Does anyone know if you can download ebooks from the library onto a Kindle?
My grandma got a Kindle for Christmas. She has low vision and wanted to be able to read more. My mom asked me what she should get her and I told Mom to get a Kindle. I didn’t know much about them or do much research, I had just heard the name. Well, after I was put in charge of purchasing and loading the books on the Kindle, I fell in love with it. I did more research and bought myself a nook on Friday. I like it better because I can lend books, buy books from other sites, etc.
Our local library offers ebooks. Is there any hope for my Grandma and her Kindle? Or should we put the damn thing on Craigslist and buy her a nook?
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9 Answers
Buying a Nook wouldn’t change anything. All ereaders like their specific formats. For Kindle, it’s .azw (which most from Amazon.com are, and is simply .mobi with DRM all over it), .tpz, .mobi, .prc, and .pdf. If your local library offers them in one of those formats (probably .pdf, although it might have .mobi or .prc) then you’re good to go. If not, then you’re SOL – but you’d have the same problem with a Nook.
Some libraries do have set ups for the Kindle, so you would just need to check with local libraries to see what they offer.
It all depends on the library. The Toronto library offers books for download in all kinds of formats, but the one in my hometown doesn’t. You’d have to contact the library where your grandmother lives.
No, you can’t with a Kindle. You can with a Nook as long as it is in epub or .pdf format. That was the deciding factor when purchasing my Nook instead of a Kindle.
Check out Overdrive.com. They have a list of participating libraries throughout the country. There is also a link for compatible devices. (Kindle is listed under incompatible devices.)
A friend of mine just downloaded 40,000 SF and fantasy novels in a single torrent. He will literally never have to purchase a book for the rest of his life. Who needs to borrow a book at a time when you can get the contents of an entire library in one file and never have to worry about it again?
If they only have other formats – like epub – you may be able to convert it to a different format using Calibre unless it has DRM.
As the owner of the kindle, have to say @papayalily is right. Any of those formats work just fine. Not sure where you got your info, @Supacase, unless this was a while ago (my kindle is new from christmas). At the very least I have quite a few .pdfs on there now, and I have no reason to assume they’re lying about the other formats.
Our library does not support the Kindle. It does support the Nook though. My suggestion would be to get one of those cheaper versions (Cruz Velocity or Pandigital). They support many different formats as well as those from any library.
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