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Backing Up My Kindle Ebooks (2018)

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Re: Backing Up My Kindle Ebooks (2018)

#81

Post by maskros »

drakenot wrote: post #11
maskros wrote: post #9

Calibre is great, if you configure it properly. By default, converting books to another format will change the layout! Destroying the original formatting by default is unacceptable behaviour to be honest, so user beware. For Kindle, I suggest using the KindleUnpack plugin instead; which can extract the EPUB file embedded in the AZW/KF8 format file losslessly for use with EPUB based readers without having to worry abo…

Any tips for what settings to change to prevent the destructive behavior you mentioned?

The most destructive behavior is the default Look & Feel settings. If you uncheck "Remove spacing between paragraphs" and the "Insert blank line between paragraphs" settings, Calibre will leave most formatting as-is.

These settings can be useful in cleaning up badly formatted files, but should not be used carte blanche on all input files, especially those that don't have problems. You'll lose niceties like the first paragraph in a chapter not having text-indent, etc.

Generally it's better to use the "Edit book" feature on EPUB files and manually fix up the CSS if the styling is not to your liking. Converting with Calibre also hard-codes @page margins which overrides most e-Ink reader software's margin settings; so if I do end up using Calibre to convert to EPUB, I always have to edit it afterwards to remove these hard-coded margins in the CSS.

Re: Backing Up My Kindle Ebooks (2018)

#82

Post by genghizkhan »

eswat wrote: post #48
superkuh wrote: post #22

Sometimes it's just better to pirate the books even if you've paid for them. The formatting and error correction is usually better and they stick to epub and mobi standards. As an aside: I was helping a friend out who owned a Kindle recently and shocked to learn it can't read mobi or epub. Why would anyone buy such a crap e-reader?

I’ve had both a Kindle and Kobo. The latter seemed like the better device because it felt less-tethered to bloatware I don't care about that the Kobo has (Pocket, gamification, etc.) and has decent GoodReads integration. Kindle does support mobi, but you have to convert epub files (this can't be done through your Kindle email address' convert ability for some reason).

Err, I might not be reading this right, but don’t you mean the former?

Re: Backing Up My Kindle Ebooks (2018)

#83

Post by extra88 »

eswat wrote: post #48
superkuh wrote: post #22

Sometimes it's just better to pirate the books even if you've paid for them. The formatting and error correction is usually better and they stick to epub and mobi standards. As an aside: I was helping a friend out who owned a Kindle recently and shocked to learn it can't read mobi or epub. Why would anyone buy such a crap e-reader?

I’ve had both a Kindle and Kobo. The latter seemed like the better device because it felt less-tethered to bloatware I don't care about that the Kobo has (Pocket, gamification, etc.) and has decent GoodReads integration. Kindle does support mobi, but you have to convert epub files (this can't be done through your Kindle email address' convert ability for some reason).

> Kindle does support mobi, but you have to convert epub files (this can't be done through your Kindle email address' convert ability for some reason).

I think the reason is they don't want to make it too easy to buy ebooks elsewhere and read them on the Kindle. Having to use something like Calibre to convert epub to mobi before sending it to a Kindle is just enough hassle and requires enough comfort with technology to make most stick with the easier option of buying ebooks from Amazon.

Re: Backing Up My Kindle Ebooks (2018)

#84

Post by farss »

preek wrote: post #37
farss wrote: post #29

Don't forget to backup your marks and highlights also. I made that mistake once, and then lost my Kindle. Lost years worth of highlights and notes, so now I set up a bash script to automatically sync them to a Git repo when my Kindle is plugged into my laptop.

This sounds like something that many could benefit from! Would you mind sharing your script?

Sure! I barely know what I'm doing, but this worked for me: https://github.com/wneuheisel/Kindle-Notes-Backup

Suggestions welcome!

Re: Backing Up My Kindle Ebooks (2018)

#85

Post by farss »

Insanity wrote: post #41
farss wrote: post #29

Don't forget to backup your marks and highlights also. I made that mistake once, and then lost my Kindle. Lost years worth of highlights and notes, so now I set up a bash script to automatically sync them to a Git repo when my Kindle is plugged into my laptop.

If you add your Goodreads account to the Kindle, it will store them there. :)

Does that work for imported documents also, or only Amazon-purchased books?

Re: Backing Up My Kindle Ebooks (2018)

#86

Post by javagram »

umvi wrote: post #60

I have this great idea for a business: "ewhiteout" for ebooks. Basically you can selectively "patch" ebooks to censor profanity, sex scenes, violence, (and more) depending on your tastes and on what you like (and don't like) to consume. However, this is extremely unpopular with authors/publishers for the same reason that censoring movies is extremely unpopular with Hollywood (hence why companies like VidAngel are con…

> I know it would be wildly popular in places like Utah because I fear legal pursuit from authors/publishers (and since you must break DRM in order for the tech to work, I don't see a way out).

FWIW, congress wrote an exemption to the Copyright Act when a company wanted to do this for movies. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_Entertainment_and_Cop...

So if your product was actually popular enough in Utah that might happen again. Of course that was 13 years ago.

Re: Backing Up My Kindle Ebooks (2018)

#89

Post by djsumdog »

farss wrote: post #84
preek wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This sounds like something that many could benefit from! Would you mind sharing your script?

Sure! I barely know what I'm doing, but this worked for me: https://github.com/wneuheisel/Kindle-Notes-Backup Suggestions welcome!

Huh. Are there scripts you recommend for those of us without physical Kindel's and just use our phones/tablets?

Re: Backing Up My Kindle Ebooks (2018)

#90

Post by djsumdog »

philtar wrote: post #8

Why is this article so high up? It's a blog post by an Amazon associate who fails at following basic instructions (dedrm tells you how to remove the new DRM and how to do it without a physical device) "hacker news"

Because of the recent Microsoft ebook store shutdown and people are concerned about losing other ebooks.
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