he Roman people did not want a dictator or a king. Do you think Augustus and the emperors that followed him were any different?

Yes I think that an emperor is differs from a king. First of all an Eperor is usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm who has a senate for advice. However, a king is a head of state, who may or may not, depending on the style of government of a nation, exercise monarchal powers over a nation, usually called a kingdom or a realm. To me the key difference is that an Emperor still has a senate and a form of democracy, but the democratic part (the senate, the assembly) have very little power. On the other hand, a king has only himself and is the only man with power.