We were told that if you have a Kindle you are unable to download e-books to it from the local public and college librarys. Something about a licensing agreement with Amazon being violated. Taking that as factual, we purchased a different ereader, droid powered, for our son. Interesting that after less than a month of use, he asked us if we would mind if he sold it. He prefers reading paper books, so used the $$$ to purchase an Amazon gift card.