Managing Amazon Purchases and Calibre Library

[hrynkiw]

Until recently, my e-library has consisted almost entirely of epub books from free sources. Last week a Kindle 3 came into my life .

I've had no problems converting and downloading my books to the Kindle. But I do have a question about synchronizing my Amazon book purchases, which are downloaded to my Kindle via Whispernet, bypassing my Calibre library, with my Calibre library.

Do I need to come up with a process to copy my Amazon purchases from my Kindle to Calibre? Is it a manual process, or can it be automated?

[cybmole]

are you buying so many books that you need an automated process ???

manually:

install the de drm plugin for calibre - can't be explained here but you'll find hints on here for what to google.

connect kindle to our PC on USB,

open kindle device as a drive on PC, navigate to documents folder. your bought books will unfortunately have gibberish names but drag & drop them into calibre main window & than calibre will de-drm and add them to library. it willl I think get title, author etc from within the book so you'll have sensible entries within calibre

if you miss out the DeDRm stage, calibre can still store backup copies but cannot edit them / cannot display them in viewer & I'm not sure how/if it gets hold of correct titles etc

[robbw]

If we already have a number of unprocessed books in Calibre, can we copy them all to our Kindle, empty the Calibre library, and then drag them back over from the documents folder to process them?

For the OP, can't you just connect your Kindle to Calibre, sort by date and import the new books you purchased over Whispernet?

[hrynkiw]

Originally Posted by cybmole

are you buying so many books that you need an automated process ???

Heck no. But I have automated sync processes for my iPhone, my iPod, my camera, and my collection of USB flash drives. I'd like to take advantage of any similar sync process from Calibre. I just haven't been able to find any mention of such in the documentation.

Thanks for your tips.

[hrynkiw]

Originally Posted by robbw

If we already have a number of unprocessed books in Calibre, can we copy them all to our Kindle, empty the Calibre library, and then drag them back over from the documents folder to process them?

You don't need to transfer them to your Kindle to trigger the conversion process.

Use the Convert Books button in the top menu bar. If you select all your books and then choose the Convert Books button, you can do a bulk conversion. If you have many books that need conversion, start it up and let it run overnight.
http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual...onvert-e-books

Be sure to select MOBI as your output format (top right corner), and Kindle as your output device. (Uhhhh, under "Look and Feel" I think.)
http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual...hlight=convert

If you want to discard the original format files after conversion is finished, I believe there's a Format selector in the Tag Browser on the left. You can use it to select the non-MOBI files and delete them in one fell swoop.
http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual...ml#tag-browser

[robbw]

Thanks, hrynkiw, that explanation was helpful--and will save me considerable time.

I have a question about the first link: it sounds like using the Convert Books button, even with the appropriate add-ons, will not remove drm. Is that right, that the books would have to somehow be reimported to do that? Maybe I'm mis-reading, but it seems to be saying that convert is more about changing ebook format only after drm is removed. Or is it as easy as running Convert Books with the correct add-on?

Many thanks.

[hrynkiw]

Originally Posted by robbw

Thanks, hrynkiw, that explanation was helpful--and will save me considerable time.

I have a question about the first link: it sounds like using the Convert Books button, even with the appropriate add-ons, will not remove drm. Is that right, that the books would have to somehow be reimported to do that? Maybe I'm mis-reading, but it seems to be saying that convert is more about changing ebook format only after drm is removed. Or is it as easy as running Convert Books with the correct add-on?

Many thanks.

Y'know, I have to admit that I've not needed to remove DRM on a book yet, so I'm not the one to ask.

But yes, convert alone will not remove DRM. Yes, it's mostly about converting books from one ebook format to another.

I've seen mention in other threads that actively discussing the process of removing DRM is discouraged on these fora, however they almost always follow that warning with "the thing to do is to find and read 'Apprentice Alf's Blog'".

Good luck.

[robbw]

OK, thanks, that lets me know what I need to know. Your take is similar to mine: it's either the hard way or not at all. I respect that this not actively discussed and won't pursue any further.

I had a hard time deciding between the Sony 650 and the K3. Local stores had the 350 and the 950 but not the 650, so I couldn't handle it and read from it. I don't know if it's going out of production, getting upgraded, or just more in demand than the supply can meet--but there we no 650s anywhere locally. In the end, I choose the K3--in part because I couldn't directly handle the 650 (like I had the K3), and in part because I have a large Amazon library. So in the end, I don't need the advanced features of Calibre, but just wanted a sense of how they functioned.

Many thanks for the conversation!

[Piper_]

Originally Posted by hrynkiw

Until recently, my e-library has consisted almost entirely of epub books from free sources. Last week a Kindle 3 came into my life .

I've had no problems converting and downloading my books to the Kindle. But I do have a question about synchronizing my Amazon book purchases, which are downloaded to my Kindle via Whispernet, bypassing my Calibre library, with my Calibre library.

Do I need to come up with a process to copy my Amazon purchases from my Kindle to Calibre? Is it a manual process, or can it be automated?

Would this post help? It gives the simple steps to getting the books from your Kindle into calibre. It's manual compared to the sort of "synchronizing" you're thinking of, but it's also fast and uses calibre's quick way to find them.

Anyway, fwiw:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...31#post1459631

[hrynkiw]

Yup, that does it about perfectly. Thank-you.

(And now I feel like a bit of a goob. I'm pretty sure I read that thread back when it was new but couldn't lay my hands on it when I searched for it. Thanks.)