Sideloading: Own content or "from somewhere else"

[Mort1997]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Well, yes, the point I was trying to make is that by default the default is/seems to be available hardware Kindles.

I did specifically mention switching the default so I would assume it was implicit that you could manually tell them to go elsewhere, being as I did say do.

I doubt many people have the patience to hit the selection dropdown every time they place an order so I thought I'd mention the idea of selecting a default device manually in MYK.

I didn't realise this was possible. How do you set the default? (Sorry if this obvious but I have been looking at the manage your content and device page on the UK site and I can't see it)

[Purple Lady]

Originally Posted by Mort1997

I didn't realise this was possible. How do you set the default? (Sorry if this obvious but I have been looking at the manage your content and device page on the UK site and I can't see it)

I just found it myself - on the manage your content and device page, choose your devices, then select the device you want to be default, then choose set as default device.

[BearMountainBooks]

So long as you're in the manage devices, this is also where you add your own email so that you can mail devices to your kindle. If the document is already in mobi (doesn't have to be converted) there is no charge to email books to yourself. I use this feature all the time to email review copies. You add the related email and then the kindle accepts the book. So if you have it set up right, you can email books you have converted to your kindle. (If you mail an epub or doc it will try to convert and it will charge you 15 to 25 cents.) --This part is not correct. The help says it won't charge for doc and apparently they still do not support epub. You have to convert the epub first and then mail it. Sorry for the confusion.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I just found it myself - on the manage your content and device page, choose your devices, then select the device you want to be default, then choose set as default device.

You can also rename them to something easier as well. For awhile I never set a default but named them to start with a 1, 2 or 3, so that 1 Kindle for PC (my preferred place to download to) always was on top. Either I missed that you could set a default, or they didn't always have a default option (more likely I missed it!).

There were many times I forgot to change the selected send-to choice, even though I knew about it.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Purple Lady

I didn't catch the fact that you could change your default until I read this post. All the got my attention.

So thanks! I do hit the selection dropdown every time I place an order, so this will really help.

You're welcome.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

You can also rename them to something easier as well. For awhile I never set a default but named them to start with a 1, 2 or 3, so that 1 Kindle for PC (my preferred place to download to) always was on top. Either I missed that you could set a default, or they didn't always have a default option (more likely I missed it!).

There were many times I forgot to change the selected send-to choice, even though I knew about it.

I am 99.9999999999999999% positive they just added it with the new 21st-century layout.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I did specifically mention switching the default so I would assume it was implicit that you could manually tell them to go elsewhere, being as I did say do.

to you, too. Please don't imply that people are idiots before checking your facts: there is no way to set the default on the Amazon UK site. Just because something is available to people in one country, doesn't mean it's available to everyone.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Mort1997

I didn't realise this was possible. How do you set the default? (Sorry if this obvious but I have been looking at the manage your content and device page on the UK site and I can't see it)

That's because it's not there. Used to be, but Amazon, in their wisdom, took it away about a year ago. The default is whatever the oldest device in your list of registered hardware Kindles is, so if you want to make a new Kindle the default, you can do so by unregistering all the older ones, and then re-registering them (at which point they'll go on the list after the new one). The device list shows all the hardware Kindles, in order of registration, and then all the apps, again in order of registration.

[crossi]

I've never downloaded from a pirate site, despite temptation for books not yet legitimately published as ebooks (ie most of David Eddings in the US). I just don't trust the sites for one thing as well as thinking it's just not acceptable. However I do buy from a variety of legitimate vendors. My main reason for removing DRM is to safeguard my investment and secondarily make it possible to keep my books if I change devices and thirdly to make it easy to organize my books (I don't need to keep track of where I bought them from).

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by mgmueller

I'd be interested to know:
When talking about "sideloading content": Does this mean downloading "from somewhere else" for you? Or does it mean, you've bought the content, but simply free it from DRM and use it on other hardware?

Multiple choices allowed = needed.

I sideload every book I have. I buy, strip DRM, and put on my various devices.

I don't download from "other locations" anymore since the ebooks became mainstream. Unless the publisher of that book simply refuses to acknowledge the fact that ebooks exist (yes, they still do exist). In that case, especially if I already own the paper version of that book, I might download it, if I can find it. And I've bought books I've already had a less-than-official version of, once I found out they were available.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

So long as you're in the manage devices, this is also where you add your own email so that you can mail devices to your kindle. If the document is already in mobi (doesn't have to be converted) there is no charge to email books to yourself. I use this feature all the time to email review copies. You add the related email and then the kindle accepts the book. So if you have it set up right, you can email books you have converted to your kindle. (If you mail an epub or doc it will try to convert and it will charge you 15 to 25 cents.)

When did they start charging to convert docs? I've emailed many documents to my kindle email in .doc format, and never been charged.

I've also never been able to send an epub - are you saying that you have done this before?

Shari

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by shalym

When did they start charging to convert docs? I've emailed many documents to my kindle email in .doc format, and never been charged.

I've also never been able to send an epub - are you saying that you have done this before?

Shari

Well, it's confusing. There are a lot of supported formats and then there are unsupported formats they will convert (supposedly):

http://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle/email

But I have not personally converted the PDF. I have also not tried epub. and I don't think they will convert it. It's possible to do, but they choose not to. I also know many people send the PDF and don't get charged for it. But there are help pages that say there "may" be a charge if conversion is necessary.

[BearMountainBooks]

And in looking at that list, apparently I was wrong. I thought they charged for docs. I think the person who sent the epub used Kingen first before emailing it (I had to ask husband as he was the one helping the relative). Sorry for the confusion.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

And in looking at that list, apparently I was wrong. I thought they charged for docs. I think the person who sent the epub used Kingen first before emailing it (I had to ask husband as he was the one helping the relative). Sorry for the confusion.

They charge for 3G delivery of personal docs (15c/MB, last time I looked). But that only applies if you download via 3G on a 3G Kindle; WiFi delivery is free.

[mgmueller]

Originally Posted by Xanthe

I realize that, but I was wondering why it was done that way, given the ambiguity of the wording of the questions and how some are interpreting them in regards to piracy. Why on earth should people put their names to a poll where their responses could be so easily misconstrued, to their detriment?

I only was -and am- interested in the piracy aspect.
That was my entire intention behind this poll.

There doesn't seem to be a distinct consensus about the meaning of "sideloading":
Does sideloading mean, circumventing the system, for example installing Google Play on a Kindle tablet?
Or does "sideloading" simply mean, transferring data from PC to mobile device via USB?
This ambiguity (which isn't mine, you simply find different definitions of "sideloading" online) alone already generates some confusion.

But, whatever the correct or most widely spread definition of sideloading ever might be, my simple assumption was:
Most pirates sideload. Depending on the definition described above, one even might say, by the very definition every single pirate has to sideload.
Of course, this doesn't mean that each sideloader is a pirate.
But how big is the ratio between the 2 groups?
(Obviously smaller in MR than in the none-enthusiast general public, but you have to start somewhere).

So, my idea behind the poll was, what kind of content mostly is sideloaded.

Of course I simply could have asked: How many of you have illegal content?
But for one, this wouldn't be allowed by the MR regulations. There are no legal consequences to fear, but still lots of users might have worried about giving a potentially incriminating answer.
And second of all, it wouldn't have linked to the sideloading aspect, that interests me.

So again, I could have asked: How many of you are sideloading illegal content?
But again: MR regulations and admitting to shady actions.

So I intentionally phrased it ambiguously.
Thus eliminating any risk or fear of legal consequences.
And giving the MR moderators enough room, to let it pass.

I thought, by first explicitly asking about buying stuff and then by putting "from somewhere else" as the alternative option in quotation marks, my intentions would be clear enough for a discussion, but at the same time ambiguous enough for the reasons described above.

Again:
"From somewhere else" can (and most of the time will) be totally legit.
But I wasn't interested in the whole picture of eBooks.
I was interested in the small fragment around sideloading.

By being ambiguous, the open poll shouldn't be a problem.
Of course, some users might lie to keep face and might have told the truth when being able to hide. But my guess would be, the impact of an open poll is another one: Less participants, because some will hesitate to give their real standpoint. But will some really go so far to still vote, but lie to appear differently?