Download App Needed - Esp. for DX

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

If you have a website or a friend with a website, you could create a hidden directory with books on it, that would not require a log-in.

You can also password protect the directory with the standard basic authentication (.htpasswd) method; the Kindle browser (at least on my K1) allows login that way. I have some of my books on a protected part of my personal website, and am able to download them to my Kindle just fine by entering the user and password I specifed for the directory.

I wouldn't personally place ebooks on a public website (hidden directory or not) without password protection, as Googlebot or other search robots will find them. A robots.txt file would help to keep well-behaved search crawlers away, but I wouldn't trust that alone to keep my books private.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

You can also password protect the directory with the standard basic authentication (.htpasswd) method; the Kindle browser (at least on my K1) allows login that way. I have some of my books on a protected part of my personal website, and am able to download them to my Kindle just fine by entering the user and password I specifed for the directory.

I wouldn't personally place ebooks on a public website (hidden directory or not) without password protection, as Googlebot or other search robots will find them. A robots.txt file would help to keep well-behaved search crawlers away, but I wouldn't trust that alone to keep my books private.

I think password protecting the directory defeats what poohbear_nc is trying to do, not have to log in to download (a la MobileRead).

If the books are Kindle books, they are still encrypted for use with specific Kindles, so wouldn't that be okay?

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I think password protecting the directory defeats what poohbear_nc is trying to do, not have to log in to download (a la MobileRead).

OK. I thought the issue was inability to login, not just desire to avoid. Apologies for my misinterpreting.

If the books are Kindle books, they are still encrypted for use with specific Kindles, so wouldn't that be okay?

Sometimes I forget that not everyone strips the DRM from their books for personal use.

Yes, it would keep others from reading them, but personally I wouldn't want even the file names to be available via search engines. Perhaps overly paranoid on my part.

Anyway, as Emily Littella would say, "never mind."

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by bwaldron

OK. I thought the issue was inability to login, not just desire to avoid. Apologies for my misinterpreting.

You may not be wrong. I was trying to make the download process seamless like the MR Mobi Guide but poohbear_nc, could go the log in route via Surgarsync or another website.

Sometimes I forget that not everyone strips the DRM from their books for personal use.

Yes, it would keep others from reading them, but personally I wouldn't want even the file names to be available via search engines. Perhaps overly paranoid on my part.

I would guess to be on the safe side, stripped versions should be kept on a hard drive or some other media and not online. The encrypted versions 9even renamed) can be in the hidden directory. They can always be re-stripped if need be.

Anyway, as Emily Littella would say, "never mind."

No, it's a good thing to bring up and think about.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

I think password protecting the directory defeats what poohbear_nc is trying to do, not have to log in to download (a la MobileRead).

If the books are Kindle books, they are still encrypted for use with specific Kindles, so wouldn't that be okay?

You're right - I'm trying to avoid the password route so that I can access the files directly - like MobileRead - without a login.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

With SugarSync's mobile interface you can access your Sugarsync box via the web interface on the Kindle - but the Kindle is blocking downloads - regardless of the format.

I tried this on my K1, and most of the web pages come up black on black. I was still able to select one of my sugarsync PRC files for download and, like you, I got the Amazon error message that the Kindle does not support the download of this format. If I do the same operation, using the mobile interface, under FireFox the download link is of the form

https://m.sugarsync.com/get/file/XXXXXX_XXX/Dickens_TaleTwoCitiesMR3.prc?v=true&owner=YYYYYYYY

and the download works The problem on the Kindle may be with the "?v=..." after the .prc. The Kindle isn't recognizing this as a .prc download. So I would say that this is a problem with sugarsync, not with the Kindle.

The counter example is that it is possible to download PRCs from MobileRead, for example Altsheler, Joseph A: The Guns of Bull Run. V1. 9 July 2009 downloads successfully as:

http://www.mobileread.mobi/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=31920&d=1247172345

Perhaps the problem is with https (vs htpp), or perhaps mobileread is internally presenting a URL that the Kindle recognizes as a PRC file.

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

I tried this on my K1, and most of the web pages come up black on black. I was still able to select one of my sugarsync PRC files for download and, like you, I got the Amazon error message that the Kindle does not support the download of this format. If I do the same operation, using the mobile interface, under FireFox the download link is of the form

https://m.sugarsync.com/get/file/XXXXXX_XXX/Dickens_TaleTwoCitiesMR3.prc?v=true&owner=YYYYYYYY

and the download works The problem on the Kindle may be with the "?v=..." after the .prc. The Kindle isn't recognizing this as a .prc download. So I would say that this is a problem with sugarsync, not with the Kindle.

So that the K is reading the ?v=... as the file extension, which of course doesn't match any know file format. A download hack or app would have to strip (or ignore) the text starting with the question mark before the K sees it?

The counter example is that it is possible to download PRCs from MobileRead, for example Altsheler, Joseph A: The Guns of Bull Run. V1. 9 July 2009 downloads successfully as:

http://www.mobileread.mobi/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=31920&d=1247172345

Perhaps the problem is with https (vs htpp), or perhaps mobileread is internally presenting a URL that the Kindle recognizes as a PRC file.

Daffy's previous post explains that Mobile Read guide is using download links to the books, recognized by the K.

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Daffy's previous post explains that Mobile Read guide is using download links to the books, recognized by the K.

When you make your own download guide, the links will be simpler, so you shouldn't have a problem (I haven't tried it but it should be easy to do).

http://www.mybooks.com/hiddenbookdirectory/bookfile1.prc

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Daffy's previous post explains that Mobile Read guide is using download links to the books, recognized by the K.

Daffy was discussing a "download guide", i.e. a MOBI ebook with links to PRC files available over the web. I agree that the password required by sugarsync means that this option won't work.

I was talking about using the mobile web version of mobileread and simply navigating to an ebooks web page using the Kindle browser and downloading it from there. This works for PRC files (files with the extension .prc) from mobileread but not for PRC from sugarsync. Note that I had to logon to sugarsync, but there was no addition login required to download the PRC file. So something that sugarsync is doing is preventing the Kindle web browser from recognizing such files as PRC files. It might be the case that sugarsync is requiring https (i.e. encryption) for the download and that is what causing the problem. I am not sure, because there is some hidden transaction between the web server and the web browser that ends up with a download of the PRC file. That transaction is failing for the Kindle web browser (it isn't recognizing what sugarsync is delivering as a PRC file).

[poohbear_nc]

Thanks guys for all your input - it would seem that SugarSync won't be an option b/c of the character string attached to the end of the file (starting with the ?) - an app/hack filter would have to remove the string or mask it before giving the file to the kindle browser for download, leaving the .mobi or .prc file extension.

So the next best thing seems to be Daffy's suggestion of creating a download guide for a personal library.

If Amazon persists in NOT providing folders, modifying an online storage service to sync with Kindles might become financially attractive enough for a company to offer a Kindle archive/library feature.

Would contacting SugarSync about this (since they already have the mobile app for cell phones) to see if they're interested violate any Amazon rules, do ya think?

[stampsm]

you do realize that if you download a 100 meg pdf it will cost amazon 12 dollars out of their pocket right? following down this path is a way to get the access and features of the kindle stripped from a huge number of the users. they already have in their license agreement the ability and rights to strip your web access anytime they want. costing them tens of thousands of dollars is a sure way to get this enacted. the only web access they guarantee is to Wikipedia. how would you like them to change the proxy so you can only access amazon sites or Wikipedia?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...4530&#wireless

[poohbear_nc]

Originally Posted by stampsm

you do realize that if you download a 100 meg pdf it will cost amazon 12 dollars out of their pocket right? following down this path is a way to get the access and features of the kindle stripped from a huge number of the users. they already have in their license agreement the ability and rights to strip your web access anytime they want. costing them tens of thousands of dollars is a sure way to get this enacted. the only web access they guarantee is to Wikipedia. how would you like them to change the proxy so you can only access amazon sites or Wikipedia?
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...4530&#wireless

Thank you for this information. Rest assured I would NEVER do anything to jeopardize the existing services. Just thinking out loud among friends. That's why I post here - for input/feedback.

I wasn't suggesting a "backdoor" approach - rather seeing if SugarSync would be interested in partnering with Amazon to develop an app similar to that which they have for mobile phones. Which would probably give Amazon yet another way to charge for downloads.

[glitch44]

I'm guessing Amazon would rather keep kindles whispernet-only so they can control the flow of data, but I work in film and most scripts are PDFs that get pretty large (3-4MB) because they're scanned copies.

So for me, having a way to quickly sync with sugarsync/ dropbox would be great. Whispernet, of course is the problem. It's silly and inefficient to force them back through the Amazon servers and out to T-mobile (with their rather high bandwith rates) when they're sitting on my laptop 10 feet away. That's why I hope a future kindle version has both PDF support and wifi (with a switch to save power). It could offer up so many ways to sync up great personal documents with dropbox/ sugarsync/ evernote.

This recent email from dropbox even promises a network aware version to quickly push a sync.

"Performance Improvements and LAN Sync
In addition to the iPhone app, we're also finishing up a new version of the Dropbox desktop software that features numerous performance improvements and our new "LAN sync" feature. LAN sync knows when Dropboxes are on the same network and will automatically exchange files directly between computers instead of downloading them from our servers - this makes sharing large files in an office environment much faster than was previously possible."

So close...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by glitch44

It's silly and inefficient to force them back through the Amazon servers and out to T-mobile (with their rather high bandwith rates) when they're sitting on my laptop 10 feet away.

If you have a laptop only 10 feet away, why do you not simply copy the files via USB?

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you have a laptop only 10 feet away, why do you not simply copy the files via USB?

Yes, that would indeed appear to be the simplest solution...even if conversion is needed (for, say, PDFs), I'd do that w/ Mobipocket Creator first (the results have always seemed to be identical with that provided by emailing via Amazon) and use the cable.