her outstanding purchases, no info on them anymore. She can't copy the books that are still on the kindle anymore either. Her author profile was also gone, along with any small profit she made from the couple people who bought her stories.
We tried to contact Amazon to figure out what happened, but got no response. Then we used a local website that is used to complain about services and wrote there everything that happened. Amazon replied saying that her old account had been disabled and then she tried to log in with the same email again and that created a new account which caused the old one to be deleted forever so now they had no info on why her account had been disabled (which is complete bullshit). Amazon also notified the website that the issue had been resolved by that response, preventing us from sending any additional message.
- Aaaaaaand this is why I pirate
  
  Same!

- Someone should name some town's open space after him. Pave it with the numbers, too.

Does anyone have a review or thoughts on all these different trackers? I started switching to StoryGraph but new ones keep popping up and I don't want to have to try them all.
(StoryGraph, bookwyrm, hardcover, open reads, library thing, others)
- I've looked at Storygraph and Bookwyrm. Storygraph is leaning pretty heavily into AI usage, so take that as you will. I, personally, did not like it so I bounced (I didn't think it was adding anything useful--maybe they've improved it since then.)
  Bookwyrm is federated, so you pick an instance you like, etc etc. Bookwyrm's federation means that the same book will be scattered across instances, which makes doing review research a little difficult, but their search function is pretty solid for pulling all the books in, so at least you don't have to work too hard to find what you're looking for. It's also reliant on the community for filling in metadata/adding new books, and I'm kind of shocked at how frequently people don't put in basic metadata, but it's not the end of the world for me.
  I do really like the "community" vibe of Bookwyrm. I've even found someone I started following for reviews because their tastes/opinions line up with mine.
  Both services have solid import options for moving off Goodreads, but I will say I think Storygraph's is a bit better than Bookwyrm's for that.
  EDIT: Also worth mentioning that Storygraph paywalls some features, and Bookwyrm is completely free.
  
  As far as I know, there is only some kind of AI summary for books. I wouldn't call it "heavily into AI". You can turn it off in the settings.
  
  Thanks. I didn't know bookworm was federated like that. I personally don't look for any social aspect besides occasional reviews. It is interesting that StoryGraph has lots of tags and very detailed reviews about plot and characters.
- I've only looked at BookWyrm and Storygraph and BookWyrm seems pretty small so there arent many reviews. Thats why i switched to StoryGraph
- I really like librarything, but the app doesn't have all the features the website has. In general it's great for cataloging your own books and crowdsourcing information but doesn't have the community aspect, although the website does have message boards.
  I tried storygraph briefly, but didn't keep up with it. It felt like a chore to me at the time.
  I'm intrigued by BookWyrm though, and am interested to see what others say about it. Haven't tried it yet but definitely considering it.
- StoryGraph is centralized and US -based. Bookwyrm is decentralized and part of the Fediverse.
  The choice is easy to make.

I don't really use Goodreads much but BookWyrm looks good so I've just switched over.
- You can even post a review on Lemmy (_)
  
  Oh, sick! How? I'd love to start sharing them to Lemmy and getting conversations going.
- Adding I use bookwyrm because it's federated and uses activitypub so I can just boost my reviews from mastodon if I want to share them there.
  
  Yeah I just moved to BookWyrm, but was checking out StoryGraph today as well. Looks interesting, but I’ll probably stick to BookWyrm if StroryGraph isn’t federated.
- I've stopped using goodreads, but haven't switched to bookwyrm yet. I'm using the lack of import from goodreads as an excuse to keep procrastinating.
  
  Are you sure there is non? I thought there was a way but im unsure🤔

Goodreads is like Yelp for books.
Find a book written by a right wing author. Hundreds of ratings, and the reviews don't even talk about the book beyond the description. Lots of pesudo-science and bad faith arguments.
I got scammed by a few books. And worse, call out the issues with the books and your review gets shadow banned. Amazon doesn't have a urgency to remove these fake reviews because it'll affect sales.

This isn't reddit or tik tok you can say fuck you know
- I find these reminders way more annoying than people that choose not to swear tbh.
  
  Saying fck isn't choosing not to swear though it's just swearing but being a bitch about it and not following through.
- Everyone just needs to block this guy and move on. If this is the best he can contribute to the conversation, he's no better than the average troll.
- Fuck bitch slut shit piss cunt god damnit whore bastard fuck fuck fuck fuck fuckkkkkkkkkkk you fuck me fuck everybody fuck the police fuck the world fuck the nazis fuck the oligarchs fuck putin fuck donald trump fuck musk fuck spez fuck your mom fuck your dad fuck you again fuck fuck fuck yeah
  Edit: Ooo that did feel good though

Didn't know Goodreads was owneb by Amazon!

I love BookWyrm so much. It's my favourite social media.
You have to find and follow a good number of people before your feed really has the right feel, but once you dial that in it's the perfect cozy cadence.
- Is that the better one? IDK I don't use good reads much and just want a simple good intentioned replacement
  
  I don't know. I've never used goodreads, but I've seen plenty of people port over their reviews from there. I don't think it's an exact replacement, but I like it. I post my thoughts and reviews on books and books I want to read, and comment on other people's thoughts and reviews, and TBRs. For me, that's perfect.
  Occasionally, you will find that a book is missing from your Bookwyrm server; finally, this is your chance to show your quality! You can manually add it to the library yourself, for others to refer to.
  Here's a guide to switching I found. I'd try it out on its own a bit first to see if it's for you.

I just need something that can replace audible.
- If you already have your own audiobook files, you can self host Audiobookshelf. I self host from my NAS and use the android app while I drive, but you can also listen in your browser as well and it syncs your progress.
  
  I have it and I really like it. All audiobooks that I buy from Audible are downloaded with BookLibConnect and convertet to .m4b with AaxAudioConverter. I can then stream the books with AudioBookShelf.
  BookLibConnect and AaxAudioConverter are both Windows only so I have to use a VM but it is still worth it.
  One of these days, I will dig into the code and rewrite the GUI to be cross platform.
- Check if your library has access to libby. Or get a free library card from one of the big cities that does. You have to "check out" the books / audiobooks and they don't always have everything.
  
  Fun tip for anyone reading this: You can probably get library cards to multiple libraries too. I live in MA, so I have one to my local library (which on Libby/Overdrive is several libraries that decided to roll up together under one banner, so that was cool), and to the Boston Public Library which naturally has a giant selection. Wait times can be long for newer stuff, but the more library cards you have the better the odds of getting something sooner than later.
- Another service to check out others haven't mentioned is libro.fm. this one isn't self hostable or anything and is more of a direct replacement for Audible. Plus, they support local book stores with their sales and are a social purpose corporation.
- How was your experience with Librivox? I personally found it a bit lacking in the current affairs department 😉. (Although I found Quartermain highly entertaining)
  Seriously speaking though: I recently purchased the audio book of Picks and Shovels directly from the author. I hope this is the way of the future. I too am dependent on audible and hate every second.
  
  I listen to a lot of LitRPG and the like, and most (if not all) first release on RoyalRoad and then on Amazon. Amazon pick up those that get traction and release them as audio books on Audible. There are certainly other studios (Soundbooth Theater, Penguin Audio), but some authors give exlusive rights to Amazon, unfortunately.
- Libro.fm technically can but trying to buy on it instead of using codes J got through Kickstarter literally got mg Visa blocked. So personally I need to time the next time I actually try to buy from them.
  The seem to have a large library, and for example carry all four Annihilation/Southern Reach books, which Audible doesn't.
  Bug on the other hand remember to download the books you have on Audible with Libation. Too make your eventual change easier and less painful.
  
  I will check out Libro.fm, never heard of them before but I saw that Penguin Audio sell their books via them.
  As for Libation, it looks like it could replace BookLibConnect and AaxAudioConverter as a Linux alternative, which would be nice. Thanks for sharing!

The local library is my first choice. I think they even have e-books now, though I am not sure how that works.
- Most libraries (at least in the US) use Libby for their ebooks
  
  They don't use Overdrive anymore?
  It's probably been over a decade since I've used my library accounts...
- Yes I recommend using Libby it's great
- These are just tracking and review services, like a letterboxd for books. Although I'm sure your local library does allow you to track your book history

I'd like to recommend Openreads as well.
It's privacy first FOSS
https://github.com/mateusz-bak/openreads/blob/master/lib/ui/add_book_screen/widgets/book_rating_bar.dart
- I like it! Too bad it doesn't have a small summary of the book with it.

I didn't know Amazon owned GoodReads. I'll definitely have to try these out!

Hardcover.app

The weirdest thing to me about goodreads is Bill Gates actively posting there but only like 10 people interact with his posts
- Yeah because he's a boring billionaire. People don't really have a boner to pick with him.
  
  I say this with love, my friend: Bone to pick.
  
  People tend to crowd around those with insane money though

I wish I'd find the next fiction banger to read to escape into before venturing our wuthering lonely world.

If i want a good foss e-ink tablet or whatayoucallit that i can load any books onto what should i get?
- Kobo works great for me, it's basically dragging and dropping ebooks onto the mounted reader !
- You can install KOReader on Kobo. Very nice UI.
  
  You can what now? Can I do that ony libra colour?
- Buy a second-hand Kindle (or repurpose one that you already own), jailbreak it with WinterBreak, and read whatever you want.
  
  My plan for the next weekend :)
- Thanks will look into both :)

The most surprisingly good place I have found for ebooks recently is itch.io. Solid platform for indie content.

I really like storygraph. Every year or so I check on their progress for an api. It's on their long term roadmap and I'll be a happy person when it comes to fruition.
- Only problem with Storygraph is that it's privately owned, just like Goodreads was. So as soon as Storygraph gets popular enough, it'll just get sold (probably to Amazon) and then you'll have to find another haven and start over once again. At least Bookwyrm is federated, like Lemmy.

I still just keep a paper log in my notebook. It's been working for me since 2013 so no reason to switch now!

Omg I had no idea it was from Amazon too
God dammit

If you just want to track what books you've read, like me, I highly recommend Jelu!
- I never thought about a reading tracker but immediately went to searching for a selfhosted option when I read this post. Thanks for saving me the time!

Why is he white now?
- That's Matt Parker of Stand-up Maths
  
  Wow, took a second look after your post. Good stuff!

Hey so thanks for this. Helped me find some actual good books. All I had to do was put in the things that I actually liked.
You know, it's actually kinda wild how much published stuff caters to only a few average points in society and disregards the rest.
Did you know that some people actually commercially publish omegv novels? I had no idea but it's like christmas!

Do any also track comics? I feel like I have a better chance tracking all ive read in one place pirating them all and placing them there than any of these apps, they are always missing something
- You can track pretty much anything on BookWyrm. If it's not already listed in one of the instances' directories, you can add it yourself.
- I don't know about the others, but Storygraph does.
- Yes there are comics and manga.

Goodreads sucks, it so unstable and slow. However, all ny friends use it and i have never been able to not find a book on there. I tried bollwyrm and my issue with it was lack of solid recommendations to what to read next.

Downloading pdfs from libgen, gutrnberg, and google

Does anyone know if there's a way to export your GoodReads data and import it into one of these other services?
- Yes there is you can get a csv file with everything, its a bit hidden but storygraph for example has instructions how to do it

ohh thanks, just reminded me to wipe out my good reads account

Well shit. This is why we can't have nice things.

Yoohoo

How about you use your local library instead?
- The services in the meme are book tracking sites, not book stores. You can't get books there.
- Porque no los dos?

How about just read your book and don't blog about it.
- Yeah man, why would anyone want to engage in discussion about a book they just finished? Or get recommendations based on the books they enjoy? That's just too online.
  
  Better to post a comment on a Lemmy post about books ;)
- These aren't necessarily book blogs. Eg personalized suggestions

Please no to the Matt Parker meme format

Are you gonna pay for loss of revenue or virtue signaling is enough for you?
- Umm... what?

133 comments