Kindle and library books

[tuixiu]

Has anyone noticed if you don't turn your wifi on then books you borrow from the library on your Kindle remain available to read past the due date? So you check out 10 which you get for two weeks, but since you can't finish reading them in that amount of time just leave it offline and take your time.

To take it a step further, if you transfer them via USB instead of wifi you can keep accumulating library books on your Kindle indefinitely. Nice way to build up a big stash of books to read for free.

I rationalize the moral side of this by noting I'm not affecting availability of the titles to others.

 

[KM]

Yup - except I have a Kindle FIRE and I find leaving it off wifi for more than a few days somewhat inconvenient, as I also use it for the internet now and then. So I generally don't borrow more than I can read at any given time. But I have been guilty of "taking it offline" so I could take a few extra days to finish reading a book.

As far as the USB download, I just found that out about a month ago - only because I noticed I still had a book I downloaded via USB months ago.....

 

[zinger1457]

To take it a step further, if you transfer them via USB instead of wifi you can keep accumulating library books on your Kindle indefinitely. Nice way to build up a big stash of books to read for free.

I had a similar 'feature' with the Kindle app on my Nook Color, but for wifi downloads. It was later fixed in an upgrade to the Kindle app for android. Enjoy it while you can!

 

[tuixiu]

Yup, that is one of my fears... a software upgrade will move the decision on whether a book is overdue from the connection with the mothership to the device itself.

Maybe also stay offline to avoid upgrades? Keep Kindle inside lead box?

 

[donheff]

To take it a step further, if you transfer them via USB instead of wifi you can keep accumulating library books on your Kindle indefinitely. Nice way to build up a big stash of books to read for free.

I rationalize the moral side of this by noting I'm not affecting availability of the titles to others.

Interesting. I decrypt all of my ePub library books with the Calibre plugin and sideload them to my Nook and iPad. I didn't realize you could simply sideload a Kindle version and achieve effectively the same result. Either way, I rationalize that it is nothing much more than the "time shifting" that the Supreme Court validated for tape recording songs from the radio. I recognize that I am standing on legal quicksand but as long as I am not posting these things for others to download I don't feel any moral qualms. If you follow the library requirements explicitly it is hard to insure that you can finish a book. You can't get an extension as you can with physical books, and you can't just keep it for a few extra days and pay a fine. I plan to keep time shifting.

 

[zinger1457]

Interesting. I decrypt all of my ePub library books with the Calibre plugin and sideload them to my Nook and iPad. I didn't realize you could simply sideload a Kindle version and achieve effectively the same result.

I believe the option to download Kindle books over USB only works for Kindle devices, doesn't work for my Nook.

 

[donheff]

I believe the option to download Kindle books over USB only works for Kindle devices, doesn't work for my Nook.

No, it wouldn't. Nooks don't work with Kindle files and vice versus. I was just a bit surprised that the downloaded Kindle file doesn't contain time limiting information in the file itself but relies on communication with the Amazon server to time it out. At the library I can choose between Kindle edition and ePub (which works with Nook and several other readers). I generally use ePubs because I don't have a Kindle. I have very occasionally found only a Kindle library version available and downloaded it to my Kindle app on a PC and then loaded the file to Calibre to decrypt and convert to ePub for reading on my Nook.

 

[ChiliPepr]

As a software developer I have a hard time violating the rules on electronically borrowing books. The publishers hope you do not finish in two weeks so you will have to buy the book. If everyone did that the publisher would never sell a book. At least with a physical copy of the book, the library needs to buy a copy before they lend it out to one person at a time...

 

[Mr. Paul]

I dunno. If a book doesn't interest me enough to read it in 2 or 3 days, I don't bother downloading it

 

[donheff]

I dunno. If a book doesn't interest me enough to read it in 2 or 3 days, I don't bother downloading it

My problem is that I get 2 or more regular books from the library every week. The ebooks are always on hold for a long time and then seem to show up when I have just started a physical book with two more waiting. But I always take my ereader on vacation - that is when I really want those ebooks.

 

[sailor]

You can't get an extension as you can with physical books, and you can't just keep it for a few extra days and pay a fine. I plan to keep time shifting.

Overdrive (major library eBook provider) now allows extensions. Typically the option is available few days before expiration if the book is not requested.

 

[tuixiu]

But I always take my ereader on vacation - that is when I really want those ebooks.

Exactly... when travel for work or business is when I want to be loaded up. I consume mucho pages when on the road, either form being on cross-country flight with nothing else to do or being stuck in a hotel every night.