Sideloading Kindle books on Galaxy Tab 2

[HarryT]

Another newbie question, I'm afraid. How do I sideload Kindle books on my Galaxy Tab?

When I connect it to my PC via USB I see two drives - "Tablet" and "Card". Exploring the "Tablet" folder, I see that the Kindle content appears to be in the folder path:

Tablet\Android\data\com.amazon.kindle\files

So I guess that if I put my Kindle books in there, they'll show up in the app?

Is it possible to store books on the SD card instead? If so, how would I do this? Could I do so by creating the same folder path on the SD card? ie:

Card\Android\data\com.amazon.kindle\files

Sorry, I'm sure that these are all very basic questions, but I'm a total novice when it comes to Android. I guess what I'm basically asking is how one uses data on an SD card in Android?

Thanks!

[paulsalter]

Not sure if you can just move the books onto SD card, might need to move the app also

Go into Applications and then Settings
From in Settings scroll to Applications
Select the Kindle App
You should now see an option to move to SD card, this will move the App + Books onto the SD card

Hope thats some help, if not someone with a bit more Android knowledge should be able to help

[HarryT]

Thanks, Paul - I'll try that.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

Not sure if you can just move the books onto SD card, might need to move the app also

Go into Applications and then Settings
From in Settings scroll to Applications
Select the Kindle App
You should now see an option to move to SD card, this will move the App + Books onto the SD card

Hope thats some help, if not someone with a bit more Android knowledge should be able to help

Hmmm. Unfortunately I don't see that option. The only options I have are "Force Stop" and "Uninstall". Then, under "Storage" I see "Clear Data", and under "Cache", "Clear Cache". Nothing at all about moving it.

[HarryT]

More experiments:

If I put videos in a folder (any folder at all) on the SD card, the video player app finds and plays them, but this doesn't work with Kindle books. If I create a folder called "Books" on the SD card, copy a Kindle book there, then locate it within the "Files" app and try to open it, I get a message "Open File - no application can perform this action".

So I'm a little bit stuck now. Is there any way to open Kindle books that are stored on the SD card? I suppose I could keep them on the SD card, then copy them to internal memory to read them, but that seems a little clumsy.

Any ideas?

[HarryT]

OK, I think I'm starting to understand how this works now. My understanding is:

1. Certain types of files can be accessed directly from the SD card. Such files include videos, music, and photographs.

2. For other types of files, it's necessary to copy them to the appropriate app directory in the internal storage in order for them to be seen. This includes Kindle books. In that respect, it's the same as "Kindle for PC", which can only read books which are in the "My Kindle Content" folder.

Can anyone confirm that this is correct?

[vaughnmr]

On both my phone (EVO 4G, Android 2.3) and tablet (HTC View, Android 3.2), I have a directory on my sd card called "Kindle", and I can sideload ebooks there to use with the Kindle app.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by vaughnmr

On both my phone (EVO 4G, Android 2.3) and tablet (HTC View, Android 3.2), I have a directory on my sd card called "Kindle", and I can sideload ebooks there to use with the Kindle app.

Thank you. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work that way on my tablet.

[madsquabbles]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Thank you. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work that way on my tablet.

works just fine that way on 3 tablets and 2 phones. just drop them in, got to downloaded files on the kindle app and there you go.

to make sure syncing works i have to go back to the library and change catalogs (download/cloud - to get them to load) after reading or else it may not always sync.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by madsquabbles

works just fine that way on 3 tablets and 2 phones. just drop them in, got to downloaded files on the kindle app and there you go.

to make sure syncing works i have to go back to the library and change catalogs (download/cloud - to get them to load) after reading or else it may not always sync.

I've tried creating a folder in the root of my SD card called "kindle" and putting books in there, but the Kindle app doesn't see them. It only seems to see books in internal memory in the folder:

Android\data\com.amazon.kindle\files

Putting music and video in folders on the SD card works absolutely fine, but not books.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Thank you. Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work that way on my tablet.

You might want to double check, as I believe this is the way the Kindle Android app works regardless of device.

You should have an "/sdcard" path on any android device, and you should see a kindle folder directly under it, and the app can SUPPOSEDLY find books there as well as in the system data folder you mentioned earlier.
Note that /sdcard does not NECESSARILY refer to the ACTUAL external SD card (on my wife's phone, the actual card is mounted as "/SDCARD/_ExternalSDCard") and the app only works for files in the /sdcard/kindle location.

That being said, my attempts to sideload to that folder on my wife's phone were inconsistent. Sometimes books would show up, sometimes they wouldn't, so I decided it was easier just to use the Kindle app for Amazon server based books and put another reader app on for sideloaded stuff. Honestly I'm not crazy about the import process for Aldiko either....

ApK

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by ApK

You might want to double check, as I believe this is the way the Kindle Android app works regardless of device.

You should have an "/sdcard" path on any android device, and you should see a kindle folder directly under it, and the app can SUPPOSEDLY find books there as well as in the system data folder you mentioned earlier.
Note that /sdcard does not NECESSARILY refer to the ACTUAL external SD card (on my wife's phone, the actual card is mounted as "/SDCARD/_ExternalSDCard") and the app only works for files in the /sdcard/kindle location.

That being said, my attempts to sideload to that folder on my wife's phone were inconsistent. Sometimes books would show up, sometimes they wouldn't, so I decided it was easier just to use the Kindle app for Amazon server based books and put another reader app on for sideloaded stuff. Honestly I'm not crazy about the import process for Aldiko either....

ApK

My tablet does its USB connection via MTP, so what I see is not a "raw" mounted drive. When I look at Windows Explorer, I see a device called "GT-P3110", which is listed as a "Portable Device", and does not have a drive letter. When I open that, I see two drives: "Tablet" (the internal storage) and "Card" (the SD card), again with no drive letters.

When I use the file explorer on the tablet itself, then it's as you say: root, with "sdcard" and "extSdCard" below it, and "sdcard" has a "kindle" folder in it. But that's internal storage, not the external SD card, so I'm no further forward .

EDIT: You're right - putting books into "Tablet\kindle" (which is the same as "sdcard/kindle") works fine. But, again, that's internal storage.

[=X=]

I recommend you install an app called ES Explorer it's one of the better file managers out there and has a great interface for network folders.

EDIT: You're right - putting books into "Tablet\kindle" (which is the same as "sdcard/kindle") works fine. But, again, that's internal storage.

Okay so I updated this post based on this comment. From your fist post I was not aware you where using MDP.

[DebbyS]

Currently I'm putting all the books and comics I want to read and the media (video, music) -- all on my SC card. I don't usually read more than one thing at a time so I can delete material from the card when I'm finished and add more later on. I've downloaded a lot of free and a few paid Kindle books to my computer to see on Kindle for PC, but I every week or two I copy them to a separate file and run 'em through Calibre to turn them to epub, which I can back up to CD (to save them), then read with either my Tab off the card or my JBL off internal storage (it's faster that way on the JBL).

So this is another option. If the Kindle app is giving you problems, change the book to a different format that you may have a better app for. I figure there are always at least two ways to approach a problem.

[Polyphemus]

I imported my Kindle books onto my Galaxy Tab 7 plus using the SD card and the Bluefire reading app. Bluefire imported books from a folder on my SD card that I called epub books.

Since Bluefire doesn't seem to like the Kindle format, I had to convert the books to epub format.