CC & Fire HD .... ?

[CRussel]

Well, thanks to this thread, I found that my Kindle FireHD 9.8 works just fine with CC and I've loaded it up on that, the 7" HD, and my wife's 8.9" HDX. Now, if I really want to take the wireless full circle, I can run Calibre as a terminal server RemoteApp from my Kindle FireHD, connect it wirelessly to that same Kindle FireHD with CC, and Send To Device from the RemoteApp session. All without getting off the Chesterfield.

[DiapDealer]

Now that's living!

[carpetmojo]

Thank you Chaley, and Diap .... I hall now hasten me to the app store and flash the cash ....

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by CRussel

Well, thanks to this thread, I found that my Kindle FireHD 9.8 works just fine with CC and I've loaded it up on that, the 7" HD, and my wife's 8.9" HDX. Now, if I really want to take the wireless full circle, I can run Calibre as a terminal server RemoteApp from my Kindle FireHD, connect it wirelessly to that same Kindle FireHD with CC, and Send To Device from the RemoteApp session. All without getting off the Chesterfield.

I am still twitchy as to whether it 's gonna work on a vanilla, non-rooted KF HDX
there are 2 recent reviews in the amazon app store saying the CC wants to validate with google play & does not run when that fails.

but other folks review it says all is fine.

so who is right ?

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars Won't run unless purchased from Google, 2 Mar 2014


By
Al Gale - See all my reviews


Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)

This review is from: Calibre Companion (App)

Checks home with Google Play - so won't run - DON'T BOTHER BUYING you'll waste your money
0 stars if I could





2 of 3 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars do not buy, 8 Feb 2014



By
stevetaylor - See all my reviews


Amazon Verified Purchase(What is this?)

This review is from: Calibre Companion (App)

This app is a waste of money. Did not work despite trying everything Inc emailing the help section. Please avoid if you don't want to be frustrated.

[chaley]

Originally Posted by cybmole

I am still twitchy as to whether it 's gonna work on a vanilla, non-rooted KF HDX
there are 2 recent reviews in the amazon app store saying the CC wants to validate with google play & does not run when that fails.

The first reviewer is wrong: the Amazon version of CC does not check home with Google Play. I have no idea how he came up with that, other than perhaps by installing one of the "unofficial" versions floating around which are all derived from the GP version.

The second reviewer you quote makes no reference to google play. That one sounds like a connection problem. We do get those. Usually we can resolve the problem, but to do so the person has to contact us (not Amazon, not Google) and work with us. Some people don't want to do that, instead preferring to leave 1-star reviews.

We have sold several hundred copies of CC on the Amazon store this year since they made it available for (some of) the Fires. I suspect that if it didn't work at all we would hear about it.

[cybmole]

thanks for posting that. I reckon that as I have a newish KF I'd be OK

so you think trust amazon when it says " compatible", as they would not say that to someone who had an old generation KF.

I am still experimenting with reading options. I found how to download .apk fiiles for any free app in the google store, and thus was able to sideload the Kobo reader app to KF, and use that for epubs. It needs an extra "import books" step after sideloading or retrieving from dropbox but then it is fine

but my method does not work for transferring paid apps from google store onto KF, so I could not use it for e.g. the moon+ reader pro app which amazon will not sell. They "sell" the free version only. As it happens I much prefer the Kobo app anyway. They "sell" a bunch of other free epub readers but they all show as not compatible with my KF

Sideloadiing via USB from calibre ( with auto- convert to AZW ) seems to work ok also.

is auto-convert also available via CC i.e. if I connect to calibre library via CC & want a book that is only there in epub, will it be converted & wirelessly sent to KF ?

PS retrieving from dropbox is a pain, I have my calibre library backed up to dropbox but trawling through the folder structure is not convenient. ( & amazon don't offer the dropbox app either, google do ).This is where I am thinking CC would be better, but does it need to talk to a running Calibre program, & not just to see a backup of the library database

[chaley]

Originally Posted by cybmole

thanks for posting that. I reckon that as I have a newish KF I'd be OK

so you think trust amazon when it says " compatible", as they would not say that to someone who had an old generation KF.

It really isn't clear what is happening when people report that CC "won't run". In theory it will start and run on any device with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) or better, and in theory Amazon should not allow CC to be sold on a device less than that. My suspicion is that if someone has 2 devices, one OK and one not, then Amazon might get confused, but I have no way to verify that.

I am still experimenting with reading options. I found how to download .apk fiiles for any free app in the google store, and thus was able to sideload the Kobo reader app to KF, and use that for epubs. It needs an extra "import books" step after sideloading or retrieving from dropbox but then it is fine

but my method does not work for transferring paid apps from google store onto KF, so I could not use it for e.g. the moon+ reader pro app which amazon will not sell. They "sell" the free version only. As it happens I much prefer the Kobo app anyway. They "sell" a bunch of other free epub readers but they all show as not compatible with my KF

The pro version is in the amazon store. Are you saying that it isn't available for Fires?

Sideloadiing via USB from calibre ( with auto- convert to AZW ) seems to work ok also.

is auto-convert also available via CC i.e. if I connect to calibre library via CC & want a book that is only there in epub, will it be converted & wirelessly sent to KF ?

Yes, as long as you have set the "acceptable formats" correctly. You do this in CC. You would uncheck epub (if it is checked) and then re-order the list so that the format you want epubs converted to is at the top. But why would you bother if you have the kobo app? It can handle epubs just fine.

PS retrieving from dropbox is a pain, I have my calibre library backed up to dropbox but trawling through the folder structure is not convenient. ( & amazon don't offer the dropbox app either, google do ).This is where I am thinking CC would be better, but does it need to talk to a running Calibre program, & not just to see a backup of the library database

Yes, CC needs to talk to either a running content server (CC content server connection) or a running GUI calibre instance (CC wireless device connection).

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by cybmole

I am still twitchy as to whether it 's gonna work on a vanilla, non-rooted KF HDX

Screencaps of CC running on my KF HDX (8.9), purchased from the Amazon app store.

I'm not rooted and the only thing non-standard about my device is that instead of using the Kindle reader I have sideloaded Moon+ Pro and Mantano (both bought from Amazon so any authentication to my account works, but sideloaded because they flag them as not compatible, like they do with all non-Amazon reading apps)

[cybmole]

kobo app v kindle app or reading on KF - I have still not decided which app I prefer or if they are so similar that it's not worth thinking about- so I am undecided which format to use for sideloaded books. My calibre library is mostly epub.

I did not like moon+ reader. it seems to ignore the books own CSS & does its own thing based on its own preferences. & it takes more + less intuitive taps to get to a TOC.

One advantage? of sideloading as AZW is that the book cover also then appears on the KF front page carousel. and in the books tab, whereas epub covers are not visible outside of the Kobo app.

I'll have to read up more on calibre content sever; as 1st look it does not solve my issue of retrieving a book onto a tablet without getting out of bed at night, when household PCs are asleep. The tablet can fetch from dropbox assuming I can remember the authors first name & find it library folders. I could dump the entire library onto KF - there'd GBs to spare on there, but then I'd have to learn how to do collections etc on KF which I understand is a pain to master.

( I am an old dog who likes to learn the occasional new trick - but s l o w l y - and not too many at once )

[chaley]

Originally Posted by cybmole

I'll have to read up more on calibre content sever; as 1st look it does not solve my issue of retrieving a book onto a tablet without getting out of bed at night, when household PCs are asleep. The tablet can fetch from dropbox assuming I can remember the authors first name & find it library folders. I could dump the entire library onto KF - there'd GBs to spare on there, but then I'd have to learn how to do collections etc on KF which I understand is a pain to master.

This is one of the reasons that people use CC. It can handle 1000s of books and gives you fast access to all the collection-like groups automatically made from calibre's metadata. Many people put their entire library on the device, updating from time to time using the wireless device connection to get the latest metadata and books from calibre.

[jackie_w]

Originally Posted by cybmole

I did not like moon+ reader. it seems to ignore the books own CSS...

You may like to try the Mantano app instead. IMO it does a much better job of honouring CSS than any of the other android reading apps I've tried (Kobo isn't one I've tried). It also works well with CC.

On Google Play there are 3 versions of it - Free, Essentials (£2.87) and Premium(£6.69) but I can only see the Premium version in the Amazon Appstore. I use Premium myself, but on a standard android smartphone not a Kindle Fire.

[CRussel]

Montano is only available in the Premium version on the Amazon store, and as someone pointed out, it's listed as incompatible with my devices. But I might give it a try even so, if I decide I need an ePub reader. Thanks, AnemicOak for confirming they are compatible, just need to be side-loaded.

Meanwhile, I see Amazon has pushed down a new version of CC to my Fire HD 8.9.

[chaley]

@AnemicOak: do you get updates of amazon-purchased apps that you sideload?

Also, is getting a paid-for amazon APK difficult if you don't have a non-amazon device on which you do the purchase?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by cybmole

I did not like moon+ reader. it seems to ignore the books own CSS & does its own thing based on its own preferences. & it takes more + less intuitive taps to get to a TOC.

That's cool, to each their own. Although I'm not sure what you mean about the TOC, it's just tap to bring up the menu bar at the bottom and then tap the TOC icon. I go back and forth on Moon+ vs Mantano. On the one hand Mantano does honor the CSS usually, but on the other so many books have messed up CSS it's sometimes a comfort to know that the book will look how I want it to in Moon+ without making adjustments for every individual book. Moon+ does have a mode that follows the CSS, but I'm not sure how well it works as I've never used it. If it's a book more complex than linear fiction I generally just use Mantano instead.

Originally Posted by chaley

@AnemicOak: do you get updates of amazon-purchased apps that you sideload?

Also, is getting a paid-for amazon APK difficult if you don't have a non-amazon device on which you do the purchase?

I don't get updates unless I re-sideload the app when a new version comes out. The only way I know of getting the APK is to back it up on a non-Amazon device (I use my 2012 Nexus 7), don't know if there's another way.

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by cybmole

I did not like moon+ reader. it seems to ignore the books own CSS & does its own thing based on its own preferences. & it takes more + less intuitive taps to get to a TOC.

Everyone has their preferences. I like the fact that all of my novels look the way I want them to look. Also getting to the TOC seems to be standard, tap once in the center then choose from the menu bar. Many readers use this to get to their menu or options feature.

Originally Posted by cybmole

I'll have to read up more on calibre content sever; as 1st look it does not solve my issue of retrieving a book onto a tablet without getting out of bed at night, when household PCs are asleep.

I use CC and simply load all of my (10,000+) books onto my device. This way I never have to worry about connecting to the cloud or any other device to retrieve the book I want.

Originally Posted by cybmole

I could dump the entire library onto KF - there'd GBs to spare on there, but then I'd have to learn how to do collections etc on KF which I understand is a pain to master.

There is nothing to learn. In Calibre Companion you will see all of the same sorting options you see in Calibre. All of the Tags, Authors, Special column info etc right there on your device. See attached for a small sample.

Originally Posted by cybmole

The tablet can fetch from dropbox assuming I can remember the authors first name & find it library folders.

I don't normally point anyone away from CC but in your situation the Calibre Cloud app might be a good choice. I don't know how it will deal with the Kindle ecosystem. But in my Nexus it accesses Dropbox directly and gives a nice presentation and search abilities. In my case I did not want to access my entire Dropbox library because there are quite a few books in my "working" virtual library and Calibre Cloud shows the entire library in Dropbox. But if you have only one complete finished library residing in Dropbox then this might be a good choice for you.