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How to Read eBooks Without a Kindle

Here is a question I've been asked quite often in recent months: "If I don't have a Kindle, how can I read the eBooks that I buy from Amazon or receive directly from authors?" The beauty of this question is that the answer is EXTREMELY simple! Option 1: Don't Shop Amazon This may sound silly, but hear me out. Amazon is limited to ONLY working with Kindle or Kindle-compatible devices. That means that if you don't have access to either the Kindle or the Kindle app, you can't read the eBooks you buy on Amazon. Barnes and Noble will deliver books to a Nook, Smashwords will allow you to download the digital book file to your PC, and iTunes will allow you to read the book on your iDevice. Granted, these bookstores don't have as many options as Amazon, but they're an alternative to consider. Option 2: Kindle App If there is one good thing to be said about Amazon, is that it knows how to be available anytime, anywhere! Not only has it released multiple versions of its Kindle tablet, but it has produced an app that can be downloaded and installed to ANY iPhone, iPad, iPod, or Android device. The app connects you to your Amazon account, and you can do all of your reading via the app. It takes two minutes to install and connect, and you're ready to read! You may even be able to install the Kindle app on your Nook or Kobo (don't take my word for it, try it!). If you don't have a smartphone or tablet, Amazon has taken care of that problem! There is a desktop app that you can download to your PC, and it will allow you to read your Amazon purchases right from your computer. Whether you have a laptop, desktop, or netbook, the desktop app works! Option 3: Calibre If, for some odd reason, you can't or won't install the Kindle app, Calibre is the perfect solution to your problem! First of all, it will allow you to read any book in nearly any format: HTML, TXT, PDF, ePub (for Nook and iDevices), MOBI/AZW (for Kindle), and the list goes on. You can simply drag and drop the book file into the Calibre program and open it to read. But, what makes Calibre so awesome is that you can use to it convert books from one format to another. If you have a book in HTML, you can convert it to both ePub and MOBI formats. If your book is to be read on iDevices and Nook (in ePub format), you can convert it to MOBI to read on your Kindle. If your book is in Kindle format (either MOBI or AZW), you can convert it to ePub to read on your iDevices or Nook. Between these three options, you can solve your problem of "no Kindle for my Amazon books"! I get asked this a lot. Simple solution: Kindle app for iDevices, Android phones, and just about everything else. Calibre for PC. Has the reader, but it's also useful for converting any Kindle book into ePub (to read on Nook or iPad).