Is sideloading as simple as a drag-n-drop?

[swapjim]

Is sideloading a book to a reader as simple as connecting the reader on my PC (Windows 7 and FreeBSD) and do a drag-n-drop of the file?

This is a general question about the status quo of the readers out there. I understand that I'll need to research the specific reader I'll be buying to make sure it works the way I want to.

My plan is to never, ever put the reader online, keep all ebooks on my external hard drive, and expect nothing from the cloud, be it storage of syncing.

[Barbara1955]

Click on the ebook> Send to> Pick Device you want it on. Click on Device. Go to PC to Device & Click & drag to ebook to the correct folder. Eject reboot turn on Device ...there is your ebook!!! Some steps my vary for different devices...but this is it.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by swapjim

Is sideloading a book to a reader as simple as connecting the reader on my PC (Windows 7 and FreeBSD) and do a drag-n-drop of the file?

This is a general question about the status quo of the readers out there. I understand that I'll need to research the specific reader I'll be buying to make sure it works the way I want to.

My plan is to never, ever put the reader online, keep all ebooks on my external hard drive, and expect nothing from the cloud, be it storage of syncing.

Generally, yes, if the books have no DRM. They must be in the right format for the reader, naturally. With Kindles it's azw3 (mobi works too, but azw3 is better) and you must copy the book not to the root folder, but to the documents folder.

If you're a Calibre user, then you can use Calibre for sending your books to your reader.

[cfrizz]

I download all of my books to my pc, and side load.

I utilize Calibre to re-convert my epubs after disinfecting any that have DRM. Very few do, since I no longer buy books from the BPHs, I will only utilize public library for their copies of ebooks.

However, I have my main copies on my pc, and also backed up on an Iomega drive.

My main reader on my pc is Sony Reader for PC. This is where I download library books to for reading.

I utilize Moonreader Pro on 3 smartphones and one tablet for side loaded books.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by swapjim

Is sideloading a book to a reader as simple as connecting the reader on my PC (Windows 7 and FreeBSD) and do a drag-n-drop of the file?

This is a general question about the status quo of the readers out there. I understand that I'll need to research the specific reader I'll be buying to make sure it works the way I want to.

My plan is to never, ever put the reader online, keep all ebooks on my external hard drive, and expect nothing from the cloud, be it storage of syncing.

It can be that easy, yes. But would recommend learning about using Calibre to manage both your library on the external hard drive and sideloading. There's Calibre versions for Windows (32 and 64-bit), Mac and Linux. Not sure what would be needed to get it running on FreeBSD.

Calibre makes it easy to edit metadata on your books, change their covers and even edit the books if they are poorly formatted. It also makes it easy to convert books from one format to another and can assist with stripping DRM if you install the Apprentice Alf plug-ins.

[mobama]

Originally Posted by swapjim

Is sideloading a book to a reader as simple as connecting the reader on my PC (Windows 7 and FreeBSD) and do a drag-n-drop of the file?

This is a general question about the status quo of the readers out there. I understand that I'll need to research the specific reader I'll be buying to make sure it works the way I want to.

I look past any devices where it's more complicated than this. I want it to work as follows:

1. Stick a microSD card in the computer.
2. Copy the files.
3. Remove the microSD from the computer and stick it in the ereader.
4. Start reading on the ereader.

This presupposes that you don't buy DRM-protected books or, if you do, you are ready to go through the hassle of enabling them on the ereader. It can be done though.

Also, ereaders cannot display all sorts of random files, but they can legitimately be expected to show files for reading: epub, mobi, pdf, djvu, doc, rtf, txt, htm(l). In general, all ereaders can display all these formats, except Kindle does not do epub, but this is fixed by installing another reader-app, such as Cool Reader or Koreader.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by mobama

Also, ereaders cannot display all sorts of random files, but they can legitimately be expected to show files for reading: epub, mobi, pdf, djvu, doc, rtf, txt, htm(l). In general, all ereaders can display all these formats, except Kindle does not do epub, but this is fixed by installing another reader-app, such as Cool Reader or Koreader.

You cannot install anything on a Kindle without jailbreaking it first. I would think that converting epub to azw3 or mobi is much simpler than jailbreaking.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by mobama

I look past any devices where it's more complicated than this. I want it to work as follows:

1. Stick a microSD card in the computer.
2. Copy the files.
3. Remove the microSD from the computer and stick it in the ereader.
4. Start reading on the ereader.

That would work on a Kobo. But using Calibre will ensure things like metadata, so you can long press on a book cover to get a brief synopsis and it will show if the book is part of a series and what part it is.

Originally Posted by mobama

Also, ereaders cannot display all sorts of random files, but they can legitimately be expected to show files for reading... except Kindle does not do epub, but this is fixed by installing another reader-app, such as Cool Reader or Koreader.

That feels a little penny wise/pound foolish.

You can jailbreak your Kindle to install an entirely different platform all so you can bypass a free program that will allow you to read the same program natively and is just as easy as drag and drop?

I mean, do what suits you. I just feel like Calibre gives many benefits with minimal headaches. Using Calibre, I've never had any of the issues ejecting my Kobo using any of the preview builds of Windows 10 that I heard complaints about in the forum. Using Calibre, I haven't had any issues ejecting my Glowlight 3 that I've heard others mention in the forum.

(I should go into advertising for Calibre! Or at least donate again...)

[barryem]

Originally Posted by swapjim

Is sideloading a book to a reader as simple as connecting the reader on my PC (Windows 7 and FreeBSD) and do a drag-n-drop of the file?

Yes!

That's the simple answer to your question. All the other complicated answers you're getting are everyone telling you the various ways they prefer to do it. We all have our own way we prefer to sideload books and they all work.

Why are you so eager never to connect your reader to the cloud? I download my books to my Kindle directly from the cloud. It's easy and never a problem. It does give Amazon information about me but I have a lot of information about them too so that's okay.

On my Nook and my Kobo I keep the Wifi off and simply drag and drop books to them from my PC. The reason is that I never have any reason to use Wifi on those although I would turn it on without hesitation if I had a reason.

I saw a bumper sticker once that said "yea I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil for I am the meanest SOB in the valley". I laughed a while and then after thinking about it I decided that's a worthy goal and i would live up to it. And I have. And Amazon and B&N and Kobo and all the rest stay up at night for fear of me!

Barry

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by barryem

Yes!

That's the simple answer to your question. All the other complicated answers you're getting are everyone telling you the various ways they prefer to do it. We all have our own way we prefer to sideload books and they all work.

Barry, you don't generally use Calibre, right? What would you say is percentage of books that download with no metadata? Mine usually have it, but more than a few show up blank.

I admit I don't need to look up a synopsis for every book on my device, but it bugs me when it doesn't work.

Why are you so eager never to connect your reader to the cloud? I download my books to my Kindle directly from the cloud. It's easy and never a problem. It does give Amazon information about me but I have a lot of information about them too so that's okay.

On my Nook and my Kobo I keep the Wifi off and simply drag and drop books to them from my PC. The reason is that I never have any reason to use Wifi on those although I would turn it on without hesitation if I had a reason.

I leave Wi-Fi off on my Kobo mainly because I have it all patched up and don't want new firmware to download and wipe out my hard work. Kobos are great at allowing customization, but I'm not a big fan of the straight out of the box software experience.

[sjfan]

Originally Posted by barryem

That's the simple answer to your question. All the other complicated answers you're getting are everyone telling you the various ways they prefer to do it. We all have our own way we prefer to sideload books and they all work.

Why are you so eager never to connect your reader to the cloud? I download my books to my Kindle directly from the cloud. It's easy and never a problem.

It's not “never” a problem in general. Managing things locally gives you the final control over them, and avoids putting availability in the hands of your network connectivity and/or a 3rd party's whims.

For some people that’s certainly minor, and the upsides of the cloud to them more than outweigh those issues. And that’s a reasonable personal decision. But it is a personal decision.

For me, it’s easier to organize things once on my computer and then sync them to my e-reader, phone, and laptop than to deal with a clunky cloud interface and trying to get it working with a bunch of devices that may not all be from that cloud vendor’s preferred ecosystem. And a lot of the time when I travel, I don’t have network connectivity, so I prefer having all my books locally available so I can pick what I want to read next without hunting for wi-fi or something.

And some providers have historically deleted books that people have purchased—most notably Amazon, in the 1984/Animal Farm debacle and similar incidents with Ayn Rand and Harry Potter books. They've said they won't do that again unless they really have to, and it’s reasonble to view that as unlikely. It’s also reasonable to decide that keeping control of your books local avoids the risk of changing publishing deals or legal understandings altering what’s in your library.

It’s also just a good security practice to limit the number of things that you connect to outside networks to those that really need it—if you're getting value from the cloud (as you are), then great, security should almost never trump usability. But if you’re not then it’s a decent idea to disable that connection entirely.

It’s much like the debate over keeping personal DVD/music libraries vs. relying on Netflix/Spotify/etc; for some people one’s a better solution, for others the reverse is true. There’s no “one size fits all.”

[shalym]

Originally Posted by sjfan

It's not “never” a problem in general. Managing things locally gives you the final control over them, and avoids putting availability in the hands of your network connectivity and/or a 3rd party's whims.

For some people that’s certainly minor, and the upsides of the cloud to them more than outweigh those issues. And that’s a reasonable personal decision. But it is a personal decision.

For me, it’s easier to organize things once on my computer and then sync them to my e-reader, phone, and laptop than to deal with a clunky cloud interface and trying to get it working with a bunch of devices that may not all be from that cloud vendor’s preferred ecosystem. And a lot of the time when I travel, I don’t have network connectivity, so I prefer having all my books locally available so I can pick what I want to read next without hunting for wi-fi or something.

And some providers have historically deleted books that people have purchased—most notably Amazon, in the 1984/Animal Farm debacle and similar incidents with Ayn Rand and Harry Potter books. They've said they won't do that again unless they really have to, and it’s reasonble to view that as unlikely. It’s also reasonable to decide that keeping control of your books local avoids the risk of changing publishing deals or legal understandings altering what’s in your library.

It’s also just a good security practice to limit the number of things that you connect to outside networks to those that really need it—if you're getting value from the cloud (as you are), then great, security should almost never trump usability. But if you’re not then it’s a decent idea to disable that connection entirely.

It’s much like the debate over keeping personal DVD/music libraries vs. relying on Netflix/Spotify/etc; for some people one’s a better solution, for others the reverse is true. There’s no “one size fits all.”

What incidents with Ayn Rand and Harry Potter? I hadn't heard anything about that?

Shari

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by shalym

What incidents with Ayn Rand and Harry Potter? I hadn't heard anything about that?

Shari

Those two have NEVER gotten along!

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Those two have NEVER gotten along!

[swapjim]

Originally Posted by mobama

1. Stick a microSD card in the computer.
2. Copy the files.
3. Remove the microSD from the computer and stick it in the ereader.
4. Start reading on the ereader.

So I'll take it that all readers that have an SD slot will read books from the SD card. Nice.

Thanks everyone!