Wednesday, May 18, 2016

OK, Amazon, What Have You Done, Now?

I downloaded Chains of Command and it won't open on my Kindle Paperwhite.

(I download everything via USB cable because I don't like Amazon's penchant for fucking with things.)

It's in the directory on the Kindle. But it won't even show up as a book.

Any idea WTF is the problem? What has Lord Bezos done now, the little ##@*&!!

UPDATE: The thing was far enough out of date in software updates that it wasn't compatible with the data downloads. Fixed that. But now the display interface is all changed because fucking coders can't leave shit well enough alone.

And now my computer is saying that "USB Device Not Recognized". Which is funny because I don't have any USB devices attached at the moment. Fucking computers....

7 comments:

  1. I've never used an actual Kindle device, just the app. I assume though that you've tried the standard troubleshooting advice of rebooting the device and deleting and redownloading the ebook? Also make sure there's no firmware updates or the like? Last time I downloaded a kindle ebook from Amazon I had to update the kindle app, again. PIA!

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  2. I'm pretty new to my Kindle Paperwhite but I've found it has problems with some formats. Especially the "new" version of the .mobi. What worked for me is using Calibre to upload everything (freeware, great e-book organizer) and converting to .azw3. Maybe that'd work for you too?

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  3. No, not "fucking computers", but "fucking Amazon". Why give them a nickel? There are **many** alternatives to Bezos little megalomania project.

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  4. Yeah. There are many alternatives to Amazon but Marko Kloos' books are exclusive to them.

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  5. Comrade, are you sure you don't have a US device connected? After all, I'm sure this little web-page tickles the FBI's interest. Remember, just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you!

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  6. I have epub format eReaders...Nook, Kobo, Sony...because you can actually possess the files, unlike with Amazon where they are carried for you in the galactic cloud and in your Kindle in super-secure DRM that, as you've found, can fuck up. Remember the early days of PC program DRM and what a CF that was?
    Oh B&N went to the same stuff, but there's an available back-level Nook for PC...you down load from bn.com and then you can find it, unencrypted on your PC and transfer to your own eBook management program. Other sites sell epub format eBooks directly.
    I then use Calibre (even if it's misspelled or spelled the Brit way) to manage my books. And yes, there are books unavailable any place but Kindle...because Amazon gives the authors a slightly better deal with exclusivity. I keep a Kindle around for the few books like that.
    The entire H. Beam Piper canon (missing Fuzzy Sapiens) is available from bn.com for $2.99 :). If you don't know him (long gone alas), he'd be right up your alley...you could chew the fat with his ghost on guns 'til late at night.....
    Try Lone Star Planet:
    "The story of a junior diplomat and his first posting to a planet of Texans whose dinosaur-sized cattle have to be herded with tanks, and whose system of government derives its character from Mencken's 1924 essay "The Malevolent Jobholder," -- a system under which the killing of a practicing politician is considered justifiable homicide!"
    http://manybooks.net/titles/piperh2012120121-8.html

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  7. Stewart,

    Leave the Kindle in airplane mode and you never have to worry about Amazon fucking with your content.

    ReplyDelete

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