Advice re Kindle PaperWhite 32GB

[Seth H]

I have never owned a Kindle always Kobo. However I need to setup an ereader for a friend who has no computer and lives in a remote area. I want to load a large number of books from Calibre not Amazon and not use wifi on the ereader and therefore not have any connection with Amazon. Would this be possible?

Secondly is the Kindle Paperwhite 32GB easy to use for someone who has little experience with ereaders?

Thirdly does loading large numbers of books on the Paperwhite seriously degrade its performance?

Advice on the above would be very welcome.

[Sirtel]

Yes, it's possible to use the PW entirely with sideloaded books, without wifi. However, to use collections on the device, it must be registered to an Amazon account. Wifi may be kept off after registering for as long as one wants.

If you don't want to register, then be warned that you cannot sort your books into categories on the PW. There are ways to manage your library, though, for example making a calibre catalog and sideloading it to the Kindle.

The PW should be easy to use for an ereader novice.

I don't think that having a large number of books on the device seriously degrades the performance of any modern ereader. I have about 3,000 on my 32GB Oasis and it has not slowed in the slightest. Kindles index their books after loading, however, unlike Kobos. So it's not really a good idea to dump thousands of books on the Kindle in one go. Load them in batches, a couple hundred each. After loading a batch keep the PW connected to a wall charger until the indexing process is finished. You can check this by entering a nonsense search string on the home page. If there are unindexed books, it will say so. Load the next batch when the PW has finished indexing the previous batch.

Lastly, if you sideload from Calibre, you should use the AZW3 format, not mobi. AZW3 is more modern and supports more features (the boldness adjustment and custom fonts, for example, neither of which is supported by mobi).

[Seth H]

Thanks Sirtel that's great info. So I will register with Amazon, turn off wifi then load books in AZW3 format. I want to load around 10,000 books.

Will the Kindle display and sort by series if the books are marked as series in Calibre?

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Seth H

Will the Kindle display and sort by series if the books are marked as series in Calibre?

Unfortunately no. You can use the metadata plugboard in Calibre to modify the book title, inserting the series info before the title (like Star Wars 04: A New Hope, for example). Then if you sort by name on the Kindle, the series will be grouped together.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Seth H

I want to load around 10,000 books.

This will take a long time, possibly several weeks, as the Kindle must index all those books (see my first post).

[Seth H]

Wow, I had no idea it would take so long.

[DNSB]

You might want to check the thread started by HarryT about his experience loading his library onto his new Kindle Oasis. See Tips for loading a large library onto a KO2 for the thread.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Seth H

Wow, I had no idea it would take so long.

Yeah. Kindles have global search (the ability to search for a word or a phrase across your entire library, not only inside a book). That's why they index. If you put a thousand books on the Kindle all at once, the indexing may get stuck indefinitely. So it's better to load your books in smaller batches.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yeah. Kindles have global search (the ability to search for a word or a phrase across your entire library, not only inside a book). That's why they index. If you put a thousand books on the Kindle all at once, the indexing may get stuck indefinitely. So it's better to load your books in smaller batches.

Not to mention making it easier to locate a book that has caused the indexing process to turn east at last Tuesday.

[Seth H]

I take it that Kobo doesn't do the same global indexing as the Kindle. Unfortunatly Kobo only make an 8GB ereader.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by Seth H

I take it that Kobo doesn't do the same global indexing as the Kindle. Unfortunatly Kobo only make an 8GB ereader.

The Forma has a 32GB version, I believe. Of course it's expensive.

[hobnail]

With that many books it might be worth it to get a Kobo (assuming they can afford it) since it can group and organize books by author, series, and whatever category (aka collections) you choose. On a kindle that stuff is rather klunky.

If you have an 8gb Kobo you could experiment and see how many you can put on it. Epubs are zip files, which are compressed, and text, which compresses very well. Kindle books aren't and are definitely bigger and use more space.

[Seth H]

Thanks hobnail and everyone else. The great advice from everyone was really appreciated. Have decided to go with a Kobo 7" Libra. It has 8GB of storage and looking at the epubs in my Calibre library I may get 4,000 to 5,000 books on it.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Seth H

I take it that Kobo doesn't do the same global indexing as the Kindle. Unfortunatly Kobo only make an 8GB ereader.

My Forma is the 32GB model while my Clara HD has a 128GB internal μSD card (I upped it to 32GB and when I retired the 128GB card from my DSLR, I imaged it and stuffed it into the Clara HD.

I take it you mean the Kobo Libra not a Kobo Paperwhite? Otherwise, I can see Kobo and Amazon's lawyers thumb wrestling to see who gets the first shot at you.

[Seth H]

You are correct I should have said Libra. It seems that no Kobo available in Australia now has the facility for a memory card.

With a 128GB card you certainly must have a huge library available to you.