Shardlet he/him Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 So Brandon gave us a lovely announcement today that TFE, TWoK, and Warbreaker are now part of kindle matchbook. WooHoo, right? Not so fast. My books were purchased on a first account (mine) and our kindle is registered to another account (my daughter's). Which means, if I want to take advantage of this beautiful offer, I have three less than savory options: 1) I get the ebook and read it off of kindle cloud on my computer (not so much). 2) I get a second kindle and register it to the account which I have purchased my books on (also, not so much). 3) I get the ebooks and when I want to read them, un-register my kindle from its current account (my daughter's) and re-register it to mine. And if my daughter or anyone else wants to read books from my daughter's account simply reverse the process. I get that they don't want a single purchase being accessible on multiple accounts. Perfectly reasonable. What is stupid (perhaps even inane) is that there is no way to transfer an ebook out of one account and into another. With such an option the book in question is still only accessible to a single account and you get the added bonus of ebook ownership more closely resembling paper book ownership. Kindles have been around for a long time how is it that nobody at Amazon has figured out this idea which I came up with in a matter of minutes? If they are worried about ebooks being passed from person to person or resold (like is possible with a paper book, since, you know, you own it) why not at least make it possible to shift a kindle book from an account with no registered kindle device to one that does have a registered device. But no, my long purchasing history is virtually worthless for the purposes of matchbook. Thus ends my rant. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodfalcon he/him Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Shardlet, you seem like a very competent and able person, so I'm sure you have already looked into this, but some books are actually able to run on multiple/unlimited devices at once. I forget the process, but it is a permission that must be given by the publisher I believe and is different for certain books and series. Might be something to double check before you submit to one of those admittedly lacking options.Source: Earlier this year I had to set up a company-wide kindle account for all new employees to access training books. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurkistan he/him Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 (edited) Also, there's a great piece of freeware known as "calibre" that'll make your life so very much better. Assuming you own the kindle that an ebook is associated with, it'll let you strip off the DRM and just have a regular ebook file. Then you can just throw it onto any other e-reading device. It'll also allow you to manage metadata and Kindle Collections and whatnot, but that's all gravy on-top of stripping of the DRM, so far as I'm concerned. -Oh, you do need to grab some plugins to strip off the DRM, but they're free and legit and accessible within the program and whatnot. Edited October 30, 2013 by Kurkistan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodfalcon he/him Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Also, there's a great piece of freeware known as "calibre" that'll make your life so very much better. Assuming you own the kindle that an ebook is associated with, it'll let you strip off the DRM and just have a regular ebook file. Then you can just throw it onto any other e-reading device. It'll also allow you to manage metadata and Kindle Collections and whatnot, but that's all gravy on-top of stripping of the DRM, so far as I'm concerned. -Oh, you do need to grab some plugins to strip off the DRM, but they're free and legit and accessible within the program and whatnot. Yes, I LOVE Calibre. Went on an epic quest for a program like it for a long time and when I found it I just went wild. I don't suggest it often because some people do find that idea kind of sketchy. It's really fine, though. I use it to put all of my ebooks onto my itunes or MagicScroll (an addon to Chrome that kicks butt). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardlet he/him Posted October 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 (edited) I'm not interested in SOLUTIONS! I am only interested in complaining. Seriously though, @bloodfalcon2- The big thing is that I want to take advantage of Matchbook and get TWoK cheap. I have heard about universal formats (though I have not looked into them yet), but I can't imagine that they would be priced on par with discounted kindle books. Since I already own the hardcover, cost is king. It was amazing though, the support guy at Amazon actually suggested 3) as a solution. I was amazed that he didn't suggest that I buy a second kindle. @Kurk- Thanks for the link. I have heard about programs like Calibre. But, I heard that things didn't always come out the back end all nice and fluffy. Again though, I have not really looked into it. I am becoming rather tech un-savvy in my old age. I use a kindle because it was a gift to my daughter and I could get TES, Infinity Blade, Legion, etc. far cheaper than the hardcovers (as much as I love Brandon's stuff, $18 for a novella is a hard pill for me to swallow). I also have noe substantial need for a tablet or a smartphone, so consequently I have neither. I tell people I have a stupid phone (it doesn't even have a camera). Edited October 30, 2013 by Shardlet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurkistan he/him Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 @bloodfalcon Yes, Calibre is awesome. @Shardlet Calibre is awesome. Right hand to tWoK, Calibre would work perfectly for what you need. All it'll do is take in the Amazon-version and spit out a DRM-free copy of it, in the same format and everything. There are also a number of tutorials that make it quite simple. Give not into the un-savviness! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardlet he/him Posted October 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 And now I shall reveal the bare naked truth of my ignorance: Once having applied Calibre, how would I then load the book onto my kindle? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kurkistan he/him Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 Just hook your kindle up to the computer, Calibre will notice it, then you can have Calibre send the book to your kindle. Alternatively, you could probably get away with copy-pasting the file directly into your kindle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shardlet he/him Posted October 30, 2013 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 (edited) Ah, thank you kind sir. I wasn't sure how drag-and-drop a kindle was. That is also nice that Calibre has that additional functionality. Edited October 30, 2013 by Shardlet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bloodfalcon he/him Posted October 30, 2013 Report Share Posted October 30, 2013 When I moved into my college dorm several years ago and didn't have room for my entire WoT collection, Calibre was my savior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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