Yes, it is free, absolutely, and if you have an Amazon.com account you can purchase books in the Kindle store and they will be sent to your "Kindle" for your PC. If you have a regular Kindle, and if you are purchasing a book on the Amazon.com site, you can even choose to send it to your Kindle for PC or your regular Kindle, whichever suits you at the moment.
You can find a link to the Kindle for PC software all over on the Amazon site. If you don't see a nice little ad and link on the first page you come to, go to the Kindle Store area and click the link on the far right (just below Your Lists) for Kindle Support. You will see the links for Kindle Mobile Apps and Kindle for PC/Mac. Just choose which one you want and go for it.
The software is easy to download, install and use on a PC. If you are using a laptop, your Kindle/Amazon.com account can go wherever your laptop goes. Once you have it installed and use it the first time, you will be asked for your Amazon account information. This will tie the software to your Amazon account and the books in your Archives.
One of the first things you will notice when you open the Kindle for PC software is the Home screen. Your Kindle book covers will be in glorious color. No e-ink here, but you're not likely to be lugging a full sized computer or laptop outside in the full sunshine... I know I sure don't. There is no substitute for your regular Kindle when it comes to down and dirty reading in many different places.
The color though, is striking, and if you are like me, you won't be able to resist a teensie longing for color when you are looking at photos in a cookbook, or the book cover. I have a feeling Amazon is aware of this and is working on something with the same quality as e-ink but with color that will be cost effective and further establish their lead in the ebook market. It is just a matter of time (and a dream of mine).
Look for the words File, View, Go, Tools and Help at the top of the main Kindle for PC window. Click the word View and move your mouse pointer down to the words Color Mode. You can choose the paper color while you are reading by clicking one of the choices (white, sepia or black). The other words at the top in the menu area have other choices you can explore, including bookmark, Manage Your Kindle, Sync to furthest page read, and other options under the word Tools. And yes, Manage Your Kindle will take you straight to the Amazon.com area of your account where you can manage your Kindle books and other account related items. You will be asked for your Amazon user id (your account email address) and password, but this is a wonderful shortcut to a vital area.
There is a nice button to the right of the Home button (top left) that will take you to the Archived Items on your Amazon account (Internet connection required). Browse around and choose any of the books you have previously purchased (including all of the nice free books you have acquired over the last couple of years) to have them sent immediately to your Kindle for PC screen.
Look to the right some more and see different ways you can sort any books you have downloaded. Click the little down arrow to the right of Recently Viewed and choose to sort by Author, Title, or Length. Click either of the two buttons to the right of the Recently Viewed button and you can either view your books with covers, or by list.
There is a button to the left of the search box that will take you to the Kindle Store where you can shop for even more books. Don't you just love it? And, of course there is the old trusty Search box, where you can search Titles or Authors
Double click any of the books to open. Move the mouse pointer to about the middle right of a page and you will see an arrow. Click it once to move to the next page, there is another arrow on the other side that will take you to the previous page. You can also use the arrows on your keyboard to do the same thing.
While you are reading a book, look at the top of the viewer window and you will see a different toolbar. The Home button is in the familiar place to the left and does just what you would think. If you hold your mouse pointer over each of the other button, a little hint screen might (it won't on my PC) appear to let you know what it will do.
From left to right they are:
1. Go Back
2. Sync to furthest page
3. add bookmark
4. go to another location
5. display options (Aa)
6. toggle full screen mode
7. toggle multi column mode.
What you can't do when you have a book open:
- Print your book
- Highlight and copy text to paste somewhere else
Ask Mrs. Wizard: Please send me a personal email (mrswizard@mrswizard.com) if you have any questions. I answer all my emails and am more than happy to help any time I can. Your questions mean a lot to me, and may even inspire an article that will help others and make this a more valuable resource to anyone who reads it.
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