Non Amazon Books - Calibre vs. Send to Kindle

[nynaevelan]

I've been seeing a lot of posts from folks in regards to sideloading books either through Calibre/USB or by sending them to Amazon via the Send To Kindle tool. I am confused as to what would be the benefits over using one over the other. I have yet to use the StK tool for books themselves and I wonder why would that be a tool to use. Can you all explain your preferred method and what benefits you think it offers? I would appreciate your insight, I am wondering if I should be switching how I handle my sideloaded books. I've compiled a list that I would find beneficial:

Calibre/USB
Pro
covers
shows up as book
available via Dropbox
sync last read page

Con
not easily available from web on pw2



Send to Kindle
Pro
available via myk

Con
no book cover
seen as personal doc

[susan_cassidy]

The documents sent via Send to Kindle (or via email to your Kindle email address) puts the document in your cloud, so that you can access it from any device. If there is no book cover, you can convert from mobi to mobi via Calibre, and re-send it. Then it should have a cover. So what if is is seen as a personal doc. That doesn't matter at all on an e-ink Kindle. It may put it in a different place on a Fire, but then, you know it is a personal document. I don't know if changing it from PDOC to EBOK in Calibre will fix that, or if the STK app or email changes it to PDOC.

[kristalana]

I sideload all my books with Calibre/USB. The personal documents thing is a dealbreaker for me with Send to kindle, so I only use that for articles, webpages, etc. Also I convert nearly all my books to remove indents, add spacing and insert a metadata page so I'd be sending them from Calibre anyway. (I adore Calibre)

[pidgeon92]

I sideload all of my books from calibre via USB. This includes ebooks purchased from Amazon. I like having all of my ebooks stored in one central location, and not having to turn the wi-fi on on my Kindle (which then I often forget to turn off).

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

I sideload all of my books from calibre via USB. This includes ebooks purchased from Amazon. I like having all of my ebooks stored in one central location, and not having to turn the wi-fi on on my Kindle (which then I often forget to turn off).

I feel the same way but I was wondering if I was missing something by not using the send to kindle app. I guess the biggest dealbreaker for me is Amazon putting them in as personal docs instead of books. I prefer having all my books as books on all my devices. Since I read on both my fire and pw, I do not want to be jumping back and forth between the docs and books section on the Fire.A small thing I know but with dropbox I don't have to worry about that.

[Atunah]

I side load with send to kindle. Right from calibre in the book folders. I like having it all in the cloud basically so I can pull it on my kindles whenever I want or need it. I have covers though on my docs, but it does say personal docs on my PW. I can't recall off hand now what it says on my basic kindle.

My main thing is having it all in one place. And I rarely plug in my kindles through USB. I think only times I do it is when I manually update them.

But its whatever one prefers.

[copyrite]

Originally Posted by Atunah

I side load with send to kindle. Right from calibre in the book folders. I like having it all in the cloud basically so I can pull it on my kindles whenever I want or need it. I have covers though on my docs, but it does say personal docs on my PW. I can't recall off hand now what it says on my basic kindle.

My main thing is having it all in one place. And I rarely plug in my kindles through USB. I think only times I do it is when I manually update them.

But its whatever one prefers.

STK here, too. I go back and forth between three Kindle devices, this way everything is in sync for me depending on whichever device I use.

[SteveEisenberg]

Send to Kindle is for text-oriented web pages you see on your PC that you want read on your Kindle. I use it at least a couple times a week for longish news articles and essays, as they are more pleasant to read on my eInk Kindle than on a PC.

Here's one I just used Send to Kindle on:

http://www.foreignaffairs.com/articl...-long-division

No endorsement of the above link is intended, as I have not yet read it!

It remains true to me (and few others) that eReaders are only slightly superior to books over paper, but far superior for essays. And old link, suitable for Send to Kindle, that I do endorse:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/da...is-for-essays/

[Atunah]

I have the browser add on also that is send to kindle, which is different from the program send to kindle I installed and it appears now when I right click on a acceptable file already on my computer.

They both do different things. I like the web based one for recipes and such. They also get backed up in the cloud so when I grab the fire for kitchen use, its there.

[copyrite]

Just to clarify, yes, there are several different forms of Send To Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle

I use the desktop version to send MOBI files to my KK, PW, and Fire, and store in the cloud, that way the file can be synched between devices.

I use the browser version for recipes, and this week in particular, reviews of a certain TV show from Sunday evening that generated a heck o' a lot of blogtime.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by copyrite

Just to clarify, yes, there are several different forms of Send To Kindle
http://www.amazon.com/gp/sendtokindle

Aha. I hadn't heard of the Send to Kindle that, as I now understand it, allows adding a Send to Kindle option to the PC context menu.

I'm not sure it would be useful to me but will think about it.

[eschwartz]

On good reason for keeping it all local is to use the AZW3 format, which handles hyphenated words better and is required for embedded fonts.

But of course you lose whispersync.

Personally, I don't see any benefit other than whispersynced annotations, and since I only have one device I don't need it. That being so, there is no reason to use it so why not just stick with calibre?

[johnoz123]

The only reason IMO to send a non Amazon purchased book/doc via email or via 'send to kindle' is that it allows you to stay in sync across various devices. So, when I'm waiting at the dentist I can pull out my iPhone and begin reading (using the Kindle iPhone app) exactly where I left off when I closed my PW the night before. It's a great feature.

[Josieb1]

I sideload my non Amazon books as I use a embedded font which Calibre loads into a AZW file, you can't email those to Amazon. If i do send to Amazon I email if I've received the book via an email (for a review etc) but if I'm at my Pc then I use Send to Kindle. Those books I read with one of the fonts the PW comes with.

[mewmartigan]

Originally Posted by johnoz123

The only reason IMO to send a non Amazon purchased book/doc via email or via 'send to kindle' is that it allows you to stay in sync across various devices. So, when I'm waiting at the dentist I can pull out my iPhone and begin reading (using the Kindle iPhone app) exactly where I left off when I closed my PW the night before. It's a great feature.

Yup, I use "send to Kindle" for all the books I buy from Baen because then Whispersync (does amazon still use that term?) works with them. I can read on my Kindle and android phone and keep the same spot in the book.