Wish Calibre could download ebook library

[FreunLaven]

I wish Calibre could some how download my entire Kindle library from amazon.

I know it can't do it already. I just oh so wish it could because the alternative is to manually download 17,000 ebooks.

It'd have to use some sort of screen script for Kindle for PC or the device ID code for a kindle reader, and the books would be locked to that device, but that would be fine with me.

Or maybe a screen script for the 'Manage my Kindle' amazon page?

If not Calibre add-on, does anybody have any ideas?

[cybmole]

you could ask amazon how to quickly download all books to a fresh install of kindle for PC. if they can solve that step for you. it iis just a couple of clicks to trigger the process of copying them from my documents into calibre library.

i just looked at my modest Kindle library in K for PC but here is no obvious way to select more than one book for download. SHIFT + select, CTRL+A do not seem to work

possibly you can talk Amazon tech/customer support into pushing all 17000 to your PC, as a one-off or maybe you can do it via the manage my content and devices web pages

I would strongly recommend leaving calibre out of any discussion with amazon, just focus on getting all of your library downloaded to a Kindle for PC, because the rest is v easy.

[FreunLaven]

People have been asking for things like that for a long time. Amazon isn't interested because they WANT you to keep all the books in their 'cloud'.

There is no way to do it. Not from Amazon's management page, from any of the apps, from the kindle fire, the paperwhite, the kindle touch, or the Kindle for PC.

They just don't want you to have a backup copy of your books, or have the ability to have good descriptions, to organize your books, etc. None of their devices or software can even reasonably handle all the books I've accumulated.

I've got so many I can't even remember what 10% of them are about, and it's very tedious to use the kindle to look at a description of them one at a time.

Calibre is the only thing on the web for dealing with ebooks. Downloading them (with DRM, of course! I'm not trying to get anybody elses books) in bulk is outside of Calibre's mission statement, but it sure would be handy for lots of people.

If somebody could even come up with a GUI automation script to slowly download them into KPC (although that can't download all types of ebooks), that would be nice.

Or a javascript web page plug in to trigger downloading from the amazon web page. (Some years ago, somebody wrote a script to delete more than one ebook at a time from the library. That's no longer needed with the new MYK webpage, but it does show things can be done.)

I just don't know where else to ask. And I don't really want to have to download them all manually. I could, but I'd rather not spend the time.

[cybmole]

you are right in that there's a history of similar requests on amazon forums and no solution.
but I'd still try a call to amazon CS , say you have a new PC and ask them to push all 17,000 books to it for you.

failing that, an ad on craigslist for someone to sit & do 17K double clicks for you ???

It's probably not that bad, actually, I assume that many of the 17k are freebies, so as you "can't remember what 10% are about" even, just forget they ever existed. If ever you mistakenly try to buy one that you already own, amazon should pop up " you purchased that on.... " so you'll know to check your cloud.
why clog calibre with thousands of books you have no desire to re-read ?

Final idea, you may be able to get a printed list, at list, via goodreads. when you link goodreads to your amazon account , I think goodreads can/ will pull in all the amazon titles you ever bought, and invite you to rate them.
You don't actually want to rate them, but once goodreads has the list, maybe it can do something helpful with it , like sort it in various ways at least ?

[HarryT]

The answer is of course, to download your books as you buy them - don't let it reach the stage of having so many to download at once. (Sorry - I know that's no help at all to the OP, but it's good advice nonetheless.)

[cybmole]

it's an amazing gap in the market.

let's imagine that I've been a loyal amazon customer for years and have ~1000 books on my kindle, and only on my kindle, as I am so loyal that I trust amazon totally & have never copied them into calibre or into K for PC.

then my kindle goes belly up... so - loyal customer that I am - I buy a new kindle, and discover that although I still have my 1000 books in the cloud, there are none on my new device; and amazon's best and only solution is that i have to re-download them one at a time !

[HarryT]

I don't see it as a problem as you do, cybmole. Books aren't like music, where you might listen to dozens of tracks in a day; even an avid reader is probably only going to read a couple of books in a week; it's no big deal to download from the cloud whatever you decide to read.

[cybmole]

it is not problem for me personally , I'm a keep ~6 books at a time on the kindle person, but we do see folks on here who are passionate about keeping their entire collections on their readers;

& then there's all the folks who've never heard of calibre or of mobile read - all they have is a shiny new kindle, and several years of past purchases , and thus want a download-all function. Even Kobo offer that !

So I am just suprised that amazon do not see it as a weak point in their customer service and that no 3rd party has ever come up with a work-around. ( not one that I + google can find anyway )

[theducks]

Cyb
Amazon wants you to connect.
That way they get to mine lucrative useage informatation.

I just don't get the current 'Let someone else mind my purchases', but with NO guarentees it will be ther (and still usable) in n years.

Does Ford keep my F350 until I need it (I drive a Nassan most times)?
Even the bank pays me (a pittance ) to keep my money.

I keep my media (and the needed devices. Last week: I (re)watched Mad Max on a Laser Disc that was so old, I had to patch the Anolog out as it had no Digital track)
LP's/45's from the 60's, Including CD4 (discrete) Quad
Open Real Tape, including some Quad (4 chan)

Old stuff that I store with care

[FreunLaven]

I admit that redownloading all my books is not a critical issue. Just an annoyance that I figured somebody else would share and hopefully have a solution.

Surely it's just a matter of the correct URL command. something like amazon.com/download/userid/bookid/deviceid or something. I haven't tried figuring things out from the amazon download page source.

Many of the books are free. Probably half are junk. But there are many that I do want to keep and may want to read (again or for the first time) in a few years. And just because a book is free doesn't mean its junk, either. Especially when authors do a 'free' promotion or make the first book of a series free.

This is actually my *second* kindle account. My first one started right before the kindle touch was released. I went wild buying, both free and paid books.

Then I discovered my kindle touch had a limit of about 5000 books and I had more than that. (Actually I think it was less than that and an update raised it to 5k) So I started deleting books that were junk and had been free. Had to do it several times. Then I discovered I had accidently deleted several paid books. Uh oh. Had to buy them again when I wanted to re-read them. Kick yourself time when you realize you've deleted a couple $10 books.

About two years ago, I started a second amazon account just for the cheap & free books, and keep the important things and purchased ones on my main account. Things went fairly well. Except for the inconvenience of having two ebook accounts and books I'm wanting to read always being on the other account. But that's the way things went.

Then I discovered I had more books than what my paperwhite could handle. More than 15,000. No problem, I'll buy a fire tablet, and I'll be able to use the 'family' account to join both accounts and have them available to read on one device.

Uh oh, that can't handle that many books either without crashing!

Trying to go through 17k worth of books to see what is worth keeping is difficult on a device that can't show all of them, or keeps crashing.

And I'd still like to have them all under caliber where I could organize them. (I've already done that with my first kindle account.)

Kindle for PC can't handle many books. Photo tours of other countries, titles with non-English in the title, etc. Neither can the kindle touch.

And I was briefly using the paperwhite to receive books as I bought them. Until I discovered the new two part book format that amazon is doing. But I don't have a complete collection anyway, because I didn't think things were going to be a problem later when I decided to actually start organizing things. (I also got lax on that for a variety of personal reasons which I wont go into.) I got lax. It happened.

And I'm an old fogie. I like to keep things that I buy. I like to have a copy of things I've bought. Downloaded software, music, movies, etc. I do that with many other things, and actually do backups of backups. I just didn't think it'd be a problem with ebooks. I got lax with them because I didn't think it'd be a problem. Shrug.

And even if I did download everything, I don't have a single device that I can do it on. KPC & KT can't see many items. The paperwhite can, but I'm stuck with two part books and only 15k. The fire crashes.

(Oh, and the paperwhite can't handle more than 990 in a collection, either. I learned that after I spent a week working with the fire and its crashes to create a list of books that did seem interesting.) (And the more items in a collection, the slower the PW and Fire get, anyway.)

Sigh.

Apparently I'm just screwed no matter what.

Oh, one other thing! Do you remember the Amazon Media Library web page? Where you could put tags on various items (books, movies, mp3, etc.) and do a bit of sorting? Before Amazon replaced "Manage my Kindle" with their new management page, you could go there and sort things out and anything you put into the 'trash' folder would be hidden from the MYK site. Making it easier to go through and delete books. (You couldn't delete books from the AML page.) Well, that doesn't work with the new manage my kindle page.

Alright, thanks for trying folks. I do appreciate it.

Looks like no good solution other than download what I can onto KPC, and then what can't be downloaded, try to do it on my PW2, I guess.

Looks like I'm going to have fun for a few weekends.

Again, thanks for trying to help.

[cybmole]

i agree with all the " amazon wants you to use the cloud" conclusions.

I am surprised this issue has not cropped up in the various " which one shoull I buy " discussions, cos if you play by amazon's DRM rules, the only way to load purchased books to any kindle device is from their cloud, with the DRM lock for that specific device intact, and thus only one book at a time.
Ought to be a showstopper for the i need all my books on my new device at all times crowd, unless they did the smart thing over time & built a DRM free calibre set whcih can be bulk sideloaded

I sympathize & share the view on the uselessness of amazons manage my content pages. I have 20+ screens worth of mostly junk free app of the day apps, and there's no way to search or sort by genre, so hunting for some mid-alphabet paid-for one takes ages. There is an option to archive apps so that they don't show up a a devices' cloud list, but I don't know if kindle books have that archive tag feature

[dickloraine]

Maybe use autohotkey to write a script that does the clicking for you. You could then let it run overnights.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cybmole

I am surprised this issue has not cropped up in the various " which one shoull I buy " discussions, cos if you play by amazon's DRM rules, the only way to load purchased books to any kindle device is from their cloud, with the DRM lock for that specific device intact, and thus only one book at a time.
Ought to be a showstopper for the i need all my books on my new device at all times crowd, unless they did the smart thing over time & built a DRM free calibre set whcih can be bulk sideloaded

I suspect that the reason it doesn't crop up is that most of the "I need all my books on one device" brigade probably already have them stored locally. It would seem rather curious _not_ to have local copies if this matters to you.

[Fbone]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The answer is of course, to download your books as you buy them - don't let it reach the stage of having so many to download at once. (Sorry - I know that's no help at all to the OP, but it's good advice nonetheless.)

This is sound advice. And I'll add this comment: Confirm that the DRM has been removed, if necessary.