One Orwell upshot: Kindle content isn't only available from Amazon

The fallout from Amazon's removal of two George Orwell books from its Kindle book lineup—and from the Kindle libraries of those who had bought them—may not all be bad. It might, for example, prompt some Kindle owners to venture beyond Amazon to seek content for their Kindle.

Late last week, saying a third party had added the titles to the Kindle catalog without the rights to do so, Amazon removed copies of 1984 and Animal Farm from some Kindle libraries. The move has spurred impassioned forum debate and posts on sites such as InformationWeek.com about the legality of such removal. Responding to the uproar, Amazon told CNET it would not in the future remove titles from Kindles, at least not in the same way.

But by illustrating the potential vulnerability of Kindle books to legal problems and the like, the kerfuffle might prompt some Kindle owners to look further afield than the Kindle Store for content. In the process, they may even find some free books for their Kindle. They may also turn up titles that are not available from Amazon; despite its 250,000-plus Kindle library, it does not offer every title is available for the device, as a June 12 comment to one of my blog posts on Kindle pointed out.

Nothing is quite as easy as buying a book from the Kindle store—as we've pointed out in our reviews of Kindles, including the flagship Kindle 2. But our colleagues at The Consumerist have turned up a source that's nearly as easy: Feedbooks.com, which offers both some newer (if mostly obscure) titles and free public domain titles. True, you can't get the books from your Kindle, as you can Kindle Store titles, but you can supposedly send them to your Kindle from the feedbooks website, using the instructions from Consumerist.

Many other alternative e-book sites, such as Mobipocket.com and ManyBooks.net, are possible sources of Kindle content, providing you're prepared to connect the device to your computer. Also, in some cases, you'll need to convert the books to a format your Kindle can accept, something the Consumerist post also covers.

If you're a Kindle owner looking for those Orwell titles, you'll find both for download at Mobipocket, for $2.98 (Animal Farm) or $3.99 (1984). —Paul Reynolds.