AZW vs AZW3 - which is best for conversion (Paperwhite)

[vaderag]

So, I'm trying to properly organise my library and get rid of things I dont need...
I know that AZW3 is the newer, better format, but most of my ebooks are either in Mobi or PDF with the odd epub... is it worth converting to AZW3 in Calibre or should i just convert to AZW? Am I going to gain anything by using AZW3?

As an aside, does anyone have a 'best' conversion settings for using on the Kindle Paperwhite (5th Generation according to my account)

Thanks!

[shalym]

Originally Posted by vaderag

So, I'm trying to properly organise my library and get rid of things I dont need...
I know that AZW3 is the newer, better format, but most of my ebooks are either in Mobi or PDF with the odd epub... is it worth converting to AZW3 in Calibre or should i just convert to AZW? Am I going to gain anything by using AZW3?

As an aside, does anyone have a 'best' conversion settings for using on the Kindle Paperwhite (5th Generation according to my account)

Thanks!

If your books are in mobi format already, there is no need to "convert" to azw--just rename the file. They are the same format, with different extensions. That being said, there really isn't even any need to rename it, as Kindles will read mobi files with no problem.

Shari

Shari

[vaderag]

Originally Posted by shalym

If your books are in mobi format already, there is no need to "convert" to azw--just rename the file. They are the same format, with different extensions. That being said, there really isn't even any need to rename it, as Kindles will read mobi files with no problem.

Shari

Shari

I think AZW3 is different tho?

It may sound silly, but I just want to consolidate all my books under one format type (I'm a bit anal ), so I guess if I run a conversion action on a mobi -> azw in Calibre it will just do a rename action? How about to an azw3?

[shalym]

Originally Posted by vaderag

I think AZW3 is different tho?

It may sound silly, but I just want to consolidate all my books under one format type (I'm a bit anal ), so I guess if I run a conversion action on a mobi -> azw in Calibre it will just do a rename action? How about to an azw3?

Azw3 is different, it allows more customization, and you can embed fonts. Unfortunately, if you are sending books to the Kindle cloud, they have to be in mobi format. If you really want to have the best of both worlds (storage in Kindle cloud and azw3), you can change the mobi output in Calibre to "both" which will create a file that can be sent to the cloud and it will be delivered to newer devices as azw3 and older devices as mobi.

Shari

[vaderag]

Thanks for your help - sounds like Mobi might be the easiest to keep things as then...

This is going to be a really stupid question, but what's the Kindle Cloud?! Been a while since I've taken a look at my collection / kindle setup!

[shalym]

Originally Posted by vaderag

Thanks for your help - sounds like Mobi might be the easiest to keep things as then...

This is going to be a really stupid question, but what's the Kindle Cloud?! Been a while since I've taken a look at my collection / kindle setup!

If you have books that came from somewhere other than Amazon, you can send to Amazon by either using email or the Send To Kindle app and they will be stored in your Kindle cloud. This allows syncing of reading position between different devices. I have Calibre set up so that I can email books directly to my Kindle, and they get converted on the fly.

Shari

[vaderag]

Originally Posted by shalym

If you have books that came from somewhere other than Amazon, you can send to Amazon by either using email or the Send To Kindle app and they will be stored in your Kindle cloud. This allows syncing of reading position between different devices. I have Calibre set up so that I can email books directly to my Kindle, and they get converted on the fly.

Shari

Gotcha.
I've always just done it by cable before, but e-mailing sounds the better option if it syncs... I always wished they were on my desktop app too!!

So for that I need Mobi/AZW if AZW3 wont work

[HarryT]

Note that "Kindle for PC/Mac" doesn't support personal documents, so no point in emailing files if you want to read them on your PC.

If your files are in Mobi format, the sole advantage of converting to KF8 (AZW3) would be that you could then very easily edit a book in Calibre's editor if you wanted to change something in it. Calibre can't edit Mobi files. That is a very big advantage - the editor is easy to use and I very often edit my books if they have something I don't like (eg a wide space between the paragraphs).

[vaderag]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Note that "Kindle for PC/Mac" doesn't support personal documents, so no point in emailing files if you want to read them on your PC.

If your files are in Mobi format, the sole advantage of converting to KF8 (AZW3) would be that you could then very easily edit a book in Calibre's editor if you wanted to change something in it. Calibre can't edit Mobi files. That is a very big advantage - the editor is easy to use and I very often edit my books if they have something I don't like (eg a wide space between the paragraphs).

Oh that's huge. Formatting is quite often an issue for me...
AZW3 it is then

[eschwartz]

When converting from EPUB to a Kindle format, you want to convert to AW3, as it preserves the formatting -- MOBI only supports a subset of functionality, and doesn't properly support styles.

Once you already have a MOBI (Amazon typically names these *.azw) there is nothing to be gained from converting it to AZW3, unless as HarryT says you want to edit it.
You could of course convert it to EPUB, edit it there, and reconvert for your Kindle, but the editor does directly support AZW3 too.

Personally I prefer editing EPUB -- opening and saving an AZW3 takes longer.

Originally Posted by HarryT

If your files are in Mobi format, the sole advantage of converting to KF8 (AZW3) would be that you could then very easily edit a book in Calibre's editor if you wanted to change something in it. Calibre can't edit Mobi files. That is a very big advantage - the editor is easy to use and I very often edit my books if they have something I don't like (eg a wide space between the paragraphs).

You may be aware of this, but the “Extra CSS” box allows you to apply a lot of those style changes without having to edit the book by hand. The huge advantage to this, from my perspective, is that Calibre will remember your settings, so if you have to reconvert for some reason, you won't have to redo the changes you did by hand.

For example, if the margins are created by a CSS rule:

p.ind { margin-top: 0.3em; }

you can fix that by simply doing this in the “Extra CSS” area:

p.ind { margin-top: 0; }

I use this to fix broken margins, line heights, indentation, and so on (there are some terrible-looking books out there!).

The built-in reader allows you to quickly see what rules apply by right-clicking and selecting “Inspect”, making it a fairly painless process, insofar as fixing bad typesetting can be painless.

[HarryT]

I am of course aware of this, but you'd still need to edit the book to find out what CSS needs to be changed, so why not just edit the book while you're in the editor?

Originally Posted by HarryT

I am of course aware of this, but you'd still need to edit the book to find out what CSS needs to be changed, so why not just edit the book while you're in the editor?

Because, as I mentioned, you would need to do the changes each time you convert. When I switched from Nook to Kindle, for example, I didn't have to check each and every book to see what CSS changes were needed, since I'd placed them in the “Extra CSS” area.

[HarryT]

I find that the editing changes I need are different for every book, so I don't think your approach would work for me.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Colerson

Because, as I mentioned, you would need to do the changes each time you convert. When I switched from Nook to Kindle, for example, I didn't have to check each and every book to see what CSS changes were needed, since I'd placed them in the “Extra CSS” area.

No doubt it's a useful tool, but that only works if the changes are something you need to set in every book, such as specific line spacing or something. I find that most of the time the fixes I need to do are book specific.