eBooks Revisited....

[roamer_1]

Addendum:

I have stumbled upon a great resource:

Your county library.

As the Japanese say: "Hory Clap!"

All you need around here is a library card and a little app called Libby - Technically even that ain't true, because it will work with Kindle, I guess...

Libby is available in Apple, Droid, and an online reader for about anything else.

DLD the app... plug in your library, and your card number, and off you go.
FOR FREE.

Now, evidently this is supported by my state, so it may be different elsewhere, but you log in, find a book, and check it out... just like at the library.

The state must purchase (x) copies... It's DRM'd... and in ten days or 2 weeks or something, it is no longer yours...

Sometimes they are over their count on a book, so you can put it on hold, just like at the library. Right now I am in Preston & Child's Pendergast series, as I had proposed upthread... Something close to 20 books... The next one is currently on hold for me at the library.

As an aside,
I have had some luck with Kindle... Even signed up for Kindle Unlimited. Spent 20 bucks on books before I signed up... And then found out the books I want are not exactly unlimited. Spent ten bucks more so far...

But now I can walk right through that series for free, from the library. And then many more. Perhaps it is not as robust a selection as I might require (albeit that it is pretty dang robust so far), but for simple entertainment, I can do no other. My volume of reading far outspends my pocketbook.

As another other aside,
I have acquired a nice little Lenovo Tab M9 As my main reader. It far outstrips my old clunky samsung Tab A... and comes with a chromatic reading mode, built right in. And it resides in a folio-styled case, which I resented at first, but it turns out to heighten the reading experience, as it provides many ways to hold the tablet more like a book - Ways in which, I am familiar - I know that sounds weird, but you would be surprised at all the positioning one goes through when reading, and this form factor lends itself to that nicely.

Great gains as I settle into this eBook thing!

[DefiantMassRINO]

eBooks will be easier for Governments to censor.

Bits and bytes of exisiting electronic datastores can be more easily manipuated than the exisiting written words on the pages of paper datastores.

[Smokin Joe]

eBooks will be easier for Governments to censor.

Bits and bytes of exisiting electronic datastores can be more easily manipuated than the exisiting written words on the pages of paper datastores.

Winston Smith could have accomplished with a mouse click what took all that cut-and-paste and a memory hole. I like hard copy, too. (I'm just running out of places to put it).

[roamer_1]

eBooks will be easier for Governments to censor.

Bits and bytes of exisiting electronic datastores can be more easily manipuated than the exisiting written words on the pages of paper datastores.

I hear you... But to some degree, that's an argument from buggy whips. Just like the street is always ahead of the law, so too liberty ahead of the tyrant... For those willing to pay the cost.

Documents survive in the block chain and in the torrent, safely beyond the reach of censors.
And thus it ever has been and ever will be.

As for me, I don't care about all that. I am just happy to be able to read voraciously again - A long, long time gone - A thing I thought was beyond me.

That enjoyment should not be denied.

[Cyber Liberty]

I hear you... But to some degree, that's an argument from buggy whips. Just like the street is always ahead of the law, so too liberty ahead of the tyrant... For those willing to pay the cost.

Documents survive in the block chain and in the torrent, safely beyond the reach of censors.
And thus it ever has been and ever will be.

As for me, I don't care about all that. I am just happy to be able to read voraciously again - A long, long time gone - A thing I thought was beyond me.

That enjoyment should not be denied.

I can't find the words to express my joy at hearing your gift of reading has been restored to you!

[roamer_1]

some 280 pages, just today (so far)! Preston & Child's Riptide, while I wait for the next in the Pendergast line.A rollicking little tale I can recommend, if you're into pirate treasure and archaeology.

 

[roamer_1]

I read a lot of sci to and fantasy. 10+ books a month. Unlimited works great for that. I'm not interested in owning most of those and won't read them again.

You were right about this @bigheadfred ...

I talked some smack about Kindle Unlimited on this thread - And while what I said is true (it is not as unlimited as it implies), I have found much to entertain me without cost beyond the subscription.
I just rolled back all the books I have read (gave em back to Kindle) - Some twenty or so - All downloaded for 'free'. I fell into David Leadbeater and Andrew Clawson and have been ballin through their series' like a hot knife through butter. and that ain't even touching the surface.

Furthermore, as far as purchased works go, I wanted Gary Wayne's Genesis 6 second volume, which I would have paid 25 bucks for in hard copy, but in Unlimited, found the two book set (vol 1 and vol 2) for ten bucks for the pair.

Sweet.

But the point being - You were right. Thank you for your opinion. I will certainly continue my Unlimited subscription.

[bigheadfred]

You were right about this @bigheadfred ...

I talked some smack about Kindle Unlimited on this thread - And while what I said is true (it is not as unlimited as it implies), I have found much to entertain me without cost beyond the subscription.
I just rolled back all the books I have read (gave em back to Kindle) - Some twenty or so - All downloaded for 'free'. I fell into David Leadbeater and Andrew Clawson and have been ballin through their series' like a hot knife through butter. and that ain't even touching the surface.

Furthermore, as far as purchased works go, I wanted Gary Wayne's Genesis 6 second volume, which I would have paid 25 bucks for in hard copy, but in Unlimited, found the two book set (vol 1 and vol 2) for ten bucks for the pair.

Sweet.

But the point being - You were right. Thank you for your opinion. I will certainly continue my Unlimited subscription.

 

[Ghost Bear]

Just following up on something that I mentioned earlier on the thread. Amazon will be doing away with the option to "Download and transfer via USB" on Feb. 26 of this year. So if you have been using this method to store your Amazon e-books offline, you'll have just short of two more weeks to get all of them downloaded.  After the 26th you'll have to find another method.

I think it is possible to send your e-book to your Kindle device via Amazon's service, and then transfer (or copy) the e-book from your Kindle device to your computer's local drive using the Calibre program also mentioned up-thread. I haven't tested that yet to confirm it, but I'm pretty sure it will work.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I thought this would be the best place to put this info. 

[roamer_1]

Just following up on something that I mentioned earlier on the thread. Amazon will be doing away with the option to "Download and transfer via USB" on Feb. 26 of this year. So if you have been using this method to store your Amazon e-books offline, you'll have just short of two more weeks to get all of them downloaded.  After the 26th you'll have to find another method.

I think it is possible to send your e-book to your Kindle device via Amazon's service, and then transfer (or copy) the e-book from your Kindle device to your computer's local drive using the Calibre program also mentioned up-thread. I haven't tested that yet to confirm it, but I'm pretty sure it will work.

Sorry to resurrect an old thread, but I thought this would be the best place to put this info. 

As a pretty new member to Kindle, that option (the USB thing) has never worked for me - No matter which device... So I kinda figured they revoked permissions months ago, leaving a trickling few elder members with a notice and a slow ride off to the end..

Thanks all the same. 

[Ghost Bear]

As a pretty new member to Kindle, that option (the USB thing) has never worked for me - No matter which device... So I kinda figured they revoked permissions months ago, leaving a trickling few elder members with a notice and a slow ride off to the end..

Thanks all the same. 

Hmm, I'm curious, was the option there but just didn't seem to do anything? Or was the option gone entirely?

What it should have done if it was working was, download an appropriately named .AZW3 file to your Download folder (or, wherever your downloads go).

I wonder, did you try it on books you had purchased, or only on books borrowed through Kindle Unlimited? Because I can see that making a difference, also.

Edit:  Sorry, my primary employment since 2007 has been as a Tester in Quality Assurance, so when I hear that something isn't working my natural response is to try and isolate how it isn't working, in an effort to root cause the failure. 

[roamer_1]

Hmm, I'm curious, was the option there but just didn't seem to do anything? Or was the option gone entirely?

What it should have done if it was working was, download an appropriately named .AZW3 file to your Download folder (or, wherever your downloads go).

I wonder, did you try it on books you had purchased, or only on books borrowed through Kindle Unlimited? Because I can see that making a difference, also.

Edit:  Sorry, my primary employment since 2007 has been as a Tester in Quality Assurance, so when I hear that something isn't working my natural response is to try and isolate how it isn't working, in an effort to root cause the failure. 

No problem. My brain is similarly wired.

My first endeavor was an attempt to get my purchased books out of the Jungle. I had it in my head to reassemble my vast paper book library into digital media. So I bought some technical Biblically oriented tomes - They are purchased books. I followed the method you described - Roughly anyway...IIRC the process described had to be jiggered a bit (things not precisely where they were described), but reasonably so, and I got it done.

All the bits and bobs of it were there, and completed... It just always crapped itself out right before the copy or download... I can download to any device otherwise. But it will not let me complete the DL to USB.

Furthermore, being somewhat astute, it ain't hard for me to find an .AW3 file in my computer. Getting the copy off is a simple thing. Just boot a Linux disk and go in and get the copies (so it doesn't effect DRM count), and shove it in a different folder or out on a thumb... Whether borrowed or not wouldn't matter providing they are getting converted to dumb files anyway.

I don't KNOW that, but predictably so. As it is, I have decided that rebuilding my Biblical reference library is a waste of time. And my use of Kindle is volatile otherwise. I am a vociferous reader (something like 50 books in 3 months), bouncing all of Kindle's challenges like a GOAT (I am currently a silver reader, with gold easily on the way in this challenge series, having stacked weeks and days three and four times over.

But all that is storytime. Pleasure reading. I'll never read those books again. But with such a fire-hose stream of books flying by, assembling my old stand-bys seems superfluous.

And that's just Kindle, btw... Not even approaching Libby and the County Library.