Expanding the Kindle 3 Memory Capacity.

[mattbiernat]

Originally Posted by djgreedo

Perhaps getting a tablet computer instead of a Kindle would be more versatile for your needs (tablets allow USB input, memory cards, etc. to be added).

computer doesn't have eInk

Originally Posted by djgreedo

If you want to carry around your music, wouldn't an MP3 player be more convenient? If you want to carry around lots of large files, a portable hard drive/USB stick would be better.

yeah but instead of carrying 4 devices i can just carry 1 that is primary for reading but can do all other things as well...

[psycholoner]

I've actually maxed out my memory on my DXG. I real a lot of manga, and since they're pictures, they take up a lot of space. Resizing all of them shrinks the size of the files a bit, but I still can't put more than a few long series in. 3.3 gigs isn't much and data transfer on to the kindle is unbelievably slow. I have a lot of free time right now, and I can get through 3 gigs of manga in a day if I really wanted to (but that would be the entire day of reading and used over 1 full battery charge).

[vugtitan]

In my previous thread about expanding the kindle 3 memory it became clear it is too complex and risky.

Also most of you dismissed the idea ,saying 3500 books is enough.

Others said once you store mp3 files the space will be a lot less and also for graphic intensive books memory expansion would be preferable.

As I was washing my face I just had a Eureka moment in which the kindle does not need to be opened at all.No complex soldering,etc.

All you would need to is attach a flash memory stick to the kindle using the same usb connector used to transfer files from your pc to the kindle memory.

In this case software would be written which would allow the kindle to read/explore the files on the usb stick and hence access the flash memory stick files like it was just like an external memory card.


I think it would be a fairly simple hack.Just like a Explorer Shell or file explorer able to access for kindle , able to access usb memory stick files.

So this would be a software solution like a simple file explorer for the kindle able to access files on external devices like a usb flash memory stick.

Can the current kindle access files on your pc hard drive or memory stick?

What do you think?

Has anyone does this already for the kindle 2?

[HarryT]

In order to do this it would be necessary for the Kindle to contain the hardware to act as a USB "host" rather than a USB "client". Does it contain that hardware?

[bob1xxx]

Seriously dude are you trying to get band by cross posting basically the same thread on two different topic boards? Honestly I think the major reason why amazon expanded the k3 to 4gb of memory was for the news paper and magazine readers who like to save back issues and mags and new papers have more illustrations(i.e. bigger files) or illustrated pdf files can get bigger although if you into using your kindle for any those materials a dx2 would be a better choice. If your reading just straight text books with little or no illustrations with 4gb of memory I feel 3500 books is a low number and I'd still back up everything to pc's harddrive or a cloud based back (i.e. carbonite or similar solution) . So for the average user of K3 unless amazon comes up with some crazy games , people save boat loads of email or MP3's l to their kindle 4gb is a insane amount of storage and there's really no need for sd memory expansion slot. Thats my 2 cents

[Ged_uk]

The second issue would be power I doubt there is 5v on the usb as its not designed to host devices, this could be got round with a battery pack such as the mobile recharge ones.
The OS I imagine could be configured to host the device but I fear as with many mobile phones even if the USB chip supports host mode the required pins etc. aren't wired up, so the device is never recognised.
But still no harm in trying.
G

[loveangel]

i have the same couple to doubt in my mind also

[Kevin2960]

The Kindle is an eReader, use it as one, if you really want MP3 player, there are some very tiny ones you could carry with the Kindle, or just use a portion of the memory for MP3, theres plenty, But the Kindle is NOT an mp3 player, it has that function as an aside,

Read books, on the great new K3, you can't go far wrong with that as an idea, It isn't an iPad, if you want iPad function, you HAVE to pay for an iPad, it's that simple,

Sorry,

[Juliette]

Originally Posted by HarryT

In order to do this it would be necessary for the Kindle to contain the hardware to act as a USB "host" rather than a USB "client". Does it contain that hardware?

I think not. To my current knowledge, the only reader with that capacity is the PB302- I know that because they specified it => I believe others can't.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Juliette

I think not. To my current knowledge, the only reader with that capacity is the PB302- I know that because they specified it => I believe others can't.

There have been others. The iRex iLiad could act as a USB host.

[Juliette]

Originally Posted by HarryT

There have been others. The iRex iLiad could act as a USB host.

now, that's another reason to be unhappy for iRex's untimely death.

[whitearrow]

Originally Posted by mattbiernat

what if the OP wants to have his 6GB music collection on it???? kindle doesn't have to be used only for reading....

I would say that a tiny, light, relatively inexpensive mp3 player like an ipod nano is infinitely more suited for this purpose than a Kindle.

[Bismar]

Just putting it out there, but i seriously doubt soldering on bigger chips will work.

One of the more important things i've been learning at uni, is the need to properly assign memory space in a program's ROM. By changing to a bigger/smaller chip, these additional memory space will either never be addressed, or may cause conflicts within the system as other I/O devices may be already mapped to the same location.

But i may be wrong, so others with microprocessor experiences do chime in!

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by ricsmania

Well, in my opinion, 4 GB is ridiculous considering memory prices these days, and even more absurd is the fact that the Kindle doesn't have a MicroSD slot. I really doubt Amazon engineers would have trouble adding a card slot without increasing the physical size, so it's probably a market decision.

I'm guessing the decision on size and not adding a card slot was about more than hardware cost. The Kindle can get very slow when you have thousands and thousands of documents indexed. Searching takes forever. Also, there were issues with the Kindle 1 dealing with the external memory and card slot. Sometimes if you moved a bunch of files from one card to another it left some duplicates which, in my case, made the Kindle very slow and unstable. I don't know if it was perpetually indexing or what at that point. It got better when I cleaned everything up. And if people are dragging and dropping using their computer, you know you'll have a lot of instances where people will accidentally copy rather than move the file. Also that Kindle had a small amount of internal storage and all wireless deliveries went to it, so it would fill up and things wouldn't get delivered. Customers didn't think to check how much memory was free internally because they thought they had plenty of space. This generated a lot of support contacts. When they took the card slot out for the Kindle 2 I figured this was likely part of the reason. They could have fixed a lot of this stuff in firmware but this was likely a quicker and cheaper solution. I doubt they've lost many customers by only having 2GB, or now 4GB.

[mattbiernat]

Originally Posted by Kevin2960

The Kindle is an eReader, use it as one, if you really want MP3 player, there are some very tiny ones you could carry...

don't like to carry extra devices, doesn't matter how tiny they are. kindle has a music player function and it should be utilized completely. i would prefer amazon to give us an app to do full blown music purchasing from their store via kindle.