Questions for Kindle users

[ncmabten]

Hello!

I have had a Kindle for a few months now and am anticipating the arrival of my next one soon. I have only purchased e-books from Amazon at this point. I was wondering how other users of the Kindle and Calibre handle their files. I was hoping to ask a few questions and would greatly appreciate any insight.

My main goal is to correct/enhance some shoddy e-books (Correct inaccurate title/author info, fix formatting errors, maybe even correct typos). From what I have gleaned this is possible with Calibre's editing features. Am I correct? Does anyone else use Calibre for this purpose?

If I understand correctly, Calibre does not read/write in the .azw format. In this case, does anyone buy from Amazon, then add them to your Calibre library, then return them to the Kindle in another format? Would you recommend this? Are their any disadvantages to doing so?

Thanks in advance for any information

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by ncmabten

Hello!

I have had a Kindle for a few months now and am anticipating the arrival of my next one soon. I have only purchased e-books from Amazon at this point. I was wondering how other users of the Kindle and Calibre handle their files. I was hoping to ask a few questions and would greatly appreciate any insight.

My main goal is to correct/enhance some shoddy e-books (Correct inaccurate title/author info, fix formatting errors, maybe even correct typos). From what I have gleaned this is possible with Calibre's editing features. Am I correct? Does anyone else use Calibre for this purpose?

If I understand correctly, Calibre does not read/write in the .azw format. In this case, does anyone buy from Amazon, then add them to your Calibre library, then return them to the Kindle in another format? Would you recommend this? Are their any disadvantages to doing so?

Thanks in advance for any information

first off, calibre handles non-drmed azw files (i convert them to mobi, which the kindle reads just fine). there are ways to un-drm an azw file and most all of the free selections from amazon are not drmed.

the method i use to re-format is convert the file with calibre to either rtf or txt, then load it into open office writer. the kindle doesn't pay any attention to tabs so i remove them and any extra (paragraph mark with nothing else) 'enter' characters between paragraphs as well. then i highlight the entire file contents then select the 'format' menu then choose the 'paragraph' setting. i set the 'first line' indent to 0.20 and the 'below paragraph' spacing to 0.10. i do some other stuff for my aesthetic pleasure and then save the file in odt format and import it into caliber and convert it to mobi.

hope this helps
--
Alan

[ncmabten]

Ah ok, thanks for the info. I knew they had DRM (and knew this when I opted for the Kindle), I guess I should have figured they'd be locked down pretty tight.

I assume even the less ambitious of my intentions with the books, such as simply correcting Author and Title info (discrepancies in the way a series is titled when published by multiple sources for example) are not even possible then?

[carld]

I believe Calibre will let you edit the metadata for DRM files. Someone with more Calibre experience can say for sure.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by ncmabten

Ah ok, thanks for the info. I knew they had DRM (and knew this when I opted for the Kindle), I guess I should have figured they'd be locked down pretty tight.

I assume even the less ambitious of my intentions with the books, such as simply correcting Author and Title info (discrepancies in the way a series is titled when published by multiple sources for example) are not even possible then?

sure you can, that's in the metadata which calibre can edit.
--
Alan

[ncmabten]

Aha, and would changing the meta-data in Calibre allow it display to my liking on the Kindle? Would this include the cover?

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by ncmabten

Aha, and would changing the meta-data in Calibre allow it display to my liking on the Kindle? Would this include the cover?

good question, since i don't have any azw files (i convert them all to mobi) on my kindle, i don't know. i suspect you'll find out easily enough though.
--
Alan

[ncmabten]

Ah ok, thanks very much for your help I don't know why but pulling the trigger on this makes me nervous! lol

[carld]

Decided to test this. I sent two Amazon books to my Kindle, moved them from my Kindle to my Desktop, added them to Calibre, changed Title and Author and sent them back to my Kindle. In both cases the Metadata changes were preserved. As far as I know both files had DRM, one was a non-self-published freebie and one was a book I purchase just a couple days ago.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by carld

Decided to test this. I sent two Amazon books to my Kindle, moved them from my Kindle to my Desktop, added them to Calibre, changed Title and Author and sent them back to my Kindle. In both cases the Metadata changes were preserved. As far as I know both files had DRM, one was a non-self-published freebie and one was a book I purchase just a couple days ago.

the op also asked about a cover change, i don't think that'll work as in my experience a cover change requires a convert to work in the device. did you try a different cover?
--
Alan

[carld]

Originally Posted by alansplace

the op also asked about a cover change, i don't think that'll work as in my experience a cover change requires a convert to work in the device. did you try a different cover?
--
Alan

No, I missed that. Let me check.

The first book didn't have a real cover for some reason, but the generic Calibre cover copied over and displays fine.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by ncmabten

Ah ok, thanks very much for your help I don't know why but pulling the trigger on this makes me nervous! lol

i hate to appear dense, but 'pulling the trigger on' what?

you're welcome.
--
Alan

[ncmabten]

Thanks very much both of you!!

Just meant pulling the trigger on Calibre-izing my library. No particular reason, and yes I realize that is very neurotic lol

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by ncmabten

Thanks very much both of you!!

Just meant pulling the trigger on Calibre-izing my library. No particular reason, and yes I realize that is very neurotic lol

copy your current kindle contents to your computer. then if you 'Calibre-ize' and aren't happy with it you can simply copy the stuff from your computer back to your kindle and you're back where you started.
--
Alan

[ncmabten]

OK, last question I swear

It is not possible to correct formatting issues or typos without removing/violating the DRM then, correct?