4

I might be overlooking something very obvious here but I cannot see any of the books I add to the Kindle app. Listed below are the steps I follow to add the books.

1. Connect the iPod Touch to my Windows computer and start iTunes.
2. On iTunes, go to the Apps Section of iPod Touch.
3. Using the new file transfer system with the iOS 4 (see screenshot), add the PDF and epub file type.

-And voila, that should have done it. -But when I check the Kindle app on the iPod Touch, it only has the three default books it came with when I downloaded the app. (See screenshot below screenshot)

I'm sure this is some error on my part but can't figure out what.

enter image description here

enter image description here

4
  • Have you looked in the Archived Items folder? I think that's where stuff is on the Mac version, so it may be worth a shot. Commented Jun 23, 2011 at 13:34
  • Also, I don't believe the Kindle app supports ePub documents. Commented Jun 23, 2011 at 13:35
  • @Nathan Looked under the archived items in hope that the books might appear there. But it's empty. And I don't really mind if the ePub format doesn't work or is not supported; most of my books are in PDF anyway. I was just trying another file format to see if it helped. Thanks for looking into this.
    – Thomas
    Commented Jun 23, 2011 at 13:38
  • The archived items menu contains books you have purchased (or got for free) from Amazon, but that you have deleted from your device. This is where you go to redownload them to your device. Commented Jun 23, 2011 at 14:27

2 Answers 2

5

The Kindle iphone app does not read pdf or epub files without conversion.

There are various tools you can use to convert from pdf and epub to the mobi format that the Kindle app can read. The one I use is Calibre, and it works pretty well. Epub files generally convert without problem, but pdf files might be harder, depending on how complex the pdf is. If there are pictures or columns you are probably in trouble.

4
  • How did you know this? I went through the help document and did not find any mention of supported formats. There's one about only *.azw, *.txt, *.mobi and *.prc are the only supported formats for the 1st generation kindle. Is it the same for Kindle iOS app? Have you seen any documentation mentioning this? Just asking ....
    – Thomas
    Commented Jun 23, 2011 at 15:16
  • I tried to find some kind of definite proof that I could link to, but could not. I've tried it and it hasn't worked, and a couple months ago I researched this and I found some message boards that said it wasn't possible. Unfortunately, I couldn't find them again today. Also, PDF support is hard for an iPhone app from a user interface point of view, so if Kindle had built it into the app, I assume they would have at least mentioned it somewhere. Commented Jun 23, 2011 at 15:36
  • thanks anyway ... I was gonna use the Kindle app as a reader for my files but seeems it'll be useful only if my Amazon account has a lot of books. Simply adding books via the file transfer method is not primary way of using the app (unless all the books are converted to the correct format, which would be a pain)
    – Thomas
    Commented Jun 23, 2011 at 15:43
  • The Kindle Personal Document Service can convert and deliver the following types of documents: Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx) Rich Text Format (.rtf) HTML (.htm, .html) Text (.txt) documents Archived documents (zip , x-zip) and compressed archived documents Mobi book Images that are of type JPEGs (.jpg), GIFs (.gif), Bitmaps (.bmp), and PNG images (.png). Adobe PDF (.pdf) documents are delivered without conversion to Kindle DX, Second Generation and Latest Generation Kindles. Adobe PDF (.pdf) can be converted to Kindle format and delivered on an experimental basis.
    – Nay
    Commented Jul 21, 2014 at 21:39
4

The simplest solution is not to use the Kindle reader for epub or pdf files, but instead of use iBooks for those. It will display both of them very well without any conversion required, and it's free.

3
  • Thanks for the suggestion. I'm gonna use iBooks to avoid converting.
    – Thomas
    Commented Jun 23, 2011 at 15:13
  • 1
    I use iBooks for pdfs, but I convert epubs and use the Kindle app because it is more responsive and less ugly. Commented Jun 23, 2011 at 19:29
  • @nathang ... will give this a try as well ....
    – Thomas
    Commented Jun 24, 2011 at 4:46

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .