Save ebooks

[almostsane1]

I have downloaded a few free ebooks but had to convert htem to the kindle format. Where do I save these books on my Droid X so I can read them in the Kindle app?

Thanks

 

[TwerpPoet]

If you converted them using Amazon's site they are probably in your online archive and can be loaded in the app.

For some reason my .azw files (proprietary kindle format) are not recognized if copied directly to the SD card. Probably has to do with how the app tracks and keeps your Amazon books synced.

If they are .mobi files you can place them in your kindle folder on the SD card. I'm not sure about other file types. I don't have any to experiment with.

 

[almostsane1]

i moved the book i converted, using a stand alone converter, to the kindle file but the app will not locate it. also, i have looked for a converter on the amazon site - no luck. any other ideas?

 

[TwerpPoet]

Convert it to the .mobi format instead. This seems to work pretty well, though you do lose the cover art.



A La Droid X

 

[TwerpPoet]

Now that I'm behind a real keyboard again. Here is a link to Amazon.com about sending personal documents to your Kindle. This might work with your .azw files since it would put them in your archive.

Be careful where you are when you start the download. You can be charged if you download through 3G on the Kindle. I'm not sure if this will apply to 3G on the Droid X. It shouldn't, but you never know until they charge you.

Amazon.com Help: Transferring, Downloading, and Sending Files to Kindle


Or,

At the bottom it also talks about what file formats the Kindle can read. The MOBI and PRC file types are older Palm Mobi reader and Palm formats. Check to see what your converter will do and try one of those instead of the AZW format. You can either use the email method above or just drop these into the kindle app's folder. I know for sure the .mobi file works.

There used to be a way that Amazon would convert some types of files to AZW format for your, online. I don't see any references to it, so maybe the service no longer exists.

 

[sweaterjunkie]

i have done this with books i've downloaded, converting them to .mobi and putting them in the kindle folder on my droix x. however, now when i try to open the kindle app it invariably force closes immediately. what can i do?

 

[TwerpPoet]

i have done this with books i've downloaded, converting them to .mobi and putting them in the kindle folder on my droix x. however, now when i try to open the kindle app it invariably force closes immediately. what can i do?

I'd try removing the book you added first.

If that doesn't work then uninstall and reinstall the Kindle app. To be sure it works you'll want to remove the Kindle folder on the SD card before reinstalling. Don't worry about your Amazon books. You will be able to download them again, though the app will probably make you register it first. Hopefully you still have the originals of the converted books.

It is probably easier to test an ebook conversion on the computer than the phone. If you haven't already, download the Kindle app for your platform. When you have it and have run it at least once it should create a folder. On my computer it is under Documents and called "My Kindle Content". You can move and try your converted ebooks there first before trying them on the phone.

Though, given the large number of ebook readers available for Android it might be simpler to just download and use a reader that is compatible with the format you already have.

 

[ACollins59]

Same problem as sweaterjunkie

I am having the same problem as sweaterjunkie, except the ebook I downloaded was already in the Mobi Pocket Reader format (although it has a .prc extension instead of the .mobi extension mentioned above), so no conversion was necessary. At one point I got it to work just fine on my Droid phone with my Kindle app, but then I decided to push my luck and manually copy some other books into the kindle folder on my droid, causing the force close problem to come back. I removed the offending books from my Droid entirely, but it still force closes every time I try to open it. I have even tried removing the book that was working previously and then copying it back to the kindle folder. As long as it is not in the folder, the Kindle app opens just fine and I can see the books I have downloaded from Amazon through the Kindle app. As soon as I copy this book back into the kindle folder, it force closes.

I have also tried creating a sub-folder on the Droid's SD card under the kindle folder and placing the book in there instead, but Kindle does not see it.

The book opens and reads just fine on my PC with the "Kindle for PC" app (in fact it works better than it did using the Mobi Pocket Reader app, which it supposedly was designed for). My PC recognizes it as having a format of "Kindle content". Any thoughts?

 

[TwerpPoet]

Ok, confession time. I transfered a few books to make sure I could see them, but didn't actually start reading them. Once I got a few pages into a book the app Force Closes on me too, but only when I try to leave the book or quit the app.

I'm guessing it has to do with the Kindle app trying to sync the book with Amazon. Since it's not in the archive it can't, and the app doesn't handle that well.

I'm experimenting with emailing the books to the Amazon archive. It says it will convert .mobi books. This appears to take a while though, so I haven't got any books to show up yet. I'll let you know if this works, or doesn't, sometime tomorrow at the latest.

 

[TwerpPoet]

My apologies to anyone who tried this and experienced the frustration. I should have done more thorough testing before recommending a solution.

The email thing doesn't work. Apparently you can only email to an actual Kindle device. I tried looking at my digital library online and adding a book from there too. Didn't work. It just got added to my send to Kindle queue.

Finally I tried turning off Synchronization under Manage my Kindle on Amazon.com. That didn't work either. Books I manually added to the Kindle folder still open, but force close every time I leave the book.

My final advice, use a different book reader. There are several in the Market with good ratings that will handle various formats, including .mobi. I suggest getting one that handles the format you have, rather than converting the book. I can't recommend any, since I haven't tried them.

 

[sweaterjunkie]

Thank you for all your help, Twerp. In the end I've downloaded the reader for Android phones that is recommended by Calibre, which is WordPlayer (reads ePub books). I've tested it with a few different books, both converted and original ePub format books with the cover art and everything, and it seems to work fine. Some formats come out a little wonky when converted, such as having extra blank pages between chapters, but are totally readable.

I've also had Aldiko recommended to me, so perhaps I will try that one as well.

calibre - E-book management

Calibre can be found at the above link, and it has instructions with how to use it with Android. All I did was create folder on my SD card called ePub, fill it with books from my hard drive, and then use WordPlayer to find and open them on my phone (it gives this option when you start the app).

I hope this works at least as a temporary solution to anyone else having Kindle app woes with their phone. Hopefully someone else will be able to figure out how to read independently downloaded books in the Kindle app soon.

 

[TwerpPoet]

Thanks for the info, SweaterJunkie. I've used Calibre before, it is very useful and cross platform. I'm using Stanza now. The desktop version can read and export to a lot of formats. Unfortunately they don't have a reader app for Android.

 

[furbearingmammal]

If you put a book in the kindle folder and it force-closes then you have a bad/unrecognized file and need to remove it. You've found this out already, so this is old news, but I've had no problems putting anything from downloaded books to the one I wrote and formatted for the Kindle in that folder and have had zero problems with them. Just figured I'd share my experiences for backup.

 

[ACollins59]

If you put a book in the kindle folder and it force-closes then you have a bad/unrecognized file and need to remove it.

If this is the case, why does the same book open and read just fine on my PC using the Kindle for PC app?

 

[ACollins59]

OK, here's something I just discovered. If I go in to Settings --> Applications, open the Kindle app settings and select Clear Data, then go back in to Kindle and re-register, it performs a sync and sees my book that was copied manually to the Kindle folder on my Droid's SD card. The books I previously downloaded from Amazon with my Droid now show up under Archived Items. I can open the manually downloaded book now and read it without getting the Force Close error message and getting kicked out of the Kindle app.

However, if I go into Archived Items and try to select one of the books I downloaded directly to the Droid previously, it syncs it, puts it on the main screen, then force closes the app. When I try to open Kindle again, same problem. I then deleted the previously-archived book from the kindle folder (under Files) and it works just fine again.

It's like it doesn't want to have a combination of manually copied and downloaded books in the Kindle folder at the same time.