What’s On Your Kindle?

I am a Kindle newbie and as with anything new, I have been searching the web, joining groups, and generally learning about my new toy.  I will be sharing resources once a week here.

I am not promoting one e-reader over another.  I chose the Kindle because of the ease and large selection of available books, and because a friend was selling hers and the price was right.

My very favorite feature on the Kindle is being able to enlarge the font size and I was excited to learn that you could read PDF files on it.  The first time I loaded a PDF and found that the whole page was shrunk to show on the screen, I was very disappointed. What good is a PDF on my kindle if I can’t make the type large enough to read comfortably?

I found an Open Source Application that solved my problem. AutoKindle is available from the link below.  It will be a file that needs to be unzipped.  I also created a folder on my desktop for the files it converts.

This is the icon you will need.  Double click it and the first time you run it you will be asked for an input source and an output location.  The output location will be the folder you created.  Your file will be converted to a .mobi file.  Connect your kindle to your PC with your usb cable.  The Kindle will show up just like a flash drive.  Drag your .mobi file into your documents folder on your kindle and it will then show up on your home/contents page.

There may be a few weird formatting things going on and I have not tried this with a pdf that is graphics heavy. I have no desire to view pictures on my kindle – I just want to read and so far AutoKindle has worked wonderfully for me.

The app is only available for the pc.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/autokindle/

Presently reading on my Kindle:

70 Solutions to Common Writing Mistakes by Bob Mayer
Scarred Angels by Paschal
Content by Cory Doctorow

I just received an email telling me I am the first drawing winner of an e-library preloaded on the cutest jump drive. Thank you Nara, what a wonderful Monday morning surprise!  Nara Malone has a contest running on her blog and more information about Kindles.  She is starting an email newsletter so you might want to swing by and sign up!

6 thoughts on “What’s On Your Kindle?”

  1. Denise

    I have all kinds of random books on my Kindle – a Bible, a devotional book, a professional book, several novels and biographies – but I haven’t branched out into pdf files, magazines, newspapers, or blogs. I’m presently reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski, First Born Advantage by Dr. Kevin Leman, and Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath. Don’t forget that we need to have a Kindle date before I go to TLA! I’ve added Nara Malone to my Google Reader. Thanks for the tip!

    1. Dee Post author

      You got it. I have not subscribed to any periodicals or blogs but I do put longer articles that I want to dig into on the Kindle. It’s just easier on the eyes. It reads plain text or rtf files just fine. We’ll get together soon 🙂

  3. Susan Helene Gottfried

    I’m not a Kindle fan. Just not a fan of Amazon at all.

    That doesn’t mean I don’t think you should pass on helping yourself to more Trevor and Mitchell on that Kindle of yours… free this week for Read an e-Book Week! (I’m nuts, I know!)

    1. Dee Post author

      I’ll be running over there to score it. It was on my “to get” list anyway 🙂 Amazon is kind of the Microsoft of books I guess. I have to confess I do love the silly thing.

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