# Help - Downloading books from computer to Kindle via USB cable



## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

I sometimes have to download an Amazon book to my K2 via the USB cable.  Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.  I go to Manage my Kindle page, choose "download to computer", save to (in my case) drive E, and nothing happens when the download window opens.  On occasion this works perfectly, but I bought a book yesterday and it won't download.  I'm not sure if it's something not set correctly on the "tools" setting for XP or not, but it's getting to be a real problem.  I have AVG and I've even disabled it and tried again, no luck.  I've called CS twice, talked to a tech rep once and sent an email to Amazon once (no response).  You are my last hope for a fix.  Can someone advise me on what to try next?


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## modkindle (Feb 17, 2009)

Ii I understood your question right, I would download it to your computer first and save it in a folder on the hard drive. Then plug your Kindle in, open up the "Documents" folder and drag the book from the computer hard drive into the Kindle documents folder. This is what I do and I have never had any problems.


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## ak rain (Nov 15, 2008)

I plug my kindle into the computer and open the documents folder. I open the link to manage my kindle in amazon. in clicking the link I make sure to send to computer and then to send to the specific kindle wanted. then I save to the kindle documents folder. I also disconnect safely from the computer.

I hope this helps. the KB member who helped me had pictures and everything that I can't manage. 
Good luck and keep trying
sylvia


oops you got two answers


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## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

Modkindle, I just tried your suggestion, but the book will not download to the computer at all.  I've tried to do it on my desk top and my husband's computer(s) to no avail.  I'm at a total loss.


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## modkindle (Feb 17, 2009)

What book is it BJ?


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

If AVG were interrupting the download, it ought to be giving you a warning message....

Since you've tried it on two different PCs, I wonder if it is downloading it to a different directory than the one you are expecting it to..... I would try searching each PC for the filename.....


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

BJ said:


> Modkindle, I just tried your suggestion, but the book will not download to the computer at all. I've tried to do it on my desk top and my husband's computer(s) to no avail. I'm at a total loss.


Have you tried a different book to see if you can get that one to work?

Betsy


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Which browser are you using?


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## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

I use IE7 on cable, also tried it on Firefox, both have the same result.  I have bought two books in the past, 10 minutes apart, one downloads fine, the other one doesn't.  The book I'm trying to download at the moment is "The Owl and The Moon Cafe", and I'm not having any luck at all.  I have 64 books in my archives list so I'm not exactly new to the process, but this hapens more often than not.  Could it have anything to do with my IP supplier settings do you think?


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Honestly, I think you may be doing something wrong when downloading.... Here is how it should be done, step by step (I used IE8 for this, so it may look slightly different than your browser):

1) From the Manage Your Kindle page, choose *Download/Send to... Computer* from the dropdown menu on the right.










2) A pop-up menu will appear, you will need to choose the Kindle you want to download to:










3) Click the *Save* button to save the file to your hard drive:










4) Highlighted in blue is the file path, where the file will be saved to (and where you should change the location if you so desire). Click *Save*:










5) Having clicked Save in the previous window, this is the result.... Note that the file location is displayed in this window as well (Download to).... :









In the event that in the past you have checked the box that says "Close this dialog box when download completes," you will not see this dialog box. In this case, you should do a search for the filename on your PC. Alternately, you might want to search for all .azw files.

6) Here's where the file went on my PC:


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## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

Verena, it's basically the same on IE7.  I get stopped at the download window, I click "save" and normally I get another window that shows that it is actually downloading to my Kindle (when completed, I drag and drop into the Kindle documents folder and it appears on my Kindle home page).  Where everything stops is at the download window.  I can see the paper zooming from the world on the left to the folder on the right, and there's usually a status bar that moves very quickly to show you the progess but I get nothing.  There is no movement on the status bar, thus not downloading to Drive E, my Kindle.  This has worked on about 55 books of the 64 that I've bought.  I sure wish I could come up with a solution.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

Do not download directly to the Kindle. Download the file to your PC, and then drag and drop the file into the _*documents*_ folder of your Kindle.


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## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

Sorry Verena, that doesn't work either, just tried it.  My Husband has IE8 and I tried it again on his computer, and no go.  I sometimes am able to get two bars on Whispernet here at home (it comes and goes) but if I drive north about 10 miles I am able to get full coverage, I guess I will have to do that tomorrow.  Thank you so much for all you advice and trying to help me, I really appreciate all the time that you've taken over this.  I'm so sorry that nothing has worked.  Thank you very much.  Joan (BJ)


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## CegAbq (Mar 17, 2009)

BJ - have you tried contacting Kindle Customer support


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

BJ-



BJ said:


> I use IE7 on cable, also tried it on Firefox, both have the same result. I have bought two books in the past, 10 minutes apart, one downloads fine, the other one doesn't. The book I'm trying to download at the moment is "The Owl and The Moon Cafe", and I'm not having any luck at all. I have 64 books in my archives list so I'm not exactly new to the process, but this happens more often than not. Could it have anything to do with my IP supplier settings do you think?


From what you said, I'm not clear if you've tried to download anything else since you started having the problems with "The Owl and The Moon Cafe." If you have, and it does fine, it could be a problem with the Owl and the Moon (although it does look like Verena downloaded it alright).

CegAbq is right, you should try calling CS if you haven't already.

Betsy


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

BJ said:


> Sorry Verena, that doesn't work either, just tried it. My Husband has IE8 and I tried it again on his computer, and no go.


Can you be more specific? At what point are you having issues? Step 3? 4? 5? 6? Somewhere else?

I did buy that specific book and download it, so it is not that file that is the issue.

Please let me know if you have searched for the file on your PC.


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## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

I have trouble at step #3, the book simply will not download so it's obviously nowhere on any of the computers I've tried.  I called CS twice, also talked to one of the tech reps once (he couldn't help me) and emailed CS once with no response.  I have downloaded books since with no problems and am able to re-download books that are already on my Kindle.  It doesn't seem to matter if the book is $14.95 or free and it doesn't happen all the time, although I'm always surprised and extremely pleased when it actually works.  As I said before, of the 64 + books that I own, I've maybe had this problem with 5 or 6 of them.  I've bought two books about 10 minutes apart, one downloaded properly and one didn't.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

When you click the *Save* button what happens?

Does the dialog box disappear? Or is it stuck on the screen?


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## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

Nothing happens, the box is stuck on the screen and the status bar does not show any downloading activity at all.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

And the same thing happened on both of the different PCs you tried?


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## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

Two desk tops, one with IE8 and one with IE7 and both lap tops, one with IE6 and one with IE7.  Isn't this fun??


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

I'm not sure if this is related to your problem, but this may be worth a try:

I've sometimes run into a problem when I try to download items from the Mobipocket guide directly onto the Kindle 2. I found out that sometimes the download doesn't complete properly, but when you try to do the same download again, nothing happens, because it appears to be a duplicate item. The solution is to connect the Kindle to the computer, open the documents file, delete any listing for the item, and start again fresh. I've tried this and the solution works well.

I don't know if you're dealing with something similar here. But I wonder if the same thing has happened - that you somehow got a partial download that didn't complete properly, and now the redownloading won't work until you find and delete the broken one.

When you save the items, do you always send them to a certain folder? I have an eBooks folder on my PC, and a Kindle subfolder within that, and that's where I download books on the computer. If you have this, you can arrange the files in date order to see if the problem book was recently added. If it was, try deleting it from that folder, and starting fresh. 

If you're not sure, maybe try a thorough search on your computer for this title, even though you don't think it's there, and search the Kindle documents folder as well.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I have been thinking the same thing as gdae23, which is why I asked if you had searched your PCs for the files....

Also, I am wondering if it has something to do with the default folder you are using for downloads..... such as, if you had chosen drive E as your folder, and now there is no E drive connected, or if there is and the file already resides there, it could be causing the problem.

I don't know where the downloading settings are hiding for IE, but in Firefox, choose

Firefox ->
Main

Then check "Show the Downloads window when downloading a file" AND
check "always ask me where to save files"

Then *reboot the PC* and try to download the file again with Firefox.... This may help troubleshoot the cause.


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## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

I did a thorough search of my computer and it wasn't hiding anywhere.  Went to Firefox and my settings for downloading were already set as you suggested.  Rebooted and tried to download again and it seemed to partially download but would not complete.  I got this message just now on my Amazon "Manage my Kindle page": 

"We're sorry, this title is not currently available for download. We are investigating the difficulty with this title and ask that you try again in 24 hours. If after that time you are still unable to access this title, please contact us for further assistance. We apologize for the inconvenience."  I have no idea what's going on, but I guess I'll have to wait until tomorrow and give it another try.  This sure is one sticky problem.


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## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

Decided not to wait until tomorrow, so I got in the car, drove to the mall (4 blocks away), sat in Sears parking lot where I get 4 bars and used Whispernet to download the book, so...success as last.  I'm not sure if I'll try "download to computer" again, it's just too much trouble, especially when it doesn't goes as smoothly as it should.  

Thanks everyone for your concerted efforts to help me solve my problem.  You were all so helpful and I appreciate what you all have done.

Thanks again, Joan (BJ)


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## gdae23 (Apr 30, 2009)

Glad to hear you got it, one way or another! Enjoy reading it.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

I just started reading the book, and I must say, for a book I downloaded only to see if the file works, it is starting out really well.....


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## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

Thanks Verena, I thought it sounded good too.  Have a look at The House on Tradd Street, I thoroughly enjoyed it, I love Southern literature.  I have 5 pages of Wish List books, so I won't surface for quite a while, it certainly is quiet around here.


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## pidgeon92 (Oct 27, 2008)

BJ said:


> I have 5 pages of Wish List books, so I won't surface for quite a while, it certainly is quiet around here.


Bah. I have you beat. At this moment, I have 14 pages on my Kindle wish list, with 337 items....  If I don't add another book, it will probably still take me three years to get through them.....


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## Joan Flett (Mar 10, 2009)

Wow.  I'm not sure that I could keep track of them all.  Good luck on getting reading all of them.


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