For those who buy a lot of e-books, how are you storing your collection? Do you have a cloud account somewhere, do you download to a PC, or something different? And have you had to deal with different e-book formats?

I bought a Nook some time ago, bought some books, it was okay but I liked print better. Then on impluse I bought a Kindle. I still like print better, but I like the Kindle better than the Nook. The Nook is now old enough to be kind of flaky. I'd like to get the Nook titles someplace I own, not on B&N site. Can I download them to my PC? And then what?

Calibre.  Everything gets downloaded onto my computer and then into Cablire to strip the DRM.  I'm not as good as I should be about backing all of that up.

B&N ebooks are a pain to download.  You can download them to your PC, you have to find Nook for PC to do it.  B&N took away the download button from your ebook library a couple of years ago.  B&N come with DRM and it's not so easy to strip that, can take some trial and error to get the right key into Calibre to do it.

If you look up Apprentice Alf's blog, the instructions are there about de-DRMing your ebooks.

I have a Kindle.  I also download the Kindle app on my IPad.   All my e-books I buy from Amazon for my kindle is store in their cloud.  It is about 5GB storage.  I download  books on my kindle those I want to read soon.    

i do the same thing as Sarah - Calibre for everything, and i only remember to back up my library from my PC every great once in a while.

The problem with relying on one bookstore and their cloud system is that they can decide to pull your books at any time and you won't be able to redownload them unless you pay for them again.  Yes, Amazon has done that.  I think every ebook seller has done that.  I know I have books in my Kobo library and Allromance library that are not available anymore to download because the sites don't sell them any longer.  If I didn't have them in Calibre,  I wouldn't have those books any longer.

All the time, ebook rights are reverting back to the authors and the books go off the market until the author can republish them either by themselves or with another publisher.  You've lost that book if you only have it on the book seller's website or in their cloud.  Or, if your bookseller goes out of business your library there is no longer available.

I've just seen it all happen many times so whereever I buy ebooks, they immediately get downloaded to my computer and put in Calibre so I have a copy of what I purchased.

I've never figured out how to backup Calibre.......not very computer literate.

When you launch Calibre, one of the buttons across the top says "save to disc".  Just decide do you want to backup to a CD/DVD or a jump drive or a portable hard drive?  You can get large MB jump drives pretty cheap if you watch sales.  CDs and DVDs, you can buy a large pack for cheap.

I have an old Sony reader.  How can I get those into Calibre?

Are they on the reader? Or files on your computer? Or in ADE?  You click the Add Books button. Or Add Books pull down. The issue is finding the books to select. Once you know where the files are, it will open to that general file area next time.

So it is a hunt to find where the books are stored. Then you add them to the Calibre Library.

I put everything into Calibre, then back up my books. Basically an eBook is more like a legal lease. The bookstore can remove the download. Or close down.

Me too Emily.  And ebooks do disappear from bookstores.  The rights revert back to the author and the bookstore can no longer sell it.  In most of those cases, you can't download it again.  Also, many online bookstores have closed up shop.

I know this is an old thread but I also download everything, remove DRM and store in Calibre. At least one US Fed judge supports the rights of book and CD buyers to make personal copies to archive and or use on their different devices.

If you have an ereader, there are several programs available that work with Amazon. If you only have a tablet, it is more complex, requiring you to download an older copy of Kindle for PC.  For awhile, I was unable to download and convert Kobo and Barnes and Noble and simply quit purchasing from them. I had no issue with reading from their apps or units (I have 2 nooks), but as mentioned, the book I paid for could simply disappear.  Reading on a tablet is also a problem for my damaged eyes. Someone came up with a workaround, but I always test it first. It's become easier just to buy direct from publisher, if possible, since they sell their books DRM free. 

Thanks for bumping up this thread.  I need to convert my Nook books in Calibre but have felt so overwhelmed by the prospect that I haven't done it yet.  Now I am getting concerned one day my books will be gone so I better get to it...

double post  oops

I have tried to use Calibre and the DeDRM plug in and it didn't work for me.  Apprentice Alf (who wrote the plug-in) have a disclaimer on their site that if you downloaded any of your books in ADE 3.0 or higher, the DRM removal tool will not work.  I am very disappointed that has happened to me.  Last year Overdrive changed their platform and I had to upgrade to 3.0 continue to borrow books from the library.  Will have to try another option and I haven't heard back from the Apprentice Alf folks.

Just wanted to let others know about this.  That's what happens when you procrastinate!

You can store your Kindle books in the Cloud and on your Kindle--but I am trying to get books I've finished OFF my Kindle and on Cloud only (so I can loan them or if a family member wants to read them).  I cannot figure out how to get them off the Kindle and on to Cloud only.  Any help anywhere?

if you want to remove books from your Kindle, it'd be easier to give directions if you mentioned which kind.  :)   the specific actions will vary by type, but on my Kindle Keyboard, i select the book, click the right side of the D-ring, and it opens a page where i can remove the book from my kindle.  that lets you do it one by one so you know you're removing things you've read.  i imagine the touchscreen versions have another way to select the book without opening it and see a menu.

you can also just plug your Kindle into a computer via USB cable and delete the files that way, but as all you'll be able to see is filenames, you may want to make a list of titles to remove.  or remove all the book files and then just redownload what you want still want to read - whichever is easier.