The recent blog entry on the free, downloadable web-bookmarks file explained the updates needed due to different links recommended for the Kindle 3 (UK: K3) models, as accessing of some websites that had been doable with all the earlier Kindles was sometimes problematical for the otherwise surprisingly-capable Kindle-3 WebKit-based browser.
Be sure to read first the earlier blog entry if you haven’t already, as it has some important details, about the Bookmarks file, that I’m not including in this blog entry.
Oddities we saw
Attempts to download the file I wrote about brought out some additional quirks in that the Kindle 3 opened the Amazon-formatted file instead of downloading it to the Kindle as a book-file, and as a result Kindle 3 users saw gibberish appearing on the screen, which was harmless but a bit alarming. For me, this happened only with the Kindle 3. (I had emailed, to my Kindle-3 address, the original Word doc file for conversion to an Amazon file.)
Comments from blog readers
After comments here from Jeff, Tom Semple and Dawdling Tourist that Amazon azw-format files were downloadable by the Kindle 3 from some other sites, I realized that the latest web browser needed to be told what kind of (mime) format the Amazon Kindle was and that some other websites predefined this for web browsers which might not be aware of the Amazon book format.
(Also, Mac Safari users were unable to download the Amazon file but could get it via Internet Explorer or Firefox.)
The Kindles 1, 2, and DX’s were able to recognize the .azw format as a file that should be downloaded and asked us if we wanted the file for the Kindle. The Kindle 3 just opened it, and it is not a regular text file (none of the Amazon books are)
A solution
So, I made an adjustment last night, at my area of the pair.com servers in Pennsylvania that host my site, to pre-define the type of file an Amazon book file (.azw) is, as the Kindle-3 browser currently doesn’t seem to know how to handle it for the Kindle, visibly streaming the file instead of offering to download it, and so those trying to receive the file saw only a display of what some called screen-gibberish, odd characters which can be “freaky” to see, as one commenter put it.
Now the Kindle 3 offers to download the file and does it quickly. That’s a relief. There has been a lot of activity on that file, so I hope this explains what happened with Kindle-3 attempts, and I also hope that the programmers read this and can include the mime-definitions in the next Kindle-3 update. I did write last night to kindle-response@amazon.com to give feedback on the current software update (v3.0.2).
Via Andrys Basten’s A Kindle World blog
I have another work around you may wish to consider. After getting so frustrated at the things a Kindle browser will not let me do, I have written a website especially designed for the Kindle, where every single link is confirmed as Kindle friendly.
I have linked hundreds, if not now thousands, of links together. I have tested each and every one of them on my Kindle 3. They had to pass a simple test, I had to be able to read all the site without changing the font or the screen settings.
Every night I upload more sites. I actively search for the web for ‘Kindle Browser bookmark lists’ and check them all, and link to the best of them. People who have seen my site have all been very impressed. I would love to know your thoughts on my solution.