While my Amazon Kindle device is a bit old (Kindle Keyboard Wi-Fi 6", not sold anymore), it went through a few firmware upgrades, including one that added access to archived "personal document". While the Kindle Fire (not available outside of the US, by the way) may give you the impression that the Kindle is cheap only because it allows users to read only Amazon-sold books, it is a full, non-subsidized device that lets you read any document.
Yes, you can manually convert documents to the Kindle "mobi" format using calibre and then transfer the files with a USB connection, Amazon provides for free 5GB of storage space to store "personal documents" that can be read on the Kindle. (Personal documents also work with their free iOS and Android Kindle apps.) The easiest way to send documents is to send an email with the document as attachment to "username@free.kindle.com", and then your Kindle will automatically pick it up the next time it connects to some Wi-Fi network. The full process to set up the email address is described here. Because all your personal documents are archived, you can delete them from the device and re-download them again at any time.
I was a bit stumped this week because I wanted to send a rather large "mobi" document, too large for my email server. Luckily, they recently made desktop applications for the PC and Mac that supports large documents. They even have a plugin for Google Chrome that acts as a simple "read later" feature akin Instapaper, sending web pages directly to your Kindle.
I'm pleasantly surprised at how versatile Amazon made it to import and even store for free your (not copy protected) books you already have into their ecosystem. The same way iTunes Match imported all my CDs into their ecosystem, but with Amazon completely for free. Of course I have my offline backups of those documents, so I'm not locked in, but it's one more thing that makes the Kindle reader so much more convenient.
As for my Kobo, it now really feels sluggish compared to the Kindle Keyboard, and online sync is painfully slow and breaks too easily. I might simply update to Kobo Glo, even if I still dislike touching my book screen, since it seems to have the fastest CPU and latest firmware.
Published on September 14, 2012 at 21:30 EDT
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