Syncing Kindle with a very large Instapaper unread queue

[3rdparty]

I picked up a Kindle mostly to help aleviate my huge backlog of unread Instapaper articles - well over 600 (!)

What I'm hoping to figure out is the best practice to sync new unread articles to my Kindle - and figure that I'll have to use software for the time being until Instapaper's built-in Kindle syncing improves.

Here are some syncing methods I've come across so far and in italics my experiences with them:

1) Use the built-in support within Instapaper to wireless transfer bundles of new unread articles to my Kindle email address, OR use the .mobi link provided via Instapaper.com and transfer this file via USB

This will send new articles (up to the 20 most recent) but doesn't send anything older than the most recent 20, and doesn't sync back to archive a read article once it's been read*

2) Use user created software such as Ephemera (OS X) or Wordcycler (Windows)

These tools are basically designed to do exactly what I am looking for, including articles on Instapaper once they are deleted off the Kindle - HOWEVER they don't seem to support such a large backlog of articles - which may be the Instapaper API timing out

3) Browse Instapaper.com via the built in browser (and use article mode)

This so far seems to be the most manageable but only when there is a wifi or 3G connection. Biggest downside seems to be that the Kindle browser is really sluggish when navigating the Instapaper site (likely because I have such a large queue that it has to parse)

4) Use Calibre to download or send articles

Doesn't seem to support syncing back once articles are read, and I'm not sure how it will handle such a large queue.

Thanks in advance!

[jsulak]

Thanks for mentioning Wordcycler! (I'm the developer.)

Older versions of Wordcycler did have problems with Instapaper rate-limiting downloads, but that's no longer a problem more recent versions, since Wordcycler now downloads content directly from the original article source.

There is however a hard-coded download limit of 400 articles per folder (increased from 200 in the previous version).

Wordcycler should work great if you don't mind syncing, reading a few (hundred) articles and syncing again. I would think that 400 articles would provide plenty of reading for the commute

If you have trouble getting Wordcycler 1.4 to sync more than 400 items at once, let me know.

[rapcal]

Originally Posted by jsulak

If you have trouble getting Wordcycler 1.4 to sync more than 400 items at once, let me know.

Hi, and thank you for Wordcycler! Seemed like the solution for all my Instapaper/Kindle problems, the answer to all my prayers... However, I can't get it to sync more than 20 articles if I select all-in-on bundle... Do you have any idea what the problem might be?

Thanks again and I really appreciate it if you can provide some feedback.

[madmaxmedia]

Thanks jsulak for developing Wordcycler, it is much appreciated!

Like OP, I have a large backlog of unread Instapaper articles. I think there are basically 3 main factors for reading Instapaper articles on our Kindle-

1. Synchronization- to be honest this is not such a big deal for me, but is a nice feature.
2. Easy transfer of large article counts
3. Efficient organization on the Kindle- with a large article count, the last thing I want is 200+ files on my Kindle that basically overwhelm my regular book collection (making browsing impossible.)

To me, #3 is the biggest problem. IIRC, I read in the Wordcycler FAQ that there is no easy way to have Instapaper articles automatically dumped into a collection. I guess you can put your regular books into their own collection. I think practically speaking this is actually a good solution, but I'm having a hard time accepting it conceptually- to me Instapaper articles are a subset, not my books.

I think the same problem would occur with Instapaper automatically sending articles to your Kindle? (haven't tried that yet.)

If you download articles manually from the Instapaper web site as a mobi file, the articles are just combined sequentially in 1 big mobi file/document. That is okay, the problem is that there is no TOC generated, some way to skip to a specific article.

I have found Calibre's Fetch News feature to work better here, it combines articles into 1 file, but at the beginning you get a hyperlinked list of all the articles (not an actual TOC by structure, but works the same way.)

Anyway, just wanted to add my impressions so far. Thanks!