How do you choose what to put on your Kindle?

Hi. I currently have a Sony PRS-T2 with a 16GB microSD card, but I'll be buying a Kindle Paperwhite and re-gifting the Sony in a month or so. My only issue is that I'm used to carrying my entire library with me on the Sony - and it's much more than the 1,100 books the Kindle claims to be able to store.

So I ask those of you who are fond of carrying your entire library with you, or who have a library larger than what the Kindle Paperwhite can carry at one time, how you manage your library. I can't imagine trying to decide what I want to read next before I've finished my current book, and it would be a real PITA to go back to the computer again and again. (Really it defeats the purpose of a reader, for me.)

But I really want that Paperwhite!

[SquiddOhio]

Before the e-reader, how did you choose which books to bring with you on vacation?
I have thousands of books in Calibre, and keep about 100 on my Kindle, as browsing on the Kindle is cumbersome.
Every month or two, re-arrange things and move some new items to the kindle.

[Yolina]

I totally understand because I like to have all my books on my Kindle too Luckily, I still have room on the PW for now but the plan when I run out is to keep my to read pile on there as well as my favourites - any books that were just an ok read will have to live in the computer only. And if you don't use it already, have a look at Calibre which makes library management a breeze.

Annoyingly the PW only has half the memory of the K3 and I am really hoping that when the time comes for me to get a new reader, Amazon will by then either have put in a much larger on-board memory or the holy grail: a card slot. If they don't then I'll probably have a good look around at what else is available then.

[KimberlyFDR]

Originally Posted by SquiddOhio

Every month or two, re-arrange things and move some new items to the kindle.

I've started doing this (kinda). When I first got my Kindle 4, I put EVERYTHING on there from Calibre and my many Amazon free books. Multiple collections, many books to read, it was a lot. Now, I do cycles.

Each time I connect the Kindle to the computer to charge it up (so, every 2-3 weeks) I'll add the new books from Calibre or delete the ones from Calibre that I had marked as "never read again" on my Kindle. With the Amazon books, since they're stored in the cloud, you can pull them down anytime you have wi-fi so no need to store them all locally. I can read down quickly so the total number on the Kindle isn't too overwhelming and I know there will always be a new batch to read in the near future.

I'm wondering if I'll ever zero out and have read everything in my collections....at this rate I'm doubting it

[Joy736]

I just put the books that I plan to read first on the Kindle. And I delete the books as soon as I have finished them. I use Calibre to manage my library. At this moment I have 25 books on my Kindle.

[Yolina]

Originally Posted by KimberlyFDR

IWith the Amazon books, since they're stored in the cloud, you can pull them down anytime you have wi-fi so no need to store them all locally.

There is no way I would rely exclusively on the Amazon cloud for book storage.

[hunnymonster]

Originally Posted by SquiddOhio

Before the e-reader, how did you choose which books to bring with you on vacation?
I have thousands of books in Calibre, and keep about 100 on my Kindle, as browsing on the Kindle is cumbersome.
Every month or two, re-arrange things and move some new items to the kindle.

That, but 20ish rather than 100. With the books I plan to read now and next...

[piperclassique]

The TBR pile is on the kindle, plus a few I might want to re-read and some reference books. About 200 or so, nicely organised in nested collections using collections manager (the hacked one...) and calibre. All tucked away behind a firewall. Sweet. Thank you, dev team.

[dsmid]

Originally Posted by Yolina

There is no way I would rely exclusively on the Amazon cloud for book storage.

I agree, but you can have all your books in the PC and in the cloud as well.
Then it's both safe and convenient.

[KimberlyFDR]

Originally Posted by Yolina

There is no way I would rely exclusively on the Amazon cloud for book storage.

As I was mentioning, since Amazon books are stored in the cloud they don't have to be stored locally (as in, on the Kindle)...thus cutting down on the space necessary for those books. Whether we choose to store them somewhere else as well, that's individual preference.

[Katsunami]

With music, I want my entire library with me, because I never know what I want to listen to next. Therefore, I have an iPod 160GB.

However, with the Kindle....

Originally Posted by Joy736

I just put the books that I plan to read first on the Kindle. And I delete the books as soon as I have finished them. I use Calibre to manage my library. At this moment I have 25 books on my Kindle.

Same as this poster. I don't switch books like I would with MP3's. Therefore I don't need all of them with me. How I select is simple:

- Find a book to read, and put it onto the Kindle.
- If it is one of a series: put all subsequent books onto the Kindle too.
- Put some books on there that are not part of a series.

Most of the time, my Kindle holds around 10-15 books to be read or so. As I read a lot of Fantasy, I've often got 1-3 trilogies (or quartets or quintets, you get the drift) on there, and 1-5 separate books.

I only change those books when I've read all of them.

[Ganfas]

Exactly the same here. I only have about 20 books on my Kindle

[kacir]

Originally Posted by Tsu

... and it's much more than the 1,100 books the Kindle claims to be able to store.

You would kill the Paperwhite if you loaded thousand books at once. It would attempt to index all the files and drain the battery many times over.
Plus, without a hierarchical folder system you would have great difficulty navigating your library.
I know, Kindle has Collections system, but try to organize 1000 books into collections using Kindle interface ;-)

You can overcome most of these difficulties by installing a few third-party programs, such as Coolreader by Crazy Coder or Duokan.

Originally Posted by Tsu

... how you manage your library. I can't imagine trying to decide what I want to read next before I've finished my current book, and it would be a real PITA to go back to the computer again and again. (Really it defeats the purpose of a reader, for me.)

When I was complaining about the same thing Kindle zealots jumped on me that a dozen or so books in reader must be enough for everyone.

I have installed Coolreaqder, so I have folder support and I prevent Kindle from indexing the files and now I can have lots of files on the device. Not the entire library, but quite a few books to choose from.

Plus, with a Coolreader (and son with other applications, such as Kindlepdfviewer, Liberator) I have much better configuration options.

[AnemicOak]

I have my Calibre library in DropBox so I can login through the Kindle's browser and grab a book if it's not already on device.


Usually I add a few books 1-25 at a time as they're acquired along with some favorite re-reads and just kind of let things accumulate from there.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by KimberlyFDR

As I was mentioning, since Amazon books are stored in the cloud they don't have to be stored locally (as in, on the Kindle)...thus cutting down on the space necessary for those books. Whether we choose to store them somewhere else as well, that's individual preference.

This is what I do. I put books I plan to read in the next month on the Cloud. I have multiple backups. Dropbox, External drives and discs. I try to keep the amount of books on my Kindles down but by the end's out I'll have close to 200.