The Complete 2012 User's Guide to the Amazing Amazon Kindle: Covers All Current Kindles Including the Kindle Fire, Kindle Touch, Kindle Keyboard, and Kindle (27 page)

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Read any supported ebook format (without DRM) directly from the Calibre e-book viewer on your computer

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Send ebooks directly to your Kindle library via USB cable without any need to pay for Amazon's conversion process

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Make corrections or changes in the "metadata" -- such as titles, authors' and publishers' names, publication dates, tags, ratings, and other data -- that are associated with each of the ebooks on your Kindle. Without getting too far afield from the basic subject at hand here -- free content -- you may find that this ability to edit metadata can be a powerful tool in sorting, organizing, and managing the content on your Kindle

In order to begin using Calibre, you'll need to download the free app to your computer. You can download the Calibre software in formats that are compatible with, respectively, Windows, OS X for the Mac, or Linux at the Calibre website (http://calibre-ebook.com/).

We recommend that even before you download Calibre, you begin by watching Kovid's 8-minute "Grand Tour" video presentation on Calibre (
http://bit.ly/uFQjWK
) . There is also a further 14-minute video tutorial that includes "power tips" for using Calibre (
http://bit.ly/sdPzPY
) . (These links don’t work on the Kindles- type them into your computer’s browser to watch the videos.) As much as it is our usual style to go through and break down instructional material step-by-step, the fact is that Kovid and his team are constantly updating Calibre. So we believe it will be more beneficial to you, now that we hope we’ve whetted your appetite about all that Calibre can do for you and we’ve walked you to the front door of the Calibre site, if we simply suggest that you watch Kovid's video and review the material on the site. It is also well worth an occasional visit to the Calibre help page (http://bit.ly/to4EEC) to check for more recent presentations.

Once you download and open Calibre, you will find a very hospitable Welcome Wizard that will prompt you to designate a directory where you will store and manage your Calibre Library off-Kindle so you can begin taking advantage of the app's powerful feature set. Naturally, you will find that you have the greatest range of ebook management options for those files that are not restricted by Digital Rights Management (DRM).

This chapter covers settings on your Kindle. Not all these settings are found on every Kindle. The settings on the Touch are much the same as the earlier Kindles but are organized differently. The Fire has additional settings not found on the E Ink Kindles.

From the Home screen, by press Menu and select "Settings." The bottom of the screen shows the Kindle software version number.

From the Home screen and most other screens, tap the Settings icon in the upper left corner. The pop-up gives you immediate access to the most commonly used settings on the Fire- locking and unlocking the screen, volume, brightness, Wi-Fi, and device sync. Tap More to see the detailed settings screen,

Many of these settings are mentioned earlier in this book, but are repeated here as a reference.

This settings page gives you access to FAQ's and Troubleshooting and methods to contact Amazon Customer Service and send feedback.

New Kindles must be registered unless you bought it yourself through your Amazon account. You can do it here on your Kindle, or on your Kindle account on Amazon.

Tap “My Account” to register or de-register your Fire.

This screen has a volume slider but is mainly used to set the notification sound.

This page is used to set screen brightness and timeout. Keep the timeout to 5 minutes or less if your Fire is not plugged into its AC charger or a computer.

Fire
:

This screen shows the applications currently running on the Fire.

You don't have to name your Kindle, but it's useful, especially if you have more than one. We use first name and phone number-- just in case we lose our Kindle and a thoughtful person finds it and wants to return it to its owner..

You can connect to Wi-Fi networks that are in range. The Kindle will remember each network and connect automatically when it comes back in range. You'll need a password to connect to secured networks.

There's nothing you can change here, but this is the place to find your Kindle's serial number in order to register your Kindle. You can also check the network capability, which will be either "Wi-Fi," or "Wi-Fi and 3G." This is useful if you bought a used Kindle as it will tell you which version you have.

From any Settings screen, tap Menu and select “Device Info.” On the Touch this pop-up also shows the space available on the device.

On the fire, the “Device” screen also shows the amount of storage used and available and the battery charge. It also lets you choose whether to allow installation of unknown apps. You can also reset the Fire to factory defaults, which erases all your personal content.

As covered in the
Voice Guide
chapter, the Kindle Keyboard can give you voice prompts at each page and menu.

Let's you choose the default language for your Kindle.

You set the device e-mail at your Kindle account on Amazon, but you can look it up here if you forgot it. The device e-mail is used to send personal documents to Amazon for conversion and delivery to your Kindle via wireless or to your computer as e-mail attachments.

To prevent others from using your Kindle, you can set a device password here. The downside is that you'll have to enter your password every time the Kindle goes into sleep mode, or you put it into sleep mode with the power switch.

This setting is found under "Security."

If you have a Kindle 3G, the time is set automatically. Owners of Kindle Wi-Fi models may want to set the time manually. To view the time while reading, press Menu. The time and status information appears on the top line. Press Menu again to return to your previous place.

These settings are found under “Date & Time.”

Set the default dictionaries for each language on your Kindle basic.

You can share highlights from books with others via Twitter and Facebook. To do this, you must link your accounts with the Kindle by entering your login and password for the social network. You can unlink at any time.

As you read, you can see passages that other readers have highlighted and shared. If you don't want to see these passages, turn Popular Highlights off.

When on, you'll see highlights and notes from people you follow.

By default, the Kindle automatically backs up your annotations, last page read, and collections at Amazon. If you don't want this backup, you can turn it off.

It's a good idea to enter your name and contact information here in case you lose your Kindle.

First, recharge the Kindle for at least 30 minutes using the supplied power adapter. Although you can use this cable to charge from a USB port on a computer, it's best to use a wall adapter in this case. The power light next to the power switch on the bottom edge of the Kindle will be amber or red while the Kindle is charging,and green when it is fully charged. If the light doesn't come on at all, check the cable and the power outlet.

After 30 minutes, disconnect the power cable and turn the Kindle on by momentarily sliding or pressing the power button. The power light should flash momentarily.

If this fails, reset the Kindle by holding the power switch right or down for 20 seconds. The screen will stay blank for a bit and then the Kindle will reset. On the Fire, press the power switch to restart it. (Doing a reset does not affect any of your settings, books, or personal documents.)

First, try resetting the wireless by pressing Menu and selecting “Turn Wireless Off." Then press Menu again and select “Turn Wireless On." Wait a few seconds for the connection to be re-established.

If that fails,
reset the Kindle
.

If you've bought a book or other document and it doesn't appear within five minutes or so, check the wireless status by pressing Menu. Make sure the wireless status is not "Off" (it must show "edge," "3G," or "Wi-Fi" in order for books to be received wirelessly from Amazon.) If wireless is off, turn it on by pressing Menu and selecting “Turn Wireless On."

If your book still doesn't appear in your home screen after five minutes,
reset the Kindle
.

Delete the document and then reload from Archived Items. Press Home and select the document, then press left to delete and click to confirm. Page to the last page of Home and select “Archived Items." Then select the document that failed to download correctly, and click to download it again.

Make sure you are connected directly to a USB port on the computer or laptop and not to a USB hub. If that fails, try connecting to another USB port.

Antivirus software can interfere with USB connections-- try turning it off and see if that solves the problem.

Try switching between male and female voices and back. If that fails, reset the Kindle
reset the Kindle
.

If the sound is still distorted, try playing an MP3 file. If the MP3 file sounds distorted, contact Amazon Kindle customer support.

If you receive an error message when attempting to open your books or other documents,
reset the Kindle
.