I must admit that I’m embarrassed that I didn’t know about this. I’ve always known that I can email documents to my Kindle, and I have found it a very easy way to get public domain books onto the platform – just download them and then email them to the device. But I didn’t know about this series of applications until I saw an article in MacWorld today. According to the article, the Kindle supports Microsoft Word (.doc, .docx), HTML (.html, .htm), RTF (.rtf), JPEG (.jpeg, .jpg), Kindle Format (.mobi, .azw, .azw3), GIF (.gif), PNG (.png), BMP (.bmp), and PDF (.pdf) files.
So I followed the article’s link to Amazon and I found that there is a whole slew of stuff that Amazon provides. There are browser add-ons for Chrome and Firefox that allow you to send news articles, blog posts, and other content to your Kindle with one click. An add-on for Safari is coming soon, they say. I installed the one for Chrome and it, as part of the installation, asked me which devices (I have about 6 of them) I wanted to use as the default for receiving stuff. I picked my iPad and iPad Mini. When I click the icon that was installed in Chrome, it allows me to send to my Kindle, preview, and send it or go into Settings. Settings allows me to send by WiFi or Whispernet and gives me the option to choose which of my 6 devices should read it. It also gives me the option to archive the document in my Kindle library. It also adds an option to send from the right-click context menu. Neat!
In addition to the browser extensions, Amazon has apps for the PC and Mac. I installed the Mac one and it sits in my tray. When I open it, it asks me to drag and drop a document onto it and it will then proceed to send it to my Kindle. They also have an application for Android. So check it out! No wonder that Amazon continues to be the leader in ebook sales.
Paul Biba is a retired corporate international lawyer who has worked in 53 countries. Since he is a very fast reader he came to ebooks out of self-defense in order to avoid carrying a suitcase of books on his travels around the world. An early ebook adopter, he has read on Palms, Pocket PCs and practically every device that has been out there. After being a frequent contributor to TeleRead.com, the oldest ebook/epublishing blog on the net, Paul became TeleRead's Editor-in-Chief, a position he recently resigned. Send Paul an email to paulkbiba@gmail.com
