# New Fires not accept books sideloaded to SD card?!?



## ct85711 (Jan 25, 2015)

I just read a interesting news article in regards to the new kindle fires, in that they won't accept any ebooks sideloaded onto the SD card.



> The SD card is one of the Kindle Fires most compelling feature, and this is the first Amazon branded tablet to include it. Many users have reported to Good e-Reader that the Kindle e-reading app will not recognize e-books in the MOBI, AZW or KF8 when loaded on the SD card.


http://goodereader.com/blog/electronic-readers/new-50-kindle-fire-will-not-read-ebooks-from-the-sd-card

So by chance, anyone with one of the new Fires verified this news? I knew that the Amazon app store does not have any apps to read any ebooks from a competitor store.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

It actually makes sense to me. Most of Amazon's titles have DRM and you have to say what device they're for even if you download them via your computer. You'd then transfer them via USB. The device has to know that they came through it, I suspect, so you can't just plug in a new storage card and go.

It's also possible that books may only be stored in on board memory . . . . the extra storage is for app data, etc. . . . yep: just found this page via Amazon Help:

https://smile.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201829200



> You can install apps and games, download videos, and store photos and personal videos on an external MicroSD Card. Audiobooks, Books, Silk browser downloads, and Email can only be downloaded to and stored on the internal storage of your Fire tablet.


I don't see it as a huge issue . . . compared to apps, games, videos, and photos, ebooks take up almost no space.


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## NightReader (Apr 25, 2010)

I'm not sure about installing apps on the SD card.  I know in some configurations of android, it works for some apps.  But, I don't know about lollipop.

And now the tech specs for the Fire HD8 says "Some apps may require that they are installed on internal storage".  

So, if a lot of apps, and most of your books have to be in the main storage, 8 GB is a bad bet.


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## Saul Tanpepper (Feb 16, 2012)

NightReader said:


> I'm not sure about installing apps on the SD card. I know in some configurations of android, it works for some apps. But, I don't know about lollipop.
> 
> And now the tech specs for the Fire HD8 says "Some apps may require that they are installed on internal storage".
> 
> So, if a lot of apps, and most of your books have to be in the main storage, 8 GB is a bad bet.


Shouldn't be that hard to swap files in and out from the card.


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## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

This sounds like much ado about nothing to me, honestly.

Most books are so small in size that internal storage is fine, and every single device I've ever had with external storage has had certain apps that could only be installed internally.


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

CS said:


> This sounds like much ado about nothing to me, honestly.
> 
> Most books are so small in size that internal storage is fine, and every single device I've ever had with external storage has had certain apps that could only be installed internally.


I tend to agree . . . . . . . it's the movies, music, and pictures that are going to take up most of the space so as long as they can go on the extra memory you're probably fine.


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## primetizzle (Oct 4, 2015)

I have one of the new Fire's.  Since I've never owned one before, I figured out how to load all of my ebooks into Calibre and load them into the Fire.  However, the option to put it onto the card isn't there, only on the device memory itself.  However, the books are so small that it's not a bother to me.


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## kelkane (Jun 10, 2009)

primetizzle said:


> I have one of the new Fire's. Since I've never owned one before, I figured out how to load all of my ebooks into Calibre and load them into the Fire. However, the option to put it onto the card isn't there, only on the device memory itself. However, the books are so small that it's not a bother to me.


can you please tell me where you sent them to have them show up in your library. I never really have a problem using calibre but for some reason I cant send my books to the Fire and have them show up in my library. THey just go to Documents. Any help would be great


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## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

kelkane said:


> can you please tell me where you sent them to have them show up in your library. I never really have a problem using calibre but for some reason I cant send my books to the Fire and have them show up in my library. THey just go to Documents. Any help would be great


That's where books go that are not bought/borrowed through Amazon -- whether you use Calibre, or attach 'em to an email, or download directly, or use the 'Send to Kindle' program that you can download to your computer.


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## tsemple (Apr 27, 2009)

I think it is premature to conclude that you cannot use external SD storage for ebooks. There are specific folders that historically Fire looks in for .mobi files in order to add them to the Docs list: /kindle and /Documents are ones that I've used in the past. But at the very least, you can open them from anywhere using something like ES File Explorer, and it will create the files that save your reading position, annotations etc. When opened in this manner, they just don't persist in the UI, in the recent items lists or Docs item lists etc.

It may be possible to add symlinks in the /kindle folder that point to external storage and thereby make those appear in the UI. Or maybe you just need to create /kindle or /Documents folders on the sd card. I have a flash drive that can plug into my Fire HD6, and I'll try some things when I get a chance.

In any case there's no technical reason it cannot work seamlessly, and if Amazon hasn't made provision for this in the first release, they can certainly do so with a future update (hopefully they will document this feature).


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## Meemo (Oct 27, 2008)

Since you can load apps (at least some apps) onto the SD card, I'm wondering if you could put an app for reading ePubs on the SD card (something like Aldiko or Moon+ or even the Nook or Kobo app).  Or even the Docs app - can that be moved to the SD card?  I'll find out shortly, I ordered some for the grandkids for Christmas at the $35 price.  Will play with one when they arrive, just thinking ahead.  But it's true that most eBooks don't take up much space.  Then again I do have a fair number of the interactive kids' books that are bigger files, they're actually individual apps.


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## MagicalWingLT (May 12, 2009)

Will the new Fires accept .Cbr or .Cbz formats for comic books? The new tablet I get needs to have this as I read a lot of comics.


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