# Kindle Library Sharing



## cavaughan (Aug 6, 2009)

I've been wondering about the following possibility. Apparently there is a way to share a book with up to six people, provided they are somehow added to your kindle account. Something like that. If Kindle users can be members of more than one group, then theoretically we could create a library of sorts to share out any Amazon book we've bought. I would more than willing to at least give it a try and see if it's possible, if anyone knows whether this would in fact work. Otherwise, I am willing to consider the option of just joining up with six other people of similar interests to share out our books.


----------



## Varin (May 12, 2009)

The only problem with that... aside from the fact that it can be perceived as circumventing the system... is that the account is billed to one person, so purchases made by any of the five other people will be billed to the sixth.


----------



## Kathy (Nov 5, 2008)

Actually you can put more than one credit card on an account. I share with my 2 daughters and they each just go to the Manage Your Kindle page and select their credit card before purchasing a book. They switch it back to my credit card so that I can order books easier while on the road. 

Saying that, you can't register a single Kindle on more than one account. So you would not be able to share with more than the 6 on a single account. I don't think I would be comfortable with sharing my account that has my credit card information on it.


----------



## ghum (Feb 13, 2009)

A little clarification is in order.  I believe that in order to have 6 people sharing the same Kindle library all 6 people need to be on the same  Amazon Kindle account.  That means that all 6 people can make Kindle book purchases by simply clicking on the icon to buy a book or magazine subscription.  This requires a lot of trust "among friends"-choose your group wisely.


----------



## cavaughan (Aug 6, 2009)

Alas, Amazon was smarter than I thought. 
I was thinking that there was a way to share without having to add someone to your actual account. No, I definitely agree that I wouldn't want to do that with anyone but family (and even then, hmmmm).

Oh well... my egalitarian instincts are foiled again by the corporate world!


----------



## L.Canton (Jan 21, 2009)

I would love to see some functionality added for something like you described, but I imagine it would require a lot of thought to make it fair for all parties involved.


----------



## Tip10 (Apr 16, 2009)

cavaughan said:


> Alas, Amazon was smarter than I thought.
> I was thinking that there was a way to share without having to add someone to your actual account. No, I definitely agree that I wouldn't want to do that with anyone but family (and even then, hmmmm).
> 
> Oh well... my egalitarian instincts are foiled again by the corporate world!


Actually perhaps not.
So long as you do not give out your account log in information (i.e. password) they cannot get to your credit card information. Yes they can conceivably purchase books against it but they cannot view it. AND there might even be a way around that.....

Suppose you were to go together and purchase a Visa gift card, you could then set up an Amazon account pointed at that gift card. So long as there were funds remaining on that card the purchases would work -- if there were insufficient funds then I believe Amazon will send you an e-mail indicating that action is needed against a specific order. What you could do is pool funds or develop whatever mechanism you thought appropriate to periodically re-fill the Visa gift card to keep everything active. The only problem would be if the group ever split up you'd have to hammer out ownership of the account since you couldn't transfer the books elsewhere but.....

Perhaps another option....


----------



## JimC1946 (Aug 6, 2009)

This is definitely one of the unique issues with Kindle that I guess will have to be addressed eventually. If I buy a printed book, I can legally loan it out, give it away, or sell it. You can't do that with a Kindle book. If Kindle books were priced substantially less than printed books, that would be an acceptable trade-off, but many Kindle books are priced the same as printed books or not much cheaper. Last week I bought the Kindle version of _The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society_ (an excellent book, by the way) for $7.70. The paperback was the same price, which isn't much of an inducement price-wise to buy the Kindle version.

Eventually, I think that publishers are going to have to significantly reduce the price of Kindle books compared to the printed versions in order to appeal to a mass market. But as "early adopters" we're not saving much money unless we buy a lot of books.

I'm not really complaining, since I love the convenience of carrying a nice library around in my K2, but I think pricing will have to change, as well as lower pricing for the Kindle and other e-readers, before these devices gain widespread popularity. And competition will undoubtably be a big factor too.


----------



## KindleMom (Dec 11, 2008)

Well stated, Jim!  I completely agree.


----------

