Book Covers as screensavers

[911jason]

Hello all,

In the process of my polls, both here and on the Amazon forums, many people expressed an interest in having their current book cover be their screensaver. I think I'm going to try that for myself for awhile, although it may turn out to be too much of a hassle, especially for you speed readers. Nevertheless, I will post images here for the books that I'm reading, and will be happy to take requests. If you are requesting a cover, please post a link to the Amazon page for the book, to save me the step of having to find it and possibly using the wrong book cover. Also, I will automatically post Kindle and Kindle DX sized images of each cover.

P.S. If you weren't already aware of the Screensaver hack, you'll find all the info on NogDog's Kindle Minds Blog.

[911jason]

Here's my current read...

K1/K2/K3


KDX

[nogdog~6op6ou]

That would be a nice app if the KDK allows it: find the most recently accessed book, and make it's cover page the screensaver.

[Luvmy4brats]

Hhhmmm.. I can think of several books on my Kindle that this wouldn't be such a good idea for   

That being said, I wouldn't mind using some of my favorite books as screen savers (just not always current reads).

[911jason]

You're right Nog, that'd be a great app if someone could pull it off!

Heather, that's a great idea, instead of trying to have just your current "read" you could have a whole collection of your favorite books...

[cbb77]

This is definitely a great idea.  I've actually been accumulating book covers myself for this exact thing.  While I agree it may be unmanageable for those with hundreds of books, but might work well if pointed to a collection.  I for one have a few collections, with 2 being "To Be Read" and "Completed".  Be nice if a program could be written to point to a collection and pull out all of those covers to the screensaver folder. 

[tlrowley]

911Jason, where are you finding covers large enough to use for screen savers?  The largest I'm seeing on Amazon is 500x500, but perhaps I'm looking in the wrong spot :-)

[Geoffrey]

911Jason, where are you finding covers large enough to use for screen savers?  The largest I'm seeing on Amazon is 500x500, but perhaps I'm looking in the wrong spot :-)

I usually go to google images, search for the correct cover, take the cleanest version that's a larger size and then resize it to 600x800

[tlrowley]

Yeah, I was hoping for a quick fix

especially when Jason wanted the amazon link, I was hoping there was a secret page I hadn't found.

Thanks, Geoffrey

[Geoffrey]

I'm sure there is a quick fix - nogdog probably has one - and I'd use it if I had it but I have to go old school. 

[Basilius]

There's a nice selection of covers at the Book Cover Archive (http://www.bookcoverarchive.com), but none are taller than 500 pixels.

[911jason]

No quick fix, I'm using the 500x500 images from Amazon, then cropping them and resizing in Photoshop. They turn out pretty good that way. If I come across one that doesn't look good, then I can always use Google Images to find a larger version.

[Tom Diego]

To convert a book cover to a screen saver, at least for the books that I've purchased from Amazon, here's my procedure using Vista, Firefox, and Photoshop:

1. Go to the book title at Amazon
2. Click on "See larger image".  This will open a larger image in a new window.
3. Right click on the image and and select "Save image as" and save in a designated folder
4. Right click on the downloaded image and select "Open with" and select Photoshop.
5. Use the Crop Tool to crop out the white border on the left and right.  After selecting the area you want, select Image/Crop.
6. Resize image by selecting Image/Image Size and setting the width to 600 and the length to 800.  Make sure that "Constrain Proportions" is unchecked.
7. Select "Save As" and save as a .gif.
8. Copy this into the /linkss/screensavers folder on your Kindle.
9. Restart your Kindle.

Edit:  I started this a couple of hours ago but got interrupted!

[911jason]

That's slightly different than the method I use... first of all, I rarely (if ever) stretch images to fill a space. I hate that stretched out look, personally. I also can't watch non-HD images on my HDTV when they are stretched to fill the screen, it drives me nuts!

Also, most people who have Photoshop, probably know how to convert screensavers... I started this thread for those who don't. =)

[Luvmy4brats]

That's slightly different than the method I use... first of all, I rarely (if ever) stretch images to fill a space. I hate that stretched out look, personally. I also can't watch non-HD images on my HDTV when they are stretched to fill the screen, it drives me nuts!

Also, most people who have Photoshop, probably know how to convert screensavers... I started this thread for those who don't. =)

And I have photoshop and don't use it <grin> and I know you do fantastic work 

[KindleGirl]

I love this idea of the bookcovers as screensavers! I do have Photoshop but have no clue how to make them into screen savers. Is there a thread that gives the directions for this? (I followed the directions above but I do not have Vista and it didn't want to copy anything for me). Well anyway, until I can get directions for doing it myself, here is my request for my first bookcover.

http://www.amazon.com/Love-Laughter-John-Ritter-ebook/dp/B003LL3JV2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1285008551&sr=1-1

Thanks, 911jason!

[Geoffrey]

How's this:

[911jason]

K1/K2/K3


KDX

[Luvmy4brats]

Would you mind doing The Book Thief for me?

http://www.amazon.com/The-Book-Thief-ebook/dp/B000XUBFE2/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1285023269&sr=1-1

Thanks! (I think this is a really good idea, but I might keep you busy!)

[KindleGirl]

Thanks, Geoffrey & 911jason!  These are great!

[Geoffrey]

Here ya go Heather.  I only did a 600x800 and I fiddled with the contrast and brightness a bit so it wasn't too dark.  Let me know if you want me to fiddle with it some more ....

[911jason]

Ironically Heather, I couldn't find a good high-quality image of the US cover, so I used the Amazon cover for that one, but I did find some higher res alternate covers.

K1/K2/K3


DX

[Acbar]

Here is a method for those do-it-yourselfers who aren't handy with Photoshop or don't have it.  If you already have Windows 7 or Vista installed and working, this method uses only programs that came with it -- no stretching applied:

1.  Go to Amazon.com, find the book, click on the small picture of the cover (or 'See larger image'), right-click on the resulting large image, and then save ('save image as').  Usually this will give you a 500 x 500 pixel image.

2.  Find the image file in your browser's 'Downloads' folder (or wherever else your browser saved it; in Firefox, the list of recent downloads should already be open in a separate FF window if you just downloaded the image, or go to FF 'Tools' > 'Downloads' and reopen the list).  Click on the file name, which will open the .jpg file automatically in the default program for viewing photos, not surprisingly called 'Windows Photo Viewer'.  Then, in the Windows Photo Viewer menu, click on 'Open' > 'Microsoft Office Picture Manager'  (later, if you wish, you can bypass the Windows Photo Viewer step by making Microsoft Office Picture Manager your default program to open all .jpg files).

3.  In Microsoft Office Picture Manager, in the toolbar at the top, click on 'Edit Pictures'; the 'Edit Pictures' toolbar will appear down the right side of the screen.  Click on 'Edit using these tools' > 'Crop'.  The 'Crop' toolbar will appear.  Under 'Crop Settings' click on the drop-down menu next to 'Aspect Ratio', select '3 x 4', click on the 'Portrait' radio button, and then click on 'OK'.  At the bottom of the Crop toolbar click on 'Back to Edit Pictures'; then, under 'Edit Pictures', click on 'Resize'.  The 'Resize' toolbar will appear.  Click on the radio button for 'Predefined width x height' and then scroll down to 'Document -Small (800 x 600 px)' and select that choice; then click on 'OK' below.  You have now created an 800 x 600 pixel copy of the book cover.  (For DX Kindles, use 'Document -Large').

4.  Still in Microsoft Office Picture Manager, go to the menu at the top and click on 'File' > 'Export'.  The Export toolbar will appear on the right in place of the Resize toolbar.  Under 'Export selected files to', uncheck 'Original locations' and click on 'Browse...'.  In the directory tree window which opens, click on 'Pictures'.  The contents of your Pictures library will appear.  Either highlight an existing folder or create a 'New folder' for this book cover; then click on 'Open'; that folder's name should appear in the 'Export selected files to' window.  Now, move down the toolbar to 'Export with this file name' and uncheck 'Original file names'; then click on 'Rename...' and  and type in your choice of file name.  Move down to 'Export with this file format' and select the format of your choice (I prefer .gif to .jpg as the file is smaller yet the compression is less 'lossy').  Move down to 'Export using this size' and select 'Document - Small (800 x 600 px)' again  (you will not have to resize the image as it is already that size).  Then click 'OK.'

That's it, step by step. 

[Neekeebee]

Jason, are you still taking requests for book covers?  I just put my first screensavers on my K1 that Hubby will be using, and wanted to add some of his favorite books by George R. R. Martin:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0553381687/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/0553381695/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_0?ie=UTF8&index=0

http://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-media/product-gallery/B000FBFN1U/ref=cm_ciu_pdp_images_3?ie=UTF8&index=3

These are links to pictures on Amazon of the "older" covers, which I think would look nicer as screensavers.  Thanks!

N

[911jason]

Be careful what you ask for Neekeebee!

I found slightly better quality artwork along with cover art from several foreign versions of the books. I'll post them in 1 second... =)

P.S. DX Versions also available