Calibre/Audible Kindle/Ebook format programmes

[Fiach]

I just got an Amazon Kindle 3G and I found out about this programme Calibre, it's a great tool to take care of your ebook library, there is a ten minute demo video showing you how to download from news sources like The Economist, Washington Post etc and the programme will convert them into a format you can read on your PC or ereader.

http://calibre-ebook.com/download_windows

[PZ]

 :-X  I have lots of ebooks in the old Microsoft .lit format, and have looked for a good way to convert to another format.  Will check it out.  ^-^

[PZ]

UPDATE:  Great program and quite customizable.  I can load all of my .pdb, .lit, and PDF books (among a host of other formats) into the library and either read them on the PC or load to an eBook reader such as my wife's iPad.  :-()

Great find, Fiach - thanks for posting.

[Fiach]

Aw...shucks....t'wern't nuthin'... :)

[Fiach]

I'm putting this here rather than have the Media forum cluttered with Kindle stuff.

I was looking into how to listen to Audio Books on my Kindle. Amazon recommends you go to :

http://www.audible.com

Set up an account, you can use your Amazon email and password, then you can get a download/audiobook manager, similar to Calibre, to add audio books to your Kindle.

I set up the account and for some reason got two free credits, which you can use towards audio books, I chose Stephen King/Peter Straub audiobooks The Talisman and The Black House, they were worth over $100 (genuinely as I had priced them before in Ireland), I went to the checkout, applied my two credits and was allowed to d/l the books, no muss, no fuss.

Went to my library and was prompted to install the d/l manager, which I did, then went to My Library again and selected the books, they were added to the d/l manager and are currently downloading to my PC, the manager will then add them to my Kindle.

Top Marks for an excellent service.  :-X

[PZ]

Sounds like you had an excellent experience.  I've thought about audio books myself, especially during long road trips.

[Fiach]

OK, I found out why I got free credit. Apparently when you sign up you get 2 free credits, BUT if you dont cancel your membership before 30 days are up you will get a recurring membership fee of $18. But if you cancel beforehand, you can keep your free audio books.

Its still a good deal, you get one free credit per month, so its like an audio book each month for $18 which is incredibly cheap, you also get free subs to some newspapers and other stuff.

[PZ]

OK, I found out why I got free credit. Apparently when you sign up you get 2 free credits, BUT if you dont cancel your membership before 30 days are up you will get a recurring membership fee of $18...

This reminds me of a similar technique by an outfit called Time Life that sold me on a membership decades ago.  I recall that I had the subscription billed to a credit card I had at the time.  However, after a while I wanted to cancel the membership and called Time Life, but they just kept billing, and sending the books.  Okay, I thought, I'll just call my credit card company and tell them to stop paying, or so I thought.

"I'm sorry...." said the customer disservice representative, "...because you authorized payment, we can't stop it"

"Fine", I replied, "...cancel my account..."

Problem solved  :-()

[Fiach]

Well I deleted my CC details from my profile, something I always do after setting up an account like that after a bad experience with the MMO Age of Conan (Funcom), so it's all good :).

As regards yout Time Life post, One thing I do remember is that I had a query after changing banks and credit cards, where I got a bill from my old CC company with charges on it for something like a subscription. I said if I didnt have an account with the bank, why should I be liable, they said that it was my problem and I should have cancelled the sub (it was totally my fault, I accept that, I was just curious to see what happened) and they would keep billing me and charging interest on over due bills.

As I was liable I paid it naturally, but because of it, I am pretty careful about my subscriptions and standing charges :)