Here's why I'm still on the fence about buying a Kindle Paperwhite e-reader. In a nutshell: I don't trust Amazon any further than I can spit.

Over 2½ years ago we cancelled Amazon Prime after Amazon summarily tossed Parler off its AWS service for allegedly failing to muzzle calls for violence.

Since then I began to drop my guard (admittedly, in the name of economics and convenience) and began to buy into the Kindle thing, followed by signing up for Amazon Prime and buying my wife a Kindle Paperwhite e-reader for Christmas.

Then, not a month after I relaxed my guard, along comes Amazon and changes the rules of of the game by announcing they were going to add adverts to Amazon Prime Video streaming content.

I cancelled Amazon Prime. I suspended plans to buy a Kindle e-reader for myself.

Then I found out about the library thing, via Overdrive's Libby app, and wondered if I should reconsider.

But who is Overdrive and just what is their relationship with Amazon? The point being: Can I depend upon an investment in a Kindle e-reader for borrowed library e-books?

Maybe not.

When I searched on information about the relationship between Overdrive and Amazon I discovered some disturbing stuff:

Has Amazon and Overdrive 'screwed' the libraries? Maybe, maybe not

Amazon and Overdrive Giving Up on Kindle e-books in Libraries?

Now, these are both very old articles--the first being from 2011 and the latter from 2015, but has anything changed other than the unexplained delay in the availability of Kindle e-books on Overdrive?

So I remain on the fence.

Have an iPad? then just download the free Kindle Reader app, no need to buy a Kindle unless you only have one iPad and two readers in the house.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

Have an iPad? then just download the free Kindle Reader app, no need to buy a Kindle unless you only have one iPad and two readers in the house.

Correct-a-mundo! The FREE Kindle Reader app is available for all manner of ithings (iPhone, iPad), and for Windows and Mac computers. I think, but not 100% positive, for Linux, as well. And for Android devices -- phones, tablets.

I don’t trust Amazon any farther than I can throw the Amazon 18-wheeler.
For TEOTWAWKI purposes, I would put all my Kindle books on a Kindle Paperwhite, then make sure it is disconnected from the internet so Amazon can’t snatch the naughty (political) books away.
I might have several such Paperwhites, similar to a rotation schedule for hard drive storage.
My wife, for example, has a bunch of political books and documents dating from the 50’s when her Dad was in the Birch Society. Probably unable to find those today. My intention is to scan them to local hard drives; a pdf could then be e-mailed to my Kindle e-mail address.

^^^^
Re: “so Amazon can’t snatch the naughty (political) books away.”

I have no fear that Amazon would try to do that. But Amazon couldn’t take mine, even if they tried. Once a day I “mount” my Kindle on my MacBook’s desktop, run Malwarebytes, then command a Time Machine backup. The Kindle gets backed up along with the MacBook.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
Have an iPad? then just download the free Kindle Reader app, ...

I'm already doing that. That's how the whole thing started.

I'd bought a few golf books on Kindle. When I ran out of golf books to read and a certain novel in a series showed up I thought "I'd really like to read this now; the Kindle price is lower; the bookshelves are full to overflowing, anyway, so..." Told my wife. "How will I read it?" she asked. "Your iPad," I replied. But her iPad is big and heavy. So I bought her a Kindle for Christmas. I liked it and thought to get one for myself.

Another reason for kind of wanting a Kindle Paperwhite is we both read a bit after going to bed and before going to sleep. The Kindle Paperwhites have much less blue light than tablets and phones.

And now you know the rest of the story