# Advice on sharing account



## beckyaz (Apr 30, 2011)

My mom just ordered a kindle.  She is technology-challenged...  I would like to have her registered to my account so she can read some of my books but there are some I really do NOT want her to have access to.  If she's registered to my account, can I select which books to send to her unit, or will all of my titles download to hers when she turns it on?


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## StaceyHH (Sep 13, 2010)

you can load it for her, then turn off the wireless/wifi. But if she turns it back on, she will be able to see whatever is in your archives. If she clicks, it will download.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

As long as the Kindle is registered to your account, mom will be able to see all the books you have if she looks at 'archived items'.  Of course, she may not bother.  She may say, "becky, put some books on this thing for me" and leave it at that, and then ask you again when she wants more.  If you're truly concerned you may, as Stacey suggests, un-register it after loading some of your books.  

If she reads fairly quickly, a solution might be to just let her have her own account. . .you can periodically lend her books.  But she'd only have 'em for 2 weeks.  And you couldn't read the same book at the same time.

Or you can buy send them as a gift. Which would mean purchasing a second copy.

If she does share your account, and you anticipate that you might, at times, be reading the same book at the same time, it's a good idea to turn the sync function off -- the setting is all the way at the bottom of the Manage Your Kindle page.


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## luvshihtzu (Dec 19, 2008)

If you plan to let your mother borrow your books, be aware that so many are having their lending rights pulled by Publishers.  What you purchased thinking you could lend it for 14 days, may at some point no longer have the ability to be loaned out the one time.  So many of the books are having this happen to them.  Most best sellers do not have any lending rights.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

luvshihtzu said:


> If you plan to let your mother borrow your books, be aware that so many are having their lending rights pulled by Publishers. What you purchased thinking you could lend it for 14 days, may at some point no longer have the ability to be loaned out the one time. So many of the books are having this happen to them. Most best sellers do not have any lending rights.


I agree, you can't rely on the lending option since it's not enabled on the vast majority of books from major publishers. It seems like indie books are the only ones lendable these days.

What I would do:
Register it to your account, add the books you want her to have (it will not automatically download all titles but they will all be accessible for optional download in the archives), deregister it. Create a new account for her so she can buy her own books with freedom too. Periodically, if you have books she wants, deregister from her account and register it to yours - again, add the books, deregister and reregister back to her own account. Sounds more complicated than it is. It's a little bit of a hassle I imagine but if you only do it now and then, probably not a big deal.


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## arshield (Nov 17, 2008)

I think History_Lover's advice is good.  I have my Mom, Dad and Grandmother on my account.  I deleted a few titles before I added them. But if you are going to have them on the full account, they will have everything.  I push my mom lots of titles that I think she will like, but she does look through my archives every once in a while.  My Dad and grandmother are much slower readers and so I usually sit with them when I am in town and talk about what books they might like and then download a couple dozen at a time.


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## beckyaz (Apr 30, 2011)

history_lover said:


> I agree, you can't rely on the lending option since it's not enabled on the vast majority of books from major publishers. It seems like indie books are the only ones lendable these days.
> 
> What I would do:
> Register it to your account, add the books you want her to have (it will not automatically download all titles but they will all be accessible for optional download in the archives), deregister it. Create a new account for her so she can buy her own books with freedom too. Periodically, if you have books she wants, deregister from her account and register it to yours - again, add the books, deregister and reregister back to her own account. Sounds more complicated than it is. It's a little bit of a hassle I imagine but if you only do it now and then, probably not a big deal.


So if I set it up for her, add the books I want her to have, deregister it, and create an account for her, then she'll STILL have the books I loaded for her under her own registered account but nothing else (not my archives or any of my other books)? To be honest, we have very different reading taste and I think there are 2 or 3 books that I want her to have access to - unfortunately, the books I want to share with her are not lending enabled.

Thanks for the advice!!


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

beckyaz said:


> So if I set it up for her, add the books I want her to have, deregister it, and create an account for her, then she'll STILL have the books I loaded for her under her own registered account but nothing else (not my archives or any of my other books)?


She will still have the books you loaded for her on her Kindle, not on her account. If she deletes them from her Kindle, she can't access them without registering it back to your account because she does not has access to your archives (or any other books).


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Honestly, if it's only a couple of books, I think I'd probably opt to set her up on a separate account and just buy copies of the books for her.  Costs a little more, but easier in the end. 

Note that, if you register it to your account and download those books and then de-register, one device license will be used up.  And you can't get it back if she deletes it from her Kindle.  (At least, I don't think so -- it's possible that if she re-registers it to your account and syncs up, the fact of the book having been deleted may release the license back to you.)  And, this may not be important, anyway, if you don't expect to ever use up all the device licenses.  But for some it is a consideration.


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## beckyaz (Apr 30, 2011)

Thanks Ann, I don't foresee ever having more than 2 or so kindles on my account (I don't have an I-phone, Ipad, or any other device that I would use) so reaching my limit of 5 or so is not a worry for me.

I'm realizing that I don't know as much as I thought about kindles, I'm starting to feel like an idiot and don't want to mess this up.  So can someone walk me through how to do this so she doesn't get everything (I think my plan is to set up her account for her, then "de-register" her kindle from her account, register it to mine, then transfer over the 3 books that I want her to have (can I do this with games too, or just books?), de-register from my account, and register it back to her own account.  But HOW do I get those 3 books over to her?  Cuz if I manage my account and select to send those 3 books to her unit, turn on her wireless, won't it then pull EVERYTHING that is on mine, or only the 3 I selected to deliver to her?  

I did go into manage my account and send those 3 books to my computer, so I have the AZW files.  If I added my email to her account, would I then be able to email her the files?  I'm guessing not, cuz that would be an easy work-around that everyone would be using if they could.


Sorry, I guess call me technology-challenged myself LOL


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## arshield (Nov 17, 2008)

I would register it (using the kindle).  Then move to your computer and go to the manage your kindle section.  Then send whatever books you want to the kindle.  Once you give it time to download and check to make sure they are all there.  Then go to the kindle and de-register.


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## Andra (Nov 19, 2008)

beckyaz said:


> I'm realizing that I don't know as much as I thought about kindles, I'm starting to feel like an idiot and don't want to mess this up. So can someone walk me through how to do this so she doesn't get everything (I think my plan is to set up her account for her, then "de-register" her kindle from her account, register it to mine, then transfer over the 3 books that I want her to have (can I do this with games too, or just books?), de-register from my account, and register it back to her own account. But HOW do I get those 3 books over to her? Cuz if I manage my account and select to send those 3 books to her unit, turn on her wireless, won't it then pull EVERYTHING that is on mine, or only the 3 I selected to deliver to her?
> 
> I did go into manage my account and send those 3 books to my computer, so I have the AZW files. If I added my email to her account, would I then be able to email her the files? I'm guessing not, cuz that would be an easy work-around that everyone would be using if they could.


When you register her Kindle to your account, NOTHING is put on the Kindle automatically, however ALL of the items that you purchased from Amazon will show up in the Archive on that device. So your mom would have to go through the Archive to see what all you have...
When you sent the AZW files to your computer, they were for a specific Kindle (yours), so you can't take them from your computer and have them work on hers - this is how the DRM (Digital Rights Management) works on Kindles.
I agree with Ann - if you only see wanting to give her a few books because your tastes do no overlap, it would be simpler to just purchase those books again on her account.


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

I think you might want to think about stopping being afraid of what your mother might think.  I've been there, and once I actually admitted that I wasn't exactly like she always wanted/thought me to be, it was very freeing. You can't live your life afraid of what other people, even your mother will think.

You could just warn her that books x, y, and z might not be her cup of tea, or could offend her sensibilities.


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## GrouchoKindle (Apr 14, 2011)

It would be nice if you could have sub-accounts with controls. For example, if I gave my daughter a kindle, I could give her access to "The Hobbit" but not "American Psycho".


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

SusanCassidy said:


> I think you might want to think about stopping being afraid of what your mother might think. I've been there, and once I actually admitted that I wasn't exactly like she always wanted/thought me to be, it was very freeing. You can't live your life afraid of what other people, even your mother will think.
> 
> You could just warn her that books x, y, and z might not be her cup of tea, or could offend her sensibilities.


Even if it's erotica? lol, not saying it is... just a thought - there's some things that really are best kept private.


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## beckyaz (Apr 30, 2011)

Thank you - I got everything set up perfectly and it's now just as I had hoped.  

There are a few reasons I don't want her to have access to everything - for one, our taste is SO different (she's into history mainly and I like the lighter, trashy romance harlequin type books), but for two, I don't want to bog her kindle down with the sheer volume of stuff that is on mine when I know the number of things she would really WANT is so small.  this option though worked as perfect as I could have planned.  Thank you!!

I'm so excited for her to get started on the kindle - I had to sort of "sell" her on it, but I think she'll LOVE it once she gets used to it.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Beckyaz--

Welcome to KindleBoards!  So glad our members were able to answer your questions!  Now that you've broken the ice, head on over to Introductions and tell us a little bit about yourself. 

You'll find (if you haven't already) that the Book Corner and the Book Bazaar are great places to find good books to read!  Let us know how your mom is doing with her Kindle.

Betsy
KB Moderator


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## Ctychick (Jan 5, 2011)

I'm confused...
For those of you who share accounts for the reason stated by the OP, are you also paying for those books on your on file for your account? I'm thinking about doing this for my mother as well, but she doesn't her books going on my card (thank goodness! LOL!). And when a book is purchased, do you just go into your Kindle management page and have that book sent to your mom's registered Kindle? Thanks!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Here's how my brother and I work it.  The Kindles are registered to my account.  He periodically gives me an Amazon gift card which I apply to the account.  I keep track of when I use it to buy books for him -- or, of course, he can order books himself from his Kindle;  if he does, I get the email so I still know.

More often, though, he'll shoot me an email asking that I purchase a particular book for him.  I do and just send it to his Kindle instead of mine.  Of course, if it's something I want to read as well, it is available to me, also. 

When his 'credit' gets low, I let him know, and he sends another gift certificate. But, he mostly just leeches off my purchases. . . .only rarely will he want to get something that I know I'll probably never read.  

I like having the gift certificate amount on the account anyway as that gets used first and I don't end up with a bunch of small charges on my credit card.

Now, my brother just orders GC's from Amazon and emails 'em to me. . . .but they can be purchased at some brick and mortar stores as well.  Or, the sharer could just give you cash or whatever; it's just a matter of keeping track of how much has been spent.

Others have both the sharers' cards on the account and both have access to the account. . .then you just need to remember to change the CC info before you go buy.  I think this is a bit more complicated -- and requires you to let the other person have access to your account credentials and CC info -- but it works for some folks.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Ctychick, my mom bought a Kindle and received it on Friday. As we had planned, I registered her Kindle to my Amazon account. so that we could share books. 

She has an Amazon account of her own with a gift card balance. Now that Amazon provides for the ability to gift Kindle books, our plan is that when there is a book that she wants to buy to read on her Kindle, she will buy the Kindle book as a gift sent to my e-mail address. When I get the e-mail concerning the book gift, I will redeem it and send it to her Kindle. We had talked about the gift card method Ann described but since she already has her own Amazon account with a gift card balance, gifting the book itself made more sense for us.

Also, since I keep a gift card balance on my account, I let her know that she can also buy books directly from her Kindle and I will receive e-mail notification and we can settle in cash as we live near enough to each other for regular visits. That method will be for when she wants to start reading the book immediately.  

I usually enjoy reading the books my mom likes to read while she only enjoys some of the books that I read. I did a quick check of the Kindle books I have already bought from Amazon and sent the ones I think my mom will like to her Kindle. Also, now that my mom has a Kindle, I will be more likely to buy Kindle books that I know that my mom would like to read.


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## history_lover (Aug 9, 2010)

Annalog said:


> Ctychick, my mom bought a Kindle and received it on Friday. As we had planned, I registered her Kindle to my Amazon account. so that we could share books.
> 
> She has an Amazon account of her own with a gift card balance. Now that Amazon provides for the ability to gift Kindle books, our plan is that when there is a book that she wants to buy to read on her Kindle, she will buy the Kindle book as a gift sent to my e-mail address. When I get the e-mail concerning the book gift, I will redeem it and send it to her Kindle.


That's a brilliant idea.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

history_lover said:


> That's a brilliant idea.


Thanks History_Lover! However, it is not much different from the suggestion from Ann in Arlington above about gifting a Kindle book to someone when that person is not registered to your account. 

While going through the books in Manage Your Kindle to send ones I thought Mom would like, I also finally deleted a couple "free" books that I did not like and was planning on removing when I "got a round to it." One of these was an erotic book I had already warned my mom about.  The other was a depressing "comic" book.


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## beckyaz (Apr 30, 2011)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> Beckyaz--
> 
> Welcome to KindleBoards! So glad our members were able to answer your questions! Now that you've broken the ice, head on over to Introductions and tell us a little bit about yourself.
> 
> ...


Thank you! My mom is doing well with her kindle - right now she's addicted to scrabble and has a book that we are actually both reading (and should take us a LONG while to read, it's one of the Outlander books) - I doubt she'll ever use some of the features (like highlighting and making notes) but she is enjoying it.  And now I know if she has books I want, or if I have any more that I think she'll want, it's so easy just to go through the process of de-registering and re-registering to share the books we want.

And I agree that always having a gift card balance is so much nicer and easier than having a bunch of small charges on a credit card.


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