New to Kindle 3, advice on whispernet privacy and my old ebook library

babyd · 08-04-2010, 03:57 AM

Hi Guys, very new to the Kindle having previously owned Sony readers only and have lots of ebooks already, was hoping to add them to my kindle, but maybe not now???

I am guessing that it would be best not to put my old library of ebooks on my kindle. These were bought by me but I would be required to change their file format for the kindle, this requires the drm removal and file format shift. The whole whispernet thing appears to say that they can see and record everything on my kindle so these books should not be there as they were not bought from amazon and have no drm................am I right in thinking this?

This changes my position quite a lot, as I wanted to load all my previous books on the kindle but it seems this may not be advisable as I could get into trouble? Not sure what the position is here in the UK but I presume removing drm and format shifting is illegal and best not to do that and have them on my kindle, even if I bought the books in another format......wow, what woul they do of you were to put on darknet books? Scary stuff , or have I got the wrong idea about kindle and whispernet?

So am I right in thinking that if you own a kindle and use whispernet, you can only legally and safely read books bought from amazon, or drm free books that are already available and not ones you removed the drm from?

ski_power · 08-04-2010, 05:15 AM

I don't know but I've always wondered if you convert your books to .MOBI and add them to the Kindle4PC app then you might be able to sync those books as well, and I'm sure all of it is legal.

I don't think you need to worry, since they ARE your books. Just grab hold of a converter and you'll be reading before it's September 4th (

) I don't know about UK laws but hey its YOUR book and you do as you damn well please by removing the DRM

thinkpad · 08-04-2010, 05:23 AM

Just turn off the Wireless if you feel it invades your privacy. As for Amazon, sure they might check which book you have on the device but that's about it. They have no way of knowing how you obtained the books on your device unless there's some hidden meta-data in each book which I doubt very much.

tovare · 08-04-2010, 05:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by babyd

.... So am I right in thinking that if you own a kindle and use whispernet, you can only legally and safely read books bought from amazon, or drm free books that are already available and not ones you removed the drm from?

I'm not sure about the United Kingdom, but in many countries like USA (Recent) and Norway removing DRM on legally purchased books for the purpose of interoperability is fair use and completely legal.

For the U.S. reference:

http://www.eff.org/press/archives/2010/07/26

shanghaichica · 08-04-2010, 06:05 AM

So am I right in thinking that even my non protected PDFs could not be put onto my kindle?? And I couldn't convert my non protected LRF files to mobi and then put them on there aswell??

I'm not talking about removing any DRM or anything, these files were never protected. Can we really only put books on there that we have bought from Amazon?? I don't want to get into any trouble.

tovare · 08-04-2010, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanghaichica

So am I right in thinking that even my non protected PDFs could not be put onto my kindle?? And I couldn't convert my non protected LRF files to mobi and then put them on there aswell??

I'm not talking about removing any DRM or anything, these files were never protected. Can we really only put books on there that we have bought from Amazon?? I don't want to get into any trouble.

You can put anything on your Kindle if it's in a supported format.

Kindle (AZW), TXT, PDF, Audible (Audible Enhanced (AA, AAX)), MP3, unprotected MOBI, PRC natively; HTML, DOC, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP through conversion.

In addition there are tools where you can convert other formats into one of the supported ones.

Calibre will convert LRF and Mobi for you.

djgreedo · 08-04-2010, 06:17 AM

Yes, you can put whatever DRM-free content you like on your Kinlde (as long as the Kindle supports the format).

Amazon has no say in what you put on your Kindle. Amazon does not check the files on your Kindle and/or take any action based on that. Whispernet is for syncing Amazon-purchased books and will not affect your other books in any way.

The Kindle has a rather limited range of supported formats though. Basically PDF and MOBI. Files not bought from Amazon will only work if they are DRM-free, which is easy to achieve (and in most places legal assuming you acquired the file legally in the first place).

babyd · 08-04-2010, 06:19 AM

Thanks guys. Not really sure what to do then. I would like to convert my existing books I bought legally, but it involves stripping the DRM and changing format......

I am not worried about Amazon and privacy as such, as I have shopped there for years so they know pretty much everything about my reading and shopping habits anyway, I am just concerned about getting into trouble for stripping DRM from books I bought legally from elsewhere. I also realise that it is probably not wise to put any darknet ones on there as that would raise alarms....

I think I read somewhere that they can only back up and sync bookmarks, annotations and notes to your account from books you buy from them, which implies they don't collect info on other ebooks on your reader. Is this true, or do they record all of them anyway, but can only sync theirs?

Honestly, I am not concerned about the privacy aspect, just what they do collect about my other books and if its best not to put others on there, unless they are bought drm free. Last thing I want is to load my kindle then get into trouble for stripping and converting books..............

My sensible head says Amazon don't care about any but their own books, but just wondering if they see the rest and feel obliged to report DRM stripped ones (highly unlikely)

Wow this Kindle gets complicated LOL I do wish to make use of Whispernet, my main reason for getting the Kindle is the ease of buying and downloading books. Just don;t want to do anything bad and get in trouble, best to check first

Does anyone know the legality of drm stripping of purchased books in the UK?

ski_power · 08-04-2010, 06:20 AM

ok, I might get flagged for this post BUT the Kindle does not care if your ebooks are legal or illegal as long as:
A.

1. it's DRM free
2. it's in one of the formats mentioned in post #6

OR

B.
1. it's bought from Amazon

babyd · 08-04-2010, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ski_power

ok, I might get flagged for this post BUT the Kindle does not care if your ebooks are legal or illegal as long as:
A.

1. it's DRM free
2. it's in one of the formats mentioned in post #6

OR

B.
1. it's bought from Amazon

I guess that is what I was getting at. I don't want to end up in trouble and if I had to put on there only Amazon purchased books I would but it restricts the use of the Kindle and would stop me buying one for my Family members as we wanted share my book collection..... hence why I am asking about if I can do so without trouble.

ski_power · 08-04-2010, 06:24 AM

Also, like I mentioned in my first post on this thread, I think if you added your books to the K4PC library it MIGHT sync with the Kindle. I donot know about it though.

suecsi · 08-04-2010, 07:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ski_power

Also, like I mentioned in my first post on this thread, I think if you added your books to the K4PC library it MIGHT sync with the Kindle. I donot know about it though.

Books added to the K4PC library that were not bought from Amazon (i.e. books bought elsewhere and converted to MOBI by whatever means) will not synchronise with the Kindle. You would have to maintain a bookmark manually.

Only books bought from Amazon - whether on the Kindle Device or on IPhone, PC, Mac, Android etc - will synchronise.

K4PC is a perfectly acceptable MOBI reader but the focus, covered in other threads, of Amazon is to try and get you to buy their books where possible as that is the USP of the Kindle - one stop shopping even without a PC involved.

shanghaichica · 08-04-2010, 07:32 AM

Thanks for the replies.

I have just one more question. To add books which were not bought from amazon to the kindle do we have to use the email service or can we drag and drop them into the device folder when the kindle is connected to our pc via
USB??

Or would we be able to use calibre to transfer books to the kindle???

ski_power · 08-04-2010, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by suecsi

Books added to the K4PC library that were not bought from Amazon (i.e. books bought elsewhere and converted to MOBI by whatever means) will not synchronise with the Kindle. You would have to maintain a bookmark manually.

Only books bought from Amazon - whether on the Kindle Device or on IPhone, PC, Mac, Android etc - will synchronise.

K4PC is a perfectly acceptable MOBI reader but the focus, covered in other threads, of Amazon is to try and get you to buy their books where possible as that is the USP of the Kindle - one stop shopping even without a PC involved.

My bad then. Fair enough, Amazon is in the book selling business after all.

Quote:

Originally Posted by shanghaichica

Thanks for the replies.

I have just one more question. To add books which were not bought from amazon to the kindle do we have to use the email service or can we drag and drop them into the device folder when the kindle is connected to our pc via
USB??

Or would we be able to use calibre to transfer books to the kindle???

Yes, you can drag drop books directly onto your Kindle IF they are already in one of the above formats mentioned in Post #6. Else You will have to convert to one of those formats and then Drag and drop.

suecsi · 08-04-2010, 07:48 AM

As the previous post, you can drag and drop or you can use Calibre as well to send to device for a Kindle (my preference). If the format you have is not one Kindle recognises, i.e. EPUB, Calibre will offer to do the conversion for you, then it sends the MOBI file.

If you have already done the conversion and have two copies, 1 EPUB and 1 MOBI, Calibre will either just send the MOBI, or will prompt you to pick the format to send (there is a setting in preferences somewhere I think).

08-04-2010, 03:57 AM	#1
babyd Addict Posts: 384 Karma: 1567 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: UK Device: Sony:505, 600, 350, 650, Kindle 3 & PW, Kobo Mini & Aura HD	New to Kindle 3, advice on whispernet privacy and my old ebook library Hi Guys, very new to the Kindle having previously owned Sony readers only and have lots of ebooks already, was hoping to add them to my kindle, but maybe not now??? I am guessing that it would be best not to put my old library of ebooks on my kindle. These were bought by me but I would be required to change their file format for the kindle, this requires the drm removal and file format shift. The whole whispernet thing appears to say that they can see and record everything on my kindle so these books should not be there as they were not bought from amazon and have no drm................am I right in thinking this? This changes my position quite a lot, as I wanted to load all my previous books on the kindle but it seems this may not be advisable as I could get into trouble? Not sure what the position is here in the UK but I presume removing drm and format shifting is illegal and best not to do that and have them on my kindle, even if I bought the books in another format......wow, what woul they do of you were to put on darknet books? Scary stuff , or have I got the wrong idea about kindle and whispernet? So am I right in thinking that if you own a kindle and use whispernet, you can only legally and safely read books bought from amazon, or drm free books that are already available and not ones you removed the drm from?

08-04-2010, 05:15 AM	#2
ski_power Book eater Posts: 181 Karma: 2068 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kindle 3 G 3G (<-lol)	I don't know but I've always wondered if you convert your books to .MOBI and add them to the Kindle4PC app then you might be able to sync those books as well, and I'm sure all of it is legal. I don't think you need to worry, since they ARE your books. Just grab hold of a converter and you'll be reading before it's September 4th () I don't know about UK laws but hey its YOUR book and you do as you damn well please by removing the DRM

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08-04-2010, 05:23 AM	#3
thinkpad David Posts: 1,808 Karma: 8916183 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Norway Device: Kindle, E.Edge (sold), Irex Iliad (retired)	Just turn off the Wireless if you feel it invades your privacy. As for Amazon, sure they might check which book you have on the device but that's about it. They have no way of knowing how you obtained the books on your device unless there's some hidden meta-data in each book which I doubt very much.

08-04-2010, 06:05 AM	#5
shanghaichica Guru Posts: 991 Karma: 5782970 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Scribe,Kindle Oasis 3, iPad Pro 11,15 Pro Max,iPad mini 7,colorsoft	So am I right in thinking that even my non protected PDFs could not be put onto my kindle?? And I couldn't convert my non protected LRF files to mobi and then put them on there aswell?? I'm not talking about removing any DRM or anything, these files were never protected. Can we really only put books on there that we have bought from Amazon?? I don't want to get into any trouble.

08-04-2010, 06:17 AM	#7
djgreedo Addict Posts: 285 Karma: 640696 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Perth, Australia Device: Kindle Touch 3G, HP Touchpad (Android), Samsung Omnia 7	Yes, you can put whatever DRM-free content you like on your Kinlde (as long as the Kindle supports the format). Amazon has no say in what you put on your Kindle. Amazon does not check the files on your Kindle and/or take any action based on that. Whispernet is for syncing Amazon-purchased books and will not affect your other books in any way. The Kindle has a rather limited range of supported formats though. Basically PDF and MOBI. Files not bought from Amazon will only work if they are DRM-free, which is easy to achieve (and in most places legal assuming you acquired the file legally in the first place).

08-04-2010, 06:19 AM	#8
babyd Addict Posts: 384 Karma: 1567 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: UK Device: Sony:505, 600, 350, 650, Kindle 3 & PW, Kobo Mini & Aura HD	Thanks guys. Not really sure what to do then. I would like to convert my existing books I bought legally, but it involves stripping the DRM and changing format...... I am not worried about Amazon and privacy as such, as I have shopped there for years so they know pretty much everything about my reading and shopping habits anyway, I am just concerned about getting into trouble for stripping DRM from books I bought legally from elsewhere. I also realise that it is probably not wise to put any darknet ones on there as that would raise alarms.... I think I read somewhere that they can only back up and sync bookmarks, annotations and notes to your account from books you buy from them, which implies they don't collect info on other ebooks on your reader. Is this true, or do they record all of them anyway, but can only sync theirs? Honestly, I am not concerned about the privacy aspect, just what they do collect about my other books and if its best not to put others on there, unless they are bought drm free. Last thing I want is to load my kindle then get into trouble for stripping and converting books.............. My sensible head says Amazon don't care about any but their own books, but just wondering if they see the rest and feel obliged to report DRM stripped ones (highly unlikely) Wow this Kindle gets complicated LOL I do wish to make use of Whispernet, my main reason for getting the Kindle is the ease of buying and downloading books. Just don;t want to do anything bad and get in trouble, best to check first Does anyone know the legality of drm stripping of purchased books in the UK?

08-04-2010, 06:20 AM	#9
ski_power Book eater Posts: 181 Karma: 2068 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kindle 3 G 3G (<-lol)	ok, I might get flagged for this post BUT the Kindle does not care if your ebooks are legal or illegal as long as: A. 1. it's DRM free 2. it's in one of the formats mentioned in post #6 OR B. 1. it's bought from Amazon

08-04-2010, 06:24 AM	#11
ski_power Book eater Posts: 181 Karma: 2068 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Kindle 3 G 3G (<-lol)	Also, like I mentioned in my first post on this thread, I think if you added your books to the K4PC library it MIGHT sync with the Kindle. I donot know about it though.

08-04-2010, 07:32 AM	#13
shanghaichica Guru Posts: 991 Karma: 5782970 Join Date: Jul 2010 Device: Scribe,Kindle Oasis 3, iPad Pro 11,15 Pro Max,iPad mini 7,colorsoft	Thanks for the replies. I have just one more question. To add books which were not bought from amazon to the kindle do we have to use the email service or can we drag and drop them into the device folder when the kindle is connected to our pc via USB?? Or would we be able to use calibre to transfer books to the kindle???

08-04-2010, 07:48 AM	#15
suecsi Rock Chick Posts: 429 Karma: 4965 Join Date: May 2009 Location: near Heathrow Device: Kindle 2i, Kindle DX, Kindle 3G	As the previous post, you can drag and drop or you can use Calibre as well to send to device for a Kindle (my preference). If the format you have is not one Kindle recognises, i.e. EPUB, Calibre will offer to do the conversion for you, then it sends the MOBI file. If you have already done the conversion and have two copies, 1 EPUB and 1 MOBI, Calibre will either just send the MOBI, or will prompt you to pick the format to send (there is a setting in preferences somewhere I think).