Content Server location is a problem

[cybmole]

i use side by side. on Kindle Fire. I let amazon manage bought books directly from amazon and samples, CC manages everything else, including in some case, epub conversions of those same books which I have decided to read in mantano app instead. ( as I continue to flip over which reading app i prefer). Works for me, but I am minimalist, just one Fire & only a handful of current reading projects on the device at any one time.

if I switch to epub it is often because I don't care for the original published formatiing so by the time I have maneuvered the amazon book into calibre / sigil & tweaked it, to my liking, I will read in that format & not bother to convert back to AZW. plus it is less brain taxing to only have to remember epub = tweaked, azw = original.

[chaley]

I understand that CC + calibre's mode of operation isn't for you. What I say below is strictly for info in case someone else comes along.

Originally Posted by Daria9000

For me, there are several problems. First, much as I like Calibre, I'm not prepared to give it sole responsibility for my ebooks. I am, for better or worse, wedded to Amazon at this point. I buy e-books almost exclusively from Amazon and download them regularly to my Fire. As I understand your explanation, every time I downloaded an Amazon book, I'd have to send it to Calibre, incorporate it in the Calibre library, download it from Calibre and then delete the Amazon copy...

This is exactly my workflow. I read on 3 different devices: my phone (Nexus 5), my e-ink reader (Boyue T62+ equivalent), and my Fire HD. I also don't like the Kindle for Android reader, so I read books in epub. To make this multi-device use possible the first thing I do is strip Amazon's DRM. Finally, I never buy a book using my device, instead using my desktop. I have never found myself in a position where I had nothing to read and was not near my computer.

because I found last night that the folder setting in the Calibre Companion options on both of my Fire HDXs is empty. Amazon does not store its books in that location.

From time to time Amazon changes where they put cloud-downloaded books. At one point it was /kindle, at another point it is /Books, and now it seems to be Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files. However, the Amazon library manager and reader app can handle books being in /Books, at least on my Fire. I have never tried changing CC's storage folder to the Android... one.

Third, and related to the first point, I have had problems in the past with Amazon's ability to sync book notes and highlights across devices. Introducing Calibre Companion, as currently designed, into the mix would pretty much make it impossible for me to get any help from Amazon when/if more problems occur in the future.

Even taking CC out of the picture (cabled connections), calibre users who also use Kindle devices have reported no end of problems with Amazon, so this worry is probably a certainty.

I do have a suggestion: I think the description of the Calibre Companion app should emphasize that it must be used as a replacement for Amazon's library management not as an addition to or enhancement of Amazon's library.

I am not convinced. Thousands of people have bought CC from Amazon and you are the first who has had this sort of problem, or at least the first that has talked to us about it. Putting in such a disclaimer would frighten away people who otherwise probably would be satisfied.

Lastly, I want to thank you very much for taking the time to explain everything to me.

You are welcome.

[Daria9000]

Originally Posted by DoctorOhh

Interesting suggestion. Calibre Companion simply is a direct companion for books folks maintain in their calibre library. I could be wrong and I don't have a Fire, but I don't see any reason to think the two apps can't be used side by side without interfering with each other.

Yes and no.

First, the primary reason that Calibre Companion won't work for me is that I am currently wedded to Amazon & Kindle Fires. Even when I download a book (usually public domain) from another web site, I do it from my Kindle Fire.

In fact, I first got Calibre because Amazon treated such books as DOCS or, now Documents, rather than books and didn't save them to the cloud. So I used Calibre to remove the [pdoc] tag so they would show up under Books and/or to convert the book to a Kindle-friendly format. I also wanted to have one place where all my ebooks would exist, regardless of where I got them.

Amazon does now store non-Amazon books in its Cloud, although they are stored separately in the Documents section which is, of course, very annoying. (I could have Book 1 of a series in Books and Book 2 in Documents. Sheesh)

If, as an Amazon user, I wanted to separate my non-Amazon books from my Amazon books, then using Calibre Companion would make sense - especially if I acquired those books through the Calibre shopping option. But I don't want to separate my ebooks based on source of acquisition. I couldn't tell you where 70% of my physical books were bought. I could care less whether my e-books come from Project Gutenberg or Amazon or, for that matter, B&N.

The situation for users of other e-book devices (Sony, Kobe, Nook) may be very different and, for them, the Calibre Companion might make perfect sense.

So, I suppose I would modify my "warning" to say that users who buy all their e-books from Amazon to be read on Amazon devices and want them stored in Amazon's Cloud and managed by Amazon services probably will not want to use Calibre Companion.

[cybmole]

Originally Posted by Daria9000

So, I suppose I would modify my "warning" to say that users who buy all their e-books from Amazon to be read on Amazon devices and want them stored in Amazon's Cloud and managed by Amazon services probably will not want to use Calibre Companion.

well to the end of that, you should logically append " ...or calibre, or even these forums " ?

There are other tools ( google will find them) that claim to improve on amazon's native management of shelves, collections etc but work only for amazon books. If you are 100% amazon you may wish to look into those

[DoctorOhh]

I understand that it is not for you.

Originally Posted by Daria9000

So, I suppose I would modify my "warning" to say that users who buy all their e-books from Amazon to be read on Amazon devices and want them stored in Amazon's Cloud and managed by Amazon services probably will not want to use Calibre Companion.

That "warning" is the title of the app itself, "Calibre Companion" if you don't use calibre to manage your books why buy Calibre Companion?

Since there is a free demo app that folks can test drive I don't think any further clarification is required.