Thanks for the tip Al! Seems very convenient, too bad I can't use it on 2+2 threads that span over multiple pages. Anyway I think it will be quite useful for articles, much more fun to read on a Kindle too.

Am I being dull in not knowing how this works? It seems to just store urls, but you'd want text for the Kindle?

DTD - Instapaper saves a re-formatted, text version of the article you're reading online, and can send it to your Kindle, or the Instapaper app on your Android/iOS device. In fact, I will often save a multi-page article to Instapaper because the re-formatting is usually much cleaner than reading in a browser (hence a more pleasant experience reading a long article on Kindle/iPad, or wherever you may have Instapaper).

.pdf Question - what is the most efficient way to handle .pdf files for Kindle use? I just e-mail the file(s) to my [email protected] account.... seems to work fine.

Salman,

Emailing PDFs seems to be the most efficient method of transferring PDF documents. Here's a pro tip: if you type "Convert" into the subject line of said email, Whispernet will automatically convert it into Kindle format.

-Sal

Thanks, much appreciated, Sal!

Thanks Salman. I was trying before to see a text file somewhere as I thought there was an Amazon charge for sending, but I notice it's free for wireless (and prob not much anyway I guess).

Just sent a few wiki articles to test it - wow, what a ****ing amazing tool this is. Now I can read about Leon Trotsky at my leisure!

what are yall doing with the old books? itd be nice to be able to import the old books into ur kindle. i am somewhat attached to my old books but if i can import them into my kindle account id be more than happy to donate them to the library

also, anyone read books in chinese by any chance? i dont see any options available for chinese books which is a bummer

Im new to the kindle, got one for the wife, how does the free.kindle.com email work?
i dont see a "username" anywhere in my account other than my actual name or email address i log in with.

It should show under your Kindle settings if you log onto Amazon. Mine is the first part of my Amazon email address with @kindle.com after it (it may not show the @free.kindle.com but adding the free bit works when I have tried).

By old books do you mean paper books? There won't be any reasonable way to import them, I'm afraid.

We just recently boxed up a ton of them and gave them to various family members, and they are taking the ones they don't want to a used book store to trade in for credit.

It was somewhat liberating to get rid of hundreds of pounds of baggage like that.

Ha! I just ordered the wifi one and i cant wait until the weekend to do this! I will probably donate all of the books away or put it on half.com.

Also in case anyone cares I found a website where you can download pdf's of Chinese books. Not as optimal as eBook texts but good nonetheless

Ah ok, here is a little trick we discovered, maybe i saw it in this thread somewhere.
Daughter had a kindle first, it was her idea that Mom would like one, so i bought one for her on my amazon account, it came registered to my account, i unregistered it and re registered it to daughters amazon account.( with her permission of course).
So now any purchase made on that account gets sent to both kindles.
If we make a purchase, we reimburse her or use an amazon gift card, yet both have the luxury of being able to read what the other purchased.

Ill have to find out what the @free.kindle.com account is on that account.

My Kindle empire is up to 3 users right now, but we will probably end up with 6 before we're done. It's totally allowed under their policies too. The only restrictions are per-book. Each book has a maximum number of devices it can be on at the same time (like 5-6?), but that only means you have to delete it from a device before you can add it to another once you reach the limit.

The only downside is your fellow users can see your purchases at any time, and you obviously have to trust users with purchasing (or not allow them to purchase books). Great for families.

Whoa, I didn't realize you could do that! I have a bunch of friends with basically identical book tastes. If I set them up on a new Kindle like that, could they read books that I've already bought for myself? That's AWESOME!

Yes

I often use the free program called Calibre to convert PDF's with varying success. Another free tools is PDF scissors, with it you can cut the PDF page into two parts in which case they might fight your Kindle. Obv neither is a perfect solution for heavily formated PDF's but at least you might be able to read them on the Kindle.

I've been thinking of buying a second device for reading text books... I really love my Kindle 3 and accepted the fact that its not the optimal device for text books or PDF's before I purchased it. It covers most of my reading needs, but I'd still like to get some device to conveniently read PDF's and maybe some childrens books with pictures too. The Kindle DX is just so expensive compared to the regular Kindle and if I want to read some childrens books or comics for my kids its not convenient for that... maybe an Ipad2... Then again I'm not in a hurry and might well wait over a year before I buy anything else.

Just beat Amazon to the Free Kindle model. buy your friends Kindles under the condition that they each buy X # of books per year on it.

yeah but apparently for them to all be shared they have to be on the same account. so they would be buying books using your account :/

Damn, my kindle is politically correct. So far out of 6 'screensavers', 4 of the writers were women and one was a black. I'm probably just running under EV.

Got this thing yesterday and have been reading on it almost non-stop. There are disadvantages compared to books, but overall I like it a lot. I find that it's less tiring than reading from a book because it's so light and doesn't require you to hold pages open. I'll probably want to spend more time reading and less time watching TV from now on because of this.

People compare the kindle to tablets like the Ipad. Of course a tablet is much prettier and more useful. The kindle is dull and unimpressive. I would say that it's mainly if not only worth getting for people who don't like to read from a LCD screen. I'm almost certain the lack of luminosity of the kindle makes it better for the eyes.

When you sent a pdf to @(free.)kindle.com what is the normal turn around time before it gets sent to your kindle?

sent a pdf attached to abcd AT free.kindle.com with "convert" in subject line
Is that correct?

Also since we have two kindles on a single account ...each has its own separate @kindle email adress abcd@ and abcd_31@ IF we send a pdf to one of the emails, will both kindles get the converted document?
or do i need to send it to each of the emails in order for each kindle to receive it.

maybe it would be easier to just USB connect and drag/drop?

That's what I have to do, and it sucks because it doesn't convert.

getting the doc converted for free does not send it to your kindle. it sends you an email back with the converted file that you then have to add via usb to the kindle. you have to use the paid conversion option to have it sent to your kindle directly

I guess I'm a noob since i don't like my pdfs converted

Anyone else's Kindle just randomly freeze all the time and lose your place in books? So frustrating!