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John asked: “I have been a member of a book club for many years. I have downloaded many books to the Kindle app on my iPhone. I guess it goes to the Kindle on my computer, too. But I hate Kindle. It’s not accessible or easy to navigate. Wondering if you guys know of a proper, legal way to convert these eBooks to a format I can use on a standard eReader.”
John, there’s no legal way to do it.
Remember those terms of service that we never read and quickly agree to just so we can use our devices? The ones that are then treated by the other side like we were expected to have a lawyer review them and send back our revised proposals?
Well, the Kindle terms say that you’re only licensed the content, that it’s not sold to you, that you may only use it on an authorized device and that there’s a limit as to how many of those you can have on your account.
That means the book is not yours, and you can only read it on a Kindle device or app.
And they add:
you may not attempt to bypass, modify, defeat, or otherwise circumvent any digital rights management system or other content protection or features
So legally, you cannot convert your books for use on a non-Kindle device.
Less than legally, there are ways to do it, though… just so you know.