Vocal Voices

I'm still waiting for my new debit card so that I can download some books.
In the meanwhile I'm trying to fathom-out how to transfer files from my lap-top
to my Kindle, which the instruction book says "is easy".

[Quote} To add a file, simply drag the file from your computer to the documents file
on you Kindle, via a USB connection. Now I can understand the USB business, but the rest
is beyond me. It goes on to say....or e-mail it to your dedicated Kindle e-mail address. That again makes me feel like an idiot - I can't find it anywhere.

I'm trying so hard not to swear, but I'm in desparate need of help.

Sorry Aggers, mine is just a kindle, it doesn't have any kind of files, it's just to read books. I presume yours is a more sophisticated version.
But, I think I understand the drag bit.
First connect your kindle to your computer via usb.

Then go to 'computer' and you will see something like 'removable device' on one of the drives, it may even say 'kindle'.
Click on that and it will show you the available files on your kindle, presumably including a documents file.
Then you can go to the file you want on your laptop and drag it to that documents file.

I think that Di has it Aggers.

Working on the laptop just drag the file from My Computer/Windows Explorer to the removable drive. However, you might need to download some apps to see whatever files you copy across.

Hi Aggers,

Di is correct in terms of how your kindle looks, however you need to be aware of the formats that the kindle will read. Kindle supports mobi ebook format as well as Amazons own proprietary format. If your ebook format is not the same you need to convert it. I use Calibre to do the format conversion and also to manage my Kindle. However if you intend to use the Amazon software, this is probably not the best way to go. Calibre gives you the ability to change the details on the book, add a cover pic and change the book description as it appears in the library. However you need to do that before changing the format or it won't be reflected in the kindle.

Your device email address can be found in the settings. It's on page2 on mine. Go to Home, select settings and then move the page over to page2. Mine says Device E-mail and the mail address is at the bottom of the text. If you can connect 3g, it will pick up the book immediately. I believe that Amazon converts any book emailed to your device for you so you won't need conversion software for that.

Have you installed the kindle management software? I didn't as I had no intention of letting Amazon manage my book collection.

When I plug my Kindle into my pc, I get a drive icon in Windows explorer. It says Kindle (F:), immediately below the BD-ROM (E:). I assume yours will come in as drive E: as you are unlikely to have 2 hard drives.

In the F: drive is a folder called documents. On my device all ebooks are in sub folders by name of the Author.

If you take it one step at a time.

First try emailing it.
Second connect it by cable to the PC and look at the documents folder in internet explorer. You should see your emailed book.
Third, if you have another ebook and it is in the correct format, try dragging and dropping it in Windows explorer to the documents folder.

See what works for you.

I'd do a quick look at Kindle Collections too. I wouldn't do it on the device, that's way too slow. Collections allows you to collect your books in a way you want. I organise mine by Author which works for me as I have 54 books by one author.

If you decide to have a look at Cablibre, it has a Kindle Collections plugin....

Just some thoughts.

Thanks, all.

Certainly food for thought.

I'll have another go and see how I get on.