Troubleshooting Can't search my book!

Colegno · 01-29-2011, 11:23 AM

Anyone have any insight to my search conundrum? Just downloaded a 5-volume work - oxford history of music - which came in as a single volume.
After 2 days, it remains unsearchable, i.e., entering ANY word in the search field yields "0" results.
Thanks for any help!

waller4343 · 01-29-2011, 11:54 AM

Have you checked to see if it's still indexing? Type a non word like asdfg at your home page and search your items. If your book comes up as still indexing then you won't be able to search it. After 2 days it could be stuck. Then you can try deleting it and reinstalling it to see if it works better.

TheKindleWorm · 01-29-2011, 12:58 PM

Yes welcome to mobileread

And waller4343 has come up with some good advice - sounds like there may have been a problem in indexing with this file as it should be searchable.

desertblues · 01-29-2011, 01:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Colegno

Anyone have any insight to my search conundrum? Just downloaded a 5-volume work - oxford history of music - which came in as a single volume.
After 2 days, it remains unsearchable, i.e., entering ANY word in the search field yields "0" results.
Thanks for any help!

5 volumes...it could also be stuck downloading. Go to home--menu---view downloading items-----that last option should be greyed out. If it is not; send the book again from Manage Your Kindle on your Amazon.com page.

HarryT · 01-29-2011, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertblues

5 volumes...it could also be stuck downloading.

No, I don't think that this is the case. The fact that the OP is attempting to search within the book implies that it's been successfully opened. That means that it's been downloaded: you can't open a book which hasn't been fully downloaded.

caleb72 · 01-29-2011, 06:29 PM

I have this issue as well for some books. It seems to me that this indexing idea was not implemented very well. What value is the indexing actually giving?

And is the device actually constantly chewing up CPU cycles in these cases thereby wasting battery life?

Regards
Caleb

desertblues · 01-29-2011, 06:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caleb72

I have this issue as well for some books. It seems to me that this indexing idea was not implemented very well. What value is the indexing actually giving?

And is the device actually constantly chewing up CPU cycles in these cases thereby wasting battery life?

Regards
Caleb

Endless indexing (when a book can't get indexed for some reason) causes batterydrain and makes the Kindle unstable......it functions, but crashes easily.

FF2 · 01-29-2011, 07:17 PM

Is this the $130 volume? Was it a kindle book or possibly a pdf or??? If it was that fairly expensive volume, I'd call Amazon's KINDLE customer service and ask for help. You can return it if it does not work for you. You only have 7 days to return if unsatisfied unless it allows the searching you want.

susan_cassidy · 01-29-2011, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by caleb72

What value is the indexing actually giving?

If the books were not indexed, searching could take minutes to complete. With indexing, it already knows what words are where, and in what books.

caleb72 · 01-29-2011, 09:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by susan_cassidy

If the books were not indexed, searching could take minutes to complete. With indexing, it already knows what words are where, and in what books.

I'm guessing if you were searching across your whole collection and it's quite large such a search could take minutes.

I would have thought the strongest use case for searching is within 1 volume though and I doubt a proprietary search through a compressed/binary mobi format would take minutes regardless of the size of the book. If Kindle accepted more than mobi format the case would be different - but this should be one of the advantages of limiting format.

That aside though as there is at least a marginal speed advantage in searches that have an index, if the indexing is introduced in such a way that you can get scenarios of endless indexing, then it's possibly not robust enough.

Regards
Caleb

Colegno · 02-04-2011, 03:29 PM

Thanks so much for your replies.
Mystery solved! After several conversations with Kindle reps, it was discovered that the publisher of the work has just alerted Amazon that the file was corrupt, and that they were in the process of repairing it and redistributing. I suspected something of the kind since the book (all five vols) came in as a single file. It's readable, but unsearchable (always finds "0" instances of any word). I give credit to customer service: offered to refund the purchase, or to contact me directly when the file is updated, for a fresh download (I chose the latter since I can still read the thing).
Thanks again for the helpful input.

01-29-2011, 11:23 AM	#1
Colegno Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Kindle 3	Can't search my book! Anyone have any insight to my search conundrum? Just downloaded a 5-volume work - oxford history of music - which came in as a single volume. After 2 days, it remains unsearchable, i.e., entering ANY word in the search field yields "0" results. Thanks for any help!

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01-29-2011, 11:54 AM	#2
waller4343 Enthusiast Posts: 46 Karma: 16090 Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Colorado, USA Device: Kindle DX, K3, iPad	Have you checked to see if it's still indexing? Type a non word like asdfg at your home page and search your items. If your book comes up as still indexing then you won't be able to search it. After 2 days it could be stuck. Then you can try deleting it and reinstalling it to see if it works better.

01-29-2011, 12:58 PM	#3
TheKindleWorm Guru Posts: 860 Karma: 177868 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: East Anglia UK Device: Kindle 3G, iPhone 3G, iPod 4G, PB 360, Sony 600 sold, Kindle 2i sold	Yes welcome to mobileread And waller4343 has come up with some good advice - sounds like there may have been a problem in indexing with this file as it should be searchable.

01-29-2011, 06:29 PM	#6
caleb72 Indie Advocate Posts: 2,863 Karma: 18794463 Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Melbourne, Australia Device: Kindle	I have this issue as well for some books. It seems to me that this indexing idea was not implemented very well. What value is the indexing actually giving? And is the device actually constantly chewing up CPU cycles in these cases thereby wasting battery life? Regards Caleb

01-29-2011, 07:17 PM	#8
FF2 Wizard Posts: 1,105 Karma: 1025784 Join Date: Oct 2010 Device: WiFi Kindle3	Is this the $130 volume? Was it a kindle book or possibly a pdf or??? If it was that fairly expensive volume, I'd call Amazon's KINDLE customer service and ask for help. You can return it if it does not work for you. You only have 7 days to return if unsatisfied unless it allows the searching you want.

02-04-2011, 03:29 PM	#11
Colegno Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Kindle 3	Thanks so much for your replies. Mystery solved! After several conversations with Kindle reps, it was discovered that the publisher of the work has just alerted Amazon that the file was corrupt, and that they were in the process of repairing it and redistributing. I suspected something of the kind since the book (all five vols) came in as a single file. It's readable, but unsearchable (always finds "0" instances of any word). I give credit to customer service: offered to refund the purchase, or to contact me directly when the file is updated, for a fresh download (I chose the latter since I can still read the thing). Thanks again for the helpful input.

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