Share eBooks with Family: Kindle Family Library
Sharing Amazon Content with Family
Do you share a household with someone who also maintains a separate Amazon account? You can now connect your accounts to seamlessly share digital purchases.
This feature allows for the sharing of Kindle ebooks, audiobooks, and apps across multiple devices.
Setting Up Amazon Household
With Amazon Household, you are able to add up to four child profiles to your account.
Previously, individuals often resorted to sharing entire Amazon accounts to access the same ebooks on different devices.
Benefits of Account Linking
This is particularly advantageous for couples where each partner has independently purchased Kindle books.
Now, combining your digital libraries becomes as straightforward as sharing physical books, enhancing the reading experience for everyone.
The need to share full Amazon accounts to access ebooks across devices is now eliminated.
This streamlined process offers a more secure and organized way to enjoy shared digital content.
Understanding Amazon Household
The Amazon Household feature necessitates a unique Amazon account for each adult participant. This system facilitates the merging of two adult accounts with up to four child profiles within a single household.
Through this integration, access is granted to each member's acquired Kindle books, audiobooks, and applications from the Amazon App Store across compatible devices.
These devices include Kindle eReaders, Kindle Fire tablets, and various Kindle reading applications available for other platforms.
Each adult maintains independent account settings, encompassing bookmarks, notes, annotations, reading progress, and other personalized data.
This functionality mirrors the experience of individual purchases for each account, provided the accounts remain linked within the virtual household.
Content Limitations
It’s important to note that this sharing capability is restricted to purchased books, audiobooks, and apps obtained through the Amazon App Store.
Content types such as music, videos, magazines, newspapers, games, software, and other Amazon purchases are excluded from this sharing arrangement.
Payment Method Access
Establishing an Amazon Household requires both adults to consent to shared access to each other’s payment methods.
This feature is ideally suited for individuals in established relationships where trust is present.
Conversely, caution is advised against setting up a Family Library with individuals you do not fully trust, due to the shared financial access.
- Key Requirement: Separate Amazon accounts for each adult.
- Maximum Profiles: Two adult accounts and four child profiles.
- Shared Content: Kindle books, audiobooks, and Amazon App Store apps.
- Independent Data: Each adult retains individual reading progress and notes.
Establishing a Family Library
The Family Library setup process is accessible through the settings menus on contemporary Kindle eReaders and Kindle Fire tablets. Alternatively, the entire configuration can be completed online, regardless of whether you own a Kindle device.
To begin, navigate to the Manage Your Content and Devices section of the Amazon website. Log in using your Amazon credentials and select "Settings." Within the "Households and Family Library" area, click the "Invite an Adult" option.
Amazon will prompt the second adult to input their details directly on your computer. Ensure your partner is present and logs into their own Amazon account on the same device. While a simple email invitation might seem convenient, Amazon prioritizes verifying a genuine household connection.
Following your partner’s login, you will be required to agree to share your registered payment methods. This step is essential for activating the Family Library functionality; otherwise, managing child profiles together remains the only option.
Upon agreement, you’ll be presented with options to determine which content types you wish to share with one another. This selection also applies to any future purchases of those content types.
Further Reading: Transforming an Android or Fire Tablet into a Child-Safe Device with FreeTime
You have now successfully linked the two adult accounts. You can then establish up to four child profiles, if desired. These profiles facilitate content sharing with your children through Amazon’s “Kindle FreeTime” feature, eliminating the need for individual Amazon accounts for each child.
Subsequently, you can distribute purchased content to these child profiles as you see fit, irrespective of which adult originally made the purchase.
Accessing Shared Books
The process of accessing shared content can now begin. Amazon provides a comprehensive list of compatible devices and applications capable of accessing this shared library. This encompasses current Kindle eReaders and Kindle Fire tablets, alongside Kindle applications designed for iPhone, iPad, Android, Windows 8, Mac, and web browsers.
However, this functionality might not be activated automatically, requiring further steps. Shared content originating from your partner’s library will be visible within the “Manage Your Content and Devices” section, previously discussed. It will be clearly labeled as "Shared With You."
To view this content on your devices, you may need to navigate to the "Your Devices" heading and select each individual device. Ensure the "Show [Partner Name]'s content" checkbox is selected within the Family library settings for each. The reason this isn't automatically enabled for all devices remains unclear.
Once enabled, your partner’s purchased books and other digital content will appear within the Cloud or Archived sections of the devices or apps where you activated the setting. This content will be integrated with your existing library. Downloading and reading these books is performed in the same manner as any other title.
Similar functionality is offered by Apple’s iCloud Family Sharing and Steam’s Family Sharing, both of which facilitate the sharing of digital content in a manner analogous to sharing physical media.
Should you wish to disconnect your accounts, either adult can initiate the separation process through the Households and Family Library settings. This action prevents either account from rejoining another adult’s household for a period of 180 days – a measure implemented by Amazon to deter potential misuse of the feature.
Image Credit: mobilyazilar on Flickr
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