4 Cool Features Exclusive to Kindle

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Amazon’s Kindle line dominates the global e-reader market, and although some people are abandoning Kindles in favor of non-Amazon e-readers, experts frequently cite Kindle devices among the best e-readers you can buy. Although some argue that Kindles are no longer necessary, the e-reader market has continued to grow as readers increasingly realize the convenience of digital reading. Rather than stuffing a physical book into your bag and having to find a bookstore when finished, e-reader users have access to digital libraries filled with millions of e-books, which are not only often less expensive than their physical counterparts, but also come in a more portable package.

Amazon’s line of Kindle devices, including the Kindle Scribe and Kindle Paperwhite, are particularly popular because of their e-ink displays. This type of display reduces glare and mimics the look of real paper, providing long battery life and additional accessibility features across the vast library of eBooks available. While some of these features are available on other e-readers, there are a handful of cool features exclusive to the Kindle. You may not even be using many of these features.

X-Ray lets you quickly find details about important characters or places in a book, while the Send to Kindle feature lets you easily send documents to yourself from other devices, and Whispersync for Voice lets you seamlessly switch from an e-book to an audiobook without losing your place. There’s also a huge library of Kindle exclusive ebooks that you can’t find anywhere else. Below, we break down four cool features exclusive to the Kindle.

You’ve probably read a book and encountered a character or place whose meaning you don’t remember. Often this causes you to break your reading immersion to go back a few chapters to discover the answers or turn to Google. But the Kindle’s underrated X-Ray feature makes finding those answers simpler.

Similar to the X-Ray feature available for Amazon Prime Video, the Kindle X-Ray feature is a built-in reference tool that lets you easily search for the most frequently mentioned characters and terms in a book you’re currently reading, such as an event or location, and instantly get information about it. This information may include short descriptions and notable passages from the book about the term, details about when the term was used in previous chapters, author notes, and links to related pages on Wikipedia and Goodreads. However, this feature is not available for all ebooks, including downloaded books, and be aware that it may sometimes serve as spoilers.

To access the X-Ray feature on your Kindle, open a book and tap the top of the page to access the top menu. Then press the three vertical dots icon in the menu bar and select X-ray in the drop-down menu. This displays a reference guide that allows you to see information about the main characters and terms on the page you are currently reading or throughout the book. This feature is also available on Amazon Fire tablets.

If you enjoy both reading on a Kindle and listening to audiobooks on Audible, Amazon’s Whispersync for Voice feature is worth using. Whispersync lets you seamlessly switch from listening to an audiobook on Audible to reading it on your Kindle (and vice versa) without losing your place.

There are some caveats, however. You must have both the Audible And Kindle ebook versions of a title in your respective libraries so you can use Whispersync. These titles must also support this feature, with eligible audiobooks you already own marked with a Whispersync for voice badge in the Audible app. Amazon’s matching tool lets you see available audio companions by scanning your Kindle library.

To switch between reading a title on Kindle and listening to it on Audible, select the option three point menu on the audiobook or Kindle book you are reading/listening to. If you are reading on Kindle, select Listen on Audible. If you’re listening on Audible, select Read on Kindle. Finally, confirm that you are happy to open the corresponding app and can continue where you left off.

For avid readers, it’s worth signing up for Kindle Unlimited (which costs $11.99 per month plus tax), as it lets you borrow up to 20 titles from the Kindle Unlimited library per month, with discounts available on audiobook counterparts of some titles. This means you can borrow a Whispersync-supported ebook, purchase the audiobook at a discount to use Whispersync, and keep the audiobook when you return the ebook.

Kindle users have access to a huge library of e-books. While many of these titles may be available on other platforms, like Kobo and Apple Books, Amazon also offers over a million Kindle-exclusive digital titles that you can’t get anywhere else.

This exclusivity is made possible by Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) program, which offers authors the opportunity to make their ebook an Amazon exclusive by signing up for KDP Select. Membership binds authors to a 90-day exclusivity agreement, during which they can sell print copies of their book elsewhere, but not the e-book. It also automatically includes the title in the Kindle Unlimited offer. After 90 days, authors can unsubscribe from KDP Select to sell their ebooks elsewhere.

The KDP program is especially popular with independent, self-published authors because access to Kindle Unlimited offers a page-per-read royalty and increased promotional reach. Some of the most popular Kindle e-book exclusives include Matt Dinniman’s literary role-playing series “Dungeon Crawler Carl,” psychological thriller series “The Housemaid” by Freida McFadden, and science fiction series “Bobiverse” by Dennis E. Taylor.

Amazon’s Send to Kindle feature lets you wirelessly send documents to your Kindle library, accessible through your Kindle app or device, at no additional cost. By visiting the Send to Kindle website, you can easily drag and drop documents to be sent to you, allowing you to access your downloads on any device linked to your Kindle library. Just make sure to enable Add to library on your Kindle device. You can also upload documents through the Kindle app on iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac devices from an authorized email address or the Send to Kindle Chrome extension.

Send to Kindle supports PDF, TXT, JPEG, GIF, and other selected file types up to 200 MB. Files you send through this feature are protected with end-to-end encryption. Please note, however, that by using this feature, you agree to Amazon’s terms of service. This feature is particularly useful if you use your Kindle for tasks that don’t involve reading, because it means you can easily send yourself personal documents like study notes, then add notes, highlights, and bookmarks as needed.