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Kindle Convert is available in the US now
If you’re desperate to read your tatty old copy of To Kill A Mockingbird before the sequel comes out, but want to load it onto your Kindle without buying it again, Amazon has a solution.
Not a particularly appealing solution, but a solution nonetheless.
On Tuesday the company announced the Kindle Convert software for Windows 7/8 devices.
The $19 (around £12.50) software will help users to scan in their old paper books and convert them into a format readable by Amazon’s e-readers and tablets, as well as the firm's iOS and Android apps.
Once converted, the books will be interactive, just like those purchased from the Kindle Store. Amazon says the Whispersync tech will work, while notes, highlights and dictionary look-up will all be available. Amazon also says the title will be stored in the cloud to be accessed on any of your devices.
There’s one caveat for those seeking to digitise their collection to save on suitcase space; it all has to be done by hand, which’ll mean scanning in the pages two at a time.
If you can get past that, Kindle Convert works with scanners that will spit out .jpg, .tiff or .pdf files with 300-600DPI. As TechCrunch points out, that will cover all practically all scanners users may already have at home.
Read more: Amazon Kindle Voyage review
Whether the time investment offsets the cost of buying an ebook remains up to the user, but Amazon’s niche offering will certainly be welcomed by some.
It may allow users to enjoy precious books, while safeguarding their condition and it’ll also make it easier for people who wish to annotate texts without scribbling all over the pages.
The Kindle Convert software for Windows is only available in the US at present, and has a regular price of $49 (around £32).