2 Kindles, Same Household -1 account or 2?

[ETS PRESS]

I have a  Kindle and Prime account in my name. If anyone in my household needs something then I order it. I am buying my husband a Kindle for Christmas. If we register it to the same account (mine), then how do we keep our books separate? We do not read the same stuff at all. I have tons of books on my Kindle. He might want to use the lending library too. I'm just trying to figure out whether we should set him up a separate account or not.

[Ann in Arlington]

If you pretty much never read the same books than having separate accounts is certainly not a problem.  Probably even the best choice.  It's when there is a lot of overlap in tastes that it makes sense to share an account -- unless the non-overlap contains titles you want to keep completely private.

You do kind of have to decide from the first.  It's basically Not Possible to switch books from one account to another after the fact. . .also, except for the Fire, you can generally switch the registration of the Kindles without any problem and retain any books that are already loaded on the device.  So if there was a book YOU purchased that he decides he'd like to read, he could de-reg from his account, register to yours, and download the book and then do the reverse.  Or, if enabled, you could lend it to him for 2 weeks.  Or he could just use your Kindle.

[pahiker]

I have only 1 account and 3 kindles (my old K2, my daughter's K3, and my new Touch) registered to this account.  When my daughter wants a book you simple click to send to the correct kindle.  If she want to read anything that I have I just have to archive it and send it to her kindle.  I would recommend the same account to make sharing books, even if its only once in a while, easier and less expensive.

I often look at the kindle free books and when I find one I think my daughter would like I just click the drop down menu and send directly to her kindle.

[BTackitt]

Also, If you both are going to want to use the lending library @ Amazon, remember you can only get one book per 30 days. so if you are on the same account, you will have to share 12 books a year. OR if you have 2 accounts, you must pay for Prime on both accounts, but you'd each get all of the perks... which in the same house, seems kinda pointless.. Prime is GREAT for the free 2 day shipping, or $3.99 for next day.

[lori_piper]

If you don't read the same books, then there really is no benefit to sharing an account. That said, there is really no drawback, either. As others have said, only the account that buys the Prime membership is eligible for the benefits associated (except for shipping, which you can share). On his own account, your husband would need his own prime to borrow books.

It's pretty easy to keep the books separate. When you buy a book, you choose to send it to a particular kindle. All books would go into a shared archive, but it's very easy to control what goes onto which kindle.

[jbcohen]

All the answers that you have already are correct but I would like to add one thing by way of example - my wife and I read different types of books, hence we have separate accounts, however she sometimes will browse my extensive library and pick something from the library and enjoy it a lot.  Hence I have given her the user name and password so that she can browse my extensive digital library and borrow from it as she sees fit.  I see this as the best method of all of them, she has the freedom to put together her own library that reflects her tastes but she can also borrow from my digital library which ever suits her at that given point in time, she simply needs to look up my password to my library, which is in her smart phone and she knows very well how to attach to my library and attach as she wants to, so that she can do so.

[Ann in Arlington]

jbcohen. . .I'm not following.

I mentioned de-registering and re-registering to get books from two different accounts above. . .is that what you're talking about?  If so, yes, it absolutely does work, if a bit cumbersome.  Of course, as I think I mentioned, if the book is lendable, that's going to be the easier way to share a title here and there.  Of course they're not always.

[meromana]

I'm not following, either.  Even if your wife has your password and can access your account, she can't put your books on her Kindle, unless, as Ann said, she's do a 14 day loan or a register/de-register.  Is there some other trick I don't know about?

Thanks,
Maria