# Kindle books on Thumb Drive?



## lostknitter (Feb 5, 2009)

For those of you who download your books to the computer to put them on your Kindle, is it possible save them to a thumb drive or SD card? Jeni


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

Sure, you can back them up in any way you like.  Bear in mind, though, that DRM'd books from amazon will only work on one Kindle and cannot be shared with another or read from the computer.


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## Van in Arlington (Mar 1, 2009)

lostknitter,

You can save the downloaded files to any device to which you could save other files -- thumb drives, SD cards, external hard drives, CDs...  It seems that some Kindle users backup their files.  Others, for those books purchased from Amazon, simply rely of the ability to re download any previously purchased book from Amazon.  In other words, Amazon keeps a record of what you bought and you can get another copy from them.

Van...


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## cheerio (May 16, 2009)

If you dont back them up you might lose your stuff. Don't want to waste my money by buying things and then losing them.


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

I have all of my books (Amazon and non-Amazon) backed up on a thumb drive. I have two copies of each Amazon book, one for K1 and one for K2. I rename the files to indicate which Kindle they are for and keep them in two separate folders named apprpriately for each Kindle also. I have about 1200 book files and it's hardly made a dent in my 2gb thumb drive.


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

DD, can I ask why you save them twice, once for each K, and name them for each K?  I'm not understanding why that would be necessary.  I'm going to be have a K1 and 2 and I think I need to understand this.  Thank you.

deb


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

deb, if you download a book twice, once to THIS Kindle and once to THAT Kindle, you need to keep track of which back up file is which copy, because if you try to load the book originally d/l'ed to THIS Kindle onto THAT Kindle, it won't work.  This is true if they are Amazon purchased books; non-DRM from other places should not be a problem.

Or such is my understanding anyway. . . .


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Ann, thank you.  Now, I understand.  I knew that, just hadn't needed to think about it since I only had one K.  Boy, I'm glad this came up now or I would have not understood why I couldn't access my books at some later date.  
Thank you very much.
deb


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## Cindy416 (May 2, 2009)

How do I know if an Amazon book is a DRM version? Maybe I haven't run across any yet, as my daughter and I are sharing an account, and I don't think we've had a problem with this. Thanks!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

All books purchased from Amazon have DRM as far as I know -- whether it's free, or public domain, or whatever.  When you buy one, the 'license' is generally good for up to six devices on the account.  So if you download it to YOUR Kindle, and later your daughter downloads it to HER Kindle, you don't have a problem -- she doesn't have to pay for it again or anything.

BUT, say you have made a back-up copy of the book from the download to YOUR Kindle.  One day your daughter is at your house, and decides she'd like it to have that book too.  Rather than downloading directly from Amazon, she copies your backup to HER Kindle.  It won't work.  The specific 'copy' you have, has codes to let it know that it can only be read on YOUR Kindle and not HER Kindle.  If she wants her own copy, she has to download it from Amazon to HER Kindle so the file will be linked to HER Kindle.


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## Kind (Jan 28, 2009)

Since Amazon keeps a record of what you purchased and if you happen to re-download it, do they charge you a small fee? I've never bothered re-downloading anything before.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Kind said:


> Since Amazon keeps a record of what you purchased and if you happen to re-download it, do they charge you a small fee? I've never bothered re-downloading anything before.


Nope. You already bought it. It's yours. I think of it as a part of the cost I pay is for storage on their servers.


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

drenee said:


> DD, can I ask why you save them twice, once for each K, and name them for each K? I'm not understanding why that would be necessary. I'm going to be have a K1 and 2 and I think I need to understand this. Thank you.
> 
> deb


drenee, Ann is right. I do it because I want to keep track of which file was downloaded for which Kindle.


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## drenee (Nov 11, 2008)

Thanks, DD.  When I read your post I was thinking what you were doing was overkill.  LOL.  Brain freeze I guess.  But like I said, I'm glad you said that since I'm going to be reciving a K2 next week sometime.  
deb


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

drenee said:


> Thanks, DD. When I read your post I was thinking what you were doing was overkill. LOL. Brain freeze I guess. But like I said, I'm glad you said that since I'm going to be reciving a K2 next week sometime.
> deb


Congratulations on your new Kindle, Deb!


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## Van in Arlington (Mar 1, 2009)

drenee said:


> Thanks, DD. When I read your post I was thinking what you were doing was overkill. LOL. Brain freeze I guess. But like I said, I'm glad you said that since I'm going to be reciving a K2 next week sometime.
> deb


New Kindle 2, deb. Fantastic. Do you know what time your UPS driver arrives -- to the MINUTE?

Van...


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## Athenagwis (Apr 2, 2009)

Well my question is.  I currently have 2 Kindles on my account because I am getting a replacement for sun fade issue ... however when I log in and it gives me a drop down next to each book of what I can do, I can send it to Kindle 1, Kindle 2, or download to computer.  So I only have one choice of downloading to computer, so how do I know which Kindle's DRM info it's going to have?

Rachel


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## Van in Arlington (Mar 1, 2009)

Athenagwis said:


> Well my question is. I currently have 2 Kindles on my account because I am getting a replacement for sun fade issue ... however when I log in and it gives me a drop down next to each book of what I can do, I can send it to Kindle 1, Kindle 2, or download to computer. So I only have one choice of downloading to computer, so how do I know which Kindle's DRM info it's going to have?
> 
> Rachel


Rachel,

The DRM will allow the downloaded book to be read on either Kindle since they are in the same Amazon account. Pretty cool.

Van...


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## Athenagwis (Apr 2, 2009)

Van in Arlington said:


> Rachel,
> 
> The DRM will allow the downloaded book to be read on either Kindle since they are in the same Amazon account. Pretty cool.
> 
> Van...


Verra cool and might be a way for those with actual multi-Kindles to not have to worry about separating copies of books!

Rachel


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

Van in Arlington said:


> Rachel,
> 
> The DRM will allow the downloaded book to be read on either Kindle since they are in the same Amazon account. Pretty cool.
> 
> Van...


No, it won't. When you download to the computer, you get another pop-up asking which Kindle to download for.


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## reemixx (May 12, 2009)

SusanCassidy said:


> No, it won't. When you download to the computer, you get another pop-up asking which Kindle to download for.


Seconded. When you download a book, it's only ever for a single Kindle. If you want to read that book on a DIFFERENT Kindle on the same account, you have to download it for that specific Kindle (Amazon lets you choose which Kindle you're downloading for).

I think this is a pretty important thing to note. It means multiple backups of books for different Kindles (one lot of books for your K1, one lot of books for your K2, etc). An application such as Calibre comes in handy to organise your books when you have multiple Kindles, as you can just tag each book with the name of the Kindle it belongs to. No more getting confused.

Also, just a word of caution. Think twice about relying on anyone other than yourself to backup your books. I would never rely on Amazon 100%. I sincerely recommend keeping a local copy of all your books. It's not like their file size is a big deal, either.


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

reemixx said:


> Seconded. When you download a book, it's only ever for a single Kindle. If you want to read that book on a DIFFERENT Kindle on the same account, you have to download it for that specific Kindle (Amazon lets you choose which Kindle you're downloading for).
> 
> I think this is a pretty important thing to note. It means multiple backups of books for different Kindles (one lot of books for your K1, one lot of books for your K2, etc). An application such as Calibre comes in handy to organise your books when you have multiple Kindles, as you can just tag each book with the name of the Kindle it belongs to. No more getting confused.
> 
> Also, just a word of caution. Think twice about relying on anyone other than yourself to backup your books. I would never rely on Amazon 100%. I sincerely recommend keeping a local copy of all your books. It's not like their file size is a big deal, either.


reemixx, how do you 'tag' a book in Calibre? I went through individually and changed the metadata title for my K1 and K2 books to indicate which Kindle they were for. Is this what you mean or is there an actual tag feature? I can't seem to find how to do it.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

reemixx said:


> Also, just a word of caution. Think twice about relying on anyone other than yourself to backup your books. I would never rely on Amazon 100%. I sincerely recommend keeping a local copy of all your books. It's not like their file size is a big deal, either.


I bought my Kindle specifically so I could have a portable library, so I have all my books on my KK and backed up to my laptop _and_ to a thumb drive. Call me paranoid, but I just don't like the thought of having to rely on Amazon to keep my books for me. Although the books I have bought from Amazon are only about a quarter of what I have on my KK, I still have many I have not read yet and since they are bought and paid for, I'm definitely not letting them out of my sight.
When I want to read a book I know I have in my library, I don't want to have to go to Amazon and download it or hook up to a computer to transfer it.
And as for backing up in two places...computer drives crash and thumb drives are so small they can be misplaced!


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## L.Canton (Jan 21, 2009)

I back mine up to a thumb drive, as well as a secondary hard-drive that I use as an archive. The peace of mind is well worth it for me.


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

sherylb said:


> I bought my Kindle specifically so I could have a portable library, so I have all my books on my KK and backed up to my laptop _and_ to a thumb drive. Call me paranoid, but I just don't like the thought of having to rely on Amazon to keep my books for me. Although the books I have bought from Amazon are only about a quarter of what I have on my KK, I still have many I have not read yet and since they are bought and paid for, I'm definitely not letting them out of my sight.
> When I want to read a book I know I have in my library, I don't want to have to go to Amazon and download it or hook up to a computer to transfer it.
> And as for backing up in two places...computer drives crash and thumb drives are so small they can be misplaced!


I'm so glad I'm not the only 'paranoid' one.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

DD said:


> I'm so glad I'm not the only 'paranoid' one.


Let's just say I have trust issues!


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Ain't just you guys, I have mine backed up from KK to my hard drive...and those directories backed up to another hard drive on the same computer...and THOSE directories backed up to another external hard drive.

I'm cautious.


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## sherylb (Oct 27, 2008)

Steph H said:


> Ain't just you guys, I have mine backed up from KK to my hard drive...and those directories backed up to another hard drive on the same computer...and THOSE directories backed up to another external hard drive.
> 
> I'm cautious.


    I feel much better now!


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

Yes, that's a good name for it - cautious.

Seriously, though, wouldn't Amazon be a prime target for someone hacking into their files and destroying the backup files.  I mean, if they can do it to banks, they can do it to Amazon - just for the sick thrills these people get from it.  Better safe than sorry, I say.


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## MAGreen (Jan 5, 2009)

Amazon is cautious too...they have everything backed up several times.


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## marianneg (Nov 4, 2008)

MAGreen said:


> Amazon is cautious too...they have everything backed up several times.


Yeah, I'm almost positive that amazon has more backups than anyone here


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## reemixx (May 12, 2009)

DD said:


> reemixx, how do you 'tag' a book in Calibre? I went through individually and changed the metadata title for my K1 and K2 books to indicate which Kindle they were for. Is this what you mean or is there an actual tag feature? I can't seem to find how to do it.


There's an actual tag feature.

One of the fields in Calibre is called 'tags', right there with 'title', 'author', 'publisher', etc. (if it's not there for you, check to see if you have the latest version... I have no idea what the older versions did/didn't have). You separate tags with commas. Just to confuse you, everything within each of these fields for each book is referred to as 'tags' within Calibre, even though one of the fields itself is titled 'tags'.

If you have multiple Kindles, go ahead and tag each book K1 or K2 (or something else of your choice to differentiate them) within the 'tags' field.

Calibre has some very powerful sorting options, which makes it extremely easy to view certain books only for your K1, or your K2, or any other methods of sorting that appeal to you. You can click on the tag icon on the lower right hand corner, which will bring up the sidebar. You can use any of those tags in the sidebar (and multiple tags!) to sort your books. You can sort by Authors, Series, Formats, Publishers, News and Tags.

For example, you could look for ONLY books published by Project Gutenburg that have the tag K1 and does not include the author Charlotte Brontë.

Calibre is great for massive libraries. Great piece of software. Love it.


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

Yes, I enjoy the sorting features like being able to enter azw and it only lists the Amazon books.

I do have the latest version and I see the tag sorting option.  I just can't see where to add a tag to a book.  I must be missing something but I searched all over and went to the help site.  Just don't see it.

Thanks.

EDIT:  O-o-p's, sorry.  Just found the tag editor in the metadata screen!  Thanks.  I am really liking Calibre the more I use it.  I wish I could set the author sort to "Last, First".  It always wanst to do it with First Name then a comma, Last Name and then end with a comma.  Can't find a setting to keep it from doing that and I've been going in to change them by hand.


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## reemixx (May 12, 2009)

DD: You can double click in the tags field to add/edit tags (you can do this with any field). No need to edit the metadata just to add tags. Actually, I rarely use the metadata screen at all.

Yes, the 'author sort' metadata is a bit of a pain, as it doesn't do last,first automatically. I may start editing it manually, and continue to change it each time from now on. I might take this up with the developer at some point, or at least find out what he has to say about it. An option to toggle between first,last and last,first would be perfect, and should be dead simple.


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## DD (Nov 9, 2008)

reemixx said:


> DD: You can double click in the tags field to add/edit tags (you can do this with any field). No need to edit the metadata just to add tags. Actually, I rarely use the metadata screen at all.
> 
> Yes, the 'author sort' metadata is a bit of a pain, as it doesn't do last,first automatically. I may start editing it manually, and continue to change it each time from now on. I might take this up with the developer at some point, or at least find out what he has to say about it. An option to toggle between first,last and last,first would be perfect, and should be dead simple.


Oh, yes, now I see the double-click on the "tags" column works nicely. Part of the problem was that the "tags" column was not visible by default. I had to discover the little 'configure' button all the way to the right above the book list to add the column.

I got all my author sorts done by hand (a few each day) and now change each book as I add it. When you have a lot of books by one author, the 'change metadata in bulk' option works nicely for this.


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## legalbs2 (May 27, 2009)

Just an odd observation about backing up Amazon books.  I bought a book for me and another for my hubby.  It is on the KDX.  When we finish reading them, I will archive them onto my computer.  I put all the books we might enjoy reading on the Save For Later area of the Kindle.  Then download a sample and only buy if I really want to read the book.  I see no reason to keep books we have already read on the Kindle.  But backing up to another device the books you have purchased makes a lot of sense.

Anyone know how to read a Kindle book on the computer?  I downloaded Adobe Digital Editions that allows me to download and read eBooks from ebook.com, but is there a way to open the Kindle only books?  Can I download directly from Amazon to my computer a Kindle book and read it in .pdf format?  I am a newbie to this Kindle stuff.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

At this time you can't read Kindle books (format .azw, bought from Amazon) on your computer.  You can only read books backed up this way by re-transfering it back to the Kindle it was originally downloaded to.


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## legalbs2 (May 27, 2009)

Thanks, Ann.  Just a note re .pdf files:  When transferred to my KDX, they appear as they originally were, i.e., small text size.  You cannot increase the font size on your KDX to read them comfortably except for reading in landscape mode.  If I copy my .pdf files into a .txt or a .doc format will Kindle allow the use of resizing the fonts?


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## legalbs2 (May 27, 2009)

Also, does anyone know anything about the MP3 files onto a Kindle?  I have iTunes and cannot play .m4a files on the Kindle.  Is there a way to make the .m4a files into MP3 files?  And, when I go to the Experimental area of my KDX, I cannot toggle down to the MP3 area.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

legalbs2 said:


> If I copy my .pdf files into a .txt or a .doc format will Kindle allow the use of resizing the fonts?


I would guess so, but they'd no longer be PDF's. The point of the DX was to be able to display PDF's natively, without converting to another file type. If they're mostly text it's not big deal, but if there are images -- drawings, charts, etc -- they won't convert well.

Or such is my understanding. . . .not having a DX in hand as yet, I can't be sure.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

legalbs2 said:


> Also, does anyone know anything about the MP3 files onto a Kindle? I have iTunes and cannot play .m4a files on the Kindle. Is there a way to make the .m4a files into MP3 files? And, when I go to the Experimental area of my KDX, I cannot toggle down to the MP3 area.


You cannot toggle to the MP3 area until you have at least one MP3 loaded on your Kindle.

As for the M4A files, there are multiple programs that can convert the files to MP3. You can try Googling, or if you list your operating system you will get suggestions here.


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## legalbs2 (May 27, 2009)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I would guess so, but they'd no longer be PDF's. The point of the DX was to be able to display PDF's natively, without converting to another file type. If they're mostly text it's not big deal, but if there are images -- drawings, charts, etc -- they won't convert well.
> 
> Or such is my understanding. . . .not having a DX in hand as yet, I can't be sure.


Ann, the files I transferred via USB to the KDX were .pdfs. The problem is the KDX will not allow the larger font sizes.

So when I transfer them from .pdf to the KDX, they are no longer .pdfs? Weird.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

legal, I don't know exactly what you're doing but here is my understanding.

With the DX, you have two choices for a PDF file.  Since, the DX can read PDF files natively, you can transfer it and it will retain the file extension PDF.  It is true, that you can not then, on the Kindle, change the font size, though I understand there is some level of enlargement you can get if you rotate the DX 90°

OR, you can convert it to some other file type so that you can change the font size on the Kindle.  As I said, if it is all text, and you want to be able to adjust font size on the Kindle, this is probably the way to go.


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## reemixx (May 12, 2009)

DD said:


> Yes, that's a good name for it - cautious.
> 
> Seriously, though, wouldn't Amazon be a prime target for someone hacking into their files and destroying the backup files. I mean, if they can do it to banks, they can do it to Amazon - just for the sick thrills these people get from it. Better safe than sorry, I say.





MAGreen said:


> Amazon is cautious too...they have everything backed up several times.





marianner said:


> Yeah, I'm almost positive that amazon has more backups than anyone here


The issue isn't with someone hacking into Amazon and Amazon losing data.... It's with Amazon intentionally screwing customers over. Amazon have the rights to suddenly pull books or screw around with your library for whatever reason if they deem it valid. I'm not saying they will, but giving someone else completely power is never a good idea, hence why I tell people to manage and control their data themselves, especially when they've paid money for that data.


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## angelad (Jun 19, 2009)

reemixx said:


> The issue isn't with someone hacking into Amazon and Amazon losing data.... It's with Amazon intentionally screwing customers over. Amazon have the rights to suddenly pull books or screw around with your library for whatever reason if they deem it valid. I'm not saying they will, but giving someone else completely power is never a good idea, hence why I tell people to manage and control their data themselves, especially when they've paid money for that data.


Some good advice here.


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## msteph0614 (Jun 28, 2009)

I bought the Kindle with the thought that I could download my purchased books as many times as I would like, too.

It seems that is not so:
http://www.geardiary.com/2009/06/19/kindles-drm-rears-its-ugly-head-and-it-is-ugly/

I am now backing up my purchases on my mac, then time capsule, etc....


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

msteph0614 said:


> I bought the Kindle with the thought that I could download my purchased books as many times as I would like, too.
> 
> It seems that is not so:
> http://www.geardiary.com/2009/06/19/kindles-drm-rears-its-ugly-head-and-it-is-ugly/
> ...


This is not true. The same blogger wrote another article the next day once he received the correct information.


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## aslterp (Mar 24, 2009)

Ihope someone will confirm this for me.  I have two kindles registered to my account. ONe is mine - one is my son's.  Son is in the Navy with an  upcoming deployment.  He will not have access to download while deployed -not direct to his kindle and cannot download on navy computers and cannot hook his personal laptop to navy internet.

SO - I can buy him books, download to MY computer under the name of HIS kindle.  Transfer to USB and ship him the USB =- he can then load them on his laptob and transfer to HIS kindle?  But I will have to tell amazon I am downloading for HIS kindle when I do it - 
will this work?  He will behome on leave soon and we can test this I suppose!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

It should work. . . . .but I'd definitely test it before counting on it.  Either way he should load it up before he goes.  Also, many places they put into port will have a USO and he ought to be able to use their computers to download if he can access Amazon.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

aslterp said:


> SO - I can buy him books, download to MY computer under the name of HIS kindle.


There is no reason that this should not work. An excellent idea.


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