Problem with synchronization of last read page

[JSWolf]

Would it not work if the ePub was emailed and let Amazon do the conversion?

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Would it not work if the ePub was emailed and let Amazon do the conversion?

Officially, Kindle's Personal Document Service supports: .mobi, .doc, .docx, .html, .htm, .rtf, .txt, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .pdf

If you send a file with an .epub extension, it will reject it. But if you change the .epub extension to .txt or .png, it sneaks through.

It also won't accept azw3/kf8 or kfx formats.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by odamizu

Officially, Kindle's Personal Document Service supports: .mobi, .doc, .docx, .html, .htm, .rtf, .txt, .jpg, .jpeg, .gif, .png, .bmp, .pdf

If you send a file with an .epub extension, it will reject it. But if you change the .epub extension to .txt or .png, it sneaks through.

It also won't accept azw3/kf8 or kfx formats.

To me it just seams a right farting around. What I do is my H2O has different books on it then my iPhone or my iPad.

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by odamizu

I had the same hit-or-miss syncing problem between iOS and Kindle devices with Calibre mobis.

What fixed it for me was switching from Calibre to KindleGen to do my conversions.

The easiest way to do this is to retrieve the epub file from your Calibre library, change the extension to .png or .txt (I seem to recall that .txt only works on Mac), then use Send to Kindle, and Amazon will run it through KindleGen for you and deliver it to all your devices. eink Kindles will get azw3; not sure what format iOS and Android get, but whatever it is works on my iOS devices.

If you use the Send to Kindle app, input Title & Author in dialog box. This is preferable to the Send to Kindle email address, which uses the filename for the title and the email address for the author.

I made an account just to say thank you for everyone in this thread. I couldn't get MOBI files to sync on my Kindle, despite reading every tutorial searchable by Google on how "Kindle allows syncing of non-Kindle books." This is the only source that helped.

I had a commercial MOBI book that I added by the email method. No syncing. Zero. Finally came across this thread.

What worked for me is I actually took the MOBI and converted it to an EPUB in Calibre. Then I changed the extension to .png and used the Send to Kindle app. Worked like a charm. I think I lost the cover but haven't noticed anything else.

Anything else you lose with this method?

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by Chilly

Anything else you lose with this method?

Only your sanity!

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by NullNix

Only your sanity!

Are there some advanced formatting options with AZW and new MOBI files? I think I remember reading about that somewhere.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Chilly

Are there some advanced formatting options with AZW and new MOBI files? I think I remember reading about that somewhere.

Mobi (AZW) does not have new advanced formatting features. Mobi is an obsolete format.

What you are probably thinking of is KF8 (AZW3) which is similar to ePub.

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Mobi (AZW) does not have new advanced formatting features. Mobi is an obsolete format.

What you are probably thinking of is KF8 (AZW3) which is similar to ePub.

So if you convert to KF8, are there downsides to that? Will you still get sycning of non-Amazon books among devices?

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by Chilly

So if you convert to KF8, are there downsides to that? Will you still get sycning of non-Amazon books among devices?

No downsides. Syncing works as long as you email the book to Amazon and have it reflected back out.

KF8 is basically thinly-disguised epub: there's no "conversion distortion" that I've seen going from one to the other. (But you can't encode periodicals as KF8 at all, which means that almost all my automated Calibre use is generating mobi because it has to.)

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by NullNix

No downsides. Syncing works as long as you email the book to Amazon and have it reflected back out.

KF8 is basically thinly-disguised epub: there's no "conversion distortion" that I've seen going from one to the other. (But you can't encode periodicals as KF8 at all, which means that almost all my automated Calibre use is generating mobi because it has to.)

Just curious, why do you think the respondents above in this thread did not recommend KF8? Would that solve all of the issues, such as these below:

It does not affect whispersync, but it does indirectly affect the availability of the book covers. There was a recent discussion on this topic, it's a good read: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=321635


Basically, if you consider those three things:

• Syncing of last page read across devices
• Book covers
• Advanced text formatting

Unless your Kindle is still on a fairly old version of the firmware (i.e. lower than 5.8.5), it is not possible to have all three. You can have:

1 and 2 (but not 3) by using the "Old" MOBI format
1 and 3 (but not 2) by using "Both" as the MOBI format, or converting to AZW3
2 and 3 (but not 1) by sideloading your books via USB

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by Chilly

Just curious, why do you think the respondents above in this thread did not recommend KF8? Would that solve all of the issues, such as these below:

Nope as noted, KF8 is AZW3, so if you email that, you lose the book covers. it's really aggravating. (But I email myself amost nothing but periodicals, so I don't have a choice: it's mobi or nothing for me. Terrible typography is still better than the blizzard of ads you get in the corresponding official apps -- or, in the case of the Guardian, an Android app with no ads that sometimes runs for as long as three minutes between crashes.)

[JSWolf]

But do you really need to sync? Can't you just read different books on different devices? It's what I do. I don't mind having a few books on the go at the same time.

[barryem]

I read one book at a time so syncing is important to me. It's one of the reasons I read on my phone with Moon+. It syncs much faster and more reliably than my Kindles. But I also try to remember a short phrase near the top of the page when I stop reading so I can do a text search on my Kindle to find my place. Usually even that's faster than the Kindle syncs even when it works.

Barry

[Chilly]

Originally Posted by NullNix

Nope as noted, KF8 is AZW3, so if you email that, you lose the book covers. it's really aggravating. (But I email myself amost nothing but periodicals, so I don't have a choice: it's mobi or nothing for me. Terrible typography is still better than the blizzard of ads you get in the corresponding official apps -- or, in the case of the Guardian, an Android app with no ads that sometimes runs for as long as three minutes between crashes.)

That's a bummer. I think I'll stick with my method of renaming EPUBs to .png and then using the Send to Kindle app. Worked really well so far.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But do you really need to sync? Can't you just read different books on different devices? It's what I do. I don't mind having a few books on the go at the same time.

I do. I steal a lot of moments on my phone and read a bit here and there. Kindle for longer reading sessions in office or any time I'm at home.