Newer Kindles not compatible with some Kindle formats

[haertig]

I ran into something new at Amazon yesterday. New to me, but maybe it's well known outside of my small world.

You can buy Kindle books that don't work on Kindles.

For example, I "bought" a book that was free yesterday (it costs today, but it was free yesterday). Not a book I care about, but for free, why no? Specifically, the book is:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I went to The Amazon menu choice "Download & Transfer via USB" as I always do to get my books. But I found that I could not select my Paperwhite as the target device. I could select my Fire tablet however. I went back to the webpage above and found in small print on the page, "Format: Print replica" and also "Available for these devices:" If you click the drop-down for what devices it's available on, the Kindles are not listed.

So I downloaded the book "for my Fire tablet". The resulting file was AZW4. Won't a Paperwhite display those? (my Paperwhite is 1-1/2 years old).

Anyway, maybe all of this is old news to the rest of you, but it was new to me. I would expect a really really old Kindle to not support AZW4 format, but not a newer Kindle. So be aware, there are now at least a few books in Kindle format that your Kindle will not handle. This seems a rather odd direction for Amazon to have taken off in.

[CWatkinsNash]

I come across this at least once a week, but that probably has to do with the types of books I'm looking at and is unlikely to indicate how widespread it actually is.

It's not so much a direction that Amazon has taken, it's an option they provide for publishers that either don't want their formatting to be modified or don't care to take the time / expense to have a compatible format made. "Print Replica" is the Amazon equivalent of a PDF file.

Some books actually require fixed formatting to serve their purpose, but many of the ones I see with the Print Replica designation just don't seem to be in that category.

Edited to add: I left out the reason that I think they are device-limited - large file sizes, designed for bigger (and color) screens, lack of features (can't adjust text, margins, etc) and don't perform well on e-ink devices. They don't provide the expected e-ink experience, and I think they'd rather avoid the customer service issues that would occur.

[Deskisamess]

This is nothing new, those books are basically pictures, without font options. It seems to be somewhat popular for cookbooks lately. If you could force your Paperwhite to view the book, it would be horrible to read.

Textbooks are another type that may use this format.

Here's a very recent thread about the same thing:

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sh...d.php?t=324727

[haertig]

Thanks for the explanation.

I would never actually try to read a book like this (a cookbook) on my Paperwhite. Chances are, I'll never read it on my Fire or my computer either! But hey, it was free, so I picked it up. It showed up on the ereader.iq website, which I check out most days.

This is one more thing we'll have to closely inspect Amazon eBook webpages for. This "Print replica" notation. Amazon does not make that obvious at all. It's in small print, part way down the page. Shame on them.

As long as they don't start doing this for novels - which is most of what I read - I'm not really bothered by it. But I do think Amazon should put a popup on their webpage when you try to buy an eBook like this, "Warning! This will not work on your Kindle, and if it did, it would look like crap! Also, if you try to view it on your smartphone, you will be able to, but you will probably end up hating Amazon in the process." I think they owe that much to potential buyers.

BTW, I read that other thread on this same topic that was mentioned. A question was raised there about the ability to download the book. YES, you can "Download & transfer via USB" one of these books for your Fire tablet. For my specific book, I ended up with a single AZW4 file on my computer.

[Deskisamess]

You don't need a pop-up to tell you, the e-ink Kindles won't be selectable in the Deliver To menu.

The notice about it being a Print Replica is right above another menu, Available on These Devices. You don't even have to scroll to see these notices.

If publishers went this route for (text) novels, they wouldn't do it more than once. It takes away one of the biggest reason many people have for e-readers, adjustable fonts sizes.

[DiapDealer]

Lots of graphic novels aren't available for Kindle eink readers.

And Print Replica actually IS a PDF. It's just basically got a navigational wrapper around it.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

You don't need a pop-up to tell you, the e-ink Kindles won't be selectable in the Deliver To menu.

I've never even looked at the "Deliver to" device when buying an eBook. I've always just accepted whatever defaulted there. Then, I actually download the eBook from Manage Your Content, and choose Download & Transfer via USB. At that point I have to manually select my Paperwhite as the delivery device every time. Even though the Paperwhite is set as my default device, my Fire tablet always shows up as the default here. Makes no sense. Once the eBook is delivered to my computer, in to Calibre it goes, then out to my Kindle via USB (my Kindle stays in Airplane Mode permanently).

Anyway, it looks like I'll need to begin looking closer at the Amazon website to see which device it is defaulting the download to. Oddly enough, my Paperwhite DOES show up as the default device on the main Amazon page for an eBook (I just checked), but my Fire shows up as the default device on the Download & Transfer via USB page. So Amazon is inconsistent in how it chooses the default device between these two different webpages (at least for me they are inconsistent).

[Quoth]

It's a disgrace that Amazon calls these ebooks and uses the Kindle brand. This is been happening for quite a while.

There have been previous threads mentioning these fixed layout electronic books.

Basically electronic fixed layout books as useful as an A4 PDF on a phone or 5" to 8" eink based reader. Basically an Amazon version of PDF. Some really only suit larger tablets. A few idiotic publishers / indy authors use this format because they think it's pretty and smart to match the paper format even though the content would be fine as a regular ebook. Fixed layout epub3 is a similarly daft idea. The non-Amazon epub3 should also be called something else as many of the extra features are nothing to do with real ebooks.

The format is intended for kids picture books, text books, cookery etc. They should NOT be marketed under the Kindle brand. It should be a separate suitably named category.

Suggestions as to naming?

[Deskisamess]

Even though the Paperwhite is set as my default device, my Fire tablet always shows up as the default here.

If I select Default Device in the Download & Transfer window, I can't tell what device is used until after I select it, then my Oasis is mentioned.

If I select Others from that window, I have to tick a box for each device I want the book sent to.

If I am wanting to download a Print Replica book, and select Default Device I get a window telling me I've selected a book not compatible with that device. Only those devices that are compatible will be available to be selected as the destination.

[stumped]

Originally Posted by FrustratedReader

It's a disgrace that Amazon calls these ebooks and uses the Kindle brand. This is been happening for quite a while.

.... It should be a separate suitably named category.

Suggestions as to naming?

they have a category for ( printed on paper) books, and a category for Kindle( = e-) books

I agree that its a tad misleading but they are not going to add a 3rd category for "neither of the above" !

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by haertig

I've never even looked at the "Deliver to" device when buying an eBook. I've always just accepted whatever defaulted there. Then, I actually download the eBook from Manage Your Content, and choose Download & Transfer via USB. At that point I have to manually select my Paperwhite as the delivery device every time. Even though the Paperwhite is set as my default device, my Fire tablet always shows up as the default here. Makes no sense. Once the eBook is delivered to my computer, in to Calibre it goes, then out to my Kindle via USB (my Kindle stays in Airplane Mode permanently).

Anyway, it looks like I'll need to begin looking closer at the Amazon website to see which device it is defaulting the download to. Oddly enough, my Paperwhite DOES show up as the default device on the main Amazon page for an eBook (I just checked), but my Fire shows up as the default device on the Download & Transfer via USB page. So Amazon is inconsistent in how it chooses the default device between these two different webpages (at least for me they are inconsistent).

You can set your default deliver to device, which I have done. But when I buy an ebook, instead of clicking buy, I select transfer with USB and the next dialog comes up asking which device to transfer to, with the default being my default deliver to device. For me, that results in less clicking overall and reveals whether the book is compatible with my default delivery device.

[Quoth]

Sadly the only way to do it, @j.p.s. I do identically.

I also find generally Amazon Web shop SW is now junk!
1) I can't know shipping cost and sometimes even if they do ship till in the checkout
2) The search includes items that can't ship to here.
3) The search is cluttered with Sponsored items.
4) First page of results has Amazon products.
5) The search will include generic products such as connectors that work on any product
6) The initial sort will be by "Featured". What does that mean? Sort by low to high STILL includes all the expensive Sponsored products on every page and starts with unrelated dreck.
7) Searching by Author also searches descriptions and the majority of results may be unrelated.
8) Searching Kindle Books specifically returns things that can't be read on a real Kindle.
9) Price shown in Sterling only, despite UK being default market place for Irish Customers who use Euro. Euro appears by default at checkout, but is more expensive than Credit card conversion from Euro to Sterling.
10) In your face Dark Arts Prime Advert buttons and small text to pay, already banned by UK ASA, yet shown to Irish customers of Amazon UK.
11) I can't put zero stars and many kinds of negative reviews on products bought. You can't easily report malicious behaviour of sellers using Amazon. Ebay is now safer and more honest. The Amazon Selected and reviews are now meaningless.

As a publisher I still can't get series to on KDP to work. In your face promotion of Kindle Unlimited (with disadvantages in separate small print) and Paperback, which now since CreateSpace is rebranded Amazon, many bookshops won't take.

Inappropriate promotion of content creation tools resulting in some content providers creating Amazon book content that needlessly won't work on eink. Ironically the best format to upload content for a regular ebook is an epub2 that passes Daisy Group and Smashwords checks.

Amazon not only is exploitive, they are incompetent. They are messing up the Kindle ecosystem both for Publisher and Reader.

[haertig]

Originally Posted by Deskisamess

If I select Others from that window, I have to tick a box for each device I want the book sent to.

That's the thing - I don't want to send the book to any device, so I don't make a choice regarding delivery when I buy the book. I "Download (to my computer) & Transfer via USB (to my device)". I imagine that by default everything I buy would get delivered to my Paperwhite since that's my default device, but since it's always in airplane mode, delivery is thwarted.

The reason I don't want eBooks delivered directly to my device(s) is because of clutter. I don't want to have to search through a giant pile of books to find the next one to read. I want to do that searching in Calibre, not on the Paperwhite. So all my eBooks go into Calibre, and from there I select a small number (usually less than a dozen) to keep on my Paperwhite at any given time. That's plenty to select from and doesn't present a burden like trying to wade through 1000's of books. Calibre does much better at handling large numbers of books when you're trying to determine your next read.

[Quoth]

Also then you have ability to backup.

You HAVE backed up your Calibre folder and anything else important?

[Deskisamess]

I "Download (to my computer) & Transfer via USB (to my device)". I imagine that by default everything I buy would get delivered to my Paperwhite since that's my default device, but since it's always in airplane mode, delivery is thwarted.

Default device doesn't come into play when you use Download and Transfer via USB. You have to select the device, because the files only work on that specific device. You'd only be able to download one book at a time, for the specific device.

There is no Default device for Download and Transfer via USB.