Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirtel
- converting to KFX requires installing not only calibre, but also the KFX Output plugin and the Kindle Previewer software from Amazon, and that may be far more trouble than the OP is prepared to go to to just read their books
|
Too painful if running Linux, though I do have a Win10 laptop and XP, 7 & 10 VMs on Linux I hardly use. Abandoned MS in November 2016.
…
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sirtel
Considering all of the above, I really wouldn't say that a Kindle is a good option for sideloading these days, unless you want to use Send to Kindle.
|
The Kindle (before 2024 models) was best if buying ebooks from Amazon, otherwise pointless. It was very good for that. Now the 2024 models don't have Download & Transfer option, which means you need to rely on the Amazon account forever.
STK (Send To Kindle) is less flexible than a Calibre Conversion, limited in size, no privacy (gives Amazon a copy) and might not work. It's a less good sideloading option than USB. Technically sideloading is ANY content by any method, not bought from the "Mothership". So in one sense buying an ebook (pre-2024 model Kindle), downloading and transfer by USB isn't sideloading, but buying a Kindle Format ebook from Smashwords and transfer, even by WiFi, is sideloading.
Amazon want you to sign up to subscriptions. KU, Prime, Audible. They need the WiFi to be always on to track usage because of their (IMO broken) model to pay Authors/Publishers for content consumed per page (which unlike other Libraries, they get for free).
So Kindle can be be the best for some people, but increasingly a walled garden (rot set in with how PDFs are managed on Scribe as KFX via Amazon).
My Paperwhite 3 was a good idea, and we will keep the 4 kindles registered, but unless Amazon changes, I'll never ever buy another Kindle eReader, though I'll buy ebooks there as long as Download and Transfer works. After that only something totally exclusive I really need (can't imagine it).