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3katz4me

any Kindle experts out there?

12 years ago

I've been pondering an e-reader for a while. I ended up with no books one time right as I was about to leave town a while back and decided it was time to get one of these devices. I did get a couple books that I'm still reading to hold me over until I figured out what I want. We have an iPad that mostly DH uses. I don't like the glare on the screen or the fact it's not good for reading in the sun and B&N's future seems uncertain so I've also ruled out Nooks. I've settled on a Kindle - either the basic one or the Touch. I tried the low end one in the store and I kind of liked the buttons vs. smearing your finger across the screen. I need to try a Touch though.

Anyway, here's my question. Currently when we get regular books DH and I often both read them. So can we buy an e-book and both read it - me on my Kindle and he on his iPad with Kindle app? I read somewhere that you can share books but only for a very limited amount of time. I'd want us to each be able to have whatever e-books we want for however long we want but I don't want to buy twice so he can have it on iPad and I can have it on Kindle. As it is the e-books are getting to be more expensive than a paper back on sale. I don't like that but I like the convenience so willing to pay more if necessary - but not pay twice.

Comments (16)

  • 12 years ago

    If both devices are under the same kindle/amazon account then you can share the books that you buy and download. I think you can have up to 5 devices. We have 2 kindles and 2 ipads on our account.

  • 12 years ago

    I would honestly recommend against the Touch. I've had 3 kindles so far (touch is my 3rd). The other ones were way nicer to use. The touch is sometimes unresponsive, jumps forward multiple pages for no reason, is hard to go backwards on and is harder to read one handed than the other one w/ hard buttons on the side. I see no benefit to being able to touch the screen either since the only thing you are spending the bulk of your time doing is turning pages, which works better w/ a solid button rather than a sometimes ineffectual touch of the screen. I LOVED my other kindles though and will probably just get another non-touch soon.

    And yes to your other question- you can share the books as long as you share the kindle account.

  • 12 years ago

    The other part of your question concerned how long you can keep the books. The answer is forever . You paid for them, so it is the same as purchasing any book from Amazon.

    My younger DS has his second Kindle (gave his first one to his older brother) and I have an iPad, and we share his Kindle account. Great for magazine subscriptions, too!

  • 12 years ago

    I've had a Kindle for about a year. Mine is the one with the keyboard. I just got my husband one for Christmas, and his is the bare bones Kindle. I didn't really see the advantage to the touch. He was going to set up his own account until we realized the advantages of sharing an account - that any book we purchased would be on both Kindles. I also use the Kindle app on my phone.

    I also use a program called Calibre that manages my ebook library and has the ability to convert other formats of ebooks to the Kindle format.

  • 12 years ago

    I received a Kindle Fire for Christmas. The first one had a defective screen and I had to return it for a replacement. The replacement came with a charer that would not charge the device. (I was told after-the-fact that I should have kept the charger that came with my first Kindle - go figure.) Now that I have what seems to be a fully functional Kindle Fire, I really do like it! I think it's going to be great for travel. I also use the Kindle app on my phone. (I know I'm not answering the OP's question ... just kinda chattering mostly, I suppose. ;-))

  • 12 years ago

    I have a Kindle fire......and it mot only is a reader, but also a computer. I can browse the web, access email and facebook.....and read books magazines and stream video and watch movies.
    And with an amazon Prime account, about $80 a year, I can get many many free books and videos and also lots of books are only $.99.
    I can change the font size and the color as well as the background. I can store and play MP3's and also store books music movies....what ever, in the cloud.
    A tap of the screen turns the page....
    and I love it!!
    Linda C

  • 12 years ago

    I have a nook and there are other places to get books other than Barnes and Noble. I really use mine more as a tablet than an e-reader though. I do have several magazine subscriptions on my nook. You can also access libraries and get books that way. There's an option where you can share books with others - not sure how it is set up for Kindle though. Personally, I like the touch screen. I've had my nook for a while now and have had absolutely no problems at all.

  • 12 years ago

    Don't mean to hijack..... but Tinam61, where else can you find Nook books? (I know about my library, but they don't have a great selection yet).

  • 12 years ago

    I received a Kindle Fire, (the newest kindle) for Christmas and love it. It is a touch screen but I like that feature. I just got a leather case for it that opens like a book, you can use it as a stand too. You can control the brightness, color of pages, font color and size.

  • 12 years ago

    Great info - thanks! I figured there was some way you could read your books on multiple devices but it wasn't clear from anything I'd read. Beagles - thank you for that feedback - that probably makes my decision for me. In the reviews I read there were some comments like that and I really liked the way the one with the buttons worked.

  • 12 years ago

    If you use the Calibre program that I linked to above you can convert any ebook format to the one that your device uses. There are many books in the public domain that are in the epub format, and I have converted them successfully with Calibre.

    Only books that are purchased through Amazon on the Kindle can be synced automatically across devices. For instance if I am reading something on my Kindle, and find myself waiting in line somewhere without it I can open my Kindle app on my phone and it will sync to the last page read on my Kindle at home. Then when I get home it will sync to the last page read on my phone.

  • 12 years ago

    Hi Gibby! I just wanted to share a link where you can get free books on Kindle. I check the site every day, and download anything that looks interesting which is free. (Most books are free for no more than a day, which is why I check so often.) Because I take advantage of this, I don't think I'll ever run out of reading material. Enjoy your new e-reader.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Ereader News Today

  • 12 years ago

    I wanted to add- I use Calibre too, and when I convert a book to eBook format, I will often put it in my online DropBox account and then I can access it wirelessly from my Kindle or from any other device. DropBox will give you storage for free and it's very, very convenient to keep a bunch of eBooks on there and then access them from the experimental browser on the kindle (or on my iPad).

  • 12 years ago

    Hi claire_de_luna - long time no "see". Thanks for that link. I will look into that, Calibre and all this stuff. I'm excited to get my new gadget. I have it and a few other things in my Amazon cart ready to go. Just trying to decide on a cover/sleeve for my Kindle. The choices for the basic Kindle seem to be somewhat limited - or suboptimal because they're intended for the basic Kindle and the Touch and thus a bit too big for the Kindle.

  • 12 years ago

    I just ordered my Kindle - yippee!! I saved a copy of this thread for all the info and downloaded Calibre.

  • 12 years ago

    Hubby got the Fire for Christmas and I took his old kindle. The Fire is too heavy for me. I don't like carrying it around. I started checking out kindle books from our library's electronic media catalog--it's saved me a bunch of money because I read so much. The only problem now is that so many people know about the digital library that my books are always checked out.

    I have my kindle and my iphone kindle app on my acct as well as my sister's kindle and my step-daughter's kindle. They just have to make sure they let me know if they want to purchase a book. I de-register them from my kindle so they can buy it on their account.

    De

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