Could you expand on that? I load all my books via calibre but I also have the kindle set to aeroplane mode at all times. Does this happen when syncing?
The only annoying thing I experience is that the cover art will unload on the side-loaded books where you just get the generic cover with the text of the book. But once you click the book it loads the artwork, which seems to last a few days before quickly going back to the generic cover. But the book itself never leaves the device. I can't say I have experienced this ever (except for once, mentioned below) and I have over 150 books on my 32Gb device.
Just some random thoughts I am wondering:
- Is it an ads-supported model (mine isn't)
- Are the books in a broken-DRM .mobi? Not judging, i've done it too, just curious if Amazon has some sort of "signature" in mobis that allow it to detect a book that had DRM removed?
- Are they standard .epub?
- What is the size of the device? (Maybe smaller 8Gb devices will clean up and prioritize non-Kindle content to make way for "official content)
- Which device is it? (Scribe, Oasis, Paperwhite, older paperwhite, etc)
The one time I had it deleting my book was a large book (it was 400Mb) and it was on an older 8Gb paperwhite. I still had PLENTY of storage space available (I was using around 4Gb) but it kept deleting that book. This was the only time I have seen it happen and it was with this one specific book. That was many years ago and I haven't seen it since. That book was a DRM-removed book I got through "shared" means. Which has led me to question if the Kindle removes it because it could detect that the DRM had been removed or because of its large size. But this was a one-off experience for me. The book was readable by the device. It would download for several weeks at a time before being removed. You could redownload it and it would work for weeks again before dissapearing. I never could figure it out.
*Edit to add: I believe the kindle won't delete epubs you sideload via the Amazon kindle email gateway, but I have no interest in doing that.
These days it wants ePub only, but things also seem to "just work", and I always assumed it's because they added support for it on device side. What are the issues that you ran into?
Fortunately, getting two units in a row with jarring pink blotches was enough of a non-starter to suggest that she just revert to a V4 without my having to explain the confusing behavior.
I've side-loaded .mobi and .pdf files, and have never had anything disappear, whilst still buying some things from Amazon kindle store...
Any workaround?
But, with that all said... it's great for my specific uses. Android is just so much better if you want to run self-hosted stuff. When it dies or the software just gets that old I'll be really at a loss for what to get to replace it.
On the cloud stuff though -- note syncing has support for WebDAV, so I've fully disabled the Boox Cloud integration and all notes get synced to my self-hosted OwnCloud server, which is nice.
I'd love to figure out how to install some stock Android or Linux on it down the road, though Boox's notes + reading apps are really quite good, and likely very optimized for the hardware.
That said all 3 have amazing battery life, they'd all last all semester on a charge.
Then I switched to Kindle Scribe, mainly for the large screen. It was amazing, it was so much faster and more responsive. I even started to use the scribe to make notes, though I didn't buy it for that purpose. With the Boox Note I never did that because of the slowness, it was just annoying.
I can't remember all the specifics of how I set it up and honestly i've not used it in a while because I used it to get all my old Kindle purchased books on (which was a lot) and i've not booted the docker container since.
Is this a reasonable work around/alternative or have I misunderstood? If so, I apologise. Oh also, I think I had to do some custom stuff with my Kobo as well to support this functionality, but I don't remember it being difficult. Got it all wrapped in an evening of tinkering.
Minimal work if you configure the site as the homepage in the Kobo web browser.
You can also buy from third party stores, e.g. Weightless Books for sci-fi & fantasy, and just drag-and-drop the epub onto the Kobo.
I had first edition terrible keyboard kindle and have a paperwhite. It seems libra colour is still not available in India.
That's still my favourite ever Kindle, simply for the side buttons for next/previous page.
Touch interface is so much more inconvenient in comparison, for the main purpose of reading and navigating through books.
Did they actually announce that the Oasis was discontinued or did they just stop making them?
https://www.theverge.com/2024/10/16/24272009/amazon-disconti...
I upgraded from an Oasis 2 and couldn’t be happier. When it comes to upgrade again, Amazon DRM readers will not even be looked at.
The reading experience is a little more bare bones, but good enough, and still offers things a physical book does not.
In fact, with respect to the e-ink readers, a "screen saver" that turns on automatically is a bad idea that removes useful functionality - being able to keep the same page up for hours without interacting with the device is a feature, as it allows you to use it as a reference, like you'd do with a paper printout.
I guess they could add some indication on the screen it’s in ”sleep” mode though, like a frame or icon somewhere…
I'm sure I'm underestimating the complexities of the problem, but the first idea that pops into my head is to add some flash storage that's, say, 5x the size of the framebuffer, and always keep in it the current page + next two and previous two pages (swapping pointers to avoid unnecessary writes), and have an extra microcontroller that would wake on button press, read the appropriate page from the flash buffer, and send it to the display controller. The whole process could take a fraction of the second (+ screen redraw time), all while the main OS wakes up (or boots up) in the background, and the user would experience no delays if all they're trying to do is read their book page by page. Once ready, the OS would update the flash buffer and stay active for a short while, in case the user decides they want to flip pages quickly.
--
[0] - Gosh, I keep forgetting the readers only have touchscreens now. Another reason for superiority of hardware buttons for page turning.
Kobo still has a reader with buttons thankfully. I don’t understand how people tolerate touchscreen on e-readers. It’s extremely distracting compared to just pressing.
Buttons were absolutely perfect for this use case, on a dedicated e-reader—less so, say, an iPad mini that also does other stuff, but also those nicer touchscreens don't accidentally trigger as often so it's not as big a problem. Touch screen is nice for navigating menus but should be disabled when reading.
- I typically stop reading at the end of chapters
- The so-called screen saver creates dark and light points wherever there are dark and light points on the book's cover
- The screen needs to be refreshed to return these points to homogeneity
Outcome: most of the times the screen is refreshed, I get no use of it. Most of the time I spend reading, the screen needs to be refreshed.
It looks like earlier this year they moved the option out of Settings > Device Options and it's now located in Settings > Screen & Brightness. Which ironically doesn't seem to be documented anywhere that I can find.
Since I don't want to pay extra to disable the ads, the trick I figured out is to buy the Kindle for Kids. It comes with a cover, no ads, and a 2 year warranty. You can turn off the kids stuff with one switch, and then it's just a normal Kindle.
If you buy it on Black Friday or one of their other sale days, you should be able to get it for the same price or less than the regular edition would be when not on sale.
They closed that loophole. Kindles for Kids now show ads when not in Kids mode.
2021.
People have certainly been asking for it for at least the last decade. Jail breaking doesn't count.
It's not a new thing that journalists cover old features as if they've just been added, because they just found out about it and feel they're newsworthy
It's likely you are just lucky to buy a KPW with that feature just rolled out.
I only added my experience because bongobingo said 2021 and cited a tabloid "article" as proof.
The feature definitely predates April 2021, how long? I have no idea, possibly only 6-7 months, as I bought mine in October 2020.
More "tabloids" in April 2021 https://www.tomsguide.com/news/amazon-kindle-update-adds-kil...
More nerds in August 2021, https://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/30x1qmxj "the setting that was added a few months ago in Settings/Device Options to show the "Display Cover" of the book you are currently reading"
Amazon discussing rolling it out during ... April 2021, https://www.amazonforum.com/s/question/0D54P00008A1VpoSAF/di...
Maybe you were in a pre-release A/B or region, or simply didn't notice the update.
By all accounts your Oct. 2020 date is the earliest reported date for it being an official feature. Kobo has had it since day one in 2010, Kindle not so much.
If it takes some competition for Amazon to finally add some very basic features like this after a decade, I will keep supporting that competition.
I’ve grown frustrated with Amazon in a lot of areas, this was just one small one. I’m looking to divest my dependence on Amazon, and the Kobo isn’t leaving me missing anything.
When did that start being a thing? I've been using a kindle for about 14 years, my current one is a few years old. I've been thinking about upgrading, but it works perfectly fine, and I've never had it display ads, and haven't had to pay anything for that "privilege".
It sounds like this will be my last Kindle device if I now have to pay extra for no ads, on a device I've already paid for, to read books I also pay for.
When will the madness stop!?
You can get a Kindle for $110 with ads, or for $130 without ads.
As much as I hate advertising, this is as good as it gets
Creating a different experience around reading books for those who have and those who have not is also a problem, given how important literacy and the printing press are to the development of our society.
The first or last pages of books are still frequently used to sell other books from the same author or from the same publisher. Not that long ago they'd come with cut-out cards to mail in for your order for more of the publisher's books from the partial catalog printed in your book (nobody orders by mail any more, is the only reason the stopped that, I assume). Some of my books when I was a kid would have the first chapter of another book from the same anthology series at the end, to sell it (Goosebumps did this, for example).
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/meaning-of-hack.html
It's not far off a hack. And not OP but personally I've got very few problems with getting one over on massive corporations like Amazon.
Likewise, businesses lose money on people who habitually return things. People who behave reasonably subsidize the "ingenious" minority. Generous warranty and return policies can only exist when most people behave reasonably.
This is actually a good description the behaviour of megacorps like Amazon. They are constantly looking for new ways to increase and consolidate market share, pushing or breaking the boundaries of anti-trust regulations, at the expense of the consumer.
I wouldn't advocate this sort of behaviour towards individuals or small businesses, only megacorps. Highly dubious that this would actually cause harm to the average person. If anything it would hasten the enshittification process, open the field up to competition, and be a net positive for society.
I am likely coming at this from an entirely different mindset to you. In my mind, the current economic structure implies that sufficiently large corporations are pitched in a battle against ordinary people.
I have both an old Kindle Paperwhite 2nd Gen I think and a Kobo Clara.
The kindle 'lives' in the car and the Kobo at home so I always have something to read.
I use Calibre to sync to both.
Rather than directly accessing Amazon from the Kindle I download bought books to my PC then strip the DRM - so I can read the same book on both the Clara and Kindle.
See: https://github.com/noDRM/DeDRM_tools
I'd say that the initial awkwardness is from deliberately not connecting the Kobo or Kindle to the internet to stop them from 'phoning home' when you set them up. The Kindle is easy - just don't connect it, the Kobo seems to insist but there's a simple step-by-step to bypass the enforced sign up on the Clara I use.
See: https://yingtongli.me/blog/2018/07/30/kobo-rego.html - basically SQL commands.
and you can get firmware updates for the Kobo devices via
https://pgaskin.net/KoboStuff/kobofirmware.html
and they are easy to apply - drag / drop.
I don't get books from Kobo's site as it used to be hard if not impossible to strip the DRM from them - which meant I couldn't read them on my Kindle.
Hope that helps.
No jailbreak or anything required, just some config in Calibre-Web and replace a URL or two in a config file on the Kobo.
KOReader has some quirks, but Kavita is trying to work around them. Theres a PR for proper syncing so you can read on multiple devices and KOReader doesn't respect the specs for OPDS so doesn't always update after you add books, but it is fixed by a restart of KOReader.
It was so good I got a second one for my 5 year old daughter, figured it was a good alternative to the iPads I see her peers with.
It's usually in airplane mode, but I of course turn syncing on whenever I buy a book from Amazon, and it never deleted any of my sideloaded books.
I wonder if this is a "feature" of new Paperwhites? If so, it would suck. I was looking to replace mine because it has the old micro USB connector that no other device I own uses, and so I must keep a cable just for it.
One thing in particular is that the physical page turning buttons are very useful. None of Amazon's new Kindles have physical page turning buttons any more from what I see in the reports.
Never had that happen, either with stuff loaded through Calibre or Amazons document service.
This is news to me. All my kindle library is books side loaded via calibre. Then again, my kindle paperwhite is non stop in airplane mode so maybe this is a factor. In any case this is alarming and thanks for the feedback, I will read more about non-Amazon devices because of that.
But I'm surprised a book with DRM can even be added to another device than the one it belongs to, let alone be opened?
> I'm surprised a book with DRM can even be added to another device than the one it belongs to, let alone be opened?
I wonder if there is a way to do that safely, long term.
PC + USB cable + Kindle = books transferred the old fashioned way?
I'm very tempted by the thing another commenter mentioned, with not giving the Kindle internet access, if it works, I need 0 smart features.
It's a step between but think of Calibre as your own book "store". It's an ebook management app that can automatically convert almost any ebook format into the one your device needs but at the same time also gives you the option to edit the ebook details and stuff like that. It's honestly great, I'd totally recommend it.
Honestly, I just wanted an open reflective reader just for reading. Just put the books on the reader with usb and you're done.
I liked the remarkable 2 - they didn't require an account or cloud syncing. I didn't use the pen much, but when I did it was pretty good. I mostly stopped using it because no backlight.
I tried a kobo clara 2e - I had to learn about "sideloadedmode=true" in the settings to use it properly. Decent reader, but a little small. I like dark mode.
then I stumbled on the pocketbook inkpad lite. I use it all the time. 9.7" screen but only $219, backlight, and you just put your books on it and go. No activation or cloud stuff required.
Also, it reads books directly not only in epub, but many other formats like mobi and azw. (I haven't tried .azw)
It is one of my favorite pieces of software. The UI is beautiful and, to be honest, inspirational. It frequently reminds me that the best UI should not be noticed. Humbling.
Color is good enough to read comic books on it, the google drive integration means it's not too hard to get my CBR/CBZ files on directly. The annotation / notetaking featureas are nice (I haven't leaned into them yet, but they work well even on the small screen size), plus all the regular stuff with normal book reading. Also, since it's kobo/rakuten, the libby integration is better (search and select library books right from the device).
The actual reading app is maybe 90% as good as reading on the kindle (or a more specialized reader like perfectviewer on android). There's some annoyingly fiddly features- font size is kind of weirdly variable, when going through CBR files there's no "read next in the folder" gesture nor is there a "this is read/unread" state in the google drive ui, so you always have to remember which book you are finishing when opening the next in the series.
I tried out one of those boox readers with the android apps, which would be even better software-wise, but the boox hardware seems like garbage (for an N=1 at least). My display came with several rows of stuck pixels, and apparently it's a good thing that I ordered from amazon instead of the boox store, because the reviews indicate getting an RMA from boox directly is a pain.