Kindle question

[Foxbat]

I recently noticed that my kindle fire HD was eating up the battery charge. I never use wifi with it and prefer to download manually via PC. I do this because I know that it can be heavy on the battery. However, even with wifi off, it was still eating up all the power. After a bit of googling, I switched it off and then rebooted (I normally leave it in sleep mode). This seems to have done the trick.

I am aware that one day soon, I may have to replace this device with another and this brings me to my question. I have a large number of books registered to my kindle and what happens if I replace it? How can I transfer these to my new device (assuming that being registered to the old one will create a DRM obstacle)?

 

[Brian G Turner]

Any Kindle books you've already bought from Amazon exist in your cloud account, which means if you buy a new Kindle these will be available to download to it. They are attached to your login account, not the device itself, hence why you can use the PC app to also read them.

Anything you've manually put on, however, I believe will be lost - so it's a good idea to have a folder on your computer (or cloud storage account!) with a copy of those extra PDFs and Kindle downloads authors sometimes exclusively offer from their websites. That way, if your KindleFire dies, you can then copy these back across via USB to the Documents folder on the new Kindle.

 

[Foxbat]

My inbuilt paranoia means that I never, ever, under any circumstance use any form of cloud for anything so it’s a good job I have hundreds of megs of kindle stuff on my PC (and backup external HD)

 

[Pyan]

I'm on my third Kindle, and every time I've had a new one, it's transferred any new downloads to that one. And as Brian says, all the books you've bought are in the Cloud, and as well as the Kindle, they're accessible by any device with the app on it and with your password.

 

[Foxbat]

If the cloud is kindle unlimited, I don't have it (just checked). I don't use any apps, only the kindle. Interestingly, my kindle Fire was registered in 2020 but I've had it for about five years and was registered when I first bought it. I did do a factory reset in 2020 so it must take that reset as the registration date.

 

[HareBrain]

If the cloud is kindle unlimited, I don't have it (just checked).

Any digital file you bought from Amazon is stored there. Go to "your account/manage your content and devices".

 

[luriantimetraveler]

Kindle Unlimited is different than the cloud (KU is a subscription to their version of a "library"). I think by "the cloud" @pyan means the network of computers/servers that store your Amazon information (including which titles you've already purchased). You can access the cloud from most devices (Kindle app on phone, Kindle reader on computer, Kindle) and say, "I would like to download all the books I've purchased" and it will send them to you.

 

[Foxbat]

So, I have two kindles. An old, first gen model and a fire HD. From the info I’m getting, I should be able to copy across from one to the other. What I don’t understand then is why when I download via USB, it asks me which kindle I’m going to use. If it is able to go on both or either then why bother asking? I’d try it for myself but the first gen kindle is completely flat and it’ll take hours to charge so I’ll maybe try tomorrow.

 

[tinkerdan]

Having trouble parsing this in my head.

So, I have two kindles. An old, first gen model and a fire HD. From the info I’m getting, I should be able to copy across from one to the other. What I don’t understand then is why when I download via USB, it asks me which kindle I’m going to use. If it is able to go on both or either then why bother asking? I’d try it for myself but the first gen kindle is completely flat and it’ll take hours to charge so I’ll maybe try tomorrow.

If you never connect to wifi then I take it that you are somehow downloading to your pc to transfer to a kindle device.
I think the reason they ask for a device is that they put that in the information in the cloud and for any DRM they would then block any other device from downloading through wifi because they haven't figured out your paranoia to wifi.

As to the battery problem--chances are there was a problem that required an update to fixed something at some point but since you don't connect to wifi they can't do the updates. The re-boot might have fixed it momentarily but don't be surprised if it happens again. However while rebooting there might be a possibility they slipped into the wifi somewhere and got the update. If you have close neighbors there could be one who is not security conscious who has an open wifi. I was looking at my available connections and I can see the whole neighborhood; however they are all properly locked down.

However if you don't use the wifi are you sure that your wifi is properly locked down.

At work I have partitioned out an internal wifi and the external. The external allows guests.
Sometimes an inside machine loses internal connection because its easier for it to connect to the guest account that is all external.
I have to nudge it back to the internal and log them in.

A lot of routers have the guest capability and depending on setup it could need or not need a password.
The best way is to force a password so you can control who uses the guest account.
I have 3 fires and one older model of kindle and use wifi all the time. Have-as yet- to have a problem. What are you 'fraid of.

Or as I say with my frozen Fettuccini Alfredo dinners.

"Fettuccini Alfredo--What are you al-fred-o?"

 

[Foxbat]

It updated in december when I did a factory reset. A reset automatically switches on wifi (I switched it back off as soon as it was complete).

As for download, you get a choice how to do it when you purchase a book - either straight to kindle or via USB.

 

[Foxbat]

I‘ve switched on wifi and the update button is greyed out. It seems then that the kindle is up to date on updates. So far, the battery is holding steady, dropping about 1 or 2% per day when in sleep mode. I know that anything graphically intensive uses more battery power so I’m just going to leave it for a week and see how the power level is. I’m expecting it to be about 55%. If it’s around there, I’m declaring victory

I’ve done a bit of searching and it seems that this battery issue is quite common. It turns out I didn’t have to switch it off completely. Apparently, holding in the power button for around 30 seconds causes a soft reboot and cures the problem. Time, as they say...

 

[Foxbat]

I'm updating on my experiments for anybody else who may be wondering.

It turns out the info online about being able to transfer via USB from one kindle to another is utter bullcrap. You can't. DRM prevents this.
You cannot transfer a book from a hard drive backup to a second kindle and neither can you plug two kindles into a PC and transfer between via USB. Well, to be strictly accurate, you can, but the book will not be readable. It tells you that it is registered to another device and is not available to be read on the current device.

You can, however, go to your account, access the list of your purchases, select any book (it turns out I have over 200) and tell it to deliver to the other kindle in your account. Whether this is the cloud or something different, I'm not sure. I presume this is a mechanism just to ensure that it's all legitimate.

At least I know now that I can do it and how to do it if need be and that those 'experts' on youtube are only expert at talking nonsense.

 

[Foxbat]

My old fire seems to be working fine. No more problems. But, as a precaution, I‘ve ordered a new one with an eight inch screen.

I probably should have asked this before I ordered but it’s not a deal breaker: is the new generation like the old where you can switch off Wi-Fi? I only intend to use it for reading books and nothing more (it does seem to be more of a tablet than just a reader). The reason I ask is because I found switching off Wi-Fi improved battery life quite a bit.

 

[Foxbat]

So I got my new fire and I thought I’d give some first impressions.
It looks well made and hopefully will last me a few years. My first problem came when I first switched it on and connected to my Wi-Fi (you need to do this to complete the initial setup). Then, I waited, and waited and waited. There was nowhere to go once the connection was made. I could step back but not forward. Eventually, I just switched it off and then on again. This, apparently, is what you need to do. It’s just a pity there was nothing to tell me.

After that, it was fairly straight forward to register. I bought this as a spare kindle and have no interest in anything else it can do (I read a lot of history books and find the fire is ideal for any book with photos, diagrams, illustrations etc). It’s is just as well I didn’t get it purely for internet access because it all feels a bit clunky in that respect. Another thing that struck me was that it’s also a device acting primarily as a portal to persuading the user to buy other Amazon products.

So, on to my question. Can you switch off Wi-Fi to save battery life? It looks like you can. I haven’t done it yet but there’s a slide control inside the settings menu (looking suspiciously like the kind you get in an iPad). It wasn’t easy to find. I hunted the device high and low but no sign of the option. Then, I happened to swipe up on the home screen and saw the settings icon appear (again, nothing to indicate it was there and found by sheer chance). All the relevant information you can find on older fires (where you swipe down from the top rather than the bottom) is there.

All in all, as a book reading device, I’m delighted. For anything else, nah.

One final word: if I were to buy it again, I’d spend the extra tenner to get rid of the adverts. So irritating (as is Alexa….she’s been disabled).

 

[HareBrain]

Can you switch off Wi-Fi to save battery life?

On mine, it's done with the aeroplane symbol (for "airplane mode").

 

[Foxbat]

I noticed the aeroplane symbol and I never thought about it doing the same thing, but there’s also a Wi-Fi switch , which is not easy to find.

 

[Danny McG]

So I got my new fire and I thought I’d give some first impressions

 

[rscottb]

I find reading on my iPhone Kindle app way better than using my Kindle for a couple of reasons:

1. Availability, your phone is always on you so your book is always available (whether it’s in line at the grocery store or waiting for your Uber ride to show).

2. The screen size (landscape) is perfect for reading without having to move your head just your eyes. Also I find the black background with white font easier on my eyes in a lot of situations.

3. When I first started using the app on my iPhone I thought having to swipe the page after every 2-5 sentences (depending on font size) would be a liability. But I find that hours of reading pass without me realizing that I’m swiping to the next page.