If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purchase?

[SaturnVengeance]

Hypothetically speaking, if I were to purchase an Amazon Kindle, and then purchase Twilight on Amazon, then could I just read that book on the Kindle? Also, does the Kindle have all books that are on Amazon, or only some of them?

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

Well, you'd have to purchase the electronic version of Twilight, but yeah, that's pretty much the whole point of the Kindle.

But no, not everything is available in electronic format.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

Only if you bought the electronic version, I believe. Just because you bought a physical copy doesn't mean you automatically get the electronic version for free.

Not all books available on Amazon are available for the Kindle. There are licensing issues involved.

 

[SaturnVengeance]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

Well, you'd have to purchase the electronic version of Twilight, but yeah, that's pretty much the whole point of the Kindle.

But no, not everything is available in electronic format.

Why isn't everything?

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

You'll have to ask Amazon.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

Well, you'd have to purchase the electronic version of Twilight, but yeah, that's pretty much the whole point of the Kindle.

But no, not everything is available in electronic format.

Why isn't everything?

See my post. To elaborate a little bit, when an author sells their publishing rights, electronic rights may or may not be included in the agreement. In order to sell an electronic copy of a book, Amazon must have licensed it meaning the publisher and author have to have worked out a digital distribution agreement.

For physical books there are no such complications.

 

[SaturnVengeance]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

Well, you'd have to purchase the electronic version of Twilight, but yeah, that's pretty much the whole point of the Kindle.

But no, not everything is available in electronic format.

Why isn't everything?

See my post. To elaborate a little bit, when an author sells their publishing rights, electronic rights may or may not be included in the agreement. In order to sell an electronic copy of a book, Amazon must have licensed it meaning the publisher and author have to have worked out a digital distribution agreement.

For physical books there are no such complications.

What about old books that the author of died a long time ago or the publisher is defunct?

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

Plus, for a lot of them, there might not be digital versions, yet. A new release is likely to have a digital manuscript, which is easy to turn into an ebook edition. A book from the '70s or '80s would probably have to be scanned manually.

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

Why isn't everything?

See my post. To elaborate a little bit, when an author sells their publishing rights, electronic rights may or may not be included in the agreement. In order to sell an electronic copy of a book, Amazon must have licensed it meaning the publisher and author have to have worked out a digital distribution agreement.

For physical books there are no such complications.

What about old books that the author of died a long time ago or the publisher is defunct?

It depends on who owns the rights. If the work is in the public domain, it will be free for most devices.

 

[SaturnVengeance]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

Plus, for a lot of them, there might not be digital versions, yet. A new release is likely to have a digital manuscript, which is easy to turn into an ebook edition. A book from the '70s or '80s would probably have to be scanned manually.

They had word processing programs for computers before the 1990s, I think. Didn't they have some DOS programs in the 80s that could be used to write books?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

Plus, for a lot of them, there might not be digital versions, yet. A new release is likely to have a digital manuscript, which is easy to turn into an ebook edition. A book from the '70s or '80s would probably have to be scanned manually.

They had word processing programs for computers before the 1990s, I think. Didn't they have some DOS programs in the 80s that could be used to write books?

Those would've been a tiny minority.

Books were traditionally published by authors who typed up the whole manuscript on a typewriter, then it would be sent to a printer who would quite literally set up each letter on a printing press. There would be no digital copies at all.

 

[RoJoHen]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

It's possible that for a lot of older books they just haven't gotten around to converting them yet.

If you go to the Kindle Store on amazon.com, you can search for whatever books you're looking for.

However, if I'm not mistaken, aren't there many more titles available for the Nook because it accept more formats than the Kindle?

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

The Nook supports EPUB which is an industry standard. Kindle does not.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong...

 

[Spaceman Spiff]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

Yeah, you can see pretty much everything available for Kindle here.

The Nook store is here.

 

[John Clark]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

I have another question relating to ebooks for the Kindle (or even in general).

Are there region coding restrictions? (I've had a quick look around the net and there seems to be quite a few comments to suggest that there are)

I've ordered (physical) books from the US before now and had thought that having an e-reader would make things a little quicker and easier. I suppose there is licensing issues to think about though.

 

[SaturnVengeance]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

I have another question relating to ebooks for the Kindle (or even in general).

Are there region coding restrictions? (I've had a quick look around the net and there seems to be quite a few comments to suggest that there are)

I've ordered (physical) books from the US before now and had thought that having an e-reader would make things a little quicker and easier. I suppose there is licensing issues to think about though.

I think it's global, or so it says on Amazon.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

I have another question relating to ebooks for the Kindle (or even in general).

Are there region coding restrictions? (I've had a quick look around the net and there seems to be quite a few comments to suggest that there are)

I've ordered (physical) books from the US before now and had thought that having an e-reader would make things a little quicker and easier. I suppose there is licensing issues to think about though.

Only certain books are offered through the Kindle service based on your country/region as set in the Kindle. So, yes, it is essentially region-locked.

 

[John Clark]

Re: If I buy a Kindle, can I read any book on Amazon.com that I purcha

I did notice a drop down box for country in the ebook section. That's a bit of a pain.

Oh well.