# How to password protect individual collections?



## calikindle (Sep 12, 2010)

Hi all.  Happy to be here, and let me say how glad I am that there are so many other e-book lovers out there!  Forgive me if my first post has been discussed numerous times already, but I'm trying to accomplish something on my K3 (love it - have had all three and this is the best yet, although I liked the K1 as well) which seems like a rather obvious and mundane task that is useful to many.

While I enjoy letting others try out my Kindle, and they can "thumb through" my Proust, poetry collections and crime thrillers all they like, I have two collections of books and documents which need to remain private - business documents and erotica.

As far as I can tell I can set a password for the entire Kindle, but I can't set passwords to individual collections.  Is this true or am I overlooking something?

If this feature is missing then it is sorely needed.  Am I the only one who wants passwords on collections?  Why in the world would they have left out this really basic and obvious feature?  I'm no database architect but it doesn't seem like it would be very difficult for Amazon's programmers to implement, would it?

Thanks in advance!


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## CoolMom1960 (Mar 16, 2009)

As a former database programmer - it shouldn't be hard to implement.  Never really thought about that as a needed feature but I would probably use it myself.


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## DailyLunatic (Aug 4, 2009)

calikindle said:


> If this feature is missing then it is sorely needed. Am I the only one who wants passwords on collections? Why in the world would they have left out this really basic and obvious feature? I'm no database architect but it doesn't seem like it would be very difficult for Amazon's programmers to implement, would it?


Sorry I don't know.

Just wanted to pop in and say I'd like to see the same thing for the same reasons...

Sterling
92.5% Pure


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## kim (Nov 20, 2008)

From a database perspective, it's no big deal.  From a user interface perspective it's a little harder to get something that is easy for a user to enter passwords at the device level as well as the collection level.  It would probably be a little harder to support when people would call customer service because they have 12 different passwords used on their device and dont remember what's what.  

Think about your phone and computer.  Both can be password protected at the device level but neither allow you to pick and choose what apps you can protect.  (yea, I know, there are apps that do this, but the device doesn't).

I'm sure Amazon was just trying to meet the first level of need.
Although I must admit it would be a nice feature; I also have one of those collections that I wouldn't want someone to stumble upon.


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## lanfearl (Jul 28, 2010)

protip: don't read erotica. get a significant other.


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## kim (Nov 20, 2008)

lanfearl said:


> protip: don't read erotica. *get a significant other*.


I get a lot of things from Amazon, but I haven't found one of those yet. And I bet I can't get free shipping.


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## DailyLunatic (Aug 4, 2009)

lanfearl said:


> protip: don't read erotica. get a significant other.


I'm not sure that would help. Historically those have been just as difficult to password protect.

Sterling
92.5% Pure


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## kim (Nov 20, 2008)

DailyLunatic said:


> I'm not sure that would help. Historically those have been just as difficult to password protect.


rofl. So true. Good one.


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## fairy_dreams (Jun 17, 2010)

You could try naming your collections so that no one would be tempted to take a peek into them. It's not foolproof, but it's better than anything.

Some from the top of my head:

Technical Manuals
Dictionaries
Books that FREEZE up the Kindle
Math Problems
Comparisons of different scissor brands

I'm sure you can think of more boring ones! The more boring the better


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

lanfearl said:


> protip: don't read erotica. get a significant other.


Some people like to read erotica _with_ their significant other .....


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## CoolMom1960 (Mar 16, 2009)

fairy_dreams said:


> You could try naming your collections so that no one would be tempted to take a peek into them. It's not foolproof, but it's better than anything.
> 
> Some from the top of my head:
> 
> ...


This might be considered sacrilegious but Bible Translations.


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## meglet (Feb 14, 2009)

CoolMom1960 said:


> This might be considered sacrilegious but Bible Translations.


Depends on your friends, I have a few who would head right for a "Bible Translations" collection! 

Personally, I just use something boring like "Technical Manuals" and I have one collection named simply "Trash" so it implies that one just holds stuff I've deleted. Nobody's bothered to look inside yet.


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## shalym (Sep 1, 2010)

meglet said:


> Depends on your friends, I have a few who would head right for a "Bible Translations" collection!
> 
> Personally, I just use something boring like "Technical Manuals" and I have one collection named simply "Trash" so it implies that one just holds stuff I've deleted. Nobody's bothered to look inside yet.


Most of my friends would go straight to the "Technical Manuals" collection.  I like the idea of naming it "Trash"

Shari


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## kim (Nov 20, 2008)

"Trash" is my favorite.  Perfectly descriptive and yet completly misleading.

"Books that FREEZE up my Kindle" sounds good, but so many people would go in there just to see what would happen to my K.


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## jason10mm (Apr 7, 2009)

Even better, make a collection called "Hot and Steamy Erotica", with a collection inside it called "STOP SNOOPING YOU SNOOP!"

Should give them the hint that prying is not welcome 

But yeah, I agree that the kindle needs more security options, especially if you can't modify the screensaver settings. I would just password protect the device, but only if I could extend the screensaver out to 30 min or so, enough time to make a sandwich or answer the phone without having to re-enter a password to continue reading. A thumbprint scanner would be great, but probably not gonna happen until HP makes an e-reader.


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