Just got a PW3 - quick question regarding collections

[dnullify]

Hey all

I've been using a sony PRS t1 for years now (since my old prs505 died), but finally got fed up with it getting hung seemingly every time i wanted to use it. I saw the black friday sale on the paperwhite, and grabbed it. It arrived today and i opened it and connected it to calibre and let calibre do its thing with syncing my library...

Only after that did i remember why i didn't buy a kindle years ago - i can't sort through my now 7 years of accumulated books into collections.

From some googling and searching this site, it seems that Collections Manager kinda works but would involve jailbreaking. While I'm not opposed to jailbreaking since i almost never buy books from amazon - its my understanding that I'd have to start the whole process over should the kindle update itself.

Is there any newer workaround with the PW3 that i'm not yet aware of?
The two hours of navigating my collection on the pw3 have been so aggravating I'd probably return it over this, and buying a T3 from japan (provided it's more stable than my t1)

[eschwartz]

(Thread title changed: "Kindle 3" --> "PW3" )


You shouldn't have to redo anything if it updates.
Jailbreaking over the serial port is not exactly the easiest thing ever, but it's definitely doable.
Once you're jailbroken, it *should* persist through an OTA update. It is pretty resilient by now -- it has to be.

[dnullify]

Okay, thanks for responding

I'll look up what that is - i'm reading through the wiki now.

Correct me if i'm misunderstanding: It looks like I'd first have to regress the firmware to 5.4.x first in order to do "the easy way" jailbreak on the wiki. Then install the Mobleread kindlet set. Then set up the collections manager with calibre.
After which if i wanted to update the firmware - the jailbreak may survive?

Does the plain old kindle (today $49) have collections supportable through calibre?

[eschwartz]

The Kindle Collections plugin for calibre will export collections to the Kindle as a JSON dump, and barsanuphe's LibrarianSync hack will import them into the Kindle's collections database.
It should work on pretty much any recent Kindle, I am sure it works for the PW3 as well.

And the jailbreak is expected to survive through a firmware update (but not guaranteed. Amazon might do something new one day.)



But downgrading the firmware is not possible on a PW3. The PW3 is a newer model than the PW1 or PW2 and never ran fw5.4.x
Updates are model locked, which is fortunate because you will most likely brick your Kindle if you try running a firmware that wasn't meant for it.

The only current jailbreak for the PW3 (or the Voyage, or the KT2) is the serial jailbreak described in the relevant sticky thread here.

[dnullify]

Thanks for the explanation.
I definitely don't think i'm up for a serial jailbreak, for one i don't have access to a windows computer.

I guess I'll have to decided whether i want to keep the selection of books on the kindle more compact until (if?) There's a simpler jailbreak available.

Do you happen to know if I would have this same problem if i downgrade to the plain kindle?
I can live without the frontlight.

[eschwartz]

I repeat, "The only current jailbreak for the PW3 (or the Voyage, or the KT2) is the serial jailbreak described in the relevant sticky thread here."

The current $49 "Basic" Kindle is what we call the KT2 (Kindle Touch 2) on account of Amazon calls about half their Kindles the "All-New Basic Kindle".

You will need the Kindle Touch (first ever Kindle to have a touch screen) or earlier in order to use the easy drag-and-drop jailbreak, You can probably buy it used.
Or, @madagascaradam reported that the PW1 only can still be downgraded via the forced-reboot trick: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=263411

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by dnullify

Do you happen to know if I would have this same problem if i downgrade to the plain kindle?
I can live without the frontlight.

It's the same with the current basic Kindle.


If Calibre managed collections are really important to you a Kobo may be a better choice for you.

Otherwise you could look into Calibre plugboards and see if they'd be any help in solving whatever navigation issues you're having. Not being someone who uses collections (I just search my Kobo for author, title, series, etc.) I'm not sure if they'd help you or not.

[dnullify]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I repeat, "The only current jailbreak for the PW3 (or the Voyage, or the KT2) is the serial jailbreak described in the relevant sticky thread here."

The current $49 "Basic" Kindle is what we call the KT2 (Kindle Touch 2) on account of Amazon calls about half their Kindles the "All-New Basic Kindle".

You will need the Kindle Touch (first ever Kindle to have a touch screen) or earlier in order to use the easy drag-and-drop jailbreak, You can probably buy it used.
Or, @madagascaradam reported that the PW1 only can still be downgraded via the forced-reboot trick: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=263411

Ah, i didn't realize the new firmware made serial the only way to jailbreak. I thought it was the PW3 hardware, I just assumed the natural progression regarding new hardware would be a serial jailbreak until someone figured out a new way to do it.

That is definitely the most annoying thing about the kindle product line, they seem irritatingly opposed to distinguishing between iterations of hardware - it makes buying kindles on craigslist hard if you can't identify models by grainy photos (titled kindle ___ in the title).

Thanks for all the info guys, I'll just use it for a couple days and see whether the user experience is worth it, otherwise i'll try a kobo or the PRS-T3

[dnullify]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

It's the same with the current basic Kindle.


If Calibre managed collections are really important to you a Kobo may be a better choice for you.

Otherwise you could look into Calibre plugboards and see if they'd be any help in solving whatever navigation issues you're having. Not being someone who uses collections (I just search my Kobo for author, title, series, etc.) I'm not sure if they'd help you or not.

Thanks for the info, Looking at the Kobo Glo it looks almost identical in specs to the PW. Comparatively priced too. I'll do some more reading into the kobo shelves features.
The only reason i discounted it was because there were a number of negative reviews regarding it's functionality/stability. I have to hard reset my sony every 4-5 times i turn it on, some reviews mentioned similar problems with the kobo.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by dnullify

Ah, i didn't realize the new firmware made serial the only way to jailbreak. I thought it was the PW3 hardware, I just assumed the natural progression regarding new hardware would be a serial jailbreak until someone figured out a new way to do it.

It's a bit of both.
The SoC has been hardened with the PW3, KT2, Voyage.
But the PW2 and later received a software update that closes the hole we used to jailbreak.

That is definitely the most annoying thing about the kindle product line, they seem irritatingly opposed to distinguishing between iterations of hardware - it makes buying kindles on craigslist hard if you can't identify models by grainy photos (titled kindle ___ in the title).

True enough.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by dnullify

Thanks for the info, Looking at the Kobo Glo it looks almost identical in specs to the PW. Comparatively priced too. I'll do some more reading into the kobo shelves features.
The only reason i discounted it was because there were a number of negative reviews regarding it's functionality/stability. I have to hard reset my sony every 4-5 times i turn it on, some reviews mentioned similar problems with the kobo.

Experiences vary, but it seems to be a fact that Kobos are less stable than Kindles.

Not everyone has issues, and I imagine it depends on what you do with it.


But, and I hate to say it (consider which forum we are in ), collections management is kind of worth it...

...
...

But hey, you've got a Kindle already, give it a whirl and see how well plugboards do for you. Many people swear by them. As a replacement for collections!

[susan_cassidy]

I find that naming books with series names and numbers first aids keeping track of my books quite well, and not keeping too many unread books on the Kindle. I have 217 items on it right now.

[oblox]

I came from a K4NT to a PW3 and had the same issues with collections, I knew there was no jailbreak and id not be able to do it via calibre but it was still a pain.

First and foremost id suggest a few things.

1) Use the Android/iOS Kindle app to create and manage collections, its much simpler and quicker.

2) Organise your books in Calibre convert to dual mobi and use amazons send to kindle feature which stores them in the cloud. This way you can assign books to a collection from amazons cloud via the android/ios app and they are forever in that collection until you remove them so if you need to wipe or get a new kindle the books are still organised you just need to re-add the collection to your kindle.

3) Be patient, there IS a jailbreak for current firmware PW3 it just hasnt been released yet. It was supposed to be released last month but amazon asked the guy who found it to wait so they could patch it. Stick your kindle into airplane mode on firmware 5.6.5 and wait it out.

Ive done all the above so could happily live with my kindle un jailbroken but will wait and see if the jailbreak gets released and use that.

[dordale]

If you're using collections to track books by series, do investigate Calibre's plugboard options. With them you can prepend the series information including position to the front of your books as you transfer them to your Kindle (or other reader). That works well for me with my Kindle Voyage.
On the other hand, I own a Kobo Aura HD as well--and really like it. I don't have problems with it crashing and I like the customizability. I appreciate the ability to easily use collections with Calibre, the ability to use my own fonts, and the much more granular user control over font sizes, margins, and line spacing.

[HarryT]

I too find plugboards an entirely acceptable substitute for collections.