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How to Read Kindle eBooks Without a Kindle

The Amazon Kindle is the bestselling eBook reader in the world. It’s also the bestselling item on Amazon.com. But did you know that you don’t need a Kindle e-reader to read Kindle eBooks?

Before I tell you about this, let me explain a few things. First of all, Kindles can read books in the Kindle, PDF, and a couple other formats. They cannot read books in other eBook reader formats. This is done intentionally in an attempt to prevent you from reading the competition’s eBooks. Amazon does not want you buying Barnes and Noble eBooks. They only want you to buy Amazon eBooks.

This is the same for Barnes and Noble and Apple and pretty much anybody that sells eBooks. Their e-readers will read the standard PDF format and some other formats not specific to anyone else’s e-reader. But nobody wants you buying the competition’s books

What I find amusing about this whole issue is the fact that you don’t even need an e-reader to read these eBooks. Amazon tries so hard to keep you from buying the competition’s books. They also try hard to keep you from reading your Kindle eBooks on anyone else’s e-reader. They do this by publishing their eBooks in proprietary formats that only their devices can read.

But then what do they do? They turn around and write an app (software program) called the Kindle App, that can run on any device except the competition. This Kindle application can run your Kindle books on your computer, smart phone, tablet, iPad, or any other device; just as long as it’s not the competition’s device.

What does this mean to you? It means that if you don’t want to buy a Kindle, or just don’t want to buy one now, you don’t have to. You can buy all the eBooks you want from Amazon without laying out the cash for the Kindle. This is very handy if you don’t like the current model of Kindle or you have some other device that will work already.

Personally, I’m waiting for a color Kindle. Not like the Nook with the color LCD screen. I mean one that uses color e-paper, just like the current Kindle uses black and white e-paper. Color e-paper has been invented and works, it’s just not in production for low priced consumer models yet. Anyway, back to the point at hand.

Now here’s another thing you might not have known. Pretty much everybody else has an App too. So if you have some Barnes and Noble eBooks, you don’t need a Nook to read them. You can download the Barnes and Noble app and read those books anywhere you want. Except of course, on the competition’s e-reader.

I have an iPad as my eBook reader. Prior to buying it, I tested the Kindle and the Nook. I purchased eBooks for both of them. Now I have the Kindle and the Nook apps on my iPad so I can read all my eBooks regardless of where they came from.

Now here’s my last treat for you. Did you know that you not only don’t need to spend money on a Kindle, there’s a good chance you don’t even need to spend any on the books! I’m not suggesting theft, piracy, or anything illegal here. The truth is, there are millions of free eBooks.

The last official count I was able to find was in 2008 when there were over 1.8 million free eBooks. These were not all Kindle books but the total of all free eBooks available online. There are many free eBooks available offline too. Like at your public library. Many e-readers have the ability to read the format used at public libraries.

According to Amazon, there are over 950,000 free kindle items just on their site. This includes books, magazines, newspapers, and blogs. That’s enough to keep you busy for a long time! Many of the free eBooks on Amazon are publications in which the copyrights have run out. This makes them public domain works which is why Amazon can give them away for free.

Another source of free, public domain books is Project Gutenberg. They have over 36,000 free eBooks. These are old classics that were originally published by reputable publishers. Since the copyrights have run out, they have been able to scan the original books and offer them online. They offer their books in many different formats so you can use just about any e-reader you want. You can visit their website by clicking here.

Going back to Amazon for a moment, I should mention one more thing. Amazon’s free eBooks are not just limited to public domain works. They constantly have specials where they offer books by today’s authors for free. For example, I wanted to purchase Steven Pressfield’s book “Do the Work.”

When I arrived at Amazon I was surprised to see that the Kindle Edition was actually free. The hardcover edition was around $13.00. As of this writing, they are both around $6.00. So if you visit Amazon fairly often and watch closely, you could accumulate quite a library for not much money

So there you have it! Now you can have an entire eBook library without having to spend a dime on an e-reader. Or, in the case of this article, an entire Kindle library without having to own a Kindle

If you enjoyed this article or have additional information to add, please feel free to leave a comment. If you’d like tips on using your computer better and making it run faster, click here to get instant access to our free video e-course on how to turbo-charge your computer. In about an hour you’ll be able to tune up your computer like the pros and do it for free! You can also share it with your friends and then YOU can be the expert!

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About Robert Seth

Robert Seth is a CPA in the Clark County, Washington area who has been serving individual and small business clients for the last 25 years. His business includes a growing number of remotely serviced customers throughout the United States. He’s also a writer and technology expert. He has a passion for improving the lives of others by helping them simplify the complicated stuff in their lives.

iPad vs Other e-Readers, the Verdict

In relating all the details of my Apple vs PC series, I almost forgot to tell you all about the result of my e-reader search. I actually bought several, and brought them back, as well as tried a few more that I never bought.

In the end I decided on the iPad. This device was so superior and had so many more features than anything else, it became a very easy decision.

One of the most important deciding factors was the size. I like to read a variety of things and when it came to magazines and newspapers, the other e-readers just made the experience too unpleasant. Maybe this would not be an issue for someone with younger eyes, but for me there was no question.

Another very important factor was the LCD screen. I do a great deal of my reading at night and I liked the idea of being able to read without adding any extra light to the situation. This brings up another thing that has turned out to be fantastic for me.

I tend to come up with most of my creative ideas at night; usually while sleeping. I’ll wake up at 3am with this great idea that needs to be written down or it will be gone from my mind in a matter of seconds.

In the past, I either didn’t bother writing it down, or rudely woke up my wife by turning on a light so I could jot down my idea. Now I can just reach over to the night stand, tap one button and the iPad is instantly ready for input. Tap the “Notes” icon and up comes an electronic version of a yellow legal pad. Tap anywhere on the pad and up comes an extremely easy to use keyboard to quickly enter the idea.

I have the iPad housed in a thin case that opens up like a book. Since you can rotate the iPad in any direction and the screen will stay upright, I can position the cover of the case so the light does not bother my wife. Also, the iPad screen can be dimmed down quite low.

I also chose the iPad because of it’s functionality in other areas. In this high-tech age we live in, you can really get carried away carrying around lots of gadgets. The iPad combines so many of them that not much else is needed.

It has an amazing calendar, email, notes, calculator, and the Safari web browser. Then there’s the GPS with extremely fast response time and very detailed, high-resolution maps. And finally there’s iTunes, a headphone jack, decent sounding speaker, apps for Nook and Kindle books, it’s own iBook reader, and apps for just about anything else you could want. I have Sudoku, Scrabble, and Chess and they all look and work great.

Combine all that with 10 hours of battery life (for continuous use) and you have a really nice device. 10 hours may not seem like much compared to the days and weeks of e-ink readers, but I find that I only need to charge it about once a week.

Even though I leave it on all the time, when the screen turns off the battery life is greatly extended. So if you’re using it like a Daytimer and organizer and not using it constantly all day long, I suspect one charge could last 3 or 4 weeks.

There are some additional technical reason I chose the iPad but I’ll get into those in a later post.

So now it’s your turn! If you’ve got an e-reader already, which one did you get? If not, which one do YOU think is the best? Please leave a comment and also click the “Like” button in the Facebook box in the left margin if you enjoyed the article.

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Kindle vs Nook – Do All Books Cost $9.99?

Is there a difference in the cost of books between Kindle and Nook? Do all books cost around $9.99? In my search for the perfect e-reader, I decided to answer this question once and for all. I started by checking a bunch of identical titles on Barnes & Noble.com, Amazon.com, and Apple.com. I then verified my findings with owners of the various products and some sales people. What I found was surprising.

First of all, I found that most sales people had no idea what the answer to this question was. Almost all of them thought there was no difference in price. What got me thinking about this was a comment that a passing customer made to me in Best Buy while I was doing research for the review. While looking over e-readers she said that I should buy the Kindle because the Nook book prices were higher. I really found the comment puzzling because I had thought everybody's prices would be the same. Especially since no price advantages are ever mentioned in any advertising. I would think if one was lower than the others this would be mentioned as a selling point.

What I found is there can be big price differences between the three services. The greatest differences seemed to be with specialty items like technical books. For example, the most significant price difference I found was on a book called "Professional WordPress – Design and Development." It was nearly $9.00 more on Barnes & Noble than on Amazon. It was not available in the Apple Store. Most books varied by a dollar or two with Amazon being almost always the lowest. For main stream books like popular novels and New York Times Best Sellers, Amazon's price was generally around a dollar less than the other two services.

I was unable to find an instance when Amazon was more than the other two. However, it would be nearly impossible for one person to check out all the offerings available on all the services. I did however manage to find a couple of sales people that were aware of pricing differences. They said that it depends on the type of the book in question. Each service seems to specialize in certain types of books. I was told for example, that Amazon would generally have lower prices on technical books. Another very important consideration in my opinion is that all books are not available on all services. I found some books on Barnes & Noble that served a specialty programming niche but were not available on the other services. So tying yourself to one service could cause you to miss out on some good offerings.

The moral of the story is to check for yourself. If you haven't purchased an e-reader yet and your library focuses on a certain type of book, you might want to see who's got the best prices. If your library is more varied (like mine) you might want an e-reader that is not tied to just one service. I tested all the leading e-readers and settled on the iPad for just that reason; it can download books from all the services. This allows me to find the best price regardless of where it's from and have every possible title available.

In summary, all books do not cost $9.99. The prices vary all over the place, just like in the bookstore. Also, just like in bookstores, the prices can be very different between competing services.

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Kindle vs. Nook

This Kindle vs. Nook comparison boils down to five main questions that you need to ask yourself before making a purchase.

1. How much money do you want to spend?

The Amazon Kindle 3G costs – $139.00 – $379.00

The Barnes & Noble Nook Costs – $149.00 – $199.00

2. How large do you want your screen to be?

Kinde has a few options for you to choose from:
6 Inches (Price – $139.00)
6 (3G model) comes with free 3G + WiFi (Price – $189.00)
9.7 inches (DX Model) comes with free 3G and works globally (Price – $379.00)

Nook
Both versions of the Barnes & Noble Nook have a 6′ diagonal display screen size

3. What’s your screen preference? Backlit or e-ink?

Kindle
With the Kindle you can read anywhere including outside in full sunlight because it has a high contrast e-ink screen which is awesome.

Nook
The Nook also has an e-ink screen.

4. Do you want to have access to 3G wireless networks when using your e-reader?

Kindle
With the $139.00 model you can download Kindle books in seconds and also browse the web wherever you can get a WiFi signal using the Kindle browser.

The Kindle 3G model offers free 3G + WiFi and the Kindle Dx also offers free 3G plus it works globally.

Nook
The $149.99 model doesn’t offer 3G Wireless but it does give you the ability to access WiFi at any AT&T hotspot plus you can also access WiFi for free at any Barnes & Noble location.

The $199.00 model does offer 3G Wireless through AT&T and you can also access WiFi everywhere else including AT&T hotspots plus Barnes and Noble locations.

5. Do you want to be able to access your books or data on other wireless devices.

Kindle
With the Kindle you can read your books anywhere and even access them on other devices like iphone, ipad, mac, pc, android phone or blackberry. It also has whispersync technology that syncs your place across devices so you never forget where you left off. Your books are also backed up online with your Kindle account so you never have to worry about loosing your data.

Nook
The Nook offers the same functionality and lets you share your books on other devices like the ipad, iphone, mac, pc and android phone. At this time the Nook doesn’t offer any synchronized last page read technology like Kindle but on the Nook website it says ‘coming soon’ so that could change any day…

Cool features comparison:

Text To Speech Reader
Kindle – Yes
Nook – No

Twitter & Facebook Integration (enables you to quickly share passages with friends online)
Kindle – Yes
Nook – No

Storage Capacity
Kindle – Holds up to 3,500 books
Nook – Holds up to 1,500 books

Battery Life
Kindle – Lasts up to one month with wireless turned off
Nook – Lasts up to 10 days with wireless turned off

Free books
Kindle offers over 1.8 million out of copyright pre 1923 books for you to download so if you’re in the mood for reading a classic book during your day at the beach this is cool

Nook offers more than 500,000 free ebooks.

Low book prices
Kindle – Many books start at $9.99 or less including best sellers
Nook – Same.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jeremy_Raglin

Commentary:
Earlier this year I was thinking about getting one of these and came across this concise and well-written article from EzineArticles.com. In my travels during the 2010 Holiday season between Portland, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, I had an opportunity to chat with an Amazon Kindle user who absolutely loved it. She especially enjoyed being able to subscribe to various newspapers at such a low cost. I was very impressed how even the photos came across beautifully on her e-reader. I think either the Amazon Kindle or the Barnes & Noble Nook would make a great technology gift.

Robert Seth