Kindle firmware update 5.13.4

[LDB]

I manually installed it last night. I can't tell any difference at all. I don't use the home screen though.

[tomsem]

Series Grouping just showed up on my Fire HD 8 Plus. Kindle app version is 14.37.100

[Paperbackstash]

My Fire HD 8 popped up with the series announcement yesterday as well. I don't do much reading on that device, so it doesn't matter much, but that one did delay by over a month compared to my Oasis for this feature.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

My Fire HD 8 popped up with the series announcement yesterday as well. I don't do much reading on that device, so it doesn't matter much, but that one did delay by over a month compared to my Oasis for this feature.

It’s my # 4 reading device (after PW 4, iPad mini, iPhone), which means I don’t pull it out very often. I have it mostly for TTS, and that’s about it. Still, it’s arguably the best Fire tablet I’ve had, and I like that they have recently simplified the Home Screens (just For You, Home, Library).

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by tomsem

It’s my # 4 reading device (after PW 4, iPad mini, iPhone), which means I don’t pull it out very often. I have it mostly for TTS, and that’s about it. Still, it’s arguably the best Fire tablet I’ve had, and I like that they have recently simplified the Home Screens (just For You, Home, Library).

I approve of the new menu update as well. Before it was a little too much. I like you can remove sections you don't want from the "for you" section. I have become addicted to a few gaming apps on mine, so have it open daily with Wi-fi on. I only read a few select books in color on the tablets.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

I approve of the new menu update as well. Before it was a little too much. I like you can remove sections you don't want from the "for you" section. I have become addicted to a few gaming apps on mine, so have it open daily with Wi-fi on. I only read a few select books in color on the tablets.

I can edit what shows up in Library, but I don’t see a way to change For You. Fortunately, it is easily ignored.

[Paperbackstash]

I may be getting the 2 confused relying just on my memory

[Paperbackstash]

This update seems to have cursed me with KU books that don't go away. I have the series turned off to get rid of some of the books that were still around from borrows that I no longer have, but now I have an "empty" book file of another borrowed KU book that shows up (with series turned off still). It is always at the front, in the large section, of my home page as the first book to show, and in my library. I will have to connect the Oasis to a computer when I have time and try to find some sort of empty ghost file like I was instructed above, but I really hope this doesn't keep happening. It's frustrating and I have never had an issue like this before the update.

Also collections always show now, even when the books only filter is on. I'm almost positive this was not the case before - as long as the collection is not empty, it shows mixed with books and keeps popping up. I may get rid of some of the old collections, because this change is also bugging me.

It sounds picky perhaps, but I just want to go back to seeing just books in my library side by side that are actually on the device.

[torishu]

Paperbackstash, similar "ghost files" have been showing up for me for the last many firmware revisions, usually when I accept an updated book on "My Content and Devices." I can always tell because I will have two of the book or the book will be missing the three dots in the corner in cover view.

Trying to delete the book will make the screen flash and nothing happens.

I had reset my Kindles many times over the past year or so over this problem. Even deleting the files after connecting the Kindles to the computer doesn't always fix it.

One thing that does seem to consistently work, however, and has kept me from having to reset and reload my Kindles for a couple months now has been to remove the book in question from a collection, delete it, then re-download and re-add it to the collection.

(All my books are in collections, however I think adding a book to a dummy collection and removing might work. I would, of course, try to delete the book at every step, not just after adding and then removing.)

Hope this helps, or at least helps others who have been experiencing similar. This is happening on all three of my current Kindles (two 2019 Oases and a Paperwhite) so I know it's not just a unit quirk.

Between this and the TTF custom font issue, these firmware revisions seem to be getting a bit worse.

(I now convert all my custom-loaded fonts to OTF because TTF files are squashed at smaller sizes and won't accept bolding if the book contains a publisher font. This is with direct-from-Amazon books, not sideloaded. It's been an issue the past few firmware revisions along with the above issue.)

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by torishu

Paperbackstash, similar "ghost files" have been showing up for me for the last many firmware revisions, usually when I accept an updated book on "My Content and Devices." I can always tell because I will have two of the book or the book will be missing the three dots in the corner in cover view.

Trying to delete the book will make the screen flash and nothing happens.

I had reset my Kindles many times over the past year or so over this problem. Even deleting the files after connecting the Kindles to the computer doesn't always fix it.

One thing that does seem to consistently work, however, and has kept me from having to reset and reload my Kindles for a couple months now has been to remove the book in question from a collection, delete it, then re-download and re-add it to the collection.

(All my books are in collections, however I think adding a book to a dummy collection and removing might work. I would, of course, try to delete the book at every step, not just after adding and then removing.)

Hope this helps, or at least helps others who have been experiencing similar. This is happening on all three of my current Kindles (two 2019 Oases and a Paperwhite) so I know it's not just a unit quirk.

Between this and the TTF custom font issue, these firmware revisions seem to be getting a bit worse.

(I now convert all my custom-loaded fonts to OTF because TTF files are squashed at smaller sizes and won't accept bolding if the book contains a publisher font. This is with direct-from-Amazon books, not sideloaded. It's been an issue the past few firmware revisions along with the above issue.)

How odd!

Your problem sounds even worse than mine, but then again it sounds like yours has existed longer.

I don't have any of the ghost files in collections - I sometimes use collections but not much any longer. The one I have now that is empty just shows an empty cover with book and author name, but there are no bars or any way to manually delete this. I know it's no longer on the device. I wonder if they have been experimenting with Kindle Unlimited permissions or something and that's causing a glitch.

[torishu]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

I don't have any of the ghost files in collections - I sometimes use collections but not much any longer. The one I have now that is empty just shows an empty cover with book and author name, but there are no bars or any way to manually delete this. I know it's no longer on the device. I wonder if they have been experimenting with Kindle Unlimited permissions or something and that's causing a glitch.

Can you interact with the book by long-touching it? If so I would add it to a dummy collection, try to delete it. If that doesn't work, remove it from the collection and try to delete it. You can always delete the collection afterward.

It's unpredictable what might happen as these firmware revisions get more complex. I'm hoping for some bug fixes more than new features soon to at least take care of these two issues I'm consistently having.

Good luck. It would (and has, in a similar situation) driven me crazy. I've factory-reset each Kindle so many times before I discovered the collections workaround. It always came back, too, so resetting was always just temporary.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by torishu

Can you interact with the book by long-touching it? If so I would add it to a dummy collection, try to delete it. If that doesn't work, remove it from the collection and try to delete it. You can always delete the collection afterward.

Unfortunately, no.

The issue I had with previous ghost files with the series turned on is different than this particular problem.

Went to use it last night and the battery was dead, charged it a bit and it seems the book is gone on its own thankfully.

[tomsem]

Interview with the Amazon person who headed up the Series Grouping feature:

http://thekindlechronicles.com/tkc-653-patrick-wolohan

He closes by saying ‘there is still more to do’.

One thing I wish it did was to be able to treat book collections (typically 3 sequential books in the series) as Series and combine them with single books so you could more easily see what you might be missing from the series.

[Paperbackstash]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Interview with the Amazon person who headed up the Series Grouping feature:

http://thekindlechronicles.com/tkc-653-patrick-wolohan

He closes by saying ‘there is still more to do’.

One thing I wish it did was to be able to treat book collections (typically 3 sequential books in the series) as Series and combine them with single books so you could more easily see what you might be missing from the series.

That's a good idea - to be able to manually change series or series order would help with sideloaded books or when we don't agree with the series cataloguing from amazon purchased. We'll see if they keep working on improving this feature, hopefully so.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by Paperbackstash

That's a good idea - to be able to manually change series or series order would help with sideloaded books or when we don't agree with the series cataloguing from amazon purchased. We'll see if they keep working on improving this feature, hopefully so.

I don’t side load very much, and have no desire to manually do anything to the order (beyond the sorting options available, which seem pretty comprehensive: Recent, Series Order, Series Order (reversed), [publication] Date, and Date (Reversed), plus, on iOS, What’s Next, whatever that means).

For side-loaded books, I think we’ll have to look to calibre and jail-breaking community to see if there’s anything to be done (maybe the ASIN hack will ‘just work’?). It seems what they’re doing is to mirror the way things are organized in the Store, so that pretty much leaves side loaded content alone.