Amazon Kindle for PC E-Book Software

PC World - Amazon's Kindle family gained a new member today with the arrival of the free Amazon Kindle for PC reader app. And while I'm not a big fan of reading books on computer displays, I have to admit that Kindle for PC handles the basics of its job well. But it lacks a few features--most significantly the ability to create your own notes--found not just in Kindle hardware but also in the Kindle for iPhone app.

A 5.3MB download, Kindle for PC installs in a jiffy. After you log in to your account, it presents a home screen with options to look at your archived items or to shop at the Kindle store (the latter simply opens a Web browser window to Amazon.com's Kindle home page). Books appear as color thumbnails, sortable by author or title. It was nice to see the book covers in color for a change (the Kindle iPhone app does this, too).

The Menu button on the far right brings up an option for changing the account registration info; the app does not support registration of multiple accounts. You'll also find a command to sync and check for new items purchased in the Kindle store, which do not automatically appear with your archived items.

You must click on a book in the list of archived content to download it and bring up the reading interface. The first time you do so, a little pop-up graphic shows how to turn pages: You can use either your PC's arrow keys (pressing the down or right arrow moves a page forward, and pushing the up or left arrow goes back, just as I expected) or the scroll wheel of your mouse. Pages on the PC looked good and crisp. Clicking the font icon on top gives you ten font sizes to choose from--plus, you can also set the page width with a slider, a nice feature you don't get in any other Kindle hardware or software. On the far top right, an icon labeled 'Show Notes & Marks' produces a pane for annotations and bookmarks. Another button lets you set bookmarks, and a 'Go To' button produces a menu for navigating to the cover (enlarged, and again in lovely color), the table of contents, the beginning of the book, or a specific location.

Also in the Go To menu is the 'Sync to Furthest Page Read' command, which you use when you've been reading a book on another Kindle registered to your account (or on the Kindle for iPhone app) and you want to pick up where you left off. This feature worked smoothly when I tried it, and it could be a huge convenience for people who wish to move seamlessly among devices. Kindle for PC also syncs bookmarks and annotations, but you don't have to create a bookmark for it to note the location you leave off reading on the PC: Whispernet automatically provides this info to other devices on demand through similar sync commands.