Brand New KK

[Hardboiled]

This is my first post here but a long time lurker and thank you to all those who have, provided the tools and invaluable help over more than 12 years eReading! I know this thread is about upgrading really to modern devices but I just like to give a shout out for the KK, aka K3, that I have been using all those years, as an alternative, since there are still many many of them available and a new battery makes them almost good as new. At least the 2nd one I've just bought from eBay for 35 quid, with lighted case, looks exactly brand new. A photo can't do it justice since the ebay ones didn't and I thought I'd overpaid for it, but I wanted the lighted case too, since my old one has that and it's absolutely key to it's longevity for me and is to me truly the most book like case of all. My requirements for an eReader are pretty basic:

1) Read like a book, clearly, nicely and at night too; 2) show the cover when I'm not reading, so I remember what I'm reading, when I pick it up again; 3) Organise the books into genres, etc. I have no need for Audiobooks, PDFs, MP3s - I use much more adequate devices with better storage for those files. TTS I have never really used but it's nice it's there.

Internet connection doesn't really matter to me - I've always used Calibre. But this KK came this week, was on an older firmware; 3G still was working; I registered it, no issue; Updated the firmware (3G disappeared, no big loss), connected to wifi, downloaded my books from Amazon, all set.

I know there's been a lot of improvements since this model came out but it already was a lot better than reading real paperbacks for me over 10 years ago. I love those but I lost hundreds of books in an accident of moving and over time I have put virtually every one of them on the single old 1st KK. The 2nd one is the 2nd volume for different books, though the 1st is no where near full either.

I used to be involved in a publishing business; a small independent imprint. It's my main profession and I eventually pulled out but I created and produced many eBooks for authors in that time, for all the major online retailers and the KK was the main physical device to test them before submission and I still spend hours reformatting my books with the tools I still have; even from major publishers like Random House, Hatchette, etc. because I am still horrified sometimes at how bad they can be. Now I would probably need newer devices too to take advantage of the extra tech and content ebooks can sometimes provide; but as I say I still like an ebook to be a primary text equivalent of a print one, without extras.

Sorry for the long 1st post but what I'm saying is something like a KK with lighted case, in good condition and there are many still out there for much less than I paid, perhaps with a new battery fitted (neither of mine seem to really need that yet though), can still make a really viable choice, for pure reading. Please forgive me if this is against the spirit of this thread, I just offer an alternative, if I may.

[Hardboiled]

I should just add, since I can't see a way to edit the original post; I imagine because I am new here: Publishing was not my main profession and please forgive other typos.

And since it was already a very long post, I forgot add some specifics on the brand new KK: I installed the custom firmware, as I had on the other, for fonts, screen save, etc. without issue. My original KK is in very good condition but it has a typical hairline crack in one corner and the electrical contacts for the case light are a little lose; you sometimes have to jiggle it. This one came with all the manual, case to, as new, an unused charger and without a single mark and the case is completely flush with loss of light, no matter how you hold it; as I said quite a few can be bought in this condition still. I realise these have dropped off the supported list and the store cannot be accessed from them either but I have no difficulty buying and downloading books to them from Amazon, over wifi. I have not bought a book yet published post Jan 2023, so I can't say about those and probably won't but nothing yet has presented a problem. Kindle Collections and Calibre work great for other stores/epubs too. Just an extra shout out and FYI. Thanks again to Mobilread for all the great resources and knowledge, over the years.

[Quoth]

In my experience especially the House of Random Penguins and inmates.

I don't need a lighted case as I don't use front lights, but for just reading the KK3 beats the later Basics (till 2022 model) and others before the PW3. As does the old Sony PRS-T2 (SD card slot, touch and buttons, T1 inferior).
I did replace the battery in a second hand KK3 which I still have.
Another good old ereader if you want small at same total resolution is the Sony PRS-350. The two Sony models allow Calibre to do collections, though I use the custom column used for Kobo rather than default tags column.
A decent small current model ereader would be the Y-Ben P47L.

However the S/H Kobos give the best Calibre support. I think all touch models except mini have fairly up-to-date firmware and thus support series as well as collections. Kobo is better for Annotations/Proofing work flow than Kindle and better control of margins & line spacing.

All our ebooks render almost the same on KK3 in azw3 as in epub on other ereaders. Only the mobi only Kindles are inferior. The KK3 was mobi only when I got it till I updated the FW.

[Hardboiled]

Yes I agree and we're all different and interesting what you say. The lighted cover for me works really well, even though the newer led front lighting is a huge advance, I use it often and wouldn't get anywhere near the use out of the KKs, without it. It's kind of more like a torch on a real paperback, only better and still very adequate. I've never had a problem with my jailbroken KK (did this one too; SS, fonts etc.) and Kindle Collections plugin for Calibre. I see the Kobos are much better with it and most likely if I do ever buy a new one, it will be a Kobo now. But the old and brand new KK, are all I could wish for, right now.

Since I'm new here and probably can't edit my posts yet, there were a few typos in the original post: publishing was not my main profession and I left it a few years ago, I've always loved books and set up an imprint for cross media work, once.

[Hardboiled]

Sorry my quick reply earlier didn't seem to go through so I'm repeating myself. Bad start, apologies.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Hardboiled

Sorry my quick reply earlier didn't seem to go through so I'm repeating myself. Bad start, apologies.

I've done that too. If you don't see your post, refresh the page. Sometimes you have to do that. Not sure why.

I still have a Kindle Keyboard. I used to have a lighted case but I like the less bulky Finte case. If I need a light on it, I've got a Kobo clip-on light that works well on the K3.

[Hardboiled]

Thanks recentros. I think as long as you have some kind of light it's still a viable device today. As I say I like the original Kindle lighted case because it's more like a traditional book than most; it's real leather; and since I have big hands I often hold it in the middle, with my left hand and flick pages with the left side buttons. Very durable too.

I finally had a chance to confirm today that you can still download content, of newer KFX books, as AWZ3s, from your account with a K3. I have not bought many books this year but I came across Meditations, by that old stoical emperor Marcus Aurelius. I have it already but at 25 pence I thought why not give him a little due royalty, since I have read him many times fondly. It transpired that even the ancients are not immune to modern DRM and my physical Kindles were greyed out. I had K4PC 1.17 installed and that too obviously could not download it. So I downloaded and installed the latest version, just for complete lock out. In my account though I was able to download for usb transfer a AWZ3 version. I loaded that directly into the documents folder of the new K3, skipping Calibre completely and it was fine. I loaded it into Calibre afterwards and was able to convert it to epub too. This may not be news to many but at least it's a further confirmation. So even if you don't care for them any longer they still may have a valuable place on the bookshelf, the old K3s.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I've done that too. If you don't see your post, refresh the page. Sometimes you have to do that. Not sure why.

There is also the possibility that the OP's post count was not high enough so a moderator needed to approve the post before it became visible. Somewhat similar to the way that some people get Private Messages enabled immediately and others need to have them enabled by a moderator, it seems to be controlled by a mysterious algorithm.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Hardboiled

In my account though I was able to download for usb transfer a AWZ3 version. I loaded that directly into the documents folder of the new K3, skipping Calibre completely and it was fine. I loaded it into Calibre afterwards and was able to convert it to epub too. This may not be news to many but at least it's a further confirmation. So even if you don't care for them any longer they still may have a valuable place on the bookshelf, the old K3s.

You can use Download & Transfer with any eink Kindle, not just the KK3. As things stand now, you'll get a deDRMable AZW3 even when your target device is a modern eink Kindle.

[Hardboiled]

You can use Download & Transfer with any eink Kindle, not just the KK3. As things stand now, you'll get a deDRMable AZW3 even when your target device is a modern eink Kindle.

Yes, I meant that the K3, as old as it is, still at least allows AZW3 download and transfer too, for those books after Jan 23 - since I've seen a lot of confusion around this issue suggesting they perhaps wouldn't, only for older pre-existing titles.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

You can use Download & Transfer with any eink Kindle, not just the KK3. As things stand now, you'll get a deDRMable AZW3 even when your target device is a modern eink Kindle.

I did the USB download (and a download straight to my Voyage) a week (or so) ago, and it downloaded an AZW file (without the "3"). The reason I noticed this is that I couldn't use my add-on fonts (in a Voyage) until I converted it to AZW3 in Calibre. Is this normal? (It was The Hobbit enhanced, multi-media edition I got on sale.)

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by rcentros

I did the USB download (and a download straight to my Voyage) a week (or so) ago, and it downloaded an AZW file (without the "3"). The reason I noticed this is that I couldn't use my add-on fonts (in a Voyage) until I converted it to AZW3 in Calibre. Is this normal? (It was The Hobbit enhanced, multi-media edition I got on sale.)

That means the book was in the old .mobi format. Can't use custom fonts with mobi.

Some Amazon books are still mobi instead of azw3.

[rcentros]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

That means the book was in the old .mobi format. Can't use custom fonts with mobi.

Some Amazon books are still mobi instead of azw3.

It was the 75th anniversary edition. I thought it was new, but it looks like it was published in 2012. So that makes sense. It's got some of Tolkien's illustrations in it, which makes it kind of nice. Also, if you read it on the Fire, J.R.R. Tolkien reads some small parts of the book. Audio doesn't work on Android phones, just on Fire tablets and iPhones, iPads and iPods (at least it did in 2012, I guess.) It reads fine when converted to ePub and AZW3.

[Quoth]

Oddly mobi may have some features not in azw3/KF8 or epub2. It may have supported limited interaction, a database and a directive to block paging to next part, so you could have parts only accessible via links. The documentation was sparse, but I still have a copy of the last Mobipocket book Creator on an XP VM on Linux copied off a laptop bought in 2002 using MS Disk2VHD (some experimenting with settings needed with Disk2VHD and also with Oracle Virtual Box on Linux (Update from Virtual Box 6.0 and earlier to 6.1 disables Direct3D support on XP, but not Win7. Unfortunately nothing I have on XP using Direct3D runs on Win7.)
Mobipocket Creator Publisher Edition 4.2 build 41 still works on XP via Virtual Box 6.1 on Linux Mint 21.1

I used it till I switched to Calibre for ebook creation. Originally with Word 2002, but at the end I was importing pre-cleaned HTML (in Notepad++) exported from Word and then Libre Office.

https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/sy...loads/disk2vhd
Will "export" a VHD from 64 bit Win7 on a UEFI bios PC, despite claims it can't, but obviously only if the Windows 7 was installed in Legacy Boot mode due to BIOS setting = Both.

Amazon no longer accepts mobi on KDP, but big publishers can do stuff KDP users can not.

[Hardboiled]

I did the USB download (and a download straight to my Voyage) a week (or so) ago, and it downloaded an AZW file (without the "3"). The reason I noticed this is that I couldn't use my add-on fonts (in a Voyage) until I converted it to AZW3 in Calibre. Is this normal? (It was The Hobbit enhanced, multi-media edition I got on sale.)

That happened to me too, rcentros, with another purchase - AZW/.mobi, even though again it wasn't allowed for direct sending to the K3. Yet in the same week I have bought 3 other books (cheap - I'm not made of money, hence the K3s ) and they were all sent directly to the device and downloadable too.