Tech Wham | Ereader Tablet and Ebook Reader Reviews, Videos, and Comparisons

Are you one of those many people that get giddy and excited when they talk about their Kindles? Do you preach about the greatness of it to your friends and family, and attempt to convert Nook users whenever you can?  Then get ready for 3 more reasons to love the Kindle. These 3 Kindle tricks will give you more enjoyment, put your ereader to better use, and give you some tricks to talk about to fellow Kindle users.

Trick #1- Book Swapping-  I’m not talking about the 2 week book swapping where you have to return the title before you finish the book. This is swapping books with your friends and family for good.

Follow these steps for book swapping:

1. Log into your Amazon account
2. De-Register Your Kindle
3. Have your friend or family member log into their account and add your Kindle to their account.
   -This means you’ll have to read them your serial number as they enter it into their account.
   -Click “add new Kindle” after serial number is entered.
4. Go to your Kindle home page and click on “Archived Items”
   -This will be a list of your friend or family member’s books.
5. Click on titles you want to have on your device.
   -These will automatically download to your device, keeping them safely on the original owner’s Kindle.
6. Have your friend or family member de-register your Kindle from their account.
7. Re-register your Kindle to your account.

Now you have all the titles you want from your friend or family member! This can be done up to 6 times per digital book.

Trick #2- Reading Library Books on The Kindle- It’s a well known fact that the Kindle isn’t compatible with EPUB files. It’s a simple process to convert these to a readable file using Calibre, but EPUB files that have a DRM attached to it cannot  be read by the Kindle at all, without stripping the DRM and breaking some laws in the process.

There is a way to read Mobi-Pocket files on the Kindle though. That means that if you belong to a library that allows checking out of Mobi-Pocket files, then you can read books from the library, and check them out for free just like users of other ebook readers.

Just click to get the free program and learn how to read library books on the Kindle.

Trick #3- Secret Games On the Kindle- That’s right, there are secret games on the Kindle right out of the box.

1. Hit “Shift+ALT+M” for access to Minesweeper.
2. While in Minesweeper, hit the letter “G” for access to GoMoku. GoMoku is a game closely related to tic tac toe. For access to Minesweeper again, click “M”.

So there you have some great Kindle tricks you can definitely try at home. Next time you get caught in a Kindle vs Nook argument you can pull out these morsels of knowledge. If you have any other tips or tricks please share them with us in the comments.

A popular bone to pick with Amazon for a long time now has been that users can’t lend books to one another. This month Amazon finally put that point to rest, now allowing sharing of ebook titles for up to 2 weeks, providing of course it is permitted by the author. Let’s discuss this ebook lending in detail in this article and I’ll also reveal a little known technique of swapping books with friends and family.

Ebook Lending- When Barnes and Noble released the Nook two Octobers ago, it had a feature of lending books to other Nook users, or Nook app users, and people were scratching their heads as to why the Kindle didn’t allow this and tipped the scales in favor of the Nook in the Nook vs Kindle battle.

Now Amazon allows the lending of books for up to 2 weeks. You don’t have to be a Kindle owner to be the receiver of the book, but you must have the application for your device, much like the Nook.

Why lend the book, when you can just HAVE it? The “Secret” Kindle Ebook Swapping Technique.

There is, in fact, a way to give your books to other people on the Kindle while keeping the titles on your device. Or vice versa; getting other peoples titles from their Kindles while keeping their library completely intact.

This all started for my family with a text message from my brother…”OMG, I am sitting here watching Jaime (his girlfriend) get every book that her dad has onto her Kindle for free!! We have to do this! I’m calling you…”

And now, I have every book my brother ever bought, my wife ever bought, and my parents ever bought, or at least the titles I wanted, on my Kindle while they have mine also.

How To Swap- Let’s go through the steps first, then we’ll discuss why it’s legitimate and a loophole Amazon doesn’t seem too worried about closing any time soon.

Person 1- Person GIVING the books.

Person 2- Person RECEIVING the books.

——————————————————

RECEIVER STEP 1) Log into your account on Amazon.com and “deregister” your Kindle.

Log in-> Your Account-> Manage Your Kindle-> “Deregister”

GIVER STEP 1) Log into your account on Amazon.com and “Register a New Kindle”.

Log in-> Your Account-> Manage Your Kindle->

Add the Serial Number of the Receiver’s Kindle and click on “Register a New Kindle”

* Now the Giver has 2 Kindles registered on his/her account.

RECEIVER STEP 2) Get the books you want from the Giver.

Turn on your Kindle and look in the “Archived Items” section on the Home Screen. Click on the titles you want. They will appear in your list of books in a few seconds.

* Now the Receiver has taken the books he/she wants from the Giver.

GIVER STEP 2) Deregister the Receiver’s Kindle. You can do this within your account under “Your Kindles”. Or, the Receiver can do this from their Kindle itself. This is a vital step, otherwise these accounts will be linked and the Giver pays for everything from now on!

RECEIVER STEP 3) Deregister your Kindle from the Kindle (if the Giver didn’t do it within their account page on Amazon.com) and Re-Register it from the Kindle, or within your Account at Amazon.com.

* You are done with one person getting the titles they want. Simply reverse the process for the other person.

Is this Legit?

Yes. If you decided to upgrade your Kindle, this is how you get the books in your library to your device. If you are a parent and have a family account where you pay for all the books your children use, then you could have multiple Kindles on the one account. You can see how Amazon doesn’t have much choice but to keep this feature.

*However, there’s a limit on each title. Each book can be used on up to 6 Kindles simultaneously at one time.

Now you just have to convince your friends and family to take a few minutes to swap titles!! Maybe you’ll want to forward this article to them first.

You can visit Amazon.com for more information on the Kindle by clicking here.