Basic Kindle registration problem

[Susan in VA]

Okay, it's not a problem with the registration itself, but with the registration to a new account.

I have a K2, and I bought my DD a Basic Kindle for Christmas.  (Which she loves, and has pretty much not let out of her hands since about 11 AM on 12/25.)

When I got hers, I first registered it to my account, and DL'ed everything that I had that she was likely to read, about 25 books.  Then I deregistered it and gave it to her, and told her that we'd set up an account just for her, fund it with a gift card, etc.

(YES, I'm aware that when you give a Kindle, you're supposed to delete all existing content.  I'm also aware that doing exactly what I planned to do has been recommended by many here on KB as a way to share some books with one's kids without letting them have access to everything in the parental account.  And I understand that Amazon pretty much turned a blind eye to this practice, since there is no other way for parents and kids to share only some content.)

So this evening I thought I'd set up an Amazon account for her, register her Kindle, put a gift card on it, and all that.  And maybe buy her a book or two. 

The minute I register the Kindle to her new account, all the old content is GONE.   No books, no collections, just a welcome letter to her and half a dozen dictionaries in the archive.  (I think I read somewhere that this happens with the Fire, but surely it hasn't happened with other Kindles up to now?  Or did I miss that memo?)  Since she was in the middle of four different books (of my old ones), I registered it back to my account, thinking that I'd have to re-DL all of those, but amazingly it remembered which ones I had sent it before and they all reappeared, with collections intact.

So what's going on here? 

Did Amazon make this change, so that content is automatically deleted with a new registration?  And if so, does anyone know of a workaround so that I don't buy books twice if I want to share them with my 8-year-old but also don't give her access to everything I've ever bought? 

Or did I do something wrong in the registration process?

[Betsy the Quilter]

Hmmm...

I put some stuff on the granddaughters' Kindles.  I know the older kid reregistered to her account.  I don't know if the few books I gave her disappeared.  Let me see if she's still up.

Betsy

[Betsy the Quilter]

Just checked with her and her content stayed on her Kindle.  (She's a night owl, LOL!)  She reregistered Christmas Day...if it's a new thing it happened since then.

Anyone else?

Betsy

[Ann in Arlington]

That's interesting, Susan. . . .I don't have any way to check if it would happen with any of mine, though.

What you could do is copy the books you d/l'd to her device to your computer. And then copy them back after you set up her own account.  That should retain the device specific DRM.

Can I ask:  did you de-register it first?  It may be that de-registering would preserve the content.  In other words, it's the re-registration of a Kindle that they already show as registered somewhere else that is triggering the wipe.  I'm thinking if you just went to Amazon, opened the account, and registered the Kindle that way, when it reached out via WiFi it would see it was already registered on another account and basically take it back to factory settings. This would prevent a person who stole or found a lost device from accessing someone elses's books/account. But if it reaches out and finds it's not registered anywhere, it just welcomes it aboard without affecting any content that might be there.  Does that make sense?

[Betsy the Quilter]

That's interesting, Susan. . . .I don't have any way to check if it would happen with any of mine, though.

What you could do is copy the books you d/l'd to her device to your computer. And then copy them back after you set up her own account.  That should retain the device specific DRM.

Can I ask:  did you de-register it first?  It may be that de-registering would preserve the content.  In other words, it's the re-registration of a Kindle that they already show as registered somewhere else that is triggering the wipe.  I'm thinking if you just went to Amazon, opened the account, and registered the Kindle that way, when it reached out via WiFi it would see it was already registered on another account and basically take it back to factory settings. This would prevent a person who stole or found a lost device from accessing someone elses's books/account. But if it reaches out and finds it's not registered anywhere, it just welcomes it aboard without affecting any content that might be there.  Does that make sense?

That's a good point, Ann...it crossed my mind last night but it was 1:40 am  .  I know for a fact that the grandgirl "deregistered" first.  And then "registered."

Betsy

[sebat]

That's interesting, Susan. . . .I don't have any way to check if it would happen with any of mine, though.

What you could do is copy the books you d/l'd to her device to your computer. And then copy them back after you set up her own account.  That should retain the device specific DRM.

Can I ask:  did you de-register it first?  It may be that de-registering would preserve the content.  In other words, it's the re-registration of a Kindle that they already show as registered somewhere else that is triggering the wipe.  I'm thinking if you just went to Amazon, opened the account, and registered the Kindle that way, when it reached out via WiFi it would see it was already registered on another account and basically take it back to factory settings. This would prevent a person who stole or found a lost device from accessing someone elses's books/account. But if it reaches out and finds it's not registered anywhere, it just welcomes it aboard without affecting any content that might be there.  Does that make sense?

I thought of this too. 

Another possible work around...register back to your account, download the books to your computer and side load them.  I'm assuming that will still work but I don't have a K4 to know for sure.

[Susan in VA]

Thanks for the suggestions! 

Yes, I did deregister it from mine before giving it to her, and didn't register it to hers until three days later.  So that shouldn't have been the issue.

But I'll try the detour through my computer, and I'd imagine that will work.  (I almost never sideload anything, so it wouldn't have occurred to me.   )

I just have to wait until she actually lets go of it for half an hour...     Might not be until tonight.

[Ann in Arlington]

Well, at least I'm glad she likes it!

[Betsy the Quilter]

You might also try deregister and register again (if you haven't already).  Amazon was having some burps on their system on Christmas day and just after, based on some issues the grandgirl and others had.

Betsy

[hsuthard]

I know you know this, but sometimes it takes several minutes for content to appear. It still hasn't shown up?

[Ann in Arlington]

Oh good point. . . .you have to reconnect to WiFi before it will all be there, I think. . . .though, if it was already there I don't quite see why.