What has STUPID Amazon done now???

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Roadking

There are other reasons too, why the Kindle Paperwhite is bulls..it:
- you cannot hide the Startpage (wrong info in Manual, it shows how to do it)
- no possibility to downgrade firmware
- no possibility to disable automatic firmware upgrade when WLAN is on
- support guy says: "no more support of MOBI, AZW3 and AZW
I sent it back and bought a Pocketbook HD3 !! It has much more needful features, is open to the most common ebook formats, has touchscreen AND 4 configurable buttons....
IT IS SIMPLY THE BETTER DEVICE !!

My PocketBook HD3 is my favorite eReader, but I didn't know you couldn't hide the home page now in the newest Kindle firmware. (Fortunately I don't have a Kindle that runs this firmware.) Not being able to downgrade has been an issue from the beginning, unless someone jailbreaks your particular Kindle firmware. I've got a Kindle Basic 8 that I'm going to sell or give away (I haven't taken it off Airplane Mode for months because this one actually *can* upgrade to the latest firmware. I also have a PW 3 that could upgrade, but its firmware was old enough that I could hack it not to upgrade (I think I've got it at 9.7).

As for AZW3, I can still get books in that format because I have an old Kindle Basic "no-touch" and I can download to it (or to USB for it). So, finding a cheap one of these (that can still be registered) might be a way around this. (I don't know if you can still register these after August, though.)

I'm half tempted to see how bad the new interface is by letting my Kindle Basic 8 upgrade to it. But I'm planning on getting rid of that reader and I figure the buyer (or inheritor) might rather have a choice to upgrade it or not.

Sorry for your troubles. Good luck with your HD3. So far I've been very happy with mine. I hardly ever use a Kindle any more and have no interest in buying a new one. When I read (a year or so ago?) that they were going to make the Kindles more like their Kindle app I decided I wasn't going to buy a new Kindle. I haven't regretted that decision (especially when I read about the new firmware in this forum).

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by kacir

You can use functionality in Calibre "create catalog" and create an e-book that lists all the books you are about to export to Kindle or other reader. This e-book, let's call it a "catalog" lists all books, authors, series and book descriptions, nicely hyperlinked, so you can browse your library and then when you decide what you want to read you simply use search function on your Kindle or browse your hierarchical directories on other devices.

I'm guessing this would require some kind of personal, online storage. I've got a DropBox app in my PocketBooks that I haven't even tried yet. I'm getting to the age where I just want to read on the eReader. But I'll try to look into it... even though I don't know if my collection is big enough to make this much of a necessity for me.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Josieb1

The home page is awful now. Hubby and I share an account so I see his books on the home page even though I don’t download them . I also don’t like the library page in that we have to scroll down now after the first six collections rather than page forward to the next six collections. I have an Oasis so it’s just acceptable as I can use the page forward button but on a kindle without buttons it would drive me nuts. I have Kobo’s for non Amazon books and I hate it so much that if anything happened to either of my Kindles, I have a Voyage as well, I would just convert the books to epub and read them on a Kobo.

Sounds like a real mess. I'm sorry for you and all the others who have to put up this. You would think Amazon would consider giving the option use a "Classic" UI, since there seems to be so many people who don't like this new one.

[jwajr]

I have tried, TRIED real hard, to continue using my paperwhite. I even bought the latest signature paperwhite, and loved the speed and everything about it. And then . . . Amazon started the tinkering. I have reset my device twice due to "duplicate" books showing up . . . not really duplicates, but one shows up downloaded, and the other doesn't. Then if I click on the wrong one it downloads again. I have issues downloading my large library (Yes, I like having all my books on my devices . . . why shouldn't I??) I can't stand the utterly sloppy metadata and not really being able to control it. I can't stand that Amazon STILL gives no control over whether you want books indexed or not. I can't stand that random books will sometimes get re-indexed, sometimes getting hung up and then causing the battery life to rapidly go down. I can't stand the home screen. And WHY, WHY have they never made improvements to the PC version, to where at least collections you create in other environments carry over. And on the PC, there are bugs downloading the ebooks . . . can only download so many before it just closes out.

Amazon needs to test their software on large libraries, not just on 1 or two books. They need to give people the option of whether to upgrade or not.

I have, for the 20th time, given up on Amazon. I have a Kobo Clara HD and a Libra H20. I love reading from these, and the metadata is based on how I have it configured in Calibre. What I don't like is annotations. If I go to Libra 2, the annotations are just gone. I know I COULD if I had time go into the database and carefully tweak it to add the annotations, but could possibly screw things up too. But annotations on my side-loaded books, which is all I have, are really the ONLY thing I don't like. Well, I wish I could annotate the pocket articles, but that's minor.

I don't really understand why ereaders, the eink kinds, are going to audiobooks. I am going to listen to audiobooks from my smartphone.

I am intrigued by the Pocketbook HD 3. Is the speed OK? Is most of the 16 gig useable? Do sideloaded ebook annotations sync? Is it comfortable to hold and use the mechanical page buttons?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rcentros

As for AZW3, I can still get books in that format because I have an old Kindle Basic "no-touch" and I can download to it (or to USB for it). So, finding a cheap one of these (that can still be registered) might be a way around this. (I don't know if you can still register these after August, though.)

If you use the "Download and transfer via USB" option, you'll always get a mobi or azw3, no matter the target Kindle. You won't need an old Kindle for that purpose.

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

If you use the "Download and transfer via USB" option, you'll always get a mobi or azw3, no matter the target Kindle. You won't need an old Kindle for that purpose.

amazon has made that more awkward. I've switched to having the kindle fib about its firmware version.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

amazon has made that more awkward. I've switched to having the kindle fib about its firmware version.

What have they recently done regarding this?

Just yesterday when I downloaded a book (it was a library borrow), it worked the same way it always has for me. From my desktop computer, (1) I click on "Download and Transfer via USB", then (2) I click the radio button indicating the download is for my Kindle Paperwhite 3 (I could also have chosen my Fire tablet), then the book downloads in AZW3 format to my desktop computer.

This process hasn't changed in as long as I can remember, and it's not really awkward if you ask me. Did the process used to be different?

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by haertig

What have they recently done regarding this?

Just yesterday when I downloaded a book (it was a library borrow), it worked the same way it always has for me. From my desktop computer, (1) I click on "Download and Transfer via USB", then (2) I click the radio button indicating the download is for my Kindle Paperwhite 3 (I could also have chosen my Fire tablet), then the book downloads in AZW3 format to my desktop computer.

This process hasn't changed in as long as I can remember, and it's not really awkward if you ask me. Did the process used to be different?

I only know about buying books, it's been years since I borrowed an ebook via library.

For amazon ebook purchase, it used to be possible to select "Download and Transfer via USB" as the purchase destination. A few weeks or months ago, this selection started getting ignored and the book was sent to the default device. It is now necessary to go to the contents and devices page, find the book, open a menu, and select "Download and Transfer via USB", unless it has recently been fixed. This has been discussed in some other thread.

So, since amazon is going to send it anyway, I save some steps by spoofing a lower firmware version and the book is sent directly as KF8/azw3 instead of KFX.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

… It is now necessary to go to the contents and devices page, find the book, open a menu, and select "Download and Transfer via USB", unless it has recently been fixed. This has been discussed in some other thread.
…

Still broken this week. I never connect the Kindle PW3 to WiFi. The KK3 only gets WiFi if battery is flat, needed to set time & Date, similarly for the DXG and 3G. Yes, I know in theory the date can be done via USB networking if JB. The Search ;command to set date doesn't work. Idiots.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

If you use the "Download and transfer via USB" option, you'll always get a mobi or azw3, no matter the target Kindle. You won't need an old Kindle for that purpose.

So if the target Kindle is say a K1, K2, or DX/DXG, you can still download KF8?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So if the target Kindle is say a K1, K2, or DX/DXG, you can still download KF8?

I said "mobi or azw3", meaning you won't get a kfx.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

So if the target Kindle is say a K1, K2, or DX/DXG, you can still download KF8?

You get KF7 if the target is old.
They never deliver KFX, but maybe unless the target Kindle supports KFX, you don't get azw3/KF8. So the KK3 only gets KF7 even though it does support KF8.

The PW3 MOSTLY gets azw3/KF8, but some titles have been azw (47) and two mobi of 339 titles. I've two azw4, no idea what they are.

I suspect if docx or epub uploaded the PW3 gets azw3 and the other files were Mobi uploads. Strangely Raymond Fiest's Magician is azw.

I remember there was one download for PW3 that was .azw and wouldn't "work" in Calibre till I renamed it .mobi, though it worked on the PW3.

I had the PC app for a while on XP years ago because some titles would only download for it. Unavailable on eink. All where badly formatted fixed layout or print replica, useless unless on paper. So I don't download even "free" if doesn't work for PW3 (set as default).

I and wife only read epubs on Kobo.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

For amazon ebook purchase, it used to be possible to select "Download and Transfer via USB" as the purchase destination. A few weeks or months ago, this selection started getting ignored and the book was sent to the default device. It is now necessary to go to the contents and devices page, find the book, open a menu, and select "Download and Transfer via USB", unless it has recently been fixed. This has been discussed in some other thread.

This scenario is ringing a bell, for purchased books at least. I've always gone to the Contents and Devices page. I remember one time seeing that there was a Download via USB option during the purchase. I thought, "Cool, now I don't have to go to the Contents page". But when I tried it, it did not work. So I ended up at the Contents page anyway. Now that you point this out, yes, I do remember it happening. I guess I had forgotten about it, because I personally never saw it work from the purchase pages after discovering it there.

[j.p.s]

I hate it when I learn something that makes things easier just when it becomes no longer possible.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

I said "mobi or azw3", meaning you won't get a kfx.

And I said KF8, not KFX.