Answers.Body: <p>I just got a new paperwhite, and am reading my own books on it without registering. It nags you to register, but if you open Calibre, and then connect via USB, you can put books on, and it all works just as normal. The only thing you can't do if you don't register is to "buy" Amazon's drm books, or access the ones you've already "bought." </p>
  
  <p>Although it is possible you may be able to transfer said books through your kindle desktop app, I haven't tried,don't really care. </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2021-03-15T19:55:47.297Z
Answers.Text: I can confirm this still works (it's March 2021, and I just started using a Kindle with firmware 5.12.3). I connected to wifi, then it asked to login or register. No way out of it. But then I transferred some books over USB, and did a restart for the device. After booting up it showed by books.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Lauri Larjo
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-03-09T09:29:47.710Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2016-03-09T09:29:47.710Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: mran
Answers.Body: <p>Never register your kindle when you buy. Turn off wifi by putting into wifi mode. Then just use your kindle as a sort of usb stick with screen. Drag and drop pdf and mobi files (use the great free program Calibre to convert epub etc to these formats. This works for a kindle of a couple of years ago with the square button on the bottom.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2016-02-06T11:46:14.930Z
Answers.Text: I tend to believe you give the correct answer (see my comment to the question). Did you actually test more recently that it is possible to use a new Kindle without ever registering with Amazon. On what model did you do the test 2 years ago. Did you register since then?
Answers.UserDisplayName: babou
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-12-22T14:14:23.300Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-12-22T14:14:23.300Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: user5831
Answers.Body: <p>I can't speak definitively about this, but my understanding is that you need a kindle account to register the device as new. </p>
  
  <p>The reason is that amazon.com wants to make sure you are able to spend money -- they lose money on the kindles and hope to make up for it with sales of ebooks and apps. </p>
  
  <p>After it is registered, you can connect via USB to a laptop or computer and transfer as many files as you want, more or less (using Calibre, etc). You don't need to purchase one thing.  You don't need to use kindle to do the transferring (unless you really want to). So you really only need to connect to amazon.com one time. You don't need to connect to wifi after that first time. </p>
  
  <p>I'm guessing that you are dealing with a used device wiped clean with broken wifi or you are in a country where amazon doesn't have a store or you are buying it for a young person and don't want to give him access to your credit card. </p>
  
  <p>If you are concerned about credit card use, you can give a functioning credit card when you register, and then change/remove the credit card later. </p>
  
  <p>By the way, one advantage of being registered is that Kindle will automatically download updates. </p>
  
  <p>See also this thread <a href="http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle?_encoding=UTF8&amp;cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&amp;cdThread=TxFBK4BK0D6L9Y" rel="noreferrer">http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle?_encoding=UTF8&amp;cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&amp;cdThread=TxFBK4BK0D6L9Y</a></p>
  
  <p>See also this thread on setting parental controls to prevent kids from buying things <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201423070" rel="noreferrer">http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201423070</a></p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-09-15T18:41:49.477Z
Answers.Text: Not sure I would call automatic updates an advantage [i.e.](http://ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/190/what-information-does-my-kindle-share-with-amazon/6034#6034) also might want to change your credit card to a visa gift card, then you don't need to change it. Once the money is gone, the card number does not matter.
Answers.UserDisplayName: James Jenkins
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-09-16T16:47:32.943Z
Answers.Text: After the registration you just turn off wifi and 'sideload' books from sites like Project Gutenberg. One need not buy Amazon's books.
Answers.UserDisplayName: Scott Porter
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2015-09-15T01:39:58.837Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2015-09-15T01:39:58.837Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: idiotprogrammer
Answers.Body: <p>Yes, you can use a Kindle (at least Kindles that are several years old) without an Amazon account. I got a secondhand Kindle that is probably ~4-5 years old. I connected to wifi to deregister the prior owner. Then I turned wifi off, and connected to my pc with a microUSB cable and uploaded books using Calibre. </p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-07-27T15:54:15.560Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-07-27T15:54:15.560Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: jub
Answers.Body: <p>I just got a new paperwhite 09/2018 and you can use it without registering although it may not seem like it at first. You'll see the connect &amp; register screen when first starting up and it won't let you do anything else. Pretend like you are going to, search for networks, but don't join anything. Cancel back out and it will then ask if you would like to continue setup later. Do that and then never register if that's what you prefer.</p>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-09-19T20:32:30.383Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-09-19T20:32:30.383Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: John
Answers.Body: <p>Yes, you can use a Kindle without an account, or without registering it. You can copy MOBI or PDF or a few other data file formats into the "Documents" directory using USB, and it'll display them just fine.  There are four differences I've found that apply to all the Kindles I've tried this with.</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>You can't buy books from Amazon Store directly from the device, obviously.</li>
  <li>You can't take an Amazon Kindle copy-protected-format file from one of your other Kindles, copy them onto your unregistered Kindle, and read them. (Not surprising.)</li>
  <li>You can't email a file to the Kindle using Amazon Whispernet's my-kindle-name@kindle.com address (also obvious.)</li>
  <li>The Collections feature doesn't work without registration (Not obvious, and annoying.) It's not a problem if you've only got a few dozen books on there at a time, but if you've downloaded half of Project Gutenberg onto your Kindle into one big flat directory mess, it's hard to keep track of stuff.</li>
  </ol>
  
Answers.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 4.0
Answers.CreationDate: 2018-10-09T04:49:30.063Z
Answers.LastActivityDate: 2018-10-09T04:49:30.063Z
Answers.UserDisplayName: user46642
Body: <p>I'd like to know if it is possible to use a Kindle reader without having an Amazon account, but rather <em>only</em> uploading the reader's own files into the device.</p>
  
Comments.ContentLicense: CC BY-SA 3.0
Comments.CreationDate: 2016-02-06T11:37:35.337Z
Comments.Text: One answer states that you have to register (for what he understands)
  while another answer states that you should avoid registering (which
  is wise, if possible, given that Amazon can and has tampered with the
  ebook content of his customers Kindles). **One of these two answers is
  wrong**. It is surprising there is no one to test whether a new kindle
  can work without ever connecting to the internet. BTW, it is likely
  that Amazon can track your Kindle activity even if you do not have an
  account, unless you turn off the WIFI, or use it only to connect with
  an off-line computer.
Comments.UserDisplayName: babou
Tags: <kindle><amazon>
Title: Can you use a Kindle without an Amazon account?
UserDisplayName: Dakatine
ThreadText: # Can you use a Kindle without an Amazon account?
  
  (Asked by: username_0 on 2015-09-15)
  
  I'd like to know if it is possible to use a Kindle reader without having an Amazon account, but rather *only* uploading the reader's own files into the device.
  
  **Tags:** kindle, amazon
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: One answer states that you have to register (for what he understands) while another answer states that you should avoid registering (which is wise, if possible, given that Amazon can and has tampered with the ebook content of his customers Kindles). **One of these two answers is wrong**. It is surprising there is no one to test whether a new kindle can work without ever connecting to the internet. BTW, it is likely that Amazon can track your Kindle activity even if you do not have an account, unless you turn off the WIFI, or use it only to connect with an off-line computer.  
  
  ---
  
  ## 6 answers
  
  ### Answer by username_2 on 2016-03-09. Score: 9
  
  I just got a new paperwhite, and am reading my own books on it without registering. It nags you to register, but if you open Calibre, and then connect via USB, you can put books on, and it all works just as normal. The only thing you can't do if you don't register is to "buy" Amazon's drm books, or access the ones you've already "bought."
  
  Although it is possible you may be able to transfer said books through your kindle desktop app, I haven't tried,don't really care.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_3**: I can confirm this still works (it's March 2021, and I just started using a Kindle with firmware 5.12.3). I connected to wifi, then it asked to login or register. No way out of it. But then I transferred some books over USB, and did a restart for the device. After booting up it showed by books.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_4 on 2015-12-22. Score: 5
  
  Never register your kindle when you buy. Turn off wifi by putting into wifi mode. Then just use your kindle as a sort of usb stick with screen. Drag and drop pdf and mobi files (use the great free program Calibre to convert epub etc to these formats. This works for a kindle of a couple of years ago with the square button on the bottom.
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_1**: I tend to believe you give the correct answer (see my comment to the question). Did you actually test more recently that it is possible to use a new Kindle without ever registering with Amazon. On what model did you do the test 2 years ago. Did you register since then?  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_5 on 2015-09-15. Score: 5
  
  I can't speak definitively about this, but my understanding is that you need a kindle account to register the device as new.
  
  The reason is that amazon.com wants to make sure you are able to spend money -- they lose money on the kindles and hope to make up for it with sales of ebooks and apps.
  
  After it is registered, you can connect via USB to a laptop or computer and transfer as many files as you want, more or less (using Calibre, etc). You don't need to purchase one thing. You don't need to use kindle to do the transferring (unless you really want to). So you really only need to connect to amazon.com one time. You don't need to connect to wifi after that first time.
  
  I'm guessing that you are dealing with a used device wiped clean with broken wifi or you are in a country where amazon doesn't have a store or you are buying it for a young person and don't want to give him access to your credit card.
  
  If you are concerned about credit card use, you can give a functioning credit card when you register, and then change/remove the credit card later.
  
  By the way, one advantage of being registered is that Kindle will automatically download updates.
  
  See also this thread <http://www.amazon.com/forum/kindle?_encoding=UTF8&cdForum=Fx1D7SY3BVSESG&cdThread=TxFBK4BK0D6L9Y>
  
  See also this thread on setting parental controls to prevent kids from buying things <http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201423070>
  
  > **Comments:**
  > **username_6**: Not sure I would call automatic updates an advantage [i.e.](http://ebooks.stackexchange.com/questions/190/what-information-does-my-kindle-share-with-amazon/6034#6034) also might want to change your credit card to a visa gift card, then you don't need to change it. Once the money is gone, the card number does not matter.  
  > **username_7**: After the registration you just turn off wifi and 'sideload' books from sites like Project Gutenberg. One need not buy Amazon's books.  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_8 on 2018-07-27. Score: 2
  
  Yes, you can use a Kindle (at least Kindles that are several years old) without an Amazon account. I got a secondhand Kindle that is probably ~4-5 years old. I connected to wifi to deregister the prior owner. Then I turned wifi off, and connected to my pc with a microUSB cable and uploaded books using Calibre.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_9 on 2018-09-19. Score: 1
  
  I just got a new paperwhite 09/2018 and you can use it without registering although it may not seem like it at first. You'll see the connect & register screen when first starting up and it won't let you do anything else. Pretend like you are going to, search for networks, but don't join anything. Cancel back out and it will then ask if you would like to continue setup later. Do that and then never register if that's what you prefer.
  
  
  ---
  
  ### Answer by username_10 on 2018-10-09. Score: 1
  
  Yes, you can use a Kindle without an account, or without registering it. You can copy MOBI or PDF or a few other data file formats into the "Documents" directory using USB, and it'll display them just fine. There are four differences I've found that apply to all the Kindles I've tried this with.
  
  1. You can't buy books from Amazon Store directly from the device, obviously.
  2. You can't take an Amazon Kindle copy-protected-format file from one of your other Kindles, copy them onto your unregistered Kindle, and read them. (Not surprising.)
  3. You can't email a file to the Kindle using Amazon Whispernet's my-kindle-name@kindle.com address (also obvious.)
  4. The Collections feature doesn't work without registration (Not obvious, and annoying.) It's not a problem if you've only got a few dozen books on there at a time, but if you've downloaded half of Project Gutenberg onto your Kindle into one big flat directory mess, it's hard to keep track of stuff.
  
  
  ---
  
  