[peritusONE]

I have a friend who said he read in a Kindle 2 review that one of the problems with the Kindle is that if you download a book, then it's taken down for whatever reason, that you can no longer re-download that book to your Kindle if you had deleted it.  The reviewer suggested that users keep a backup of every book file so you could still transfer via USB if needed.

Is that true?  I always thought that even if a book was taken down and not allowed to be purchased any longer, that previous buyers could still re-download that book from the archive folder on the Kindle, or from the Kindle account management screen.

Just wondering if I should start backing up book files to my comp.  Thanks.

 

[Mom of 4]

Not true.  I bought The Stand last year.  It is was taken down recently, but I can still access my copy.

 

[Mom of 4]

Keep in mind that you have to have gotten the book originally from Amazon. 
They don't keep track of books gotten from other sites.

 

[Athenagwis]

I have a friend who said he read in a Kindle 2 review that one of the problems with the Kindle is that if you download a book, then it's taken down for whatever reason, that you can no longer re-download that book to your Kindle if you had deleted it. The reviewer suggested that users keep a backup of every book file so you could still transfer via USB if needed.

Is that true? I always thought that even if a book was taken down and not allowed to be purchased any longer, that previous buyers could still re-download that book from the archive folder on the Kindle, or from the Kindle account management screen.

Just wondering if I should start backing up book files to my comp. Thanks.

I do not know if what you are asking is true or not, but in my humble opinion it is a smart idea to back up all your books (especially the ones you purchased) to your computer regardless. Even if those books are still available after, who's to say that Amazon will really have the books available indefinitely? They have never had to store digital files on their servers before, so what if 2 years, 3 years, or 10 years down the road they decide that holding all these big digital files is too much? They may up and say we will only keep your books for 5 years then *poof* all gone and you get no say so in the matter. Or what if (God forbid) their server crashes and they can't get the books that were removed in the past back? Or how about if they decide not to support Kindle anymore because competition becomes too much? Or what if (God forbid again) they go bankrupt? I'd still like to be able to read the books I bought on my Kindle whether Amazon is there or not. I personally think it would be a terrible idea to rely on Amazon to keep the sole copy of anything you paid for.

I save every digital thing I buy to a large second internal drive I have and then I back that drive up to Mozy.com. This way if something happened at my house, I would have a copy offsite. Most likely I will also burn a DVD of the books and put them in my fireproof box. You can just never be too safe with digital files.

Again this is just my opinion and many may think I am a little overzealous with my caution regarding digital files, but like I said I want instant access to the books I bought, no matter what happens with Amazon down the road.

Cheers!
Rachel

 

[stevene9]

I have a small (2.5") drive that I use to back up all of my important files (including Kindle books, MP3s, photos). I put it in my safe deposit box and update it every 6 months.

 

[MAGreen]

Like Mom of 4 said, as long as the book was purchaces from Amazon, you will be able to re-download it. There were a few exceptions, like with the pirated copies of Harry Potter, that were refunded and removed from the Kindle Archives. If a book is pulled and made unavailable, Amazon SHOULD refund the cost of the book.

 

[fearcake]

Actually Athena,  Amazon has been in the Webstorage business for some time with their S3 offerings.  Server crashes shouldn't be an issue either since everything on Amazon is backed up in multiples in different locations.  As to not supporting the Kindle format that is possible I guess though it is more likely that the Kindle format evolves and newer Kindles aren't backward compatible. 

I've heard of people not being able to redownload books from Amazon once Amazon has lost the electronic rights.  It is something to be concerned with since the Kindle format is DRMd.  Even if you back up all your books on your computer what do you do if your Kindle breaks?  Those files on your computer are assigned to the broken kindle ... not any new machine you might buy.  So if there ARE any books that  Amazon has taken down that you can't redownload you are out that money.

As to refunds, the reviewer tried to get a refund for the monies they paid for the item they could no longer download and Amazon refused. 

 

[Athenagwis]

Actually Athena, Amazon has been in the Webstorage business for some time with their S3 offerings. Server crashes shouldn't be an issue either since everything on Amazon is backed up in multiples in different locations. As to not supporting the Kindle format that is possible I guess though it is more likely that the Kindle format evolves and newer Kindles aren't backward compatible.

I've heard of people not being able to redownload books from Amazon once Amazon has lost the electronic rights. It is something to be concerned with since the Kindle format is DRMd. Even if you back up all your books on your computer what do you do if your Kindle breaks? Those files on your computer are assigned to the broken kindle ... not any new machine you might buy. So if there ARE any books that Amazon has taken down that you can't redownload you are out that money.

As to refunds, the reviewer tried to get a refund for the monies they paid for the item they could no longer download and Amazon refused.

I was not aware they were in web storage already, but I still feel safer with my files on my computer then trusting that Amazon will be around forever with my files available to me there. Again I may be being over cautious, but I'd rather be that then sorry.

Now I am interested in my books not working on a new Kindle. Can you elaborate for me? So let's say I purchase Outlander from Amazon. Then I download it to my computer from Amazon. I can never upload that file to another Kindle I own through a USB cable? Do the files have a code in them that have the serial number of the unit encoded in there? So if I upgrade my Kindle all the books I bought from Amazon that I have on my computer cannot be moved over by USB cable? I thought I heard people doing just that during this upgrade, but I could have misunderstood. What about the people that are not in a whispernet area, if they upgraded their Kindle, they had to re-download all their Amazon books in order for them to work on their new Kindle? Elaboration on this would be appreciated! I am new to Kindle and just want to understand what I can and can't do.

Thanks!
Rachel

 

[pidgeon92]

I can never upload that file to another Kindle I own through a USB cable? Do the files have a code in them that have the serial number of the unit encoded in there? So if I upgrade my Kindle all the books I bought from Amazon that I have on my computer cannot be moved over by USB cable?

Each download is associated with a particular Kindle, so you will not be able to open these books on another Kindle.

 

[Athenagwis]

Each download is associated with a particular Kindle, so you will not be able to open these books on another Kindle.

Are they associated with a Kindle or an Amazon account? How can people share accounts and get the same book on 2 kindles off of one account?

And if it is by account, if I have a book bought at Amazon on my computer and I register a new Kindle on my Amazon account and say for some reason that book that is on my computer is not available for me to download straight from Amazon (which I know has already happened to a few) I cannot upload that file to my new Kindle even if it's registered on my Amazon account?

Sorry for all the questions, I just don't understand this kind of technology I have never had an ipod or anything similar to this before.

Thanks!
Rachel

 

[crebel]

If a new Kindle is registered to the same account as another Kindle, then the books can be "shared" between the Kindles or redownloaded to the new Kindle on the same account (unless you have already used up your 6 "licenses" for each book and that is a whole other thread).  Others can probably explain better than I have.

 

[DD]

I also backup all my books in several places (external hard drive, laptop, thumb drive, sd card). Overkill?  Maybe but I feel safe.

 

[pidgeon92]

Each download is associated with a Kindle. When you go to download from Amazon via your PC, you will see a dropdown box where you need to choose which Kindle the download is for. Thus, multiple devices on an account can share purchases, but each purchase must be downloaded separately to each device.

You can upload the files from your PC to a different Kindle, but the Kindle will not be able to open the file. You will get an error message that says something to the effect that there is a problem with the file, and you will need to contact Customer Service.

 

[CS]

I do not know if what you are asking is true or not, but in my humble opinion it is a smart idea to back up all your books (especially the ones you purchased) to your computer regardless. Even if those books are still available after, who's to say that Amazon will really have the books available indefinitely? They have never had to store digital files on their servers before, so what if 2 years, 3 years, or 10 years down the road they decide that holding all these big digital files is too much? They may up and say we will only keep your books for 5 years then *poof* all gone and you get no say so in the matter. Or what if (God forbid) their server crashes and they can't get the books that were removed in the past back? Or how about if they decide not to support Kindle anymore because competition becomes too much? Or what if (God forbid again) they go bankrupt? I'd still like to be able to read the books I bought on my Kindle whether Amazon is there or not. I personally think it would be a terrible idea to rely on Amazon to keep the sole copy of anything you paid for.

I save every digital thing I buy to a large second internal drive I have and then I back that drive up to Mozy.com. This way if something happened at my house, I would have a copy offsite. Most likely I will also burn a DVD of the books and put them in my fireproof box. You can just never be too safe with digital files.

Again this is just my opinion and many may think I am a little overzealous with my caution regarding digital files, but like I said I want instant access to the books I bought, no matter what happens with Amazon down the road.

If any of this ever happened, you can bet there'd be other outraged people who still have those "missing" files, and someone would find a way to hack them to work on anyone's Kindle.

 

[geko29]

I do not know if what you are asking is true or not, but in my humble opinion it is a smart idea to back up all your books (especially the ones you purchased) to your computer regardless. Even if those books are still available after, who's to say that Amazon will really have the books available indefinitely? They have never had to store digital files on their servers before, so what if 2 years, 3 years, or 10 years down the road they decide that holding all these big digital files is too much? They may up and say we will only keep your books for 5 years then *poof* all gone and you get no say so in the matter. Or what if (God forbid) their server crashes and they can't get the books that were removed in the past back? Or how about if they decide not to support Kindle anymore because competition becomes too much? Or what if (God forbid again) they go bankrupt? I'd still like to be able to read the books I bought on my Kindle whether Amazon is there or not. I personally think it would be a terrible idea to rely on Amazon to keep the sole copy of anything you paid for.

There's no possible way Amazon could be that stupid and still be in business. They don't store "your" copy of every book you buy. From a storage, management, indexing, delivery, etc. perspective, that's completely untenable, even at current sales levels. It'd be downright impossible if the Kindle becomes a true hit. I can guarantee with 100% certainty that they store a vanilla copy of the book, and also store a list of books you purchase. When you request a copy of a book you've paid for (whether a new purchase or a re-download), they generate a new copy of the file with DRM attached, send it to you, then delete it. There's simply no reason nor any excuse to do it any other way.

 

[Athenagwis]

Each download is associated with a Kindle. When you go to download from Amazon via your PC, you will see a dropdown box where you need to choose which Kindle the download is for. Thus, multiple devices on an account can share purchases, but each purchase must be downloaded separately to each device.

You can upload the files from your PC to a different Kindle, but the Kindle will not be able to open the file. You will get an error message that says something to the effect that there is a problem with the file, and you will need to contact Customer Service.

Thanks!! This is a great explanation

Thanks everyone for your input on this. It may be overkill to download them all myself, but I think I am still going to do it. I just don't trust any company that much to have the only copy of anything that I pay for. Again it may be overkill, but so be it.

Cheers!
Rachel

 

[Anju]

Also - IF you have the SAME kindle you bought the books for you can put them on there again, so it does not hurt to have a back up. It is when you change kindles things get different.

 

[pomlover2586]

If you couldn't access it after purchasing it I would be furious......what's the point then ya know?