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Originally Posted by flhden
I read with a sony prs 300 and this week after seeing the new kindle at best buy, I had to have one. They sold out at best buy in 4 hrs so I ordered one from amazon and it is to arrive this week. I would like to pre purchase a few books but I am not sure about syncing with the kindle. I installed the kindle for mac software on my mac thinking it would be like the sony and I would have to buy through the software and wirelessly sync with the kindle. After reading I believe the kindle will access the amazon store directly. The amazon store has pre registered the kindle so when I go to buy a book it gives me the option to dl to my computer or to my kindle , which I do not have yet. Somewhat confused at this point. Any help will be greatly appreciated. What is whispersync btw?
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I am a long-time Sony user and now a new Kindle user like you. I am also a Mac user! I too initially downloaded the Kindle for Mac software because I was expecting it to be like the Sony software to transfer & sync books with the Kindle. It's not! Think of the Kindle for Mac as just another independent reading device like your Kindle or an iPad or a mobile phone. Each device communicates individually to the "cloud", that is to say the Amazon server. This interaction with the "cloud" is a very different way of thinking from how the Sony devices work.
There are many ways to purchase books with the Kindle.
1. You can purchase books wirelessly (through Wifi or 3G depending on your model) direct from the Amazon store on your Kindle. The ebook is then downloaded right to your device and shows up on the Home screen in fewer than 60 seconds as Amazon likes to promote.
2. You can purchase books on the Amazon website and have them delivered wirelessly to your Kindle. The "Buy Now" box has a "Deliver To" drop-down option menu which defaults to your Kindle. When you use this option, the book is delivered wirelessly to your Kindle. No need to hook up any USB cables.
3. You can purchase books on the Amazon website and transfer them via USB cable to your Kindle. For this option in the "Deliver To" box select "Transfer via computer". It will take you through a series of download steps which on the Mac will put an azw file in your Downloads folder. When you connect your Kindle via USB cable to your Mac, it shows up in your Finder window as a disk-drive/device. It has a subfolder called "documents" where ebooks are stored. Then you can transfer the azw file from your Downloads folder to the Kindle documents folder just like you would copy/move any other file around on your Mac. Don't forget to "eject" the Kindle before you disconnect the USB cable.
4. You can also get public domain books from sites like Project Gutenberg, feedbooks and manybooks just like with your Sony. You download the file from the website and then transfer via USB cable by moving the files from your Downloads folder to the Kindle documents folder as described above.
You say you want to pre-purchase books before your Kindle arrives. No problem. You can use Method # 2 described above to purchase books on the Amazon website. In the "Deliver To" box, select the option that says "Kindle for Mac" since you have already registered and installed it as a reading device. The first time you use your Kindle, assuming you have a wireless connection established, you will see a folder called "Archived Items" with a number after it. Open this folder and it shows all the books that you have purchased. They are currently residing on the Amazon server ("the cloud"). If you are connected wirelessly via Wifi or 3G, open this Archived Items folder on your Kindle and select the book you want to read with the 5-way controller (or joystick if you will). It will then download from the server to your Kindle Home screen for happy reading. Similarly once you are done reading a book, you can move it back from your device memory to the Amazon server by left-clicking on the book and selecting "Remove from Device".
If you want to see your previous Amazon purchases at anytime, then you go direct to the Amazon website rather than use software like the Sony. Login to your account and go to the "Manage Your Kindle" page. Scroll down to the bottom and you will see a section called "Your Orders". In the right hand column you sill see a "Deliver to" drop-down similar to when you purchase books. These actions would be equivalent to how you would use the Sony software to login to your Sony account page and then go to your order history if you wanted to re-download a previous purchase.
The synopsis of my lengthy post is you have to shift your thinking to that of your Kindle communicating independently with the Amazon server. No special software required for communication. Just a web-browser or wireless connection is needed (or USB cable if no wireless is available).
BTW, I haven't seen any Kindles at Best Buy yet in my area. However, I have seen them in 2 nearby Targets. Hope you enjoy your new ereader! Since you already have a Sony, then I think it will not be too difficult for you to adjust to the Kindle.