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catsittingstill · 12-28-2010, 10:34 AM

it says you can use your usb lead to order books off amazon,,i do have an account but when i connect to my laptop i get the message,,if you want to read or shop on kindle while continuin to chargeover usb,, keep usb attached buteject your kindle from your pc,,,

What that message means is that, when you first connect your Kindle to your computer, your computer treats it as a removable device, like a thumb drive or a flash drive. While it is treating your Kindle this way, you can use the computer to move files onto and off of the Kindle, which we refer to as "sideloading."

So to purchase books, just set the Kindle down at that point, purchase the books you want from Amazon (or elsewhere--the Kindle can read any .mobi file that doesn't have DRM so you can purchase books in this format from Baen or Smashwords or download free out-of-copyright books in this format from manybooks.net or Mobileread) and download them to your computer.

Then open the Kindle on the computer as though it were a flash drive or a removable hard drive. Find the "documents" folder on the Kindle. Drag your files over and drop them in the documents folder. When the computer is done copying them over, then eject your Kindle from the computer (right-clicking the Kindle's icon and picking "eject" from the context menu.)

"Ejecting" the Kindle in this way tells the computer to stop treating it like a removable drive and just ignore it. That means it won't alter the data on the Kindle (add any files or remove any files) until you physically unplug the Kindle and plug it back in again. This is a good thing because if you physically unplug the Kindle while the computer is altering a file on it, that file becomes "corrupted"--in other words it's broken--and corrupted files sometimes cause trouble with the Kindle.

In the meantime, the computer is ignoring the Kindle, but the Kindle can still get power via the USB connection, so you can charge it from your computer if that is more convenient than charging it from the wall plug. Plus while your computer is ignoring the Kindle, the Kindle is ignoring the computer, so you can use the Kindle to read.

I don't think you will be able to use the Kindle itself to shop unless there is a wifi router the Kindle can connect to.

12-28-2010, 10:34 AM	#8
catsittingstill Guru Posts: 643 Karma: 551634 Join Date: Dec 2007 Device: Kindle 1.0.8, iPod Touch, Kindle Keyboard	it says you can use your usb lead to order books off amazon,,i do have an account but when i connect to my laptop i get the message,,if you want to read or shop on kindle while continuin to chargeover usb,, keep usb attached buteject your kindle from your pc,,, What that message means is that, when you first connect your Kindle to your computer, your computer treats it as a removable device, like a thumb drive or a flash drive. While it is treating your Kindle this way, you can use the computer to move files onto and off of the Kindle, which we refer to as "sideloading." So to purchase books, just set the Kindle down at that point, purchase the books you want from Amazon (or elsewhere--the Kindle can read any .mobi file that doesn't have DRM so you can purchase books in this format from Baen or Smashwords or download free out-of-copyright books in this format from manybooks.net or Mobileread) and download them to your computer. Then open the Kindle on the computer as though it were a flash drive or a removable hard drive. Find the "documents" folder on the Kindle. Drag your files over and drop them in the documents folder. When the computer is done copying them over, then eject your Kindle from the computer (right-clicking the Kindle's icon and picking "eject" from the context menu.) "Ejecting" the Kindle in this way tells the computer to stop treating it like a removable drive and just ignore it. That means it won't alter the data on the Kindle (add any files or remove any files) until you physically unplug the Kindle and plug it back in again. This is a good thing because if you physically unplug the Kindle while the computer is altering a file on it, that file becomes "corrupted"--in other words it's broken--and corrupted files sometimes cause trouble with the Kindle. In the meantime, the computer is ignoring the Kindle, but the Kindle can still get power via the USB connection, so you can charge it from your computer if that is more convenient than charging it from the wall plug. Plus while your computer is ignoring the Kindle, the Kindle is ignoring the computer, so you can use the Kindle to read. I don't think you will be able to use the Kindle itself to shop unless there is a wifi router the Kindle can connect to.