Using kindle dictionary in Kobo?

[itisbomb]

I'm planning to buy an Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary ebook as a reference. Unfortunately, it is only available in kindle format, which is natively incompatible with my next ereader - Kobo.

By the way, I don't intend to use it as an ereader's default dictionary. But if it can be set as such, it will be great.

So I was wondering if I install Koreader, could I still look up directly at the dictionary and use its search function? Does converting it to epub format work just fine? If I can convert it to epub, can I set it as a default dictionary?

Any suggestion is highly appreciated.

[PeterT]

Conversions via calibre of books like the Bible and dictionaries often don't work because of the amount of memory needed for the conversion.

Your milage might vary.

[eschwartz]

That can of course be fixed by using the 64-bit version of calibre and using a machine with 4-8 GB of RAM.

[Dryhte]

Originally Posted by itisbomb

I'm planning to buy an Oxford Advanced Learner's English Dictionary ebook as a reference. Unfortunately, it is only available in kindle format, which is natively incompatible with my next ereader - Kobo.

By the way, I don't intend to use it as an ereader's default dictionary. But if it can be set as such, it will be great.

So I was wondering if I install Koreader, could I still look up directly at the dictionary and use its search function? Does converting it to epub format work just fine? If I can convert it to epub, can I set it as a default dictionary?

Any suggestion is highly appreciated.

If by 'kindle format' you mean mobi, Kobo does actually support this format. (maybe not if there's drm involved, but there are ways around that). However, I'm not sure how well it is supported (don't have any .mobi books loaded at the moment)

I think it's worth trying, you can always arrange a conversion to epub to happen if there's a problem. Probably enough of us willing to do the conversion for you

[itisbomb]

Thanks for all the advices and answers. The next few questions might sound silly, but I never buy an e-dictionary so I don't know what to expect (i.e. I don't know whether it looks or behave like normal ebooks.)

Can I read the dictionary (in original kindle format) with koreader like other ordinary ebooks? Can I type and search any word entry while opening the dictionary with koreader?

[Doitsu]

Originally Posted by itisbomb

So I was wondering if I install Koreader, could I still look up directly at the dictionary and use its search function?

KOReader only supports StarDict dictionaries and can't open .mobi dictionaries. You can theoretically also create native Kobo dictionaries, but this is not for the faint of heart. See this thread for more information.

Originally Posted by itisbomb

Does converting it to epub format work just fine?

You could theoretically convert it to an ePub book, but you could no longer use it as a dictionary, because it would behave like any other ePub book. This also means that you couldn't set it up as the default dictionary.

Originally Posted by PeterT

Conversions via calibre of books like the Bible and dictionaries often don't work because of the amount of memory needed for the conversion.

I've also encountered problems with the conversion of large mobi books and usually use KindleUnpack, which will unpack even the largest .mobi file in less than a minute. (Afterwards I create a new ePub with Sigil using the unpacked .html file.)

Originally Posted by itisbomb

Can I read the dictionary (in original kindle format) with koreader like other ordinary ebooks?

No. KOReader uses the Cool Reader engine, which can't handle dictionary .mobi files. You'd have to convert it to an .ePub book, which you can search like any other .ePub book.

P.S. If your native language happens to be French, Italian, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Russian, Chinese or Japanese and language learning is important to you, you may want to consider the current Kindle models (PW2, Voyage and Basic Kindle), because registered users of these devices can download bilingual and monolingual dictionaries for the above languages for free.

You'll also get the Merriam Webster's Advanced Learner's English Dictionary for free. IMHO, it's not as good as the OALDE, but better than nothing.

Unfortunately, you can only install KOReader on older PW2 models that haven't been updated to the latest firmware.

[itisbomb]

Originally Posted by Doitsu

No. KOReader uses the Cool Reader engine, which can't handle dictionary .mobi files. You'd have to convert it to an .ePub book, which you can search like any other .ePub book.

Thank a million. Your reply gave me an exact answer I was after. Really appreciate your help.