Kindle Owners, Help!

[dmarley]

I am looking at e-readers, and am intrigued by the new Kindle, both for its smallness and its (relative) cheapness. My main purpose in buying an e-reader is to read fanfic without having to lug my laptop around, so my main concern is the ability to transfer TXT, PDF and HTML files to the device and be able to read them.

As I looked more deeply into the nuts and bolts of the Kindle tranfser process, though, I saw a big snag, and want to ask Kindle users if I'm reading the help files correctly about PDF and HTML files. Here is what the Amazon help files say about the types of files Kindle recognizes when connected by USB:

Here's a list of the directories and the file types recognized by Kindle:

* Documents: Kindle (.AZW, .AZW1). Text (.TXT), Unprotected Mobipocket (.MOBI, .PRC)
* Audible: Audible (.AA, .AAX)
* Music: MP3 (.MP3)

[Blah blah DRM blah]

Personal Documents

Kindle's Personal Document Service allows you to e-mail the following approved file types to your Kindle's e-mail address:

* Microsoft Word (.DOC)
* HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
* RTF (.RTF)
* JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
* GIF (.GIF)
* PNG (.PNG)
* BMP (.BMP)
* PDF (.PDF): See below for details.
* Microsoft Word (.DOCX) is supported in our experimental category.


Okay. If I am reading this and the section on transferring files by e-mail correctly, I will not be able to transfer PDF or HTML files directly to my Kindle via USB. Instead, I will have to e-mail PDF and HTML files to a special e-mail address, and they will then be sent via wireless to my Kindle.

So, my question for current Kindle users is this: Am I reading this right? Do I have to jump through e-mail hoops and wireless just to send a PDF or HTML file I've saved on my own computer to the Kindle? Really?

This is close to being a serious deal-breaker for me. Nearly all of what I read is saved in TXT format, but more and more authors are offering longer stories in single-file PDFs. If anyone reads PDFs on their Kindle, I'd be interested in your experiences and advice. Including if the wireless process is actually very easy and painless. :)

Comments

[arduinna]

The emailing thing runs your file through a converter into mobi, which is then transferred to your kindle for you.

Or you could grab some third-party freeware and do the converting yourself. *g* Calibre gets rave reviews from the folks who use it to the point that it seems to be taking over as the default converter for many people, and works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. I've downloaded it but haven't done much more than poke at it - it seems fairly intuitive, though. I've used Mobipocket on Windows and Stanza on Mac - Stanza is simpler but its results are also more barebones.

Here's the "file conversion" tag on the kindledfans to give you a better idea of what people are using and how they work. (Calibre hasn't made much of a dent there yet - you see that showing up in other ebook discussion places.) You may also want to join the comm; there are a few locked posts there of interest. ahem.

[dmarley]

Okay, that makes sense, if there's a conversion process. I can totally deal with converting stuff myself, and thanks very, very much for the link to kindledfans. That's exactly the kind of information I need, from the people who are trying to do the kind of things I'm trying to do. I think I'll be joining and poking around a bit.