# Can Non-Amazon Bought Books Be Archived?



## jsaffer (May 22, 2011)

I'm new to the Kindle and loving it. Question: If I obtain books from other sources, other than downloading from Amazon, can I archive them as if I had bought them from Amazon?

Thanks,

Jason


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

You can back them up on your computer. There's no way to get them into your Amazon archive.

Mike


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

Yep, the Amazon archive is only for books downloaded through the Kindle store.

As noted, you can back them up on the computer by hooking the Kindle up via USB.  You can simply drag and drop the non-Kindle books somewhere, or you can use a program like Calibre to back them up and organize your e-book library.


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## kindlegrl81 (Jan 19, 2010)

Non-amazon books cannot be added to your archives but you can download calibre and organize your books on it.  It is pretty much as easy as Amazon's archive system.  With the program you can either have the books emailed to your device or hook it up to your computer with the USB cord and press the "send to device button."


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## Sporadic (May 1, 2009)

When you email it to the pay email, don't they keep a copy on their server or did I hear wrong?

What I did was set up a dropbox. I put all my non-Amazon books on it and download them via wifi (don't use the 3G for stuff like that)


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Sporadic said:


> When you email it to the pay email, don't they keep a copy on their server or did I hear wrong?


Highly unlikely, it's probably purged the moment the successful transmission is acknowledged. In any event, there's no way for _you_ to get to it.

Mike


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## jsaffer (May 22, 2011)

Thanks for the responses so far. Very helpful. The feature I like about using the Amazon archive is that I can access a book I'm reading either through the Kindle or through the Kindle app on my Android smartphone - and they also sync so either device knows what page I'm currently on. But, since I read most books from non-Amazon sources, is there a way to use Calibre or any other app to accomplish the same thing -- so that I can read the book either on my Kindle or on a smartphone app and  have them sync so I'm always on the same page, whichever device I'm reading from?

Thanks!

Jason


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

As far as I know the answers to those are no.  I think you can only get books from the Kindle store into the Kindle apps, and whispersync only works on Kindle store books.


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## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

You can get non-Amazon purchased books to sync pages using Calibre and Mob2Mobi. I think all you have to do is add the ISBN number in Calibre and you will be able to sync the pages. This does nothing for notes and the archive.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

ProfCrash said:


> I think all you have to do is add the ISBN number in Calibre and you will be able to sync the pages.


Calibre adds a fake ASIN number in the metadata to rick the Amazon software into thinking it's a book purchased from their store, and thus keeping track of furthest page read. Calibre will add this automatically when a .mobi file is generated. If you already have a DRM-free mobi file in Calibre, then you have to perform a mobi to mobi conversion to get this to work. Calibre also adds its own page numbers at the same time.

Mike


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

So does that mean if you do that the book will then show up in your Archive so you can download it into the Kindle app on other platforms like PC and iPad?


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## jsaffer (May 22, 2011)

Mike,

Can you review the specific procedure to get this to work. What I did was as follows, but I don't think it's working.

1. I added a .mobi book to Calibre
2. Did a mobi to mobi conversion in Calibre
3. Copied the new mobi file to the Kindle's documents folder
4. The book shows up on my Kindle screen
5. I delete the book from Kindle and then look in the Archive folder on the Kindle
6. The book is not there

Thanks for help on this.

Jason


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

The book will _not_ be transferred to the Kindle Archive at Amazon. There will be an entry on the Amazon server that contains furthest page read, but you won't see it in the Archives. You have to manually put the book on device on which you wish to read it, and perform a sync.

Mike


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

jmiked said:


> The book will _not_ be transferred to the Kindle Archive at Amazon. There will be an entry on the Amazon server that contains furthest page read, but you won't see it in the Archives. You have to manually put the book on device on which you wish to read it, and perform a sync.


Hmm. I didn't know could sideload books into the Kindle apps. I'll have to look into that.


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## jsaffer (May 22, 2011)

OK, I'm still trying to work this out. I put the mobi onto the Kindle. Then I did a sync, both from the Kindle and from my Android's Kindle app. But the new mobi book is not showing up on my Android app.

First, I loaded the mobi into Calibre and then I did a mobi to mobi conversion. But maybe I'm not putting the right version onto the Kindle? Where would be the new mobi show up on my hard drive? 

Thanks for the help on this!

Jason


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

jsaffer said:


> Where would be the new mobi show up on my hard drive?


Calibre replaces the old mobi book with the new one.

Mike


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

mooshie78 said:


> Hmm. I didn't know could sideload books into the Kindle apps. I'll have to look into that.


The only way I know of to do that with iThings is to jailbreak the device. It easy to sideload to the Kindle app on the PC or Mac. Or it used to be.

I was mainly interested in syncing between Kindles.

Mike


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## mooshie78 (Jul 15, 2010)

jmiked said:


> The only way I know of to do that with iThings is to jailbreak the device. It easy to sideload to the Kindle app on the PC or Mac. Or it used to be.
> 
> I was mainly interested in syncing between Kindles.
> 
> Mike


Ah. Useless for me then. I only have one Kindle and I don't want to Jailbreak my iPad2 which I read on sometimes as I carry it around more than I do my Kindle.


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Don't take my word on the necessity of jailbreaking as definitive. I haven’t had an occasion to read anything on my iPod Touch and sync with Kindle. It may be quite possible to do now.

Mike


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

You can sideload books onto the iPad via the file sharing part of the Kindle app.  Just connect the iPad, click on Apps, click on the Kindle app, then copy the books you want to side-load into the box for files for the Kindle app.  I also do this on my iPod Touch.

Edited to add:  I don't think this ability was in the app originally, but it has been for the last few months, at least.


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## jsaffer (May 22, 2011)

I'm still struggling to get this to work. Any help would be greatly appreciated. From what I understand from these messages, I should be able to add a mobi book that I get from a non-Amazon source, convert it to mobi in Calibre, and then I should be able to copy to my Kindle and also to my Android smartphone -- and then the books should sync between the two devices (so that I can return to the same page I'm reading, whichever device I'm reading from).

I have done the mobi to mobi conversation. Then, I plug my Kindle into my PC and, using Windows 7 file manager, I copy the mobi book from my PC to the documents folder on the Kindle. The book then shows up on the Kindle. I also copy the mobi book, using Windows 7 file manager, onto my Android phone. The book then shows up in the Kindle app. 

I then read some pages on either device. Then, I click on sync (either in the Kindle or on the phone, depending which device I've been reading on). However, when I read the book on either device and then go to the other device, there is no syncing going on in terms of the page I've read to. This is where I'm stuck. No update on the other device so I can pick up reading where I left off on the other device.

Am I doing something wrong here? Thanks for the help!

Jason


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

Non-Amazon books only sync if you use a trick with Calibre.  It may be a special plug-in.  It has to set the ASIN of the book to a real book from Amazon. Search the Calibre forums on mobileread.com for more info.


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## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

It is not a special plug in you have to make sure that you have the correct ISBN number in the book for the sync to work. You can do this with Calibre or Mob2Mobi.


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## jsaffer (May 22, 2011)

Can you tell me exactly how to get the correct ISBN number from both Calibre and from mobi2mob? I've got both programs but don't know where to find the numbers exactly. Thanks!

Jason


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

ProfCrash said:


> It is not a special plug in you have to make sure that you have the correct ISBN number in the book for the sync to work. You can do this with Calibre or Mob2Mobi.


As far as I know, the Kindle syncs on ASIN, not ISBN. But I could be wrong.

Mike


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## jsaffer (May 22, 2011)

How do I find out the ASIN number for a book?

Thanks,
Jason


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## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

I have read both. It should be easy enough to pull both and be safe


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## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

Both ASIN and ISBN are usually listed on the book page on Amazon (DTB or Kindle).


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

I've looked inside the file for a Kindle book. The ASIN is in the meta-data, but the ISBN doesn't seem to show up anywhere. The ASIN is what Amazon uses to identify the book in all its processes. The only place that the ISBN appears to be used is on the Amazon product description page to tell people the book to which the page numbers correspond. The Kindle versions themselves don't appear to use the ISBN (at last on some recent ones I've checked), they use a new number called an eISBN, which is not shared with any print version.

Mike


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## jsaffer (May 22, 2011)

Two questions:

1. Does it matter if the ASIN number I retrieve from the web, to insert in the mobi2mobi program, comes from the hardcover version of a book or the kindle version of the book? I notice that Amazon has different numbers for the two things.

2. I'm assuming that once I use mobi2mobi to convert a book with the revised metadata for items exth 113 and 501, that I then have to copy the converted mobi book both onto the Kindle and onto my Android phone. Is this correct? I can't just copy the book onto one device, it has to be both?

Thanks,
Jason


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## jsaffer (May 22, 2011)

Also, another question:

Once I have put the converted mobi book onto both devices, do I then have to click on the "sync" option in either the Kindle or on the Android phone, or should the latest page sync happen automatically? Also, does the sync show up right away or does it take Amazon a bit of time to sync things?

Jason


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

jsaffer said:


> Also, another question:
> 
> Once I have put the converted mobi book onto both devices, do I then have to click on the "sync" option in either the Kindle or on the Android phone, or should the latest page sync happen automatically? Also, does the sync show up right away or does it take Amazon a bit of time to sync things?
> 
> Jason


I've never tried this idea of syncing converted mobi's so I'm not sure on that bit, but I helped somebody else understand page sync in this thread http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,67535.msg1100656.html#msg1100656.

You might want to take a look at that, and then try to get it working with a genuine Amazon book ("buy" one of the free books if necessary) before you try it with converted books.


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## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

So let me clarify a few things about this process because jstaffer you are doing a lot of extra work.  

1.  I add non Amazon books into Calibre and if they are not in .mobi format (for example epub) I use Calibre to convert them to .mobi format.  Since Calibre version 7.x something, Calibre adds the ASIN to the metadata.  That's part 1.  There is no need to use mobi2mobi anymore because Calibre is essentially putting the ASIN in for you.  The ASIN is what makes the Kindle for iPhone app think it is syncing an Amazon book.

2.  Now, I don't know about Android phones so please use this with a note of caution.  This process is what I use to sync my non-Amazon books between my Kindle and my iPhone 4 but my thought is that the process may work for Android also.  If you import a non-Amazon book using iTunes, sync will not work.  This is not the location that allows for syncing.

3.  I found a program called Disk Aid - again, I think this only works for iPhones.  You would need to look for an equivalent program that will give you access to the root on your Android.  Disk Aid allows you to access the root directory of your iPhone WITHOUT a jailbreak.  Once you have access to the root, you look for your Kindle for iPhone app, below there is a directory called Library, below that is a directory or folder called ebooks.  This is where you place the books.  

4.  At this point, I would recommend a re-boot of the iPhone, although some have said a re-boot is not necessary.  Once the re-boot occurs open the book and read.  Once done, hit the snyc button before closing out.  Open your book on the Kindle, turn wireless on and once inside the book, open MENU and choose "Sync to the Furthest Page Read".  

5.  Again, this is done for the iPhone, although I would venture to think doing it for the Android would be a similar process.  I am doing this with books that I have legally purchased.  Also, as someone mentioned earlier, books sideloaded in this manner DO NOT go into your Archive once you delete them off the phone but since I maintain my entire library in Calibre, that is no problem.  I can simply reload them if I choose to read the book again.  Hope this helps!


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## chilady1 (Jun 9, 2009)

jmiked said:


> As far as I know, the Kindle syncs on ASIN, not ISBN. But I could be wrong.
> 
> Mike


You are correct Mike, it syncs on the ASIN.


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## belle17363 (May 27, 2011)

Thank you Chilady1!  

I followed your instructions and can now Whispersync my non-Amazon kindle books between my iPad and iPhone.  I expect to get my Kindle 3 soon, and it's very reassuring to know that I will be able to enjoy reading across devices.  

And the wonderful thing is that this didn't require any "techie" skills - just the ability to follow directions.  Maraming salamat!


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## jsaffer (May 22, 2011)

Hi ChilLady,

Are you saying that you can change the ASIN number using Calibre? I can't see a way in Calibre to modify an ASIN number. I have the latest version. Can you help me out on this? Thanks.

Jason


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## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

jsaffer said:


> Are you saying that you can change the ASIN number using Calibre? I can't see a way in Calibre to modify an ASIN number. I have the latest version. Can you help me out on this? Thanks.


It's an automatic process. If the mobi format book has no ASIN, Calibre will generate a pseudo-ASIN number and insert it in the metadata during the conversion process. You have no control over this.

Mike


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

mooshie78 said:


> Ah. Useless for me then. I only have one Kindle and I don't want to Jailbreak my iPad2 which I read on sometimes as I carry it around more than I do my Kindle.


You can e-mail a copy of the .mobi file from Calibre to yourself as an attachment, when you go to open the attachment on your iPad you'll get the option to open it with the Kindle app. (I just tried it and yes, it works.)


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## gaidinsgirl (Feb 1, 2011)

I can't get this to work at all. I have tried a few times. Did the new Kindle for iPhone update take away the ability to do this or anything? I am just trying to see if I am messing up or if something else is going on.


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## Morf (Nov 18, 2010)

If you haven't already done so, I would strongly recommend that you get sync working first with Amazon bought books (you can "buy" one of the free books to test it with) using the process described in our FAQ http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,73465.msg1183688.html#msg1183688.

Once you've got it working with Amazon books, try again for a non-Amazon book using the process described here.


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## gaidinsgirl (Feb 1, 2011)

I've done that many times. I just can't get this to work though.


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## MamaProfCrash (Dec 16, 2008)

I have been having toruble with synching lately as well. No idea why.


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## raehtz10 (Aug 8, 2011)

i just got this to work with my EVO. I just converted the .mobi into a .mobi with Calibre. Uploaded the new file to my kindle, and put the three created files into the Kindle directory on my phone. Worked like a charm after that. Thanks everyone for your help in this thread.


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## naman919 (Dec 14, 2011)

belle17363 said:


> Thank you Chilady1!
> 
> I followed your instructions and can now Whispersync my non-Amazon kindle books between my iPad and iPhone. I expect to get my Kindle 3 soon, and it's very reassuring to know that I will be able to enjoy reading across devices.
> 
> And the wonderful thing is that this didn't require any "techie" skills - just the ability to follow directions. Maraming salamat!


where/how did you load the book onto the iPad? i emailed the mobi to myself and the sync doesn't work. i'm trying to sync an android phone and iPad like some others.


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## kemik (Jan 27, 2012)

Hi all,

I just registered here to give you an answer I spent most of my morning trying to find - that is, where exactly does Kindle for *Android* store the books which it opens (or, where you should paste your files from Calibre to be able to open them with Kindle for Android).

The answer is:

/mnt/sdcard/Android/data/com.amazon.kindle

So, just have your Calibre copy the .mobi files to that folder, it works like a charm, and syncs with my Kindle device flawlessly.

(Took a while, but I'm happy to share with you what I've learned).


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## Linjeakel (Mar 17, 2010)

Hi, kemick, welcome to Kindleboards!

Thank you for the tip, I'm sure a lot of people will find it very helpful. Hopefully it will work on all Android phones.

Now that you've joined us, I hope you'll stick around and see all the things we have to offer.


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