# Question about FreeTime and non-Amazon content in the 2013 models



## Susan B. (Nov 25, 2013)

I'm trying to load up a collection of DRM-free books to the Kindle Fire I bought my daughter for Christmas. I was shocked that side-loaded content can't be accessed in FreeTime. I found this workaround http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=135425.0 which involves loading epubs to the Overdrive Media Console app which can be viewed in FreeTime. Not a perfect solution because it just killed putting limitations on app time.

So I opened epubs in my Dropbox and they showed up in Overdrive. But then when I went to the Overdrive app in FreeTime and there's nothing there.

Does anyone know if the Overdrive update for the 2013 Kindle has "fixed" this loophole, or am I doing something wrong?


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm not familiar at all with the Overdrive App or Drop box, but you might be working harder than you have to. 

If it's legitimately DRM free and is a compatible file format, the easiest way to get the content to the kindle is to use the Send to Kindle applet. www.amazon.com/sendtokindle/pc  Download that to your computer, set it up, and you'll see there's a 'send to kindle' option when you right click on a compatible file.

I am fairly certain that, as that adds the content through Amazon, it will be visible to Free Time.  I know anything I send that way is in my archive, available to any of my devices, and will sync across devices as well.  Worth a try, at least.


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## SheilaJ (Apr 10, 2011)

Ann, does Amazon charge for using the send to kindle app?  I know there is a charge for some things that you send to your kindle.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann, I tested that this morning and hadn't had a chance to post yet.  ePubs sent using Send to Kindle are considered documents, and I couldn't find them under items (books, videos,apps, all) to authorize to Fred's FreeTime account on my Fire.  

Sheila, there's no charge for items downloaded via WiFi.  I've always had "max charge" for converted docs as 0.0 and everything waits for WiFi download (and if you have a WiFi only device, that's the only way you can get it anyway).

I also tried sideloading using Calibre, and even though I converted the books so that they show up in my "Books" section, I don't think they're visible to my FreeTime, which really seems to be working from the cloud.  Haven't found them anyway.

I think you had to do something within Overdrive to show the books...testing now.

Betsy


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## SheilaJ (Apr 10, 2011)

I have used the ebook converter at this website for a while now to convert to azw3 format. Would that make a difference?

http://www.online-convert.com/

love your Tardis avatar. Nice job nogdog


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## Susan B. (Nov 25, 2013)

Thanks for the replies. I still haven't figured this out. I've tried Send to Kindle in epub and mobi formats and both go to documents and don't show up in FreeTime. Sideloading doesn't show up in FreeTime. I know that using the Overdrive App was the solution for this, but it doesn't seem to be working since the app was "upgraded" for this new generation--at least, I can't seem to make it work. 

Just to clarify, Send to Kindle, sideloading, Overdrive...everything works such that it shows up on the Kindle. My problem is that I can't get those things to display in FreeTime for my daughter, where I want to restrict her access to my other Kindle content and to my credit card(!!).


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Susan B. said:


> Just to clarify, Send to Kindle, sideloading, Overdrive...everything works such that it shows up on the Kindle. My problem is that I can't get those things to display in FreeTime for my daughter, where I want to restrict her access to my other Kindle content and to my credit card(!!).


I don't think you need Free Time to do that. I think you can set those restrictions just in parental controls. Free Time is more like setting limits on the 'fun' stuff they can do -- so if you don't want them playing games while they're supposed to be reading, for example. This assumes the kid is the only one using the device . . . . if it's a shared device with a parent, then, yeah, maybe Free Time is better. But, still, the parent has the password so can always turn OFF the controls when they're using the device.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I don't think you need Free Time to do that. I think you can set those restrictions just in parental controls. Free Time is more like setting limits on the 'fun' stuff they can do -- so if you don't want them playing games while they're supposed to be reading, for example. This assumes the kid is the only one using the device . . . . if it's a shared device with a parent, then, yeah, maybe Free Time is better. But, still, the parent has the password so can always turn OFF the controls when they're using the device.


As I understand it, Susan B is trying to sideload some books she WANTS her daughter to be able to read. As you say, FreeTime allows you to specify which content her daughter can see. The problem is, she can't get the sideloaded books to be recognized in FreeTime so she can can specifiy that her daugher can read them.

EDIT: Susan, I can't even get books that I've been able to sideload and show in my Books Tab show up in the FreeTime account I set up on my Fire. Sorry.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> As I understand it, Susan B is trying to sideload some books she WANTS her daughter to be able to read. As you say, FreeTime allows you to specify which content her daughter can see. The problem is, she can't get the sideloaded books to be recognized in FreeTime so she can can specifiy that her daugher can read them.
> 
> EDIT: Susan, I can't even get books that I've been able to sideload and show in my Books Tab show up in the FreeTime account I set up on my Fire. Sorry.
> 
> Betsy


Right, but my point was that you can use Parental controls to restrict access to the web, the account's cloud content, and the Amazon store. Don't need to activate Free Time at all. So if that's the *only* goal, you can do it without bothering with Free Time. Just enabling parental controls shouldn't restrict access to the documents area. But, I admit I haven't tried it.

OTOH, if you want to use Free Time for other reasons, that's a slightly different issue.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Right, but my point was that you can use Parental controls to restrict access to the web, the account's cloud content, and the Amazon store. Don't need to activate Free Time at all. So if that's the *only* goal, you can do it without bothering with Free Time. Just enabling parental controls shouldn't restrict access to the documents area. But, I admit I haven't tried it.
> 
> OTOH, if you want to use Free Time for other reasons, that's a slightly different issue.


But Susan's question wasn't about restricting access to the web, cloud or Amazon store; it was about restricting content on the device, per the OP. 

And yes, FreeTime does restrict access to the Documents area. EDIT: I went back and doublechecked: the content you can authorize for Kids comes under "For Kids", "Books", "Videos", "Apps" and "All" which is all of the previous categories. That's why she's been trying to figure out how to get these books to be visible. I have tried it. I gave Fred a FreeTime account.  Can't have him seeing my erotica. 

Betsy


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Some additional info:  there are two separate things you can do to restrict content and access on your Fire.  One is Parental Controls.  The other is FreeTime, which is actually part of Parental Controls.  If you set up FreeTime, you create a Parental Controls password for the device.

FreeTime allows you to limit content that is on the device, allowing some, disallowing others, in the following categories:  Books, Videos, Apps, and All (which is all of books, videos and apps).  It also lets you set "For Kids" which lets Amazon determine which books are kids friendly.  You can further fine tune the list or separately add other books.

Parental Controls allows you to restrict access individually or together the following items:  Web Browser, E-mail, Contacts, Calendars, Social Sharing, Camera, Purchases, Video  Playback, Block and Unblock Content Types, Change Password, Password Protect Wi-Fi, Password Protect location-based services.

Under "Block and Unblock Content Types" you can actually block everything except Documents.  And with Parental Controls on, the only thing that would be visible is Documents.  You can also unblock Books, except that it's "Books and Audiobooks."  But it would be all books on the device; you can't block specific titles.

*light dawns*  I guess Ann's point is that, if your daughter is the only one using the device, and the content is all hers, there's no reason to use FreeTime unless you want to use the time restrictions.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I understood, from the bit I quoted in my reply #6, that she wanted to restrict access to content -- which you can do via parental controls -- and to her credit card, i.e. her amazon account. By not putting the books on the device and setting parental controls, you've effectively blocked both those things.

BUT, this only really works if it's the child's device ONLY -- rather than a shared device where you do want to read your books and don't want to have to remove them every time you let the kid use it.

It does sound like this is something that needs to be brought up to Amazon because I can see lots of cases where people would want to put things of their own on the kindle for the kid -- like homework assignments, or any of many other sorts of 'personal documents'. It's not good that there's no way for Free time to be set to allow access to them at all. And they tout it as a way to set profiles for when you have more than one kid sharing the device.



Betsy the Quilter said:


> *light dawns* I guess Ann's point is that, if your daughter is the only one using the device, and the content is all hers, there's no reason to use FreeTime unless you want to use the time restrictions.
> 
> Betsy


Yes!


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I understood, from the bit I quoted in my reply #6, that she wanted to restrict access to content --


Again, just to clarify, you can restrict access to types of content using Parental Controls, but within that content type, anything on the device will be visible.



> Yes!


I do tend to answer the question actually asked.....


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## Susan B. (Nov 25, 2013)

Still working on this. Tonight I got as far as getting a book to show up in books in the reading app instead of documents. (I did this by changing [PDOC] to [EBOK] when converting in Calibre.) Thought I had it, but it still wouldn't show in FreeTime. Further investigation showed that the file had been placed in a location other than the one where the "legit" books are. Moving it there didn't fix it. I'm still stumped.

I'm reading this after I've put my daughter to bed with the Kindle, so I can't check out the regular parental controls as suggested. That might work if there's some way to restrict her to only what's on the device and to keep her from seeing what's available in my account via the cloud. After all, someday curiosity is going to get the better of me and I'm going to break down and read one of those Dinosaur Erotica titles, I just know it. Rather keep that scarred for life experience to myself.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

While I can turn off access to the cloud using Parental Controls on my Paperwhite, I can't find a way to do it on the Fire.

Under parental controls on the Fire, you can custom set access for:
Web browser
Email, contacts, Calendars
Social Sharing
Camera
Password Protect Purchases
Password Protect Video Playback

You can block and unblock content types.  If you tap on that, your options are:
Newsstand
Books & Audiobooks
Music
Video
Docs
Apps & Game
Photos

If you leave a category unblocked, you have access to both the cloud and on device and can download items from the cloud.

So, on the Fire, unless I'm missing something, Parental Controls won't block the cloud, though on the Paperwhite, it's very easy to do so.

Betsy


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Betsy the Quilter said:


> While I can turn off access to the cloud using Parental Controls on my Paperwhite, I can't find a way to do it on the Fire.
> 
> Under parental controls on the Fire, you can custom set access for:
> Web browser
> ...


Except, can't you block WiFi, except with the password? Which would effectively block it? Or maybe that needs 'Free Time'.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> Except, can't you block WiFi, except with the password? Which would effectively block it? Or maybe that needs 'Free Time'.


Yes, good point, you can require a password to turn on WiFi. If WiFi is already on, it doesn't turn it off, which is why I didn't notice that last night. As part of parental controls, WiFi was set to require a password, but since it was already on, it didn't block my download.

One can still see what's in the cloud, and queue something up for download, but not actually download it if WiFi is off and a password is required to turn it on.

Interesting that one can turn off access to the Cloud completely (not able to even view it) on the PW2 and not on the Fire.

Betsy


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## DCLacoste (Dec 24, 2016)

I didn't see any newer posts about FreeTime, but also ran into this same issue of not being able to select sideloaded books in the Kids FreeTime profile on a parents Amazon account.

I ended up simply using the Parental Controls to disable all features including the Cloud, which unfortunately still shows / recommends books on the main screen, and is not a very elegant solution.  But it does allow the kid to read sideloaded books, as well as any Cloud books loaded while Kindle is unlocked with Parental code.


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