Browse and access your library easily over whispernet

[katzenstreik]

Wouldn't it be great to browse and easily access your library over whispernet? Well, it's possible for quite some time with the Calibre Content Server and Dropbox (see this thread). It was however too complicated for me and you have to have your computer up and running calibre in order to use this method.

I use dropbox as the default folder to store and backup my calibre library. Dropbox has the possibility to publicly access all files you store in the folder called 'Public' over the internet. By choosing the 'Public'-folder for my ebook library I thus had the possibility to access my .mobi files one at a time from my Kindle (go to the specific file, press the right mouse button and choose 'Dropbox','Copy Public Link' then Paste it wherever you want and copy it by hand in the browser adress bar on your kindle).

So the problem was: Dropbox let's you access single files publicly over your browser but not directories/folders. I thought briefly about compiling my files in a list, sending it to me by mail and accessing it over gmail, but that's far too much work for me to be convenient and I didn't think about it anymore.

When I saw the coverage of Steve Jobs' keynote at the WWDC (of all things...) on BoingBoing I had the solution. BoingBoing had send their developer Dean Putney to cover the day and he shared all pictures he took over his public Dropbox under a CC non-commercial license: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/994121/index.html

As you can see it's an indexing directory of his Public Dropbox folder with all the photos he took of the keynote which itself is accessible in his Dropbox. Seeing that, I immediately thought of my Kindle! Here's how it's done.

• Go to http://dl.dropbox.com/u/552/pyndexer/index.html
• Download the pyndexer.exe directly to your My Dropbox\public folder
• Doubleclick on the .exe (The script will now index all folders and subfolders and put in each an index.html file)
• Right click on the index.html file in the top directory of your library, select 'Dropbox' then 'Copy Public Link'
• Paste the link in a new browser tab or window to check - you should see a directory of your library
• Open the browser on your Kindle and put the link in the adress bar
• (Optional: press 'menu' and 'add to bookmarks' for easy access in the future)
• Browse your library with the 5-way controller
• Click on any .mobi/.azw and the Kindle will ask you if you wish to download the book
• Once you click OK and the download is finished, the file will automatically appear on the Home screen!

With the advent of free internet browsing over my Kindle 2i here in Germany (thank you luvmy4brats!) I verified that this is indeed possible and it works great!

You will just have to run the script from time to time to keep your indexes/indices up to date. But keep in mind that running this script will overwrite all existing index.html files! That's actually a good thing because your bookmarked link keeps valid. It's also possible to share the link to the index.html with a friend so that he can browse your library and download the (public domain) books he likes.

You will only be able to download AZW, AZW1, PRC, MOBI and TXT files to your Kindle, no PDF, MP3 etc.!

Please use this method to download books to your Kindle in a responsible way. Don't use it if you can use your USB instead. We don't want Amazon to restrict our access due to rising traffic...

A big THANK YOU to the creator of Pyndexer! (and to Dean Putney )

If you don't have your own Dropbox account, please consider using this link to create one (we will both get 250 MB of bonus space). The basic Dropbox is free and has 2GB capacity, it's a great tool to backup, sync and share your files.

https://www.dropbox.com/referrals/NTc2MTUwNTI5

Have fun with your mobile library!

[katzenstreik]

I just discovered that there's a programm called calibre2opds with documentation in our wiki that does basically the same and much much more! Displaying covers, showing the description, browsing books by author, date,... Thank you for pointing that out Sischa!

Well, maybe the method above is a valid option if you want to have a better performance on your Kindlebrowser in your library than with calibre2opds' access. Or if you prefer the lean Pyndexer directory over the lush calibre2opds access and a simpler setup. And of course for Kindle owner without Calibre, who want to access their library over whispernet.