Borrowing ebooks from the library

[Gal2]

I have a Kindle paperwhite which I LOVE, have had it about 5 years now and use it for about 90% of my reading. I always buy downloads from Amazon, and usually wait till a book is 99p or less before ordering, it downloads and I am away!

During this lockdown, most of us are reading more and you can borrow ebooks from our local library to download. Having done a bit of research though, I can't d/l any directly to my kindle paperwhite, my library uses an app called Borrowbox which I got on my phone and can now read borrowed books on my phone, but I'd MUCH prefer to be able to read on the Kindle, does anyone have any idea, in simple terms, how I can get borrowed books on to it please?

[Workingman]

Gal, you need the BorrowBox library app on your Kindle... it's free from Amazon.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bolinda-digita ... B00F84CAMY

[Gal2]

WM the problem is I can’t get it on the paperwhite kindle , or can you see a way?

I’ve spent lots of time googling but I can’t find any answers

[Workingman]

It's a strange one, Gal. Some places seem to indicate that if you get the app from the Amazon site, and only from there, by logging in to your account with your paperwhite it works. Others say it only works with Fire and Fire HD and Fire HDX versions. And yet others say it only works on a paperwhite if you jailbreak it, and that is only something to do if it is on its last legs and you want to give it a bit more life.

My guess is that if the download from Amazon's site does not work then you are stuck.

[Gal2]

The kindle fire is a different ball game to paperwhite. Essentially the pw is an e-reader only whereas the fire is a tablet with more functions than reading alone.

Basically I can’t type anything on PW other than searching for a book on Amazon. Thanks for trying though WM. I never did manage to get my fire tablet to work from the black screen :/

[Workingman]

It was worth a go, Gal. I use Calibre on my Lenovo W10 tablet for reading. It's OK so long as not in sunlight.

[Suff]

This is possible but a bit complicated.

You will need to download it to a PC, then convert it and then upload it to the Kindle.

I find an article that tells you how to check a book out from Borrowbox on a pc.

https://en.powys.gov.uk/article/6676/Gu ... MP3-player

Once you have downloaded it, you'll need to import it into an app like calibre and convert it to a format the Kindle supports (mobi I think from memory).

Once you have converted it, you can plug your kindle in, Calibre (if you use it), will recognise the kindle and you can upload the book to it.

It is rather technical although fairly straightforward once you have done it a time or two. Also, once it is set up, you can borrow any time you like and simply follow the same process.

My kindles never had a single book from Amazon on them.

[Gal2]

Thanks both, great advice but wayyy too technical for me! I think I'll have to stick with reading libraries on my phone....or an ipad if I can get one for my birthday

OK ETA, I have downloaded Adobe using the above link, also gone to Borrowbox and downloaded a book which has come nicely on to the laptop....attached my Paperwhite to the computer....but they don't recognise each other and I am being given the option to download something called Share It?

I will wait and see if either of you can help before giving up altogether

[Suff]

Hi Gal,

To try and make this a little simpler.

When you connect the Kindle to your PC, it is available as a standard windows drive letter. As you can see in this link. Which shows how to look at it in Windows file explorer.

The problem is a kindle, any kindle, sucks for reading in Acrobat format (PDF files). It likes their own format best, AZW, but supports others.

So if you have, say, a MOBI file you can just copy it with Windows and it will appear.

However most ebooks are ePub or PDF. In this case you need to convert it. The tool I mainly use for conversions is Calibre. It is a bit busy but when you get used to the menu, you can import the book you just downloaded and simply tell it to send the book to the Kindle as Mobi. Job done.

To use Calibre to send files to your paperwhite, there is a tutorial here.

Just one point which is irksome. You don't have to send via email. Just click next on the page which asks for your email details and it will complete (I tested that). The rest of the info is the same. Your Kindle should become a device on the icon bar on the top and you should be able to see it and all the books on it.

Once this is set up, you can add and remove books from your kindle simply. So long as you pick the paperwhite from the startup menu Calibre has all the info required to send the book for you.

There is a video about adding books to Calibre and then sending them to your device (once you have it set up and plugged in). Don't be confused with the look and feel, the person is using Linux, which is a bit odd but it is recognisably the same in windows.

It doesn't look too technical to me, but you know I'm very technical.

Let us know if you want to try.

[Workingman]

Gal, stop messing about and get an IPad.