Syncing non-amazon bought books between devices.

[naman919]

I tried to the search feature on this forum but i couldn't find exactly what i was looking for in the results. Let me know if there is a thread about this already. thanks.

I have a collection of epub files that were obtained legally and i used calibre to convert them to mobi format so i could read them on my iPad and Droid X via the kindle app. This is probably a simple answer, but if I load my iPad and my DX with the same file and read them on the respective kindle apps they will not sync position. My suspicion is that it is because they are not native amazon books and that the feature is tied to only amazon purchases. Am i correct in this assumption?

Alternatively, is there a way to adjust the file in calibre or some other tool to "trick" (in the nicest sense of the word) the kindle apps into syncing the files? I love the kindle app and i do buy amazon books, i would just like to keep all my reading on my devices in a single environment.

If this is taboo let me know, but i would assume it's a fair question. Thanks in advance.

[meglet]

Calibre added an option in the last 6 months or so (I don't remember exactly) that would add a fake ASIN to the book when it was imported, which would then sync between devices. I found that it worked pretty well between multiple e-ink devices, but was somewhat unpredictable between an e-ink device and a Kindle app.

I think I had to import the book to Calibre, use Calibre to put it on the e-ink Kindle, then use iTunes to put the file onto my iPhone from my Calibre library folder on my hard drive. Set both to the beginning, then read for a while on one device, and exit the book to the home screen. Then it would USUALLY sync to the other device.

I haven't tried in a while so it may not be this complicated anymore.

[naman919]

terrific! thanks. that is one method i will look into this evening when i get home. I will report back with what i find! thanks again for the timely response and great advice.

[Ann in Arlington]

If you send the non-amazon content to the Kindle via your 'send-to' address, it will be stored for you at Amazon in the personal documents area.  You can then send it to any of your 'real' Kindle devices, though not to Kindle 'app' devices.  Not sure if it syncs or not as I've never had occasion to try.

[Morf]

There's a discussion on syncing in general in the FAQ here http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,73465.msg1183688.html#msg1183688, and a discussion on using the Calibre ASIN facility to "spoof" it for non-Amazon books here http://www.kindleboards.com/index.php/topic,68023.0.html.

Things have changed a little since those threads were written, though, with the arrival of the facility to store personal documents in the "cloud". When this facility arrived, some customers got this email in late October:

Dear Kindle Customer,

As a past user of the Kindle Personal Documents Service, we are pleased to let you know about some improvements:

•   Your documents are now automatically archived in your Kindle library (you can control this from the Manage Your Kindle page at www.amazon.co.uk/manageyourkindle   )

•   Archived documents can be re-downloaded from your archive to the all-new Kindle, as well as Kindle Keyboard (Kindle 3rd Generation--requires the latest software update v3.3 from www.amazon.co.uk/kindlesoftwareupdates) – you will be able to find and download your documents from any of these devices that are registered to your account.

•   Now (just as with Kindle books) Whispersync automatically synchronises your last page read, bookmarks and annotations for your documents (with the exception of PDFs) across devices.

We expect to extend these features to Kindle apps (such as Kindle for Android, Kindle for iPhone, Kindle for PC and Kindle for Mac) in the coming months.

You can control these new features from the Manage Your Kindle page at www.amazon.co.uk/manageyourkindle where you can see a list of your archived documents, re-deliver documents to your Kindle, delete any document from archive, or even turn off archiving for your account.

Learn more about the Kindle Personal Documents Service from our help pages at www.amazon.co.uk/kindlepersonaldocuments.

Thank you for choosing Kindle,

Amazon Kindle Support

The interesting line is "We expect to extend these features to Kindle apps (such as Kindle for Android, Kindle for iPhone, Kindle for PC and Kindle for Mac) in the coming months."


There's no sign of this happening yet, but we're all hoping it will happen sometime soon. Once this happens there shouldn't be anything to do: until then, you'll have to use the Calibre fix.

[Ann in Arlington]

As usual, Morf is quite thorough!

[naman919]

thanks for all your replies!

[gdae23]

"We expect to extend these features to Kindle apps (such as Kindle for Android, Kindle for iPhone, Kindle for PC and Kindle for Mac) in the coming months."

There's a new update for the Kindle app for iPad that's just out within the last few days, and after I updated, I was able to send a personal document to that app. (Actually I did it unintentionally.... I was trying to test out my newly set up WiFI, not the app update, and suddenly the document showed up in the iPad Kindle app!)

[Morf]

Interesting...

What version is this? Kindle for PC hasn't updated since November, and is v1.8.1 (though I don't know if they use the same version numbering across platforms).

Have you had a chance to test whether sync works yet?