Non Amazon Books - Calibre vs. Send to Kindle

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by Joykins

Yeah, I gather it's slightly different on the Fires. I have to say, though, it's really useful when travelling and you don't have easy access to Dropbox. I can download a book on my mom's or brother's computer and email it to my kindle where I am, since I don't usually travel with a laptop and don't have enough Dropbox space for all my books so I don't backup my books there. (Also, for obvious reasons, I haven't installed Dropbox on my work computer.)

When I am travelling, I have my laptop with me and both the books locally as available via dropbox. Actually there are rare occasions when I do not have a device with me that has access to dropbox, and if not, my cell phone would be used. But honestly I keep @250 books on my pw, which allows me to pick something else if what I want is not on the device. My Fire I only keep about 15 books on it, and that one is the one I usually use Dropbox to download books from.

And I am different than you, I have Dropbox installed on my work computer, but I keep in synced to my personal external hard drive.

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

You can always upload through the browser.

Or sideload through the file browser assuming you have computer to download the file to begin with plus your charging cable.

Personally my master copy of the library is on my flashdrive which travels with me in my pocket using Calibre Portable. It gets backed up regularly via one-way sync and from there to dropbox.

Same here, I have my library on my desktop external drive, backed up to two external drives, fully loaded on my laptop desktop, fully loaded on my work external hard drive and the files backed up to my kingston drive.

Alot of backups I know, but I am a little anal like that.

[Josieb1]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

Same here, I have my library on my desktop external drive, backed up to two external drives, fully loaded on my laptop desktop, fully loaded on my work external hard drive and the files backed up to my kingston drive.

Alot of backups I know, but I am a little anal like that.

Me too, one laptop, three external hard drives, one which lives 'offsite' Dropbox and Box.

[katzz]

Originally Posted by quiris

If you properly create standard MOBI file (dual/hybrid) with kindlegen or even with calibre and if you send it to MYK cloud you can later download proper AZW3 file to your Kindle Classic, Paperwhite etc. Note that calibre creates old Mobi6/7 file by default. You should change it to 'both' if you want to send it properly to MYK cloud.

I'm still very unsure how to handle this whole topic. Is this the best way to go #post 4? And what format should we use to store ebooks anyway? Mobi (Both) or AZW3?

[quiris]

I strongly recommend Mobi (both)

[katzz]

Thanks for answering me!

Originally Posted by quiris

I strongly recommend Mobi (both)

I'm really getting headaches here.

1) Apart from internal formatting-varieties, is there a difference between a Kindlegen Mobi (with -donotaddsource) and a Calibre Mobi (Both)?

2) AZW3 is just a KF8-formatted-file, correct? These kind of KF8-only-files are still rejected by the cloud-service.

3) Why is there is a note in the conversion dialog telling you not to use "both" on the mobi-output?

4) So all in all I use mobi (both) and ExtractCoverThumbs, if my covers don't show up?

[quiris]

1) Both are similar but you should note that kindlegen is the only official tool that guarantee minimum problems. Calibre mobi output is a result of reverse engineering since Mobi is completely closed format. You should also note that calibre during conversion dramatically alters original book code.
2) Yes. It's true. KF8==AZW3. AZW3 are still likely be rejected by Amazon cloud.
3) I don't know. Maybe you should ask Kovid Goyal - calibre author.
4) Yes. ExtractCoverThumbs restores to your Kindle missing cover thumbnails for AZW3 (converted from dual Mobi by Amazon cloud servers) books downloaded from Amazon cloud.

[quiris]

BTW. There is new version of ExtractCoverThumbs.
This version SHIFT COVER UP leaving empty space below to avoid Personal tag overlapping cover.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho....php?p=2830040

[katzz]

Thanks again and I have a last question regarding the [PDOC]/[EBOK]-tag, if you or anyone else has an answer.

Let's say I'm not using the cloud at all. Adding books to a collection will always give me the following notification: "You have added items to this collection that will not be synced to the cloud", which is quite annoying, but not as annoying as the following thing issue.

__________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

Adding sideloaded books using "Add/Remove Items" to a collection is quite inconvenient. Why? Because you can only sort the book list by "recent/title/author", but not filter it at all.

This book list is showing me both the books I already have on the device and the ones in the cloud. So it mixes up "sideloaded books", "cloud-downloaded books" and "cloud-books, not downloaded yet".

From Amazon's point of view this is perfectly understandable.

Example: Harry Potter ():
-A customer buys the seven books from the Kindle store
-Then he creates a collection "Harry Potter"
-After finish a book he deletes it off his device, but keeps it in the collection (and cloud)

__________________________________________________ ________________________________________________

To get to the point. If you don't manage your books using the Amazon cloud at all, but use e.g. Calibre instead, this will of course not work. Someone told me I should simply use the "personal doc"-option in the Calibre output-settings, then send them to my PW2 again. This will make them appear is the "Docs"- instead of the "Books"-list. This makes adding them to a collection far easier, since the cloud-stores-books are hidden there.

And finally my question:

Will this introduce any problems of whatever kind?

[quiris]

EBOK set by calibre is a kind of hack. Normally it should set up PDOC - the same as Amazon cloud servers set in your books uploaded to cloud. EBOK is reserved for books bought on Amazon.

[katzz]

Originally Posted by quiris

EBOK set by calibre is a kind of hack. Normally it should set up PDOC - the same as Amazon cloud servers set in your books uploaded to cloud. EBOK is reserved for books bought on Amazon.

My question was rather if PDOC has any disadvantages? I'm currently not using the Amazon cloud at all. Managing collections would be easier, if cloud-books would be hidden, which PDOC achieves, since books PDOC-books are only shown in the "Documents"- and not in the "Books"-list..

[quiris]

Originally Posted by katzz

My question was rather if PDOC has any disadvantages?

Main disadvantage is white 'Personal' badge on book cover thumbnail.

[katzz]

Originally Posted by quiris

Main disadvantage is white 'Personal' badge on book cover thumbnail.

I didn't get any "Personal"-badge by sideloading "PDOC"-tagged books to the PW2.

[quiris]

Originally Posted by katzz

I didn't get any "Personal"-badge by sideloading "PDOC"-tagged books to the PW2.

IMO it isn't possible. PDOC always has Personal badge.

[katzz]

Originally Posted by quiris

IMO it isn't possible. PDOC always has Personal badge.

This is not the case. Personal badge only appears if the Amazon-servers were involved in any way.

My whole point is to find a way to manage my Kindle the most efficient way, either cloud-based or not. Since I don't read books on multiple devices, I'm currently gonna stick with the Calibre-USB-sideload approach.

The "EBOK"-hack is putting files in the "Books"-category, while "PDOC" or similar will put it in the "Docs"-category. As you can see, no "personal"-badge is added. Are there any other possible drawbacks using the "Docs"-category or am I fine with it?