Did I ever mention that I love my Kindle? Because I do. I really, really do. I started reading for fun again after I bought it. For those of you reading off your Kindle, there are a couple free tools that can make your experience that much better.
These tools also apply to those of you reading eBooks with the Kindle app for smartphones and Kindle for PC/ Mac.
My favourite free tools for Kindle:
Calibre is free software that allows you to organize and convert your ebook files. So you can convert PDF files to Kindle files (MOBI) and read it like any other ebook. Calibre’s actually a very powerful tool that can much more than that with the help of plugins but I’ll let you Google it yourself.
EreaderIQ tracks Kindle titles on your Amazon wish list and notifies you when items go on sale. It also keeps a automated list of recent titles that have gone on sale and recent titles that have been priced at $0! It’s perfect if you’ve got your eye on older titles that are priced above $9.99. Those often go on sale after a few months. EreaderIQ will also track when paper titles are available on Kindle. The only downside is that the EreaderIQ site is quite ugly.
Lendle (US only)
Kindle now allows US Residents to lend out their Kindle books for a week – but they can only lend out each book once. Lendle allows Kindle users to borrow and lend books to each other anonymously. And it’s risk-free because after the one week lending period, Kindle automatically transfers the book back the owners. The only downside is that some publishers won’t allow you to lend out/ borrow certain title and if you’re outside the US, you’re out of luck.
BookLending.com does the same thing as Lendle only it allows non-US Residents to freeload off kind-hearted Americans who voluntarily lend out their Kindle library. That means Canadian readers like me can borrow books but cannot lend mine out.
What tools do you use for your ereader?
Related Penguins: Penguin Pulls Kindle Ebooks from Libraries, Kobo Reader Perks, Kindles for all – unless you live outside the US
Photo credits: marthastewart.com
Broken Penguins 
I have used Calibre ever since getting my Kindle and find it really handy. I’m actually amazed when I run into people who have an e-reader and don’t know about it. I didn’t know that book lending was available in Canada though so I will definitely be checking out booklending.com. Thanks Farah!
Hi Jessica! Book lending is not available in Canada – but book borrowing is! For something so small, Calibre is SO useful. I back-up all my Kindle titles… just in case Amazon accidentally loses them all. You just never know. Thanks for visiting!
Thank you for providing the tools to help when you have an e-reader. One day . . . .I hope to have one.
I highly encourage it! And they’re getting more and more affordable – so why not?
thank you for these! i’m anxious to try some of them. 🙂
Your welcome! And thanks for visiting! Be careful with EreaderIQ. It’s designed to help you save money but you may end up buying more books as a result of using it 😮
Calibre’s a fantastic tool, an absolute must for a Kindle owner. I hadn’t heard of this EreaderIQ before, I’ll definitely be checking that one out. Thanks for sharing!
No prob! I agree, I’d be a mess without Calibre.