# Now sharing my Kindle with my 10 year old--how best to hide my books



## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

I have a classic Kindle 2. Over the summer I bought a book for my 5th grader to read, and now she is taking the Kindle to school for her reading time until she finishes that book.

Problem: I have several hundred books on there and many are terribly inappropriate for her to be taking to school. I hid the worst of them in a lengthy "move to collection" session where the iffy titles (why DID I download the free Madame X School of Sex?  ) got stuck in a folder she probably won't open.

But still. Too many books to put in collections one at a time. That would take days. There is still tons of sci fi and no telling what all.

Can I clear it, just add a few of her books, then when she gives it back, start adding my own back? I can do this easily on the iPad (just show downloaded books, not Cloud books), but I didn't see a way on the Kindle 2.


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## valleycat1 (Mar 15, 2011)

I'd do as you suggest - clear it of everything but her books.  Even if she doesn't go browsing, someone else in her class might. 

Also, I'm finding more people (including me) who just keep their active reading & maybe newest purchases on the kindle & let Amazon store the rest anyway.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

You should be able to restore to factory defaults.  I don't know what the menu on a K2 is like.  The. You could register it again to your account and download just those books you want on it.

Sent from my Kindle Fire using Tapatalk 2


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

If I was sharing my kindle account with a kid. . . . well, realisticaly I probably wouldn't be. I'd probably set them up their OWN account that they could then keep for the rest of their lives. But if I thought it made more sense to share the account -- in order to share most of the books, for example, rather than buying everything twice -- I'd still probably give the kid their own Kindle.

I'm sure I wouldn't let the kid take it anywhere without me if it was MY thing!  "No, you can't take it to school -- I'll want to read while you're gone!" 

_Especially_ not with any grown up books actually on the device. That's the sort of thing that could get a kid or parent in a lot of trouble nowadays if the wrong person looked through the library.


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## readingril (Oct 29, 2010)

Go by her own Kindle for $79... and add it to your account and send the book to it from the Manage Your Kindle page. 

Or wait until the new Kindles are announced next week and see if one of those would better suit her needs.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

If buying another Kindle is not an option and you are comfortable letting 10 year old taking your classic K2 out of the house, then I would do the following to remove all the books from your K2 (Note: The following is not difficult; I just tend to be wordy in my explanations. ):


If you haven't done so already, set up a folder on your computer to hold Kindle backups. I have one backup folder for each Kindle in the house (ALTKindle, ALTFire, RLTDX). Instructions below are written assuming a Windows computer.
In this folder, create a folder for today's backup. (I am currently backing up my K2 to a folder named Backup120831. Copying 3,791 items in less than 15 minutes.)
Turn on your K2 and make sure it is on the Home page with wireless off.
Connect your K2 to a computer using the USB cable. When your K2 is recognized by the computer, then the K2 screen will show an image of the USB connecter and a message about ejecting the Kindle from the computer in order to read.
When the Kindle is recognized as a USB drive on your computer (Mine sees it as Kindle (F), open in Windows Explorer so that you can see all the files. The visible folders on the K2 include .active-content-data, Audible, documents, and music. There is also a "Hidden System Files" named system. I select All on the K2, Copy, and then Paste to the dated Backup folder on your computer. Wait for all the files to copy.
After the copy is complete, make sure you are looking at the Kindle drive and folders and not the Backup folder on your computer for the following steps.
Open the documents folder. in this folder you should see all your books, documents, etc. The file types on mine include: .pdf, .azw, .azw1, .azw2, .mbp, .mobi, .pdr, .phl, .prc, .tan, and .txt files. Some of these file types are books/docs and some are the files that hold your place, notes, highlights, etc. (I have 2087 files in this folder so a little over 1000 books, samples, and documents.) 
Now that you have a backup, you can delete the book files on the Kindle that you don't want your 10 year old to access using Windows Explorer on your computer. You could just delete everything in the documents folder but most books bought from Amazon have file names that are easy to recognize. Books from other sources sometimes don't. (For example, I am deleting "As Always Julia The Letters of J_asin_B004BXA3BI-type_EBOK-v_0" [.azw, .mbp, .phl] and "The Beatles Fifty Fabulous Years-asin_B004LROUXG-type_EBOK-v_0" [.azw, .mbp] while writing these instructions. I am reading the first on my Fire due to the photos and may eventually read the other one there.)
Using the method appropriate for your computer operating system version, Eject the Kindle from your computer.
When your K2 is no longer showing the screen with the USB and eject warning, disconnect it from your computer. Newer versions of Windows require Ejecting from Windows Explorer. If you Safely Remove from the Systray, sometimes the computer does not tell the Kindle. I just shut down my computer in that case which sends the right message to the Kindle.
To be continued after I restart my computer because I forgot that this laptop needs the Eject version. 
When your Kindle recognizes that it is no longer connected to the computer, it will go back to the Home screen. The deleted books will not be there and, if purchased from Amazon, the deleted books will be available in the Archives.
If having the books available in the Archives is a problem, then follow the "buy another Kindle" route with a version that has Parental Controls.

I needed to do a backup today of my K2 contents as I will be replacing the "non-user replacable" battery later today.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

Annalog--thank you for the detailed explanation. I'll use your method since I can be on the computer and do mass movements rather than working on the Kindle itself, which is painfully slow.

We have 2 Nooks, this Kindle, and an iPad already!

Even so, Grandma has expressed interest in picking up a Kindle for this daughter for Christmas, so I want to hold out a bit anyway, if I can.

Again, thank you.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

TexasGirl, you are very welcome. You can mass move the files in documents off and on your K2.

I just finished the battery replacement in my K2 following the video from NewPower99.com. It was nearly as easy as the video showed.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

I'm getting a little worried about the battery of my K2. I used to never think about it, and now I notice I have to charge it often.

But it will hopefully last until Christmas, then it may be retired anyway. Full Kindle honors.  I'll try not to think about how I paid $250 for something that is $79 now!


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

If you're moving books on and off it a lot it might be it's doing a lot more indexing -- that will tend to drain the battery faster than you might otherwise expect.  That said, it's also not unusual for batteries to stop holding a charge as well.

One thing:  is it really draining, or is it just that the indicator says it is?  Sometimes the indicator can get out of sync with the actual charge of the battery.  What you can do to try to re-sync them is let it go down to completely dead.  As in, use it until it says, "battery depleted, shutting down" or whatever that message is.  Then plug it in and charge to completely full.  

(And I still say give your kid her own kindle and her own account.  )


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> If you're moving books on and off it a lot it might be it's doing a lot more indexing -- that will tend to drain the battery faster than you might otherwise expect. That said, it's also not unusual for batteries to stop holding a charge as well.
> ...


Thanks for mentioning that. I forgot to say to leave the K2 plugged in while indexing.

TexasGirl, I got my new battery from NewPower99.com for less than $32 (including shipping). It was fairly easy to replace. A link to the video can be found on the Has anyone changed a battery in a K2 thread. I still prefer the keyboard on my K3 to the keyboard on my mom's Kindle Keyboard because the K2 has the number keys.


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## Simon Haynes (Mar 14, 2011)

Speaking as a once-inquisitive 10-year-old, definitely remove them. If someone at school fiddles around and finds an inappropriate file, then shows the thing to teacher, you'll be looking at a world of embarrassment and unwanted publicity.

I would install Calibre (freeware), transfer all the books from the Kindle to your PC, then remove the books you don't want to leave on there.

There's also a nifty addon for Calibre called Kindle Collections. It will automatically create collections on the Kindle by author, shoving the books into the correct place. Very, very handy, but you must turn off the 3G or your kindle will just replace the data with Amazon's, overwriting your new settings.

I don't know why anyone with a Kindle _wouldn't_ have Calibre. It's essential, as far as I'm concerned. Eg. with the Kindle connected to the PC, you just highlight books in calibre and press D to put them on the Kindle. It also converts between just about every known ebook format.


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## DooneyKat (Jul 24, 2012)

"There's also a nifty addon for Calibre called *Kindle Collections.* It will automatically create collections on the Kindle by author, shoving the books into the correct place."

I love Calibre, too!

I cannot find this in Calibre... care to share where it is?

Thanks!


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

Interesting. I use Calibre to convert my epubs, but never thought of opening it while my Kindle was plugged in. Kewl.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

I find Calibre to be way more trouble than it's worth. . . .I'm not worried about collecting things, or changing metadata, or anything like that. And Amazon converts things for me just fine -- those very few things that I get from not-Amazon.

But, that's me. If you do need or want to do any of that stuff yourself, Calibre does, by all accounts, do a darn good job at it. Don't think there's any real competition, even.

Still, while I can certainly see why some would like it and use it; for me, it's not only _not_ essential, it's not even a little bit desired.


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## Annalog (Dec 28, 2008)

Ann in Arlington said:


> I find Calibre to be way more trouble than it's worth. . . .


I agree. For me, Calibre was more trouble for managing my books than what I needed or wanted.


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## KimberlyinMN (Dec 30, 2009)

Even if the books are removed from the device, they will ALL be listed in the Archives.  At least that's where all of the books that I've removed end up, in addition to the books I haven't downloaded yet.


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## Simon Haynes (Mar 14, 2011)

DooneyKat said:


> "There's also a nifty addon for Calibre called *Kindle Collections.* It will automatically create collections on the Kindle by author, shoving the books into the correct place."
> 
> I love Calibre, too!
> 
> ...


Preferences - Plugins - type or paste 'kindle collections' into the field and click next. Install the plugin, restart Calibre.

What I like about Calibre is that you can view a list of books on the device, or on the PC, and switch between them.


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## TexasGirl (Dec 21, 2011)

Did this just in the nick of time. I saw she was reading Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb and asked her where she saw it.

She said, "I found it in the Collection titled 'Kids Books by People I Know.'"

Um, she figured stuff out fast!!!

Anyway, I put enough books out and loose and in a couple collections, that hopefully she won't go to archives.


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## Simon Haynes (Mar 14, 2011)

TexasGirl said:


> Did this just in the nick of time. I saw she was reading Super Zombie Juice Mega Bomb and asked her where she saw it.
> 
> She said, "I found it in the Collection titled 'Kids Books by People I Know.'"
> 
> ...


Never underestimate kids ...


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

I'm with Ann on this, you really must get her a Kindle (and an account) of her own.

With easy access to the archives - and you've said yourself that she picks up how to do things quickly - she's still going to be taking a device into school that has access to inappropriate material.

But it isn't just that - you need to think about the future. One day she's going to want her own account and all the books she's collecting while using your account won't be transferrable. If you start her out now with her own account, she'll always have access to any books she gets now.

You don't need to worry about her buying books she shouldn't have etc. Set up the account but don't tell her the username or password till she's old enough to take over running the account. Use your email address. Agree on a monthly budget and fund the account with gift cards to that amount and remove your credit card details once the account is set up. That way she can't spend more than you want her to and whenever she makes a purchase the email confirmation will go to you so you can see what's she's bought.

In the long run, this is by far the best way to do it, so if Grandma is feeling generous, take her up on the offer!


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## Trophywife007 (Aug 31, 2009)

If you archive all your content and deregister it, wouldn't that solve the problem until she got her own Kindle and account?


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