kindle for PC - lost dictionaries

[cybmole]

setup:
I have a UK purchased K3, wich has the UK & USA dictionaries working fine
I have a kindle for PC app set up last year on my main pc - that has the USA dictionary , but no UK dictionary
I no longer see any dictionary on manage my kindle - orders list - the USA one got accidentally deleted from there a while ago

problem:
I add kindle for PC to a new PC & find that dictionary is missing. K for PC says it cannot download it from my archives & to contact amazon. amazon say the only trick that may restore everything is dereg my k3, set it to factory default ( i.e. lose all my books) , re-reg it, then hope that amazon rebuilds its archives OK.

solutions tried.
I do not fancy the amazon solution esp as I upgraded 3.0 to 3.1 firmware ages ago and do not want that to revert...

so I think, I'll just copy kindle content from working pc install to new pc. but NO,

no matter what copy method I try - e.g. if I identify the dictionary only, & copy its (3) files ( .azw,. phl,. mbp ) or if I copy+paste the entire Kindle for PC folder, I still cannot get working dictionary onto new PC.
on the new PC the dictionary still does not appear as a book, & directly clicking the dictionary .acw file via windows explorer tells me that file cannot be opened - go re-download it. ( yet the same direct click of azw file method works on the older PC! )

so. is there an alternative solution that I ma missing, & is there any way to also get the UK oxford dictionary built into my UK Kindle to appear in my Kindle for PC apps ?

PS the older (working ) K4PC was installed as 1.1 then upgraded to 1.4 later, the newer problematic install was of 1.4, and was after I'd messed up my amazon archive. I read elsewhere that dictionary look up was added to v1.4 but with no choice of language dictionary ?

[cybmole]

Update well I figured that buying another dictionary should sort it for good -

so I buy from amazon Kindle store "the World's Biggest English Dictionary". which they say will work as my new kindle default
( & yes it does but only on the actual Kindle).

there seems to be no way to make this my new K4PC default - it just sits in K4pc as a book.

[DiapDealer]

solutions tried.
I do not fancy the amazon solution esp as I upgraded 3.0 to 3.1 firmware ages ago and do not want that to revert...

1) "Restore to Factory Defaults" does not revert firmware updates.
2) 3.1 was just released the day before yesterday, that's hardly "ages ago."

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

1) "Restore to Factory Defaults" does not revert firmware updates.
2) 3.1 was just released the day before yesterday, that's hardly "ages ago."

sorry - i meant 3.0.1.. that's good to know but does "restore to factory defaults" wipe books/ bookmarks etc.

i'm pretty sure the root cause is that new american... has been deleted from my archives on amazon servers. & no amount of messing with the K3 device is goona put it back there; and amazon CS cannot reinstate items that you have deleted from their servers.

hence the " buy a better dictionary" plan..... but the better dictionary refuses to integrate properly with K4PC - I guess I'll have to wait for a future K4PC upgrade or ask amazon to refund the new dictionary purchase. I emailed the saga to kindle feedback address also, in case they have any fresh ideas.

[DiapDealer]

i'm pretty sure the root cause is that new american... has been deleted from my records onamazon servers. no amount of messing with the K3 device is goona put it back, and amazon CS cannot reinstate items that you have deleted from their servers.

That sounds about right to me... which is terribly unfortunate for you. I agree that buying another dictionary is probably your only solution.

[ATDrake]

If it's any help, I have an auxiliary Amazon account which has never been registered to an actual Kindle, only K4Mac, and I have the US dictionary in the archives of that.

So it may be worth it to you to try creating and registering a new account to K4PC, download and possibly strip the dictionary, and transfer it to your K3 before you shell out any extra cash to replace something that was originally included with your K3 purchase.

ETA: Oops, just realized you were wanting it to work with your original K4PC install, which apparently can't select alternate dictionaries. Well, it may still be worth a try, if K4PC is programmed to auto-select the included US default by ASIN or whatever, rather than needing to have it listed in your archives.

[cybmole]

let me try get my head around that. as it happens I also have 2 x amazon accounts, I created a separate one for kindle stuff. so you reckon go to my main ( non Kindle) amazon account, get K4PC from there & register to there, see if it gives a copy of new american dictionary to that install ?

yes, It does create a new version of that book for that K4PC account. but stripping it for use on other PCs could be problematic - but if I wanted a aorkign K4PC with dictionary, just for unlicenced content, then that's a route.

[ATDrake]

Just as an experiment, I tried stripping and moving the included dictionary from one K4Mac account to another which didn't already have it loaded, and it shows up fine. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you if it could still be used for its intended function since apparently K4Mac does not yet have dictionary lookup among its feature-set.

But at least you've found you can use the dictionary with your auxiliary K4PC for your non-Amazon content. And there's always the route of staying on your dictionary-enabled K4PC and just stripping your Amazon content to load up so you can use the dictionary, though that seems unnecessarily baroque, especially considering one also loses notes & highlights backup and page sync.

Hopefully the Amazon feedback people will be able to sort you out.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Just as an experiment, I tried stripping and moving the included dictionary from one K4Mac account to another which didn't already have it loaded, and it shows up fine. Unfortunately, I couldn't tell you if it could still be used for its intended function since apparently K4Mac does not yet have dictionary lookup among its feature-set.

But at least you've found you can use the dictionary with your auxiliary K4PC for your non-Amazon content. And there's always the route of staying on your dictionary-enabled K4PC and just stripping your Amazon content to load up so you can use the dictionary, though that seems unnecessarily baroque, especially considering one also loses notes & highlights backup and page sync.

Hopefully the Amazon feedback people will be able to sort you out.

incredibly baroque but this sequence has now worked:
1. new amazon account + new K4PC to get a copy new american oxford dictionary for free, onto this PC. ( it was not retrievable from my K3 as it's stored in firmware on there?, not in documents or in any system folder that I can see )

2. somehow got the drm off of that file & the book imported to calibre , via various plug ins + lots of trial n error
( unless it was not drm'd to begin with - the only PIN /Sn I had to hand was for my k3 so sohuld not have worked!. or maybe it had only some generic DRM & is not locked to specific devices / accounts ? )

3. de-registered, then re-registered my k4PC on this pc back to my preferred amazon/kindle account, so I can access my other licenced stuff OK,

4. added the ( now-dedrmd) new american dictionary to this K4PC by double clicking the mobi file in calibre's show folder path option.

5. the dictionary then did what it should i.e. vanished into the innards of K4PC and now works as a word look up engine ( & is not visible as a book)

so all is finally as it should be , after many hours learning far more than I ever wanted to know about DRM - thanks for the help, I would not have gotten there alone.

PS I think Amazon no longer sell the dictionary which is bundled for free, leastways I could not see how to buy a copy from kindle store. I also read in another thread that they updated the store version a while back, leaving an older version in many folks archives/devices & thus leading to much confusion.

If I were to buy an upmarket expensive dictionary, I'd want a deal which annual updates, & not want to be locked in to something that gradually went out of date from not having new words. Amazon do not yet have a system for replacing books bought with updated / corrected versions - they will have to invent one eventually.

[Rouffian]

Question: Since the dictionaries are free for download, and obviously any Kindle owner has bought the right to use it, why can't you either:

1. just download it from Amazon
2. Get another user to zip it up and email it to you?

[HarryT]

I very much doubt that he's still interested, given that he asked the question 10 months ago.