How to get ALL of my books on KSO?

PocketGoddess · 07-24-2011, 10:51 PM

I have a ginormous library of Kindle books, many of them freebies I've picked up here and there. I'm a very new Kindle owner though (special offers w/ 3G) and I would like to find out how to get ALL of my Kindle books onto the device at once.

I don't want to go to the Manage My Kindle page and send each one separately, that would take forever and a day (I've got hundreds of titles). Is there some easy quick way to re-sync my device so that I get everything at once? I would much rather archive books as I read them rather than leaving them in the archive and then searching through my archived titles when I need something new to read.

I appreciate your help!

pidgeon92 · 07-24-2011, 10:58 PM

There is no quick way, unless you have all of the files DRMd to your device available on your computer. Even then, you would want to be careful about putting them all on at once, as it will slow down the Kindle until they are all done indexing, which could take several/dozens of hours.

PocketGoddess · 07-24-2011, 11:03 PM

Gosh, that was fast!

I don't mind waiting, it could sit overnight, maybe even for a day or two before I start suffering withdrawal. . . .

You've also brought up another question I have, at least tangentially. How do I back up my Kindle purchases? If the desktop app locks them to a particular device (which is what I assume it's doing when I have to specify which device I'm using the file with before I download) then what's the point of backing up? If I lose my KSO and the new one has a different PID, those backup files will be useless, right?

I understand now why B&N is working on a better way for folks to organize their books, that will be available online, not just on a nook device (they've already announced it as a "coming soon" sort of thing). I need to be able to set up collections on a computer, instead of laboriously going through and trying to find each book I want to add, etc.

I love my KSO, but I guess there's always room for improvement, right?

ProfCrash · 07-25-2011, 08:02 AM

You can download your books to your computer and save those files to an extranal hard drive. I save mine to my desktop every once in a while and then strip off the DRM and store them in Calibre. That way I have them and I can easily move to another device if I want to.

terencek · 07-25-2011, 09:21 AM

A word of warning: I had a similar situation and I think I might have set a new world record: it took a new Kindle THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS to finish indexing 1,800 (.mobi, non-DRM) books dumped on it all at once (because I was doing it for someone else and had no other option).

So if you do go this route, be sure to simply keep the thing plugged in while the indexing is going on or it will quickly zap your battery.

To find out when or whether indexing has been completed, type a nonsense string (e.g. dheywrsoithewrw) at the Home screen and press Enter, then wait for quite some time. If indexing is still underway the result will be a screen telling you how many books are still left to index.

pidgeon92 · 07-25-2011, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PocketGoddess

You've also brought up another question I have, at least tangentially. How do I back up my Kindle purchases? If the desktop app locks them to a particular device (which is what I assume it's doing when I have to specify which device I'm using the file with before I download) then what's the point of backing up? If I lose my KSO and the new one has a different PID, those backup files will be useless, right?

Yes, what have written is exactly right. The only way to make your Amazon purchases available to any Kindle device you own is to liberate them from their DRM.

However, if you have all of your DRMd purchases backed up, and then you need to reset your current Kindle to factory defaults (yes, bad things can happen that require this drastic measure), then you'll be able to quickly re-load all of your purchases.

I highly recommend Calibre for backing up your ebooks. You can add your books to Calibre by copying them from your Kindle, or by downloading them from Amazon.

Be sure to watch the demo video on the website.

PocketGoddess · 07-25-2011, 12:09 PM

So is that what I need to do, to de-register and then re-register the KSO?

I already had a ton of Kindle books when I bought the device earlier this month, and when I registered it didn't suck anything down, I had to manually go to the archived items and choose what to download to my device.

Does the fact that I bought my KSO at Target make any difference here, instead of ordering it direct from Amazon and having them register it to my account before I received it?

I'm not concerned about how long it takes to index, I just want *everything* on there and then I can archive as I finish each book. So many of the titles are just free short stories and such, things I would never really track or bother with adding to collections, but I do want to read them all at least once.

pidgeon92 · 07-25-2011, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PocketGoddess

So is that what I need to do, to de-register and then re-register the KSO?

I already had a ton of Kindle books when I bought the device earlier this month, and when I registered it didn't suck anything down, I had to manually go to the archived items and choose what to download to my device.

De-register/re-register will restore your collection titles if they disappear. It's not going to do anything for downloading your ebooks.

When you register a new device, it is not going to download all of your books. It will add all of your Amazon books to your devices archives. From there you do need to download them one at a time. Where you purchased your Kindle is irrelevant.

PocketGoddess · 07-25-2011, 02:34 PM

Arghhhhh!

Seems that there should be a "yes, I really want EVERYTHING on my Kindle" button on the Manage your Kindle page. . . .

Thanks for letting me know. Sounds like the best option is to install K4PC and download everything that way, then transfer them via USB. That has to be faster/easier than doing it on my KSO.

Thanks for your help!

jbcohen · 07-25-2011, 02:45 PM

I would advise against putting all of your books on the kindle at one time, I typically leave most of my books on my PC's auxillary hard drive while the Kindle has only the ones that I am currently reading. Once I finish them I remove them from the Kindle and place them on the auxillary drive. I never place them on the PC's internal drive as that is for what I referr to as systems software, software that I need to access very quickly such as the operating system, web browser and internet security suite. All of the other software and data are on the auxillary drive which is slow since it needs to be accessed through a slow USB port. The auxillary drive has all my ebooks family photos and secured information, encrypted of course and what ever other software I might chose to keep around.

abookreader · 07-25-2011, 03:06 PM

I have about 2200 books on my Kindle 3, sorted into collections.

I also un-DRM books as they go into Calibre and books are moved onto my Kindle using Calibre rather than the Amazon Archive method. Last time I set a Kindle up I dumped about 1200 books onto it all at once to see what would happen. It took it just about a full day to index them all, but otherwise no problems.

I look at it this way ... being able to carry your "full library" with you is one of the prime advantages of an eReader. If they're going to make one that holds 3500 books, then I'm going to fill it up as much as possible. If it really can't handle that many books without some sort of degradation of the experience - then they shouldn't say it does.

abookreader · 07-25-2011, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PocketGoddess

Arghhhhh!

Seems that there should be a "yes, I really want EVERYTHING on my Kindle" button on the Manage your Kindle page. . . .

Thanks for letting me know. Sounds like the best option is to install K4PC and download everything that way, then transfer them via USB. That has to be faster/easier than doing it on my KSO.

Thanks for your help!

No. You can't do that. If you download the books to Kindle4PC then they will be DRM'd for Kindle4PC. You need either an un-DRM'd copy of the books or a copy that is DRM'd specifically for you Kindle.

PocketGoddess · 07-25-2011, 04:07 PM

When I download a book from the Amazon web site, it asks me what device I'm using it on, and I can select the KSO and then download the file, perhaps because I haven't installed the K4PC app yet.

Funny how the pirates can still do whatever they want, but the paying customers have to jump through hoops. . . .

abookreader · 07-25-2011, 04:13 PM

exactly. So install Calibre .... download to your computer and drop the books into Calbre. You can then multi-select in Calibre and choose "Send to Device" and you will also then have a searchable and customizable database of all your books.

And also Google the phrase "Apprentice Alf Blog" and read about how to use Calibre to take away that pesky DRM so you will then be able to put your books on whatever devices you own, now or in the future.

chas0039 · 07-26-2011, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by terencek

A word of warning: I had a similar situation and I think I might have set a new world record: it took a new Kindle THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS to finish indexing 1,800 (.mobi, non-DRM) books dumped on it all at once (because I was doing it for someone else and had no other option).

So if you do go this route, be sure to simply keep the thing plugged in while the indexing is going on or it will quickly zap your battery.

To find out when or whether indexing has been completed, type a nonsense string (e.g. dheywrsoithewrw) at the Home screen and press Enter, then wait for quite some time. If indexing is still underway the result will be a screen telling you how many books are still left to index.

Sorry, no record. Three days is actually the amount of time Amazon says to leave it plugged in.

Interesting way to find out if it is done. I always just did a search and the last listing would tell me the titles left.

So far, with 1700 titles, the only problem I have encountered is very slow searching, which of course I do a lot now with 1700 titles. Shame that they can't allow a search function that just looks through titles rather than every word in every book.

07-24-2011, 10:51 PM	#1
PocketGoddess Connoisseur Posts: 62 Karma: 654648 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Paperwhite, KSO, Nook, iPad	How to get ALL of my books on KSO? I have a ginormous library of Kindle books, many of them freebies I've picked up here and there. I'm a very new Kindle owner though (special offers w/ 3G) and I would like to find out how to get ALL of my Kindle books onto the device at once. I don't want to go to the Manage My Kindle page and send each one separately, that would take forever and a day (I've got hundreds of titles). Is there some easy quick way to re-sync my device so that I get everything at once? I would much rather archive books as I read them rather than leaving them in the archive and then searching through my archived titles when I need something new to read. I appreciate your help!

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07-24-2011, 10:58 PM	#2
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	There is no quick way, unless you have all of the files DRMd to your device available on your computer. Even then, you would want to be careful about putting them all on at once, as it will slow down the Kindle until they are all done indexing, which could take several/dozens of hours.

07-24-2011, 11:03 PM	#3
PocketGoddess Connoisseur Posts: 62 Karma: 654648 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Paperwhite, KSO, Nook, iPad	Gosh, that was fast! I don't mind waiting, it could sit overnight, maybe even for a day or two before I start suffering withdrawal. . . . You've also brought up another question I have, at least tangentially. How do I back up my Kindle purchases? If the desktop app locks them to a particular device (which is what I assume it's doing when I have to specify which device I'm using the file with before I download) then what's the point of backing up? If I lose my KSO and the new one has a different PID, those backup files will be useless, right? I understand now why B&N is working on a better way for folks to organize their books, that will be available online, not just on a nook device (they've already announced it as a "coming soon" sort of thing). I need to be able to set up collections on a computer, instead of laboriously going through and trying to find each book I want to add, etc. I love my KSO, but I guess there's always room for improvement, right?

07-25-2011, 08:02 AM	#4
ProfCrash Tea Enthusiast Posts: 8,554 Karma: 75384937 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Somewhere in the USA Device: Kindle1, Kindle DX Graphite, K3 3G, IPad 3, PW2	You can download your books to your computer and save those files to an extranal hard drive. I save mine to my desktop every once in a while and then strip off the DRM and store them in Calibre. That way I have them and I can easily move to another device if I want to.

07-25-2011, 09:21 AM	#5
terencek Groupie Posts: 170 Karma: 1010944 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: The African bush Device: Kindle 3	A word of warning: I had a similar situation and I think I might have set a new world record: it took a new Kindle THREE DAYS AND NIGHTS to finish indexing 1,800 (.mobi, non-DRM) books dumped on it all at once (because I was doing it for someone else and had no other option). So if you do go this route, be sure to simply keep the thing plugged in while the indexing is going on or it will quickly zap your battery. To find out when or whether indexing has been completed, type a nonsense string (e.g. dheywrsoithewrw) at the Home screen and press Enter, then wait for quite some time. If indexing is still underway the result will be a screen telling you how many books are still left to index.

07-25-2011, 12:09 PM	#7
PocketGoddess Connoisseur Posts: 62 Karma: 654648 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Paperwhite, KSO, Nook, iPad	So is that what I need to do, to de-register and then re-register the KSO? I already had a ton of Kindle books when I bought the device earlier this month, and when I registered it didn't suck anything down, I had to manually go to the archived items and choose what to download to my device. Does the fact that I bought my KSO at Target make any difference here, instead of ordering it direct from Amazon and having them register it to my account before I received it? I'm not concerned about how long it takes to index, I just want everything on there and then I can archive as I finish each book. So many of the titles are just free short stories and such, things I would never really track or bother with adding to collections, but I do want to read them all at least once.

07-25-2011, 02:34 PM	#9
PocketGoddess Connoisseur Posts: 62 Karma: 654648 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Paperwhite, KSO, Nook, iPad	Arghhhhh! Seems that there should be a "yes, I really want EVERYTHING on my Kindle" button on the Manage your Kindle page. . . . Thanks for letting me know. Sounds like the best option is to install K4PC and download everything that way, then transfer them via USB. That has to be faster/easier than doing it on my KSO. Thanks for your help!

07-25-2011, 02:45 PM	#10
jbcohen Wizard Posts: 3,030 Karma: 11196738 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Where am I? Device: Kindle Paperwhite Signature edition and a Samsung S24 Ultra	I would advise against putting all of your books on the kindle at one time, I typically leave most of my books on my PC's auxillary hard drive while the Kindle has only the ones that I am currently reading. Once I finish them I remove them from the Kindle and place them on the auxillary drive. I never place them on the PC's internal drive as that is for what I referr to as systems software, software that I need to access very quickly such as the operating system, web browser and internet security suite. All of the other software and data are on the auxillary drive which is slow since it needs to be accessed through a slow USB port. The auxillary drive has all my ebooks family photos and secured information, encrypted of course and what ever other software I might chose to keep around.

07-25-2011, 03:06 PM	#11
abookreader Wizard Posts: 1,516 Karma: 2567610 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Kindles - Keyboard, Fire, 2-US, iPhone, iPAD	I have about 2200 books on my Kindle 3, sorted into collections. I also un-DRM books as they go into Calibre and books are moved onto my Kindle using Calibre rather than the Amazon Archive method. Last time I set a Kindle up I dumped about 1200 books onto it all at once to see what would happen. It took it just about a full day to index them all, but otherwise no problems. I look at it this way ... being able to carry your "full library" with you is one of the prime advantages of an eReader. If they're going to make one that holds 3500 books, then I'm going to fill it up as much as possible. If it really can't handle that many books without some sort of degradation of the experience - then they shouldn't say it does.

07-25-2011, 04:07 PM	#13
PocketGoddess Connoisseur Posts: 62 Karma: 654648 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: Paperwhite, KSO, Nook, iPad	When I download a book from the Amazon web site, it asks me what device I'm using it on, and I can select the KSO and then download the file, perhaps because I haven't installed the K4PC app yet. Funny how the pirates can still do whatever they want, but the paying customers have to jump through hoops. . . .

07-25-2011, 04:13 PM	#14
abookreader Wizard Posts: 1,516 Karma: 2567610 Join Date: Oct 2009 Device: Kindles - Keyboard, Fire, 2-US, iPhone, iPAD	exactly. So install Calibre .... download to your computer and drop the books into Calbre. You can then multi-select in Calibre and choose "Send to Device" and you will also then have a searchable and customizable database of all your books. And also Google the phrase "Apprentice Alf Blog" and read about how to use Calibre to take away that pesky DRM so you will then be able to put your books on whatever devices you own, now or in the future.