A kindle is a portable electronic device that Amazon developed. It allows users to store and access e-books from anywhere. Kindles are capable of storing thousands of books at once and include functions that aid the user to organize his/her e-books as well as search through them for specific content. Though Kindles are still relatively expensive, their price has decreased significantly since their introduction to the market in 2007.

Amazon Kindle Bookstore

Amazon provides the most popular source of e-books for the Amazon Kindle in a market known as the Kindle Bookstore. The Kindle Bookstore can be found online and contains over 950,000 books to choose from, most of which cost only a few dollars. While the Kindle Bookstore is not the only e-book source, it is the vastest collection of e-books that is compatible with Kindle and that can be downloaded directly to the Kindle without any conversion being necessary.

Other E-Books

If the user wishes to download an e-book from another source, the file must be converted from its original file format to the AZW format, which allows the Kindle to read and access it. This can be done by downloading the file and converting it via software known as a “document converter.” While users can take advantage of ConvertFiles.com, MobiPocket Publisher Edition, or Calibre, they can also convert PDF files and other documents on Amazon for a small fee.

How to Transfer E-Books to Kindle

Once a user has converted a PDF file or other document to AZW or .Mobi, he/she can transfer it to his/her Kindle by connecting the Kindle to the computer that the file is stored on. The user can then open the Start Menu, choose Computer/My Computer, and locate the Kindle. From there, he/she will be able to drag the document into the Kindle folder. The user can then disconnect the Kindle from the computer and locate the document. If the document is found, the user is finished. If the document is not found, the user either did not convert the file properly, in which case the Kindle cannot read it, or the Kindle requires the user to place the file into a specific folder, which can be seen when the user opens the Kindle on his/her computer.