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Just got a Kindle.

vwgub said:
As far as I know you aren't limited to 6 downloads. You are limited to having it registered to 6 devices at any one time.
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And that limit doesn't apply across the board. The publisher is the one who limits the number of devices for each book. It can be more (up to unlimited) or fewer depending on their whim. The usual is six devices for books which are still under copyright.
 
Howie Felterbush said:
Jeez, why would you need more than that? Are you downloading it to your refrigerator? Your toaster?

Download the thing to your Kindle and read it there. That's what it's for. :D

[/old man rant]
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I hope to have another 40-50 years of life. I'm pretty sure I'll burn through far more than 6 (or whatever limit whatever publisher chooses) downloads.

I could be wrong - I'm thinking about downloading everything when I get a new device, but if it is all instantly accessible via wireless, then perhaps I wouldn't do that. But really, I want my books digital for search access as much as anything. I remember something, and decide I want to reread a scene in what I *think* occurred in the Great Gatsby. So, I'd kind of need all my books accessible for that sort of thing.
 
vwgub said:
As far as I know you aren't limited to 6 downloads. You are limited to having it registered to 6 devices at any one time.
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According to this blog, there is an absolute # of downloads, if the publisher chooses, and most do.

However, further googling suggests the article and ones like it are wrong, and that the true limit is in fact 6 devices. I consider 6 devices more than reasonable.
 
I've never complemented a whole thread before but thanks’ everyone for all the great questions and answers! While I may have to wait till Christmas I’ll definitely be getting a Kindle sometime soon.
 
BenBurch said:
Works!
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This seems to work with other sites as well, such as feedbooks.com, the mobile version of which is http://m.feedbooks.com. Basically, anywhere you can find a direct link to a .mobi file, you can skip the whole e-mail/usb thing and just hit it in the Kindle browser and it will download directly. The Kindle knows what to do with the file. I find it easier, however, to do some preliminary searching on a PC and then use the Kindle to go directly to the book or search page.

A lot of the free ebook sites seem to provide the Gutenberg versions, but I've already found some that were reported as Gutenberg, but didn't show up in a search on the Gutenberg site. For example, I was looking for Algernon Blackwood stories and downloaded some from Gutenberg, but one that I knew about, "The Man Who Found Out," wasn't showing up. I found it on FeedBooks, but they listed the source as Gutenberg. So there you are.
 
roger said:
According to this blog, there is an absolute # of downloads, if the publisher chooses, and most do.

However, further googling suggests the article and ones like it are wrong, and that the true limit is in fact 6 devices. I consider 6 devices more than reasonable.
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Is it? How long does a Kindle last until it is replaced? Say 5 years. That means in 30 years time and 6 devices later you no longer can have the book. You can half that if you want the book on two devices.

Or can you backup your device and then restore it to a new device? In which case piracy can be an issue.
 
rjh01 said:
Is it? How long does a Kindle last until it is replaced? Say 5 years. That means in 30 years time and 6 devices later you no longer can have the book. You can half that if you want the book on two devices.

Or can you backup your device and then restore it to a new device? In which case piracy can be an issue.
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I think the idea is six devices simultaneuosly.

I'm posting this from my kindle. not sure why. except it is nice to be stretched out on my couch, only having to hold 8 oz instead of a laptop. But it is slow to do so.
 
This isn't a Kindle-specific question, but an ebook one.
My 8 year old eats books...so we tend to get him cheapo boxset compilations of stuff from the likes of The Book People. The books end up being in the region of £1 a copy.

Now, is there an ebook equivalent to these sets? The places I've nosed at over the weekend don't seem to have anything similar.
 
It's not quite what you're looking for, but once again, I'd like to point to Project Gutenberg. There are a lot of books with expired copyrights that are suitable for 8-year olds, and if your little one is a true bookworm, he'll love many of them.
 
Tolls said:
This isn't a Kindle-specific question, but an ebook one.
My 8 year old eats books...so we tend to get him cheapo boxset compilations of stuff from the likes of The Book People. The books end up being in the region of £1 a copy.

Now, is there an ebook equivalent to these sets? The places I've nosed at over the weekend don't seem to have anything similar.
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I know they have compilation volumes for some older authors. I've got Kindle bundles of between 5 and 10 novels for H. Beam Piper and Harry Harrison, that were pretty cheap, like less than $5.
 
Ta for that.
I know Gutenberg quite well, but I was thinking of newer things (like the stuff available at book people).

Then again, "remaindered" doesn't mean much in the digital world...:)
 
I had my first "Kindle moment" last night. You know how after you get a DVR you find yourself wanting to do an instant replay in real life? Well, I was reading a physical book, came to a word that I did not know, and thought to just move the cursor to the word so I could look it up. Doesn't work that way with physical books. The word remained unlookeduped.

I'm finding I really prefer the ebook format. Sure, having instant access to a library of books is nice, but being able to search, being able to look up words, being able to do a google search on a name or phrase, all with one little reader, is awesome.

I am taking advantage of the 2 month free subscription to the NYT. I thought I wouldn't like trying to read the newspaper on a ereader, but I do. The large format of a physical paper makes it easy to see several stories at once, but the way they have arranged viewing stories on the Kindle makes it almost as easy. And, with a physical paper you have to cumbersomely flip pages, something you don't do with the Kindle. And you never have to flip to page 7 to continue reading a front page story.

I had thought that there would be no reading advantage over the online version of the paper, but there is. Online you have to click all these different boxes, pull down tabs, etc. The interface is much cleaner on the ereader. I find that quite important, if your intent is to read, not entertain yourself. I find myself reading a lot more in depth on the ereader. The front pages on the online versions (of about any newspaper) just seem overly cluttered and "advertisingly". You know, "chat at 11 on the new supreme court decision" "Spears dates her dog" links. Trying to get you to click into the content. I hadn't realized how much that stuff influences my reading choices. In contrast, with the NYT, you have the list of sections (National, International, etc), and then you can flip from story to story within a section, or see a list of stories and summaries within each section. There is no attempt to highlight one story over another, beyond ordering. I like it. I focus on reading, not clicking around with a mouse.
 
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roger said:
I am taking advantage of the 2 month free subscription to the NYT.
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I assume from the rest of your post (good points, BTW! I may give the NYT a try on Kindle too) that you'll continue the subscription anyway, but you do know that the free trial is two weeks, right?
 
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