Egypt4u

Hmm, interesting Horus, I didn't know you could actually get any other books on there except from Kindle. Hey, I live in Cornwall, pirating is a pre-requisite down here, but don't know where to go to do it

Like most things Phantom, the people selling them want to keep you in their clutches. However once you have purchased your device you own it and can put whatever you wish onto the device, which after all is only a piece of electronic kit capable of reading and displaying text type files.

I am not advocating that anyone should pirate copy write books, but there are legitimate pieces of software available that will translate one form of file into another. Put simply, you may own an ebook that you have purchased for use on another device or from a seller of ebooks, but it will only play on one particular device because of the file format that they have used, or some other files that make it playable only on that device. So by using special software it is possible to change the file to make it playable on for example a Kindle.

A good example would be if you owned an Apple Mac PC and someone sent you an ‘AVI file’ or a ‘Windows Media File’ as it most probably would not play on the MAC, but using software such as ‘QuickTime’ the file would be playable because it can convert the file format to one that is readable by the MAC.

Once you access your Kindle via your USB cable and the ‘My Computer’ option to select the drive, it just becomes another storage device that can be edited by adding or deleting files. If you were to look in the ‘Documents’ folder you will see all the books you have stored on your Kindle are there and shown as .Mobi files, this is the actual book, all the others are either Jpegs to display the book cover as a picture, or files that interface with the data base in your Kindle account. They are used to either put some additional information with the book such as page numbers etc. or to list other books by the same author, usually they are not necessary to be able to read the actual .Mobi file (the book).

So basically if you were to drop a particular file or files for a book into this Documents folder it should be readable on your Kindle device. You must not confuse this with accessing your official books purchased from Amazon that appear in your list under your account, these are Kindle books and work with their own interface, you can add from your library or delete books via that site, but it will not display books that have been added by the method I have described as they do not exist as far as they are concerned. So for anyone capable of accessing their Kindle as a drive on their PC, then adding a couple of files, they can read another book not purchased from Kindle. After reading it they just need to delete the files from their Kindle to get rid of the book again, but as it holds 1400 books even on the basic version they probably won’t bother.

If you feel confident enough to try it you can always PM me and I can send you a file to try for yourself to see if it works. Obviously it will be a book that is out of copywrite and free for me to use as a demonstration.

Thanks Horus, I'll give it a go over Christmas - pm winging its way as I type.

@H - how did Mrs H like her Kindle?

I think I may have her converted she did not get a lot of spare time over Christmas, but at the moment it always seems to me in her hands, I will report back in the New Year.

I predict that at the end of the first book she'll like it, by the end of reading the second book she is going to like it lots and be actively looking forward to reading book number three and by the end of the third read you'll never get it out of her hands, nor will Mrs. H ever want to go back to paper books!

Am positive Mrs. H is going to love it big time hands down!

I also bought her a nice cover for her Kindle and a little clip on LED reading light, which she uses. Awaiting a mains to Kindle charger to arrive as this will make it more independant of having to use a USB port on my PC, then she can charge it as and when required to suit herself. She has already downloaded the latest Lee Child novel from Amazon, so I suspect that is the next one to be read, unless she is saving it as a special read.

Sorry H - what are you waiting for? A "mains"? You mean a plug in to the wall? (And the Kindles there are sold without that being automatically included?)

My Kindle came, boxed with a USB to the computer and with another wire that I can plug it into the wall with. I bought the cover extra and later bought the clip on light extra (but found I didn't use it so gave it to my daughter).

I think your marketing is trying to squeak the proverbially penny for every item out of you.......it was all included in the base price here......that is like buying a car and then having to order the steering wheel and gas pedal as extra.

I agree LLL but that has always been the case, Amazon is typical of a lot of companies who see the UK as a place to make a quick buck and we usually get charged over the odds for similar goods to what you pay dollars for. So if something retails in the States at say $100 we get stuck with £100 and usually no option to buy from you direct. This also happens with latest version releases, they are often restricted so that we only get then around 6 months later. Amazon have been having a big push on Kindle sales and have been selling the basic Wi-Fi model (no keyboard model) for £89 sterling and for UK prices that is probably a loss leader to get the market share over Christmas, but for that price we only get the Kindle plus a USB lead, no big deal really as a charger from Amazon (none Kindle type) can be picked up for under £4 including delivery.

I think you are right there, Horus. I've had my kindle since November 2010. It retailed at £109 then but it is the model with keyboard and came with it's own charger. My daughter bought the one with 3G capability and that retailed at £159. I have no need to download on the move so mine suits me well. I also got a cover at the same time and my son bought me the flexilight this Christmas. The jury is out on the light as it seems to reflect in the screen and interfere with my reading. I think I may lose it discreetly but it came in very handy the other night when i dropped my car keys in the front yard and had to go looking in the driving rain

Just to say of course that there is still a keypad, but it is the virtual on screen type. It is awfully slow to use, a bit like texting on an old phone, but suitable enough for setting it up etc.

Morgita, if it is one of those flexie neck type lights, try moving it closer to the center of one side and pressing it down, then turning the light so that it shines across the screen from the side rather than from the top, this seems to cut down the reflected shine.

Ohhh sure - now that I've given my light away H you tell Morgita how to use it! I bought one a little after getting my Kindle but found I actually enjoyed the screen more without using the light. I'd also bought my daughter a Kindle and she talked about getting a light so since I wasn't using my light I mailed it to her. Have never really asked her if she is using it but she has come to 'love' her Kindle and has even found a website where you can download most any book you want.

She sent me the info on this but I'm not techie enough to figure out how to use the Kindle to download anything so have never used it. Was a great site and it let you download all sorts of new books etc. Wasn't too sure if it was totally 'legal' but ?

I'm another who bought the my good lady the smaller kindle, sure is a quality bit of kit, I have the kindle app on my iPad, but since it's backlite when it's sunny you might as well use it a sun hat , Mr H if you don't mind me asking where did you get your light for it

Happy New Year Ken
The one I got was this one from Amazon, dirt cheap at only £3.99 inc delivery.


It is a very bright LED light and it takes 3 AAA batteries and supposed to run for around 40 hours on a set. I have just put in a set of rechargeables that I had knocking around to see how they perfom, if they last OK and Mrs H uses it enough, I will probably buy some new ones as it will work out cheaper than normal batteries, so far they seem OK.