Show cover with .mobi OTA

[sfritz]

Hello,

I'm new here.
Just bought my first ebook reader, a Kindle Basic 3 (2019) - KT4.

Having a lot of old epub, I converted them to .mobi with calibre, and then added them to my Kindle with "Send to Kindle".
That's great, because I can sync state of progress, and then continu reading on my android Tablet, using Whispersync.

The only problem I have is that my .mobi books don't show cover on kindle, but do in kindle for android.

I tried many ways in calibre try to show cover on my Kindle, (updated metadatas, changed .mobi version to both), but all I tried is not working.

I know I can transfer directly to Kindle per USB with .mobi or .azw3 files, and then show cover, but I would also like to use Whispersync.

Is there a way having both Whyspersync and book covers on my Kindle with my old epub books?
If yes, how can I do that?

Thank you,

Sfritz

[NiLuJe]

There's a FAQ entry about it in Calibre's FAQ and/or Forum, IIRC.

It's been a while, but, basically, you're probably screwed when going via Send To Kindle.

You'll notice that this doesn't happen if you send your books over USB via Calibre's "Send To Device".

Whether there's a way to have your cake and eat it, too (i.e., thumbnails & sync), I don't know, because I've lost track of this mess in recent years, and the sync aspect of it was never my goal .

If there is, though, I'm sure someone will helpfully point it out .

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by sfritz

... Is there a way having both Whyspersync and book covers on my Kindle with my old epub books?
If yes, how can I do that?

The last time I delved into this (a few years ago), the answer was no, as far as AZW3 goes. This is roughly how it worked then (don't know if there have been any changes since):

E-ink Kindles get AZW3 covers by downloading the image directly from Amazon's server based on the ASIN number embedded in the ebook.

If you use Calibre to sideload via USB, Calibre will copy the image to the Kindle for you.

If you include the ASIN in the opf (<dc:identifier>urn:mobi-asin:B000000000</dc:identifier> or <dc:identifier>urn:amazon:B000000000</dc:identifier> ), you can use Calibre's Quality Check plugin to embed the ASIN ("Fix ASIN for Kindle Fire" command). You can also use the KindleGen plugin for Sigil to do this by checking the "Add Fake ASIN" box. Make sure you have WiFi on when you sideload the book and your Kindle will download the cover based on the embedded ASIN.

The problem with Send-to-Kindle is that when you send a dual-mobi (containing both AZW3/KF8 and old mobi formats), Amazon creates a new ASIN for the AZW3 and overwrites whatever ASIN you may have embedded yourself. As a result, eink Kindles that receive the AZW3 are not able to download the cover and you get a generic cover. (I don't know about Android, but iOS uses yet another format, AZK, which appears to use the cover image inside the ebook so don't have this problem.)

So for eink Kindles, if you prefer AZW3 format (as I do), you have to choose between Whispersync and covers.

[tomsem]

At least with iOS and I think Android Kindle apps, the cover thumbnails get generated on download for personal documents, if they have cover images. I don’t use Grid view on my Kindles so I don’t miss not seeing covers there.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by odamizu

The last time I delved into this (a few years ago), the answer was no. This is roughly how it worked then (don't know if there have been any changes since):

E-ink Kindles get covers by downloading the image directly from Amazon's server based on the ASIN number embedded in the ebook.

If you use Calibre to sideload via USB, Calibre will copy the image to the Kindle for you.

If you include the ASIN in the opf (<dc:identifier>urn:mobi-asin:B000000000</dc:identifier> or <dc:identifier>urn:amazon:B000000000</dc:identifier> ), you can use Calibre's Quality Check plugin to embed the ASIN ("Fix ASIN for Kindle Fire" command). You can also use the KindleGen plugin for Sigil to do this by checking the "Add Fake ASIN" box. Make sure you have WiFi on when you sideload the book and your Kindle will download the cover based on the embedded ASIN.

The problem with Send-to-Kindle is that when you send an ebook via Send-to-Kindle, Amazon creates a new ASIN for it and overwrites whatever ASIN you may have embedded yourself. As a result, eink Kindles are not able to download the cover and you get a generic cover. (iOS and Android apps seem to use the cover image inside the ebook so don't have this problem.)

So for eink Kindles, unfortunately, you have to choose between Whispersync and covers.

If I have a book that is emailed to Amazon as a regular .mobi, I get a cover and it also syncs. If it is sent as a dual mobi and comes down as a kf8 (azw3) file, I have no cover. Whichever format it gets uploaded as, sync across devices works. Note that my ebooks are created with Calibre converting from epub, and emailed using Calibre.

Shari

[odamizu]

Originally Posted by shalym

If I have a book that is emailed to Amazon as a regular .mobi, I get a cover and it also syncs. If it is sent as a dual mobi and comes down as a kf8 (azw3) file, I have no cover. Whichever format it gets uploaded as, sync across devices works. Note that my ebooks are created with Calibre converting from epub, and emailed using Calibre.

Oh yes. I only use kf8/azw3, so forgot about regular mobi. I'll correct my post

[sfritz]

Hello,

I finally found a solution.
Using calibre, you just need to resize the cover image in 1200 x 1800 px.
After that, I convert to mobi without other modifiction in calibre, and just send book to kindle.

I allready read that solution in another post, but I did not tried it at first, it seems not logical, why should it work?
But in the end, after I have tried anything else, I tried it and it works.

I'm now able to show mobi cover and use Whispersync.

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by sfritz

I finally found a solution.
Using calibre, you just need to resize the cover image in 1200 x 1800 px.
After that, I convert to mobi without other modifiction in calibre, and just send book to kindle.

In the MOBI converter in Calibre, do you select "Old" or "Both" in the "MOBI File Type" dropdown? If you convert to the "Old" MOBI format, then indeed the covers work, but then your book will be displayed using the older MOBI format, which has very limited formatting options.

[sfritz]

Hello,

you're right, I use the "old" mobi file type.
I don't know what is the difference between the types, but I am happy with the old one.

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by sfritz

I don't know what is the difference between the types, but I am happy with the old one.

Using "Both" bundles two copies of the book together, one in MOBI format and the other one in the newer AZW3 format. This bundle is intended to be a kind of universal file, which can be understood both by older Kindles (who only know MOBI) and the newer ones (who know MOBI and AZW3).

Once you upload the file to Amazon, if your Kindle supports AZW3 (which is your case), it will download the AZW3 version, which looks more like a real book. On older kindles, the MOBI version is downloaded. At the risk of oversimplifying, MOBI is a bit like a .TXT file, while AZW3 is more like a web page (HTML).

The problem here is that Amazon messes up the covers in the AZW3 version. So if your kindle downloads the AZW3 version, it doesn't get the covers. If it downloads the MOBI version, the covers are fine. So it's a trade-off between the covers and the layout.

In the end, if you're satisfied with MOBI then there's really no need to mess around with other formats!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by sfritz

Hello,

I finally found a solution.
Using calibre, you just need to resize the cover image in 1200 x 1800 px.
After that, I convert to mobi without other modifiction in calibre, and just send book to kindle.

I allready read that solution in another post, but I did not tried it at first, it seems not logical, why should it work?
But in the end, after I have tried anything else, I tried it and it works.

I'm now able to show mobi cover and use Whispersync.

I found a better solution. As long as you are already running Calibre, make sure your eBook is in KF8 (AZW3) and plug in the Kindle to the USB port and send thr eBook(s) directly to the Kindle. It's a lot easier and it works.

[BionicGecko]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I found a better solution. As long as you are already running Calibre, make sure your eBook is in KF8 (AZW3) and plug in the Kindle to the USB port and send thr eBook(s) directly to the Kindle. It's a lot easier and it works.

Unfortunately the OP wishes to sync the last page read across multiple devices. This doesn't work with sideloaded content; only with files sent to the Amazon servers via "Send to Kindle".

[binaryhermit]

As far as I can tell, this started working with the Kindle Android app recently.
Unless I have my calibre settings messed up on my laptop.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BionicGecko

Unfortunately the OP wishes to sync the last page read across multiple devices. This doesn't work with sideloaded content; only with files sent to the Amazon servers via "Send to Kindle".

There's another solution to that problem as well. It's what I do.

I just put a different book on a different device.So on my iPhone I have a different book then I do on my H2O. It works and I don't have to sync or download a format I don't want. I have complete control. Doing the email means you lose some control as in the cover. It also means you have to have WiFi on.

[shalym]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

There's another solution to that problem as well. It's what I do.

I just put a different book on a different device.So on my iPhone I have a different book then I do on my H2O. It works and I don't have to sync or download a format I don't want. I have complete control. Doing the email means you lose some control as in the cover. It also means you have to have WiFi on.

For me, the cover means nothing on my device, as I never see it. I also leave wifi on all the time, because I like to look things up using wikipedia. I also like to be able sync my books from device to device. I may sometimes read multiple books at the same time, but I don't want to *have* to...I want my books to sync across all of my devices seamlessly.

This is the main reason why I use my Kindles rather than my Kobo. It's also the main reason why I never bought another Kobo after my Aura HD. If Kobo ever decides to offer syncing of all books across devices, I'll probably buy another one, because they do have good hardware, and the software is fine as long as I'm reading Kepubs. Until then, Kindles allow me to read the way I want to, and Kobos do not.

Shari