Relationship between CC books and Kindle books on Fire tablets

HarryT · 02-01-2019, 07:39 AM

Hi chaley,

I'm struggling a little to understand the relationship of book storage between the Kindle app and CC on my Fire tablet.

I've installed CC on the Fire and accepted the default storage location of:

/storage/emulated/0/Kindle

I've copied lots of books into CC and some (but not all) of these are also showing up on the "Downloaded" tab of the Kindle app.

I've opened a book in the Kindle app from CC (which works fine), but the book I've opened is NOT appearing in the "Downloaded" tab of the app (it doesn't appear at the top of the "Recent" sort order, as I'd expect, and a search doesn't find it.)

I could of course always open books from CC, but this always opens a book at the beginning, which is annoying if you have several books on the go.

So I'd welcome a little advice. What's the best way to open books? How do I have several books "on the go" and swich between them without losing my reading position? When I open a book from CC, should it appear in the "Recent" list of the Kindle app?

Thanks!

HarryT · 02-01-2019, 09:46 AM

Now I'm completely baffled, chaley.

I've done a factory reset of my Fire and copied only half a dozen books from my Calibre library onto it using CC's wireless connection. The default storage location, as before, is:

/storage/emulated/0/Kindle

I opened one book and clicked on "Read". The book opened in the Books app, but when I go to "Books" and look at the "Downloaded" tab of the library is says "Your device is empty".

How do I make books show up in the library of the Books app? Obviously I don't want a book reset to the beginning every time I open it!

Thanks

.

chaley · 02-01-2019, 09:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I've copied lots of books into CC and some (but not all) of these are also showing up on the "Downloaded" tab of the Kindle app.

I don't know why this happens. I suspect it is related to whether the book has a correct amazon ASIN embedded in it, but I have never been able to prove that.

Quote:

I've opened a book in the Kindle app from CC (which works fine), but the book I've opened is NOT appearing in the "Downloaded" tab of the app (it doesn't appear at the top of the "Recent" sort order, as I'd expect, and a search doesn't find it.)

Again, how the amazon built-in reader app behaves is a mystery. Amazon uses the ASIN as the file name. It could be that

if the book was purchased from Amazon
is stored with the ASIN as its file name
and is stored in the deeply-buried amazon book folder (something like Android/data/com.amazon/kindle/files; my Fire is still in storage so I can't check)

then the reader app might recognize it properly. On the other hand, it might be a requirement that the reader app does the actual download.

Quote:

I could of course always open books from CC, but this always opens a book at the beginning, which is annoying if you have several books on the go.

So I'd welcome a little advice. What's the best way to open books? How do I have several books "on the go" and swich between them without losing my reading position? When I open a book from CC, should it appear in the "Recent" list of the Kindle app?

Thanks!

The only method I found is to use the "Recents" home screen page, but that comes with its own set of inconveniences.

TBH: if I used my Fire as a day-to-day reader then I would give up on the native app and install an epub reader. I can do that because I am not plugged deeply into the Amazon ecosystem and I don't care about KFX features. Others will disagree.

theducks · 02-01-2019, 10:07 AM

I think the folk at LAB126 are working overtime at building their (Amz) wall higher.

'Books' can only be bought from the Amazon channel. All else is a PDOC and it seems they keep tightening the allowed to show as books definition

Well, I will be tightening my purse strings in response. My K4NT is wearing out (I really like page turn buttons, but not for $200 more), so I went for a Kobo Aura2 from Wal*mart.

chaley · 02-01-2019, 10:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Now I'm completely baffled, chaley.

I've done a factory reset of my Fire and copied only half a dozen books from my Calibre library onto it using CC's wireless connection. The default storage location, as before, is:

/storage/emulated/0/Kindle

I opened one book and clicked on "Read". The book opened in the Books app, but when I go to "Books" and look at the "Downloaded" tab of the library is says "Your device is empty".

How do I make books show up in the library of the Books app? Obviously I don't want a book reset to the beginning every time I open it!

Thanks

.

There is one strange thing you can try. I have seen evidence that the folder should be named "kindle" instead of "Kindle" (case difference). Try using CC's Formats and folders to select a new folder (call it what you want), delete the CC-created "Kindle" folder (capitalized), then use CC to move the folder back to "kindle" (not capitalized).

HarryT · 02-01-2019, 10:26 AM

No joy, unfortunately. The folder actually was called "kindle". I renamed it to "Kindle", but no difference in behaviour. I also tried moving files to "/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files/books", but even there they still didn't show up.

HarryT · 02-01-2019, 10:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by theducks

I think the folk at LAB126 are working overtime at building their (Amz) wall higher.

'Books' can only be bought from the Amazon channel. All else is a PDOC and it seems they keep tightening the allowed to show as books definition

Well, I will be tightening my purse strings in response. My K4NT is wearing out (I really like page turn buttons, but not for $200 more), so I went for a Kobo Aura2 from Wal*mart.

There's no problem at all with sideloading books to an eInk Kindle. This seems to be something unique to the Fire tablet.

chaley · 02-01-2019, 10:46 AM

@HarryT: what happens if you download a purchased book to your desktop, targeted to the Fire for DRM, then copy that file to the fire somehow? Does the native reader app see it?

HarryT · 02-01-2019, 11:13 AM

Charles, this seems to be purely a matter of the location of the files, because if I load books from Calibre using a USB connection, they show up absolutely fine. Unfortunately, though, that's very, very slow, so it's not really practical for a large library.

The location of books on the Fire seems to be very complex. When I sideload books over USB I end up with files in numerous different folders.

theducks · 02-01-2019, 12:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

There's no problem at all with sideloading books to an eInk Kindle. This seems to be something unique to the Fire tablet.

Yes. My K4nt sideloads (I only did 1 test load via WiFi. 99% of the time it is in Airplane mode) great. The K4nt does seem to have a problem with certain display fonts (used for dropcaps), (Great Vibes-regular is one) that work just fine on the TAB A (kindle app), Kindle preview 3, Kindle app on my PC, and Calibre.

chaley · 02-01-2019, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

The location of books on the Fire seems to be very complex. When I sideload books over USB I end up with files in numerous different folders.

Calibre will put books in one folder, /Books I think (you should check). What happens if you tell CC to put books there?

It is the Fire that is moving things around. You might remember the thread about the fire deleting books from where CC put them.. That might be the price to pay for having the native reader app see the books.

HarryT · 02-01-2019, 01:53 PM

I've asked in the Fire forum what the correct folder is to copy sideloaded books to, so hopefully someone will know

.

I do appreciate that this isn't a CC problem.

stumped · 02-01-2019, 02:25 PM

Have you looked in the documents app that comes with the fire, to see if the lost books show up there instead, as documents.
I use a fire, and cc but if I am not reading something directly downloaded from Amazon and not added to calibre, , like a Kindle unlimited loan, then I convert to epub and send that to cc instead. Which bypasses the whole issue..
so I use the fire Kindle app for Amazon Prime and unlimited loans mostly. Stuff I buy gets converted to epub and in un-drmd.

I have occasionally sent azw3 via cc, with "books", not Kindle as the designated folder, and they do appear as downloaded books on the books tab. I have not experienced the problem that you and the other poster reported. Maybe that is just luck and low volumes?
It could also be that different fire tablet versions, with different os releases, behave differently.

The documents app seems to have all my send to Kindle stuff. Mostly Sent via the webpage grabber addon. Though when I open a document from there it renders in the Kindle book app.

HarryT · 02-01-2019, 03:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stumped

Have you looked in the documents app that comes with the fire, to see if the lost books show up there instead, as documents.

I can see them in the Docs app, but when I tap on a book it says “No application is available to view this file”

.

stumped · 02-02-2019, 12:09 AM

strange.
what is the file extension for those, on the device?
and ,for the record ,which fire device is it with which fire OS version
can you invoke open with via a file explorer utility and thus get a list of possible apps that way.? or mess with a set default apps utility?
the other complainant dropped out of reporting & testing but my theory is that everything put on the fire shows up either as a doc or a book , and stays where it it placed
so the issues are
does choice of folder/ name of folder matter
how exactly is the book vs doc determination made - is it pdoc vs ebok vs blank or not that simple

02-01-2019, 07:39 AM	#1
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Relationship between CC books and Kindle books on Fire tablets Hi chaley, I'm struggling a little to understand the relationship of book storage between the Kindle app and CC on my Fire tablet. I've installed CC on the Fire and accepted the default storage location of: /storage/emulated/0/Kindle I've copied lots of books into CC and some (but not all) of these are also showing up on the "Downloaded" tab of the Kindle app. I've opened a book in the Kindle app from CC (which works fine), but the book I've opened is NOT appearing in the "Downloaded" tab of the app (it doesn't appear at the top of the "Recent" sort order, as I'd expect, and a search doesn't find it.) I could of course always open books from CC, but this always opens a book at the beginning, which is annoying if you have several books on the go. So I'd welcome a little advice. What's the best way to open books? How do I have several books "on the go" and swich between them without losing my reading position? When I open a book from CC, should it appear in the "Recent" list of the Kindle app? Thanks!

02-01-2019, 02:25 PM	#13
stumped Wizard Posts: 3,305 Karma: 10259306 Join Date: May 2016 Device: kobo forma, Kobo Libra, Huawei media Tab, fire HD10, PW3 HDX8.9,	Have you looked in the documents app that comes with the fire, to see if the lost books show up there instead, as documents. I use a fire, and cc but if I am not reading something directly downloaded from Amazon and not added to calibre, , like a Kindle unlimited loan, then I convert to epub and send that to cc instead. Which bypasses the whole issue.. so I use the fire Kindle app for Amazon Prime and unlimited loans mostly. Stuff I buy gets converted to epub and in un-drmd. I have occasionally sent azw3 via cc, with "books", not Kindle as the designated folder, and they do appear as downloaded books on the books tab. I have not experienced the problem that you and the other poster reported. Maybe that is just luck and low volumes? It could also be that different fire tablet versions, with different os releases, behave differently. The documents app seems to have all my send to Kindle stuff. Mostly Sent via the webpage grabber addon. Though when I open a document from there it renders in the Kindle book app. Last edited by stumped; 02-01-2019 at 02:30 PM.

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02-01-2019, 09:46 AM	#2
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Now I'm completely baffled, chaley. I've done a factory reset of my Fire and copied only half a dozen books from my Calibre library onto it using CC's wireless connection. The default storage location, as before, is: /storage/emulated/0/Kindle I opened one book and clicked on "Read". The book opened in the Books app, but when I go to "Books" and look at the "Downloaded" tab of the library is says "Your device is empty". How do I make books show up in the library of the Books app? Obviously I don't want a book reset to the beginning every time I open it! Thanks .

02-01-2019, 10:07 AM	#4
theducks Well trained by Cats Posts: 31,037 Karma: 60358908 Join Date: Aug 2009 Location: The Central Coast of California Device: Kobo Libra2,Kobo Aura2v1, K4NT(Fixed: New Bat.), Galaxy Tab A	I think the folk at LAB126 are working overtime at building their (Amz) wall higher. 'Books' can only be bought from the Amazon channel. All else is a PDOC and it seems they keep tightening the allowed to show as books definition Well, I will be tightening my purse strings in response. My K4NT is wearing out (I really like page turn buttons, but not for $200 more), so I went for a Kobo Aura2 from Wal*mart.

02-01-2019, 10:26 AM	#6
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	No joy, unfortunately. The folder actually was called "kindle". I renamed it to "Kindle", but no difference in behaviour. I also tried moving files to "/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle/files/books", but even there they still didn't show up.

02-01-2019, 10:46 AM	#8
chaley Grand Sorcerer Posts: 12,436 Karma: 8012886 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Notts, England Device: Kobo Libra 2	@HarryT: what happens if you download a purchased book to your desktop, targeted to the Fire for DRM, then copy that file to the fire somehow? Does the native reader app see it?

02-01-2019, 11:13 AM	#9
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Charles, this seems to be purely a matter of the location of the files, because if I load books from Calibre using a USB connection, they show up absolutely fine. Unfortunately, though, that's very, very slow, so it's not really practical for a large library. The location of books on the Fire seems to be very complex. When I sideload books over USB I end up with files in numerous different folders.

02-01-2019, 01:53 PM	#12
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I've asked in the Fire forum what the correct folder is to copy sideloaded books to, so hopefully someone will know . I do appreciate that this isn't a CC problem.

02-02-2019, 12:09 AM	#15
stumped Wizard Posts: 3,305 Karma: 10259306 Join Date: May 2016 Device: kobo forma, Kobo Libra, Huawei media Tab, fire HD10, PW3 HDX8.9,	strange. what is the file extension for those, on the device? and ,for the record ,which fire device is it with which fire OS version can you invoke open with via a file explorer utility and thus get a list of possible apps that way.? or mess with a set default apps utility? the other complainant dropped out of reporting & testing but my theory is that everything put on the fire shows up either as a doc or a book , and stays where it it placed so the issues are does choice of folder/ name of folder matter how exactly is the book vs doc determination made - is it pdoc vs ebok vs blank or not that simple

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