AZW3 support in Calibre is not in beta anymore?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by avid01

Why do I do that? Simple: I use the Kindle as a to read device, not a to store all my reading device.

But that doesn't answer the question as to why you would copy files to your Kindle using a file browser rather than using Calibre's "Send to Device" facility. Your method is actually more work: you first have to save the file to disk from Calibre and then copy it to your Kindle. With "Send to Device" it's a one-step process.

Kovid, if you are reading this: when one first starts up Calibre, it offers a setup screen, asks for my device type. My device, according to what's available on the setup screen, fits the Kindle 1-4 category. I understand you may want to offer support for default MOBI output for the very minority of Kindle users who are still on a device which does not AZW3 at all (well less than 5% of Kindle users in late 2016 I guess, the battery of my Kindle 4, which supported AZW3 from day one, not only through a software update, starts dying by now), so, perhaps on the setup screen you may distinguish between Kindle 1-4 (whichever of them can or cannot display AZW3), offering readers an easy one-click setup for best format, me, the 95% not having to ask for it on an obscured tech forum, where even not all the tech savvy nerds understood what I was trying to accomplish.

The reason for not offering AZW3 as a default is that you can't send this format to Amazon's Cloud, and an awful lot of people like to store their books in the Cloud.

[eschwartz]

The reason the tech-savvy nerds did not understand what you were trying to accomplish, is because you did a bad job of explaining what you were trying to accomplish.

The default setting is probably not going to change...

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The reason for not offering AZW3 as a default is that you can't send this format to Amazon's Cloud, and an awful lot of people like to store their books in the Cloud.

Um, if you are sending to Amazon's cloud it genuinely doesn't matter what the KINDLE2 device driver says, because that code will never even be loaded by the interpreter, much less called to do something...

On account of the Send-to-Device and Send-to-email methods are completely separate and have nothing to do with each other.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Um, if you are sending to Amazon's cloud it genuinely doesn't matter what the KINDLE2 device driver says, because that code will never even be loaded by the interpreter, much less called to do something...

On account of the Send-to-Device and Send-to-email methods are completely separate and have nothing to do with each other.

I am of course aware of that, but conversion is an entirely separate operation from sending books to a device. If you have a Kindle and you sometimes sideload books and sometimes email them to the Cloud, it makes sense to convert to Mobi7 rather than KF8.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I am of course aware of that, but conversion is an entirely separate operation from sending books to a device. If you have a Kindle and you sometimes sideload books and sometimes email them to the Cloud, it makes sense to convert to Mobi7 rather than KF8.

Actually, it makes more sense to convert to dual-mobi if you are sending to the cloud. That way, the devices that can handle azw3 will get that format, and the ones that can't will get .mobi format. And...I just usually allow Calibre to convert as it's sending, I don't convert ahead of time.

Shari

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by shalym

Actually, it makes more sense to convert to dual-mobi if you are sending to the cloud.

True, but not if you're also side loading, because then you end up with files twice the size they need be on the Kindle. There's also the considerable disadvantage that Calibre can't edit metadata in a dual Mobi, hence plugboards don't work with them.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I am of course aware of that, but conversion is an entirely separate operation from sending books to a device. If you have a Kindle and you sometimes sideload books and sometimes email them to the Cloud, it makes sense to convert to Mobi7 rather than KF8.

Allow me to repeat myself...

It doesn't matter if the KINDLE2 driver converts to AZW3 by default (at least for the reasons you stated -- the fact that some KINDLE2 devices do not support AZW3 at all, and never will, is still a reason against).

Because if you then Send-to-Email, the email will not accept an AZW3 and it will perform an additional conversion to MOBI!

So, it really, really, really doesn't make a difference to the device driver, what you might or might not want to do with the Send-to-Device tool.

...

Personally, I would consider it far more sensible to convert to AZW3 and MOBI, so I have AZW3 when sideloading and can still send MOBI through email.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Allow me to repeat myself...

It doesn't matter if the KINDLE2 driver converts to AZW3 by default (at least for the reasons you stated -- the fact that some KINDLE2 devices do not support AZW3 at all, and never will, is still a reason against).

Because if you then Send-to-Email, the email will not accept an AZW3 and it will perform an additional conversion to MOBI!

So, it really, really, really doesn't make a difference to the device driver, what you might or might not want to do with the Send-to-Device tool.

...

Personally, I would consider it far more sensible to convert to AZW3 and MOBI, so I have AZW3 when sideloading and can still send MOBI through email.

Or you can just do what I do, and set Calibre to do what YOU want it to do automatically when you transfer...whichever way you transfer, and not worry about converting. I have my Calibre set to send .azw3 to my Kindle over USB transfer. I don't worry about converting, because Calibre will do it on the fly, as it's converting. I also have Calibre set to send dual mobi to my Kindle email address. Again, I don't worry about converting, because Calibre will do it on the fly. I have it set to send kepubs to my kobo over USB, and again, Calibre does it on the fly.

In short, it doesn't matter what format a book *starts* in, Calibre will send it to your device in the format that is appropriate (and you can tell it exactly what format is appropriate). The only reason I ever do an explicit conversion is if a book has such horrible formatting errors that I can't read it. (usually this is font size declared explicitly, making it *way* too small for my eyes)

I'm not saying that the way that you and Harry do it is wrong...I just want to let people know that there is a way to tell Calibre what format you want on your device, and have it send *that format* automatically, with no further intervention necessary.

Shari

[eschwartz]

I agree with you. In fact, I agree with you so much, that if you look closely you will see I actually said the same thing as you!


(Although, FWIW, if you specify both MOBI and AZW3 as valid E-Ink Kindle formats, and send an EPUB via send-to-email first, then it will send the existing MOBI rather than re-converting to AZW3. Actually, given that I don't really use the PDOC service since I prefer sideloading, it doesn't really matter... to me.)

[shalym]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

I agree with you. In fact, I agree with you so much, that if you look closely you will see I actually said the same thing as you!


(Although, FWIW, if you specify both MOBI and AZW3 as valid E-Ink Kindle formats, and send an EPUB via send-to-email first, then it will send the existing MOBI rather than re-converting to AZW3. Actually, given that I don't really use the PDOC service since I prefer sideloading, it doesn't really matter... to me.)

(emphasis mine)
That's why, if you only want azw3 on your Kindle, it makes sense to configure the device in Calibre to only accept azw3 over USB, which is what I said. Or, you could always right-click on the book(s) that you're sending over USB and choose "Send specific format to". That's not as easy, or as seamless, because it's one extra step to take, but it does work.



Shari

[eschwartz]

Some people don't want to convert MOBI ==> AZW3, but do want to prefer AZW3.

I can understand the reasoning -- every conversion introduces conversion artifacts, and MOBI isn't the cleanest source to begin with.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Some people don't want to convert MOBI ==> AZW3, but do want to prefer AZW3.

I can understand the reasoning -- every conversion introduces conversion artifacts, and MOBI isn't the cleanest source to begin with.

Yes, I have both AZW3 and Mobi enabled in the driver (with AZW3 above Mobi) precisely to avoid unnecessary Mobi to AZW3 conversions. The only reason I'd convert a book from Mobi to AZW3 (if it's in Mobi format when I buy or download it) would be if I wanted to edit it.

[Sirtel]

I convert most of my books to MOBI, even though I sideload and never send anything to the cloud. For a simple reason - I want to get rid of original formatting (fonts, margins, line-spacing etc.) Converting to MOBI does it faster than editing each book manually would. Of course I edit manually too, when necessary (converting doesn't change everything), but it would be a major blow for me if one day I couldn't convert to MOBI anymore.

Yes, I know I'm an odd bird. Most people want to retain the original formatting as closely as possible, not to get rid of it. I want all my books to look exactly the same, so I can concentrate on the story and not be distracted by different layouts.

[HarryT]

That is certainly an unusual requirement . But of course whatever works for you is right.

[avid01]

Maybe it's half-off, even though in my own topic. There was a page in the Calibre documentation that demonstrated how advanced conversions are possible when selecting azw3 (that is different from azw(1), right?) as output. I can't find that page anymore.

What are best practices for converting tables (not table of contents')? As I remember there was some example on that page of the documentation, otherwise, my Google skills didn't help finding an answer here. I just got many search results for table of contents.