Ready to crack open a Kindle book in your Web browser? Let’s get started.

Opening the Amazon Cloud Reader in a web browser

First, launch your favorite web browser, then visit the Amazon Cloud Reader site at http://read.amazon.com.

Next, sign in to your Amazon account—or, if you don’t have a free Amazon account yet, click “Create a new account” to sign up for one.

Related: How to borrow a Kindle book from Amazon

Once you’re signed into your Amazon account, a window will appear with instructions for setting up your browser to store your Kindle books for “offline” reading, when you don’t have an Internet connection. Again, click the big yellow button and follow the instructions (they vary slightly depending on your browser).

If you’ve already bought Kindle books before, you’ll see them in a grid in your browser; just click a book cover, and presto—you’re reading.

How to buy Kindle books in the Amazon Cloud Reader

No Kindle books yet? Click the “Kindle Store” Button in the top-right corner of the page to begin shopping. Once you’ve chosen a Kindle book to buy, make sure to select your Kindle Cloud Reader in the “Deliver to” drop-down menu, which sits right below the “Buy” button.

Related: How to buy Kindle books on an iPhone or iPad

Don’t worry, you can always send your purchased book to a new device under your account by selecting “Manage Your Content and Devices” under the “Your Amazon” menu near the top of the page.

Managing your Kindle bookmarks, font sizes and background colors

As with the physical Kindle e-reader, the online Cloud Reader lets you add bookmarks as you read, and you can change the font size or background color of the pages.

The Cloud Reader will automatically download the most recently opened books in your Kindle library for when you don’t have an Internet connection (provided you went ahead and enabled the Cloud Reader’s offline reading mode). You can also manually select, or “pin,” a book for offline storage; to do so, just right-click on its cover in the Cloud Reader library.

Related: How to reset the furthest page read of a Kindle book you’re reading

Done reading? Then just close the browser window. And yes—you can always read your Kindle books from another browser or even a different PC or Mac once you log into your account.

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Hi Merwin! Great question. The answer: Sure—but depending on the scenario, it could be a bit complicated.

Now, I have a few of questions for you, Merwin…

1. Do you and your wife purchase Kindle books with the same Amazon account?

If the answer is yes, you’re in luck. Kindle books purchased under the same account can be easily shared between dedicated Kindle devices, iPhones, iPads, Android phones, you name it—and with no restrictions, either.

Sharing the same Amazon account? Make sure to tap the “Cloud” tab on your devices to see the Kindle books available for download.

That leads me to my second question…

2. Is your Kindle for iPad app signed in to the same Amazon account as your wife’s Kindle?

If so, you should both see the same library of Kindle books on your respective devices. On your iPad, for example, make sure to tap the “Cloud” tab at the bottom of the screen to see the purchased Kindle books you haven’t downloaded yet.

Of course, there’s another possibility to consider…

3. Do you and your wife have separate Amazon accounts?

In that case, the only easy way to share Kindle books she’s purchased under her own account is to sign in to your Kindle for iPad app using her login credentials. (Tap Settings, Deregister this Kindle, the re-register with your wife’s Amazon username and password.)

Conversely, if your wife wants to read Kindle books purchased under your Amazon account, she’ll need to deregister her Kindle and re-register with your Amazon login.

Keep in mind that deregistering your Kindle or Kindle app will wipe any existing Kindle books off your device; that said, your purchased Kindle volumes will still be sitting in your in-the-cloud Kindle library.

Note: While I doubt the Amazon police would burst into your house if you borrowed your wife’s Kindle account, they’d probably frown on those who share their login credentials with friends and family who don’t live under the same roof.

Merwin replies: “Ben, thank you for the quick response. Your column is great. I’ve learned a lot reading it.” Thanks, and you’re welcome!

Bonus tip

Yes, it’s possible to loan a Kindle book to a friend without sharing your Amazon login credentials, but there are several strings attached and caveats to consider.

For one thing, you can’t loan just any Kindle book. Book publishers are the ones who decide which of their Kindle books are loanable, and which aren’t. In my experience, only a fractions of Kindle books have the “loan” option available.

And even if you can loan a given Kindle book, there are typically several onerous restrictions. The loan period is usually only 14 days, and some publishers will only let you loan a specific title once—as in one time, ever.

Still interested in loaning a Kindle book to a friend? Click here for step-by-step instructions.

Click here for more Kindle tips!

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Maybe the Kindle’s popular highlights feature (which underlines oft-highlighted passages from other Kindle readers) comes in handy when you’re trying to skim a dense non-fiction book or if you’re cramming for a test; personally, though, I’d rather discover hidden gems in a novel on my own rather than have them pointed out to me.

Luckily, you can turn off “popular” highlights in just a few clicks, taps or swipes.

Here’s the trick…

On a old-style, non-touch Kindle reader:

• Go to the Home screen, click the Menu key, then select Settings.
• Turn to page 3, then switch Popular Highlights to “off.”

You can hide “popular” highlights on a Kindle reader or app (such as the one for iPad) in just a few taps.

On a newer, touch-enabled Kindle reader (such as the Kindle Touch & Paperwhite):

• Go to the Home screen, then tap the Menu button in the top-right corner of the display.
• Tap Settings, Reading Options, then switch Popular Highlights to “off.”

On a Kindle Fire:

• Tap the middle of the screen, then tap Settings, More Options.
• Switch the Popular Highlights setting to “off.”

On the Kindle app for iPhone/iPad:

• Tap the Home button in the top-left corner of the screen, then tap the Settings icon (the one that looks like a gear) in the bottom-right corner.
• Scroll all the way down to the bottom, tap Other, then switch Popular Highlights to “off.”

Note: The Kindle app for Android doesn’t seem to have a setting for Popular Highlights, nor does it appear to display them—or at least, not that I can see.

Still have questions? Post them in the comments below, or send me an email.

Click here for more Kindle tips!

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But if you try to re-read a Kindle book that you finished a year ago, your various Kindle devices will want to jump to the very last page you read—meaning, most likely, the end of the book—even if you only re-read to Chapter 2 the other day.

Ugh.

The good news, though, is that you can reset the “furthest page read” for any Kindle book you wish.

Once that’s done, the Kindle’s Whispersync feature (which also keeps track of your bookmarks, highlights, and notes) will essentially forget the last page you read in a given book and start over—and yes, that means you’ll again be able to jump back and forth between your various Kindle devices without losing your place.

You can reset the “furthest page read” for a given Kindle book from the “Manage Your Kindle” settings in your Amazon account.

Here’s how…

• Log onto your Amazon account from a desktop browser, hover your mouse over the “Your Account” tab, then select “Manage Your Kindle” from the drop-down menu.
• Browse your Kindle library until you find the book you’re re-reading, or just type the title into the search box.
• Once you’ve found the right book, click the “Actions” button on the right side of the page and click the “Clear furthest page read” option.
• Now, the next time you open that particular book, the first page it opens to will become the “furthest” page read as far as your Kindle devices and apps are concerned.

Looking for more Kindle tips? Click here!

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In just a few taps, you can create new folders—or “collections,” as Apple calls them—for your iBooks, perfect for rearranging your e-books in practically any way you wish.

You can reorganize the iBooks on your iPad or iPhone by creating new collections.

Here’s how…

• Open the iBooks app, then tap either the Books button (on the iPhone, at the top of the screen) or the Collections button (on the iPad, in the top-left corner of the display). When you do, a pop-up will list all the iBook collections currently available on your device, including Books, Purchased Books, and PDFs.
• Tap the New button, type in the name of a new collection—say, Classics—then tap the Done button.
• Now, time to start organizing. Go back to your Books collection, tap the Edit button in the top-left (on the iPhone) or top-right (for iPad) corner of the screen, then tap the covers of the iBooks that you want to move to your new Classics collection.
• Tap the Move button to bring up your list of iBooks collections, then tap Classics.
• Whoosh! You’ve just stocked your Classics collection, and you’re now ready to create some new collections.

Bonus tip

Want to reorder your iBooks collections? Tap the collections button, tap Edit, then drag your collections up or down with the handles on the right.

You can also delete a collection (don’t worry—any books in a deleted collection will slide back into one of your remaining collections) by swiping it and tapping the Delete button.

Click here for more iPhone tips, or click here for help with your iPad.

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Available for both Mac and Windows users, the “Send to Kindle” tool lets you send documents and even images to your Kindle from your Mac or Windows desktop, or via Windows Explorer.

Of course, you can already send Word, PDF, TXT, and other text documents to your Kindle via email; all you have to do is go dig up your personalized Kindle email address.

That said, “Send to Kindle” saves you the hassle of firing up your email client and attaching the file to a new message.

So, ready to start sending files to your Kindle?

Here we go…

You can also send text or image files to your Kindle from the Mac’s Print menu.

On a Mac:

• First, visit this page on Amazon.com and click the “download and install” link. To finish the installation, open the brown “.PKG” file that appears in your Downloads directory; once you do, the Send to Kindle app should appear in your desktop dock.
• Go ahead and launch Send to Kindle, then enter your Amazon username and password at the prompt.
• Now, let’s give Send to Kindle a try. Drag and drop a PDF or Word file from your desktop to the Send to Kindle window, right on top of the “Drop files here” arrow. Before the file is actually sent, you’ll get the chance to name it, pick which Kindle devices and/or apps you’d like to send the document to, and choose whether you’d like it sent via Wi-Fi or Amazon’s wireless “Whispernet” service. If you choose Whispernet, keep in mind that Amazon will charge you a fee for the privilege.
• All set? Click “Send,” and wait. Within a few minutes, your document should pop up on your Kindle’s home screen.
• Want to “print” a document to your Kindle instead? Just select “Print” from any application, and select “Send to Kindle” as the printer.
• Last but not least, you can send a document to your Kindle by right-clicking the file, selecting “Open with…”, and then picking “Send to Kindle” from the pop-up menu.

Just right-click to send a file straight to your Kindle from Windows Explorer.

On a Windows PC:

• Visit this page and click the “download and install” link; the installation process should begin automatically.
• When prompted, enter your Amazon account login information to register the “Send to Kindle” app with your online Kindle library.
• Now, open Windows Explorer (or “File Explorer,” as it’s now called in Windows 8), find a text document or image file you’d like to send, and right-click it. From the menu that appears, select “Send to Kindle.” You’ll also find the “Send to Kindle” option by right-clicking a file on your desktop.
• As with the Mac version of “Send to Kindle,” you’ll get a confirmation window that lets you rename the file and pick one or more destinations. Once you’ve made your choices, click the Send button.
• You can also (again, same as on a Mac) “print” a document to your Kindle by selecting “Send to Kindle” from the Print menu.

Get more Mac tips, Windows tips, and Kindle tips!

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But while Amazon’s Kindle apps and e-readers make it easy to create and view highlights in a given volume, they don’t offer a single, centralized location for all your highlights.

There’s also no easy way to copy and paste highlighted passages, not even using Kindle “Cloud” reader on the web.

That said, there is another, little-known way to view your Kindle highlights: using your online, web-based Kindle profile.

Once you activate your profile, you can click a link to quickly scan your highlights across all your Kindle books, all at once.

And yes, you can even copy and paste highlighted passages—within reason, hopefully.

Last but not least, you can also share your Kindle highlights and notes with other Kindle-toting bookworms … but only if you want to, of course.

You can view all your highlights for every Kindle book you own from your online Kindle profile.

Here’s how…

• First, visit kindle.amazon.com in your desktop web browser and activate your profile—a process that involves little more than signing in with your Amazon account.
• Once that’s done, you can customize your profile with your name, city, and other details, or connect your Kindle profile with Facebook or Twitter. You can also just leave your profile blank, if you’d rather.
• Next, click the “Your Highlights” link at the top of the page, and you’ll see a list of any passages you’ve highlighted in any Kindle book, ever. Any additional highlights (and “notes,” for that matter) will appear in this list once you’ve synced your Kindle device and/or app.
• Want to copy and paste a highlight? Just select it, copy it to your system’s virtual clipboard (Command + C on a Mac, or Control + C on a PC), then paste it into a Word or text document (Command + V for Mac, Command + V for PC), just as you normally would.
• To nix a highlight remotely, just click the nearby “Delete this highlight” link.
• Finally, you can share a highlight with other Kindle users. Click the “Your Books” link at the top of the page, click on a book with highlights you want to share, then click the “Make Public” button in the top-right corner of the page. And in case you’re wondering, your existing highlights will remain private until you say otherwise.

Thanks, Sobia!

Looking for more Kindle tips? Click here!

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So, you’re looking for free Kindle books? Well, you’ve got plenty of choices—more than a million, actually.

Most of these free e-books are older, often classic titles in the public domain or otherwise out of copyright, although plenty of contemporary authors are offering their digital books for free.

Also, transferring Kindle-compatible books to your device (whether you’re using a dedicated Kindle e-reader or a Kindle smartphone or tablet app) couldn’t be easier, although you will need to make sure you’re dealing with a compabile e-book format.

So, ready to crack open a few books? Let’s get started.

Finding free Kindle books

There’s no shortage of free Kindle-compatible books online—indeed, we’re pretty much talking an embarrassment of digital riches, free for the downloading. The real challenge is deciding where to begin.

Sites like Open Library offer hundreds of thousands of free, Kindle-friendly e-books.

• Our first stop, unsurprisingly, is Amazon—specifically, Amazon’s list of Kindle bestsellers, which includes a list of the top 100 free Kindle books. No, you’re not going to find “The Hunger Games” on the list; instead, expect bodice-rippers, self-help books, and fiction from authors you’ve probably never heard of. Still, you’ll probably find some gems as long as you’re willing to be adventurous.
• Another option is Amazon’s new Kindle lending library, a perk for Kindle e-reader owners (sorry, the Kindle smartphone app doesn’t count) that lets you borrow (if not keep) a single book per month.
• Next up: Project Gutenberg, a searchable directory of tens of thousands of free e-books, including a treasure trove of out-of-copyright masterworks. If you’re into the classics, you won’t want to miss this site.
• Also handy: Open Library, a handsomely designed site that seeks to catalog each and every book ever written—talk about ambitious. The site also has a quick link to more than a million free e-books in a variety of Kindle-friendly formats.
• I’m also a fan of Freekooksy, a blog that highlights a different (and mostly contemporary) free e-book each day, including limited-time giveaways by notable authors.

Want more? Check out A Kindle World for an exhaustive, frequently-updated treasure map of free e-books sites.

Getting the right format

Not all e-book documents are created equal. Among the file types you’ll see listed on the free e-book sites I’ve listed above: EPUB, PDF, MOBI, PRC, “plain text” files (TXT), and Amazon’s proprietary AZW files. Confused yet?

The good news is that most of the free e-book sites listed above will make it perfectly clear whether there’s a Kindle-compatible version of a specific title—and if there is a specific Kindle version, you should download it first.

Specifically, the main file formats you’ll see associated with Kindle e-readers are AZW, MOBI, and PRC. AZW is the e-book format used by Amazon for copy-protected Kindle books, while MOBI and PRC are more common for free e-books.

TXT and PDF files, meanwhile, are also compatible with your Kindle, although you may have to do without features like a table of contents (often the case with TXT files) or the ability to easily change font sizes (for PDFs).

Last but not least, there’s the popular EPUB format, which is one of the most widely used for free e-books—and no, it’s not compatible with the Kindle. If you’re game, though, A Kindle World has the scoop on a utility that’ll convert EPUB volumes into a Kindle-friendly format.

Sending free books to your Kindle

In many cases, you’ll find it incredibly easy to send a free e-book to your Kindle. Both Open Library and Freekoosky, for example, offer prominent “Send to Kindle” links for many of their selections, and Amazon (naturally) will offer to zap its free Kindle books directly to your device.

What if there isn’t a “Send to Kindle” link? Well, you can always download an e-book to your desktop and e-mail it to your Kindle—assuming it’s in the right file format, of course.

• The first step is to download a book to your desktop PC or Mac. Project Gutenberg, for example, has download links for all its free e-books. Just click, then select an easy-to-find download location.
• Next, you’ll need the “Send-to-Kindle” e-mail address for your Kindle e-reader. Just visit Amazon’s “Manage Your Kindle” page, go to the “Send-to-Kindle E-mail Settings” section, find the name of your Kindle device, and grab the e-mail address that’s listed right next to it.
• Once you’ve got the address, just compose message to your Send-to-Kindle e-mail address, select the e-book on your desktop and attach it to the e-mail, and click “send.” Within a few minutes, your free e-book should pop up on your Kindle’s home page.

One thing to keep in mind for those with 3G-enabled Kindles: Amazon charges a small fee for sending books via e-mail over your Kindle’s 3G connection. That said, sending books to your Kindle via Wi-Fi is free.

You can also send e-books to your Kindle using Amazon’s new Send to Kindle tool (for Windows PCs only), or via your computer’s USB port.

Hope that answers your questions, Mario. Still need help? Let me know!

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Among the hoops: some publishers won’t let you lend certain Kindle books at all, while others will only let you lend a book once, and for only two weeks.

So, ready to start lending?

See the “Loan this title” link under the “Actions” menu? If so, you’re in luck.

• Your first step is to see which of the books in your Kindle library are, in fact, lendable. Go to Amazon.com, click the “Your Digital Orders” link in the top-right corner of the page, then click the “Your Kindle Orders” link.
• You should now see a list of all the Kindle books you’ve purchased. You can sort by the date, title, author, or date purchased. For each book, you’ll also see a button labeled “actions”. Hover your mouse over the button until the menu appears.
• Now, does “Loan this title” appear in the menu? If so, click the link to start the lending process. If not, that means the publisher of your Kindle book doesn’t want anyone borrowing it. Sorry!
• Once you’ve clicked the “Loan this title” link, you’ll arrive on a page with the publisher’s conditions for lending the book. Typically, you’ll only be able to lend a book once, and only once. Also, the borrower usually must return the book after 14 days.
• If you’re OK with the lending conditions, you’ll need to fill in a web form with the borrower’s details—just a name and e-mail address will do. Also, keep in mind that your lucky friend doesn’t need a Kindle to borrow a Kindle book from you.
• All done filling out the form? Click the “Send now” button. Your friend will have seven days to accept the loaned book—and once she does, you won’t be able to read the borrowed book until she returns it. If a week passes and your friends doesn’t claim the book, it’ll be automatically returned to you.

Bonus tip:

Want to find out whether you can lend a Kindle book before you purchase it? According to Amazon, you can check by scrolling down to the “Product Details” section on any Kindle book page in Amazon’s Kindle Store; if you find a note that reads “Lending: Enabled,” then you’re all set to lend. In my experience, though, that “Lending” note is sometimes missing from “Product Details” section for Kindle books that you can, in fact, lend to someone else. Odd—and annoying.

So, quick show of hands: do you think it’s fair for book publishers to only allow Kindle customers to lend out their ebooks only once per volume?

Don’t forget: you can also borrow Kindle books from your public library, or from Amazon itself if you’re an Amazon “Prime” member.

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Well, I happen to have four—count ’em—four tablets sitting on my dining room tablet at the moment, and they pretty much run the gamut, ranging from a pricey, full-size iPad 2 to one of the cheapest e-readers you can get.

Instead of burying you with details on every last tablet on the market, I’m going to give you a bird’s-eye view of the entire tablet landscape, from the best-selling iPad to the new (and bargain-priced) Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet.

So, which kind of tablet might be right for you—or for that special someone on your holiday shopping list? Let’s get started with…

Full-size, 8- to 10-inch tablet

Makes and models include:
Apple iPad 2, Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Motorola Xoom, T-Mobile G-Slate

The $499 (and up) iPad 2, with its 9.7-inch LCD display.

What it does:
A little of everything: surf the web, checks email, manages calendars and contacts, plays videos and music, edits documents, handles video chat, plays games. Might even replace your laptop, as long as you don’t mind working with a touchscreen keyboard.

Weighs about:
A pound and a half, give or take

Feels like:
A thick magazine

Features to look for:
Dual-core processors (meaning two processors on a single chip) for peppy performance; dual cameras, including one in front for video chat; microphone; memory card slot (Android tablets only); GPS; 3G or 4G wireless support

Number of apps:
Hundreds of thousands, either from the Apple App Store or the Android Market

How much:
$500 and up (or less with a two-year contract through a wireless carrier)

What’s great about them:
Big, roomy display, just the ticket for surfing the web and watching movies or TV shows; growing selection of tablet-formatted magazines and newspapers, complete with slideshows, videos, and other interactive goodies; on-screen keyboards that are almost as large as real ones; powerful work and productivity apps; all-day battery life

What’s not so great about them:
Expensive; way too large for a pocket, or even some purses; can be tiring to hold in a single hand; difficult to use outside due to glare-prone LCD displays; require daily charging, depending on how heavily you use them

Perfect for:
Movie lovers, magazine subscribers, news junkies, on-the-go corporate users who want to check email or do some light document editing on the road; anyone who enjoys surfing the web from their sofa

Premium seven-inch tablet

Makes and models include:
Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus, BlackBerry Playbook, HTC Evo View 4G

The $400 Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus: small, but powerful.

What it does:
Just about anything a full-size tablet can do, including surfing the web, handling calendars and contacts, doing video chat, playing games, you name it. That said, the smaller screen on a mid-size tablet will make laptop-style activities like email and document editing that much more difficult.

Weighs about:
12 to 15 ounces

Feels like:
A mid-size paperback book

Features to look for:
Dual-core processors; dual cameras, including one in front for video chat; microphone; memory card slot (Android tablets only); GPS; 3G or 4G wireless support

Number of apps:
Hundreds of thousands, in the case of Android tablets; a few thousand for the BlackBerry Playbook

How much:
$400 and up (or less with a two-year contract)

What’s great about them:
You get most of the benefits of a full-size tablet, but in a palm-sized package; small enough to fit in a purse, or perhaps even the inside pocket of a blazer

What’s not so great about them:
Expensive; smaller on-screen keyboards that’ll cramp your style when it comes to email or productivity; less battery life than a full-size tablet (think seven hours rather than nine, on average); same sunlight-averse LCD displays as larger tablets

Perfect for:
Mobile mavens who’d rather not juggle a full-on, magazine-sized device

Budget seven-inch tablet

Makes and models include:
Amazon Kindle Fire, Barnes & Noble Nook Color and Nook Tablet

The $200 Kindle Fire: great for books, magazines, and videos, but weak when it comes to productivity

What it does:
Lets you shop for and read books, newspapers, and tablet-formatted, full-color magazines; plays videos and music; plays games; surfs the web and checks email

Weights about:
14 ounces, or a little heavier than a premium seven-inch tablet

Feels like:
A mid-size paperback book, albeit one that’s somewhat thick and heavy

Features to look for:
Access to an online book and magazine store (the Kindle Store in the case of Amazon, or the Nook store for Barnes & Noble); streaming video and music players; dual-core processors

Number of apps:
A few thousand, with no access to the larger Apple or Google app stores

How much:
$200 to $250

What’s great about them:
Very cheap compared to premium tablets; designed to make life easy for book and magazine shoppers; emphasis on video, music, games, and other entertainment

What’s not so great about them:
No built-in cameras means no video chat; no GPS for using location-based apps like Yelp; no 3G, meaning you’ll need a nearby Wi-Fi network to go online; needs a daily battery charge, depending on use; limited access to business-minded productivity apps; LCD screen that’s hard to read outdoors; no access to Google’s massive Android Market for apps

Perfect for:
Bookworms, magazine readers, and movie lovers interested in a multimedia tablet that won’t break the bank

Dedicated e-reader

Makes and models include:
Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch, Sony Reader

The $99 Barnes & Noble Nook Simple Touch, complete with a touchscreen.

What it does:
Lets you shop for and read books, newspapers, and magazines

Weighs about:
5-8 ounces

Feels like:
A thin, very light paperback book

Features to look for:
“Electronic paper” display that doesn’t need a backlight; Wi-Fi and/or 3G wireless support; touch-sensitive screen (on pricier models)

Number of apps:
A few dozen games, most of which are pretty basic

How much:
$79 to $150

What’s great about them:
Very cheap; amazing electronic-paper display lets you read outdoors, even under direct sunlight; battery life is measured in weeks rather than hours; very light and easy to hold; capable of storing thousands of books; latest Kindle and Nook models boast touchscreens

What’s not so great about them:
Sluggish, black-and-white display is far too slow for video; magazines and newspapers are delivered in plain-text format; save for an “experimental” web browser on the Kindle, no real email or productivity apps; non-illuminated display means you’ll need a light source to read in the dark

Perfect for:
Bookworms who love curling up for several uninterrupted hours of reading, free from distractions like email, video, or web surfing; vacationers who don’t want to worry about charing their gadgets or who’d rather not lug paper books around; sunbathers who want to read by the pool

Still not sure what kind of tablet is right for you? Post your questions below!

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