Kindle Myths and Partial Truths

[daffy4u]

This thread may not really be the place for this but I'm sticking it here anyway.

We now know that Czech and Vietnamese books can be read on the Kindle.

[pikle]

this is great information for us that are still looking Thanks!!!

[krisk]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

This thread may not really be the place for this but I'm sticking it here anyway.

We now know that Czech and Vietnamese books can be read on the Kindle.

I will let my manicurist know this! She will be thrilled! And I will be so happy for her!

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

Myth:

Only 6 Kindles can be registered to your Amazon account.

Truth:

Up to 6 Kindles may share content.

I believe the confusion comes from the section on the support page regarding Digital Rights Management.




After contacting Amazon Customer Service a couple of times, I received this response with clarification (bold added by me).

It seems this myth/fact has become more important. A recent post on the Amazon Forums (I'll try to find the link again) reported that iPhones and iPod Touches count as part of the "up to 6 Kindles" per book license.

Edit: Registration nuance (re: multiple devices on same account)

Edit2: Another link, courtesy DesertGrandma.

Kindle sharing

Woody says:
No, I don't think the devices need to have been purchased on the same account, just registered on the same account. However, when you register a device on an account, you end up permitting the user of that device to purchase books from that device and charge them to your account.

There are some other nuances about registration/book licensing that you probably need to be aware of. I just started a separate thread about this but I'll repeat that post here for your convenience. (Sorry to anyone who is upset about the double post, but I thought it would benefit Erica to repeat it here. Sosume. ;-)

I just spoke with Kindle support and found out that registrations for the Kindle do not work the same as activations on Audible. Namely, once you have registered a particular book on six Kindles/iPods/iPhones, even if you unregister one you have still used up all your licenses for that book.

I have a 1st generation iPhone that I rarely use (my primary phone is an iPhone 3G) and was thinking of registering and moving content to it, assuming I could get the license back if I sold that iPhone, simply by unregistering the iPhone. Not so.

So just be careful how many devices you move content to, if you are like me and expect to buy new Kindle hardware/new iPhones as they are released.

[daffy4u]

Still fleshing this one out. A little help would be appreciated.

Former Truth: You must have a Kindle registered to your Amazon account in order to purchase Kindle books.

New Truth: As of March 2009, U.S. resident owners of iPhones and iPod Touches are able to download the Kindle for iPhone app which allows them to purchase Kindle books whether or not a Kindle is registered to their Amazon accounts.

• No Kindle required
• Access your Kindle books even if you don't have your Kindle with you Automatically synchronizes your last page read between devices with Amazon Whispersync
• Adjust the text size, add bookmarks, and view the annotations you created on your Kindle
• Compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch. Requires iPhone 2.1 software update

Whole Truth: While the Kindle for iPhone app allows iPhone and iPod Touch users to purchase and download Kindle books to their devices, the app does not have all the features of the Kindle.

• iPhone and iPod Touch only owners (no Kindle registered) may not download Kindle books to their computers
• iPhone and iPod Touch only owners are not assigned an "@kindle.com" email address and may not email content to their devices via the Amazon conversion service
• iPhone and iPod Touch only owners may not subscribe to Kindle blogs and newspapers
• The Kindle for iPhone app does not have dictionary support
• The kindle for iPhone app will only read books downloaded from Amazon's Kindle store. Books from other sources need to use one of the many other reading apps in the iTunes store.
• The kindle for iPhone app does not have text search capability
• The kindle for iPhone app does not have text highlighting or clipping capability
• The kindle for iPhone app does not have annotation capability
• The kindle for iPhone app does not have Text-to-Speech capability as does Kindle 2
• The kindle for iPhone app cannot shop the Kindle Store directly. iPhone and iPod Touch users must either use Safari on their devices to shop the store or their computers and have the books sent to their device(s). Books samples may also be sent this way.

[pilotbob]

Some of these are not true if you have a jailbroken iPod. But, we will leave it at that.

One other thing, you can not access the Kindle store via the Kindle app. You must access the store via a web browser. You can use the Safari web browser on your iPhone/iPod Touch or your PC's browser... but the book and send it to the device. You can also browse and send samples this way.

BOb

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Some of these are not true if you have a jailbroken iPod. But, we will leave it at that.

One other thing, you can not access the Kindle store via the Kindle app. You must access the store via a web browser. You can use the Safari web browser on your iPhone/iPod Touch or your PC's browser... but the book and send it to the device. You can also browse and send samples this way.

BOb

Yeah, not getting into the jailbreaking or PID stuff. Will add the not able to shop the store stuff. Thanks for the addition.

[dragonbone]

Kindle myth, partial truth or truth?

Not sure please advise.....

1. If you are not a bona fide US resident holding a valid US credit card, registered to above mentioned residence, you will NOT be able to open up an account or buy an ebook from the Amazon ebook store.
2. You will NOT be able to legally BUY a Kindle.
3. Even if your imaginary friend in the US, kindly bought and posted you a Kindle, you will never have the luxury of buying an ebook from the largest ebook store in the world and reading it on your Kindle....
3. Because as a lowly non US resident, you cannot even register your Kindle that your imaginary friend so kindly sent you.
4. Holding a credit card from any nation in the world, you can be a welcome member at Amazon.com, and buy tree eating PAPER books to your hearts content, and have Amazon SHIP them to you at outrageous shipping charges, (for eg. one little text book (smaller than a Sony Reader) double packed in TWO huge boxes, big enough for a laptop) to anywhere in the world, but you may never buy an Ebook that does no harm to the environment!
5. Amazon and Kindle are GREEN saving forests and protecting the environment.
6. As a lowly non US resident holding a valid blahdiblah..... I think you get the drift.... you may never use kindle as a verb, for eg. "Yesterday while I was kindling on the subway...."

OK, don't be too mean please, I'm new here !

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by dragonbone

Kindle myth, partial truth or truth?

Not sure please advise.....

1. If you are not a bona fide US resident holding a valid US credit card, registered to above mentioned residence, you will NOT be able to open up an account or buy an ebook from the Amazon ebook store.
2. You will NOT be able to legally BUY a Kindle.
3. Even if your imaginary friend in the US, kindly bought and posted you a Kindle, you will never have the luxury of buying an ebook from the largest ebook store in the world and reading it on your Kindle....
3. Because as a lowly non US resident, you cannot even register your Kindle that your imaginary friend so kindly sent you.
4. Holding a credit card from any nation in the world, you can be a welcome member at Amazon.com, and buy tree eating PAPER books to your hearts content, and have Amazon SHIP them to you at outrageous shipping charges, (for eg. one little text book (smaller than a Sony Reader) double packed in TWO huge boxes, big enough for a laptop) to anywhere in the world, but you may never buy an Ebook that does no harm to the environment!
5. Amazon and Kindle are GREEN saving forests and protecting the environment.
6. As a lowly non US resident holding a valid blahdiblah..... I think you get the drift.... you may never use kindle as a verb, for eg. "Yesterday while I was kindling on the subway...."

OK, don't be too mean please, I'm new here !

People do find ways around this and you don't have to be a "bona fide" resident. Amazon is not checking immigration status.

I could write a similar rant about all the amazing mobile phones that are released in Asia that we never see here. Yet I wouldn't go so far as to insult people by insinuating they view my country as lowly because of it. Companies rarely release a product globally.

[pdurrant]

Myth: No-one knows what you're reading on a Kindle.

Truth: Amazon can pull the log file from your Kindle remotely and see what books are on your Kindle, and which ones you've been reading, whether you bought the books from Amazon or not.

Source: Amazon Kindle: License Agreement and Terms of Use

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...odeId=20014453

Specifically:

Information Received.
The Device Software will provide Amazon with data about your Device and its interaction with the Service (such as available memory, up-time, log files and signal strength) and information related to the content on your Device and your use of it (such as automatic bookmarking of the last page read and content deletions from the Device). Annotations, bookmarks, notes, highlights, or similar markings you make in your Device are backed up through the Service. Information we receive is subject to the Amazon.com Privacy Notice.

(underlining added)

[dragonbone]

Originally Posted by dragonbone

Kindle myth, partial truth or truth?

Not sure please advise.....

1. If you are not a bona fide US resident holding a valid US credit card, registered to above mentioned residence, you will NOT be able to open up an account or buy an ebook from the Amazon ebook store.
2. You will NOT be able to legally BUY a Kindle.
3. Even if your imaginary friend in the US, kindly bought and posted you a Kindle, you will never have the luxury of buying an ebook from the largest ebook store in the world and reading it on your Kindle....
3. Because as a lowly non US resident, you cannot even register your Kindle that your imaginary friend so kindly sent you.
4. Holding a credit card from any nation in the world, you can be a welcome member at Amazon.com, and buy tree eating PAPER books to your hearts content, and have Amazon SHIP them to you at outrageous shipping charges, (for eg. one little text book (smaller than a Sony Reader) double packed in TWO huge boxes, big enough for a laptop) to anywhere in the world, but you may never buy an Ebook that does no harm to the environment!
5. Amazon and Kindle are GREEN saving forests and protecting the environment.
6. As a lowly non US resident holding a valid blahdiblah..... I think you get the drift.... you may never use kindle as a verb, for eg. "Yesterday while I was kindling on the subway...."

OK, don't be too mean please, I'm new here !

Hello......... anyone?? I'm still waiting to hear if these are myths or half-truths or truths!

[JSWolf]

Myth: You have to buy content only from Amazon

Truth: Only if it has DRM. You can purchase/view DRM free content. But if the content has DRM, it has to come from Amazon.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Information we receive is subject to the Amazon.com Privacy Notice.

(underlining added)

And what does this say?

BOb

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by dragonbone

Hello......... anyone?? I'm still waiting to hear if these are myths or half-truths or truths!

As I said above, people do get around the restriction. There are people who buy Kindles off ebay and Amazon books with gift cards. A quick look around this forum will tell you that.

[pdurrant]

The Amazon Privacy notice is at

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...?nodeId=468496

and is quite long.

So, bearing in mind that I'm condensing is a lot.

Amazon will store any information they get about you.

This information might be shared with others - subsidiaries, affiliates, contractors, governments where required by law, and with anyone at all if necessary to enforce or apply Amazon's conditions of use.

If you don't forbid them when asked, Amazon can give information about you to anyone else at all, too.

In short, there's no guarantee of privacy.

Originally Posted by pilotbob

And what does this say?

BOb