Kindle/EReader and SCM

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  • September 13, 2010 at 2:22 am
    Tukata
    Participant

    I *may* be getting a kindle for Christmas this year – or a different ereader, still not completely decided – and I was wondering if the SCM books can be read on a kindle?  I own a few printed books, but am interested in several of the others and would love to save $$ by buying the ebooks. 

    Thanks!

    Erin

    September 13, 2010 at 3:14 am
    Sanveann
    Member

    They can, but the formatting (pdf) makes it rather difficult to see the type, because it shows up rather small on mine. They’d probably work better on a DX than the regular Kindle.

    September 13, 2010 at 4:54 am
    suzukimom
    Participant

    Did you have it convert it to Kindle format, or is it using the PDF directly?

    (My Kindle is backordered….)

    September 13, 2010 at 1:15 pm
    Sanveann
    Member

    You can view pdfs directly.

    September 13, 2010 at 2:18 pm
    suzukimom
    Participant

    Yes, I know you CAN view pdfs directly, but you can also still have it converted to Kindle format as well – and I was wondering if you had converted it, as it might make a difference on how it looks?

    September 13, 2010 at 3:52 pm
    Sanveann
    Member

    Oh, I see what you’re saying 🙂 I converted it, to make it easier to read. The way SCM lays out their books, with the two columns, made it a little tricky, but I found the conversion was much more pleasant to read than the original pdf.

    Btw, I love my Kindle! Actually reading CM’s original series on it right now 🙂

    September 13, 2010 at 4:46 pm
    Doug Smith
    Keymaster

    From what I’ve read, the Kindle does have some limitations when you view PDF files directly that have not been converted to Kindle format. Most of the articles I’ve seen might be a little old so things may have changed, but here is what I’ve seen: 

    • Hyperlinks do not work, such as the links we put in our table of contents to jump directly to sections.

    • You can’t change the font sizes.

    • I think older Kindles could not pan or zoom a PDF for a closer view. It looks like the new model can and I don’t know if they updated the software on older models to add this capability too.

    • It can’t read password protected PDF files. That’s not an issue for books from SCM, though.

    There are also some limitations in converting PDFs to Kindle format. The software does a pretty good job, but it’s not perfect and can leave some of the formatting messed up.

    Hopefully some of you with a Kindle can jump in and let us know if these things are still true and how SCM books work out after being converted to Kindle format. Thanks.

    I have a Kindle on order so we can test our books and give better answers, but it’s backordered for a couple weeks.

    September 13, 2010 at 6:13 pm
    Tukata
    Participant

    Oh my – what do you all mean by needing to convert files?  That sounds really complicated!  Is that software that I will have to buy if I get a Kindle?  Hmmm…

    September 13, 2010 at 6:37 pm
    suzukimom
    Participant

    Hey Tukata….

    As mentioned, you can read PDF files directly….  however, if you have a PDF file that you feel might look better if converted to Kindle format, all you do is email it to your Kindle email address (which you setup on “Manage my Kindle” on amazon.   You get 2 email addresses, one with “free” in the address….

    so, you email your pdf to    [name]@free.kindle.com   where name is what you named the Kindle….

    see more information here:  http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=help_search_1-1?ie=UTF8&nodeId=200505520&qid=1284402864&sr=1-1

    (Scroll down to “Sending personal documents to Kindle”, but there is a lot of good information here!)

    September 13, 2010 at 10:25 pm
    Sanveann
    Member

    There are also free software applications, like Calibre (which is what I generally use).

    September 14, 2010 at 1:01 am
    Tukata
    Participant

    Oh thank you!  This is really helpful…and doesn’t sound as scary as when I first read that I’d have to “convert files”.  Smile

    One other question – are the only free books online that I wouldn’t be able to access the ones from Google books? 

Viewing 11 posts - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)
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