I woke up this morning to some very disappointing news from Amazon.com, the real king of all media (it was actually posted yesterday).  Well, let me back up for a minute.  One of the features I really like on the Kindle 2 is WhisperSync, which is an easy way to get content of all types onto your Kindle.  all you have to do is email the document to a special address, and it will appear on your Kindle.  Sure, it was not always formatted exactly the way you wanted, so it does not fit perfectly onto your screen.  But you know what?  You just paid ten cents per document,n so stop that whining,

Well, this is about to change May 4.  Rather than being a flat fee per document,Amazon is changing the fee structure entirely.  It will now cost fifteen cents per megabyte.  And since all costs are rounded up, that means the minimum cost will be fifteen cents per document.  So, now, you will need to reach a little deeper into your pockets the next time you want that document converted.  Fortunately, you can avoid all of this entirely by using the alternate free conversion email (username@free.kindle.com). 

Hit the jump for the full press release (which also includes some information about new formats to be available for conversion).

For anyone who has recently sent personal documents to your Kindle, we’d like to let you know about some updates to our Personal Document Service (via Whispernet).

Starting May 4, in addition to the existing list of supported file types (DOC, HTML, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, TXT, AZW, MOBI, PRC), you can send RTF files to your Kindle email address for convenient wireless delivery. In addition to the existing experimental support of PDF, you can also send DOCX files for conversion. Some complex PDF and DOCX files might not format correctly on your Kindle.

We have also modified the fee associated with sending personal documents wirelessly to your Kindle. This fee is now based on the size of your file. The fee for Personal Document Service (via Whispernet) is 15 cents per megabyte rounded up to the next whole megabyte.

If you would like to download your personal documents for free, or if you are not in a wireless area, you can continue to send attachments to "name"@free.kindle.com to be converted. These documents will be e-mailed to your computer at the e-mail address associated with your Amazon.com account login.

As always, you can also use our free document conversion service for any document you want to transfer over USB, and you will not be charged.

[Via Amazon and Gear Diary]

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