Question for Kindle experts

[jez]

I have never owned or used a Kindle before but if it can do the task I have in mind for it then I will be buying one.... Can't seem to find an answer to the one big question I want to ask though
I have a library of hundreds of books in PDF format already on my hard drive, mainly downloaded from Bit-torrent etc and it is these I want to view. Can I use a Kindle for this?????
I have zero interest in buying any downloads from Amazon or anywhere else
Thanks in advance...

[elizard]

Yes, you should be able to read PDFs on your Kindle.
As a side note, if you have other ebook file formats (my local library likes to use epub, which Kindle doesn't read), you can use Calibre to convert between the various ebook formats, and in general organize your library. I use it with my Sony reader, and it works great.

[Enzo]

And if you contact Amazon.com, I bet they would answer any question you might have about their Kindle.

An alternative woud be one of the popular pad type computer devices now on the market.

[SY]

Originally Posted by jez

...mainly downloaded from Bit-torrent etc and it is these I want to view....
I have zero interest in buying any downloads from Amazon or anywhere else
Thanks in advance...

Because god knows that authors shouldn't get paid for their work. It's not like they have to eat and pay rent. Perhaps you should be giving away your services instead of charging for them.

[kevinkr]

I always wonder why people expect to get paid for their work, but are unwilling to pay others for their equally valuable work. Some sort of disconnect going on here.

Yes free is great, but if you want to see more of the same there has to be some incentive for people to create new works to entertain and enlighten you.

[Michael Rothacher]

I started to respond...

and then I stopped.

[jez]

I think some dodgy assumptions have been made here... There is a hell of a lot of legitimately downloadable material on torrent sites, hobby sites, university sites etc.
I can assure people that I have spent a lot of money over the years on books!
The question mainly pertained to my worry that the Kindle somehow locks you into purchasing books only from Amazon or their agents and that I may not be able to use it to view all the PDF material I already have.....Wherever it came from!

[Michael Rothacher]

Well, in that case, the Kindle will work with PDF natively or they can be converted to Kindle format. Some documents which contain a lot of "layout" may not display as well.

[CopperTop]

What are people's views on the morality of using a high tech device whose price has been 'subsidised' in order to lock the user into using the maker's consumables, while 'bypassing' the locking in? For example, would you use non-Epson ink cartridges in an Epson printer? Are Epson an evil coroporation so it doesn't matter, while authors and musicians are creatives to be nurtured?

[Michael Rothacher]

Originally Posted by CopperTop

while authors and musicians are creatives to be nurtured?

If by "nurtured" you mean not stolen from.