Buying DRM-Free eBooks from the Kindle

Today I participated in an experiment, and I thought I’d share the results for the world to see. Especially since they’re pretty cool results.

All Romance Ebooks (hereafter known as ARe) recently launched two cool new features: a mobile store and ebucks that can be purchased in advance and spent to buy books on the go with easy, no-fuss checkout. Both of these things are cool, but what is super cool? I can now use my kindle’s browser to buy books directly from ARe and download them while on the go.  So if you’re interested…read on!

First caveat: the kindle’s browser is considered experimental, and it is NOT super userfriendly. If you’re sitting next to your computer, I advise plugging the thing in and downloading books from ARe directly. It’ll take less time than navigating the store in the kindle’s browser, that’s for sure. But I think the same thing of the kindle’s ability to browse the amazon store…it’s not meant to be as good as a computer. It’s for when you don’t have a computer handy.

Second caveat: This does not work with secure/DRM’d books. ARe does sell secure books, so before you try to buy something from your kindle, make sure it’s not a secured format. You can tell by the ‘Available In’ section: BAD: Available in: Secure Adobe eBook, Secure Microsoft eBook, Secure Mobipocket eBook vs GOOD: Available in: Adobe Acrobat, Microsoft Reader, HTML, Mobipocket, Rocket, Epub. For reading on the kindle, you want to buy a non-secure book and download it in Mobipocket format.

Step by Step Instuctions for buying books from the Kindle 1

So how do you get buying on your kindle? (Note: this was attempted on the Kindle 1. Steps may be different on the Kindle 2–if anyone has ever attempted it, please let me know the steps and I’ll post them here as well.)  It probably goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: before starting, make sure your wireless connection is turned on.

1) From the kindle homepage, open the menu and select “Experimental” from the options. This will bring you to the Experimental page, which allows you to browse basic websites and play music.

2) From the experimental page, move your scroll-wheel cursor up to Basic Web and select it. This will bring you to the front page of the webbrowser, which consists of pre-loaded bookmarks with a URL bar at the top.

2a) Optional: at this time, you can access the menu again if you want, which will allow you to do things such as Add Bookmarks and switch between Default and Advance view.  Advance view is slightly prettier, but it is also less reliable.  I suggest trying both out and deciding which you prefer.

3) To access a page, use the scroll-wheel cursor up to the very top where it says Enter URL.  Selecting this will open a window where you can past the last URL you entered, or type in a new one.  If you type in http://www.allromanceebooks.com it will automatically redirect you to the mobile site.  Type in the URL and click Submit.

4) This will bring you to the front page of ARe’s mobile website.  It will look different depending on if you’re browsing in Default or Advance mode, but either way it’ll take a little bit of time to get used to web browsing on the kindle.

Selection is done by scrolling the bar up and down until it is roughly on level with the button/link you want to select.  When you click the scroll wheel, it will pop up a list of clickable links in that area, and you can select which one you want from the menu.  The same is true of logging in–move your cursor to the input box and select it, and it will give you an interface for entering your e-mail and password to log in.

This is the part where I suggest that you only try to buy books if you’ve already purchased ebook bucks.  I would not advise transmitting your credit card information over the kindle’s wireless, as I can’t speak to security, and I don’t think the basic browser can handle the paypal interface.  However, if you’ve already got credit stored at ARe, checkout is easy.

5) So now you’re browsing ARe. Use the previous and next buttons to scroll between pages.  You can use their search feature to search by title and author, I believe, and it’s quite easy.  (Select search, type in your query when the window pops up, then get the results.)  When you’re viewing books, you’ll see two options: Add to Cart and Buy Now. 

Add to Cart will simply add the book to your cart and bring you to an overview of your cart with options to checkout or continue shopping.  Buy Now is a combo button that adds the book to your cart and skips you straight to the checkout page.

6) Somehow you’ve gotten books in your cart.  Once you’ve done that and gotten to the checkout screen, there are three options: Pay with Credit Card, Pay with PayPal, Pay with eBook Bucks.  It will also give you your eBook Buck total, so you know how much you have left on your account.  Selecting Pay with eBook Bucks is not unlike one-click buy.  Once you select it, you’re done.  It charges your account and forwards you to a confirmation page with a link to your library. Click on the link to be forwarded to your download page.

7) On the download page you’ll find a list of books available to download as well as previously downloaded books.  The books you’ve just purchased will be here, offered in several formats.  (While experimenting I purchased a secured ebook just to see what would happen, and it did NOT display the download links on the kindle, so a lack of links could be a sign you’ve purchased the wrong type of book. CHECK AVAILABLE TYPES BEFORE PURCHASE.)

8 ) Move the scroll-wheel to select the download links, and it will pop up a list of the downloads.  You want to download Mobipocket (prc).  It will give you a window telling you you’re about to download a file to your kindle, and that once it’s complete, it will appear on your Home screen.  Click OK to start the download.

None of this is foolproof. Sometimes the wireless browser gets crabby and I have to try to load something more than once.  But if all goes according to plan, you’ll be able to return to your kindle home page and find your new book downloaded.

As I stated before, I would NOT use this as a substitution for ordering from the website when I’m sitting at my computer.  Plugging my kindle in to the USB port and dumping new books on it is a lot faster than browsing with the experimental browser.  But the strength of the kindle is that you don’t need to be at your computer to add new books, so being able to purchase them in non-DRM format from a source other than amazon is an excellent bonus.

Find info on ARe’s eBook Bucks here: http://www.allromanceebooks.com/store_credits.html