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2012 Nexus 7 Discussion Forums (1st Generation) => Nexus 7 Help => Topic started by: newtoandroid on July 15, 2012, 11:13:36 AM

Title: how to get books?
Post by: newtoandroid on July 15, 2012, 11:13:36 AM
i cant figure out how to transfer books that i have on my pc onto nexus 7. i tried caliber but it does not recognise the tab. there is no folder for books on the nexus USB device so i cant drag and drop either. any ideas? i did manage to successfully get some pics transferred over though.
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: edhunter on July 15, 2012, 11:57:24 AM
If you have a dropbox account you can add your books it and transfer them to your device. When transferring it gives the option to transfer to a folder. As I use the kindle apply,  I transfer them to the kindle folder,  then it appears in my library when I open it up. I have only tried this on my Samsung Galaxy S3 but I would assume that it works the same on the N7. Hopefully I will find out soon:-)
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: comiskeybum on July 15, 2012, 02:22:29 PM
I assume you are talking about illegal download books and not google books.  Google books are always in the cloud and you can select "download" and put it on any Android device you want. 
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: samalex on July 15, 2012, 02:30:11 PM
I assume you are talking about illegal download books and not google books.  Google books are always in the cloud and you can select "download" and put it on any Android device you want.


First I have to say an eBook isn't illegal just because it wasn't bought from Google, Amazon, etc.  I have plenty of books downloaded from Project Gutenberg (http://www.gutenberg.org/) and other sources, and all are legal.  The OP mentioned he uses Calibre which I hope will work with he N7 because that's also what I use to organize my eBooks.  So when my N7 comes this'll be one of the first things I test --- and I'll post some feedback on my experiences for anyone else using Calibre.  And likewise if others who already have their N7 can post what they've found, I'd appreciate it.


Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: S.Prime on July 15, 2012, 03:10:08 PM
I do not have my N7, but from what I have read the N7 will be recognized as a "Portable Device" in the Windows environment, if so Calibre will not recognize it as an e-reader and allow you a direct transfer from Calibre, much the same as my ThinkPad Tablet. Also even though the Portable Device in Windows shows up as a drive, you may not be able to see all of the folders, much as the OP (Original Poster) noted that they could not see the ebook folder. This is understandable because the device is designed to purchase books from the Google Play Store. First off the native e-reader may not allow you to view non-Play Store Books, so you may have to go to the market and install another e-reader like Aldiko (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.aldiko.android&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwyLDEsImNvbS5hbGRpa28uYW5kcm9pZCJd). You can copy your books to the internal storage of your Nexus 7 with the Windows file explorer and create a new folder and place them in an existing like music or pictures, if you have write permissions to those folders. Then you can use a app like Astro (https://play.google.com/store/search?q=astro+file+manager) file manager to move the books to the folder that you wish and have them show up in your e-reader. You will note that with the Astro file manager you will be able to see all of the folders that were not visible in Windows. I would expect Calibre to eventually allow direct communication with Windows Portable Device or WPD and since I do not have the latest version of Calibre it may have been implemented in the latest version. I have successfully copied books to both of my other tablets, but without the N7, I can only give general guidelines at this point.
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: stinkyjak on July 15, 2012, 04:08:40 PM
ck12.org

Not everything has to be bought from a corporate re-seller.
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: newtoandroid on July 15, 2012, 05:51:24 PM
Thx guys. I have kindle installed on my nexus 7. Now I have a kindle folder showing up in windows explorer when I connect the tablet. I will try the above suggestions and let u know.
BTW I updated caliber but still no nexus/e-reader detected. May be its a matter of time before caliber will update itself for nexus 7. The whole idea was to read my iPhone books on this tablet.
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: S.Prime on July 15, 2012, 05:56:09 PM
Epub and Mobi are the most widely used formats, I plead ignorance on IOS :-)
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: ibm650 on July 15, 2012, 06:31:16 PM
I assume you are talking about illegal download books and not google books.  Google books are always in the cloud and you can select "download" and put it on any Android device you want.
Judge not, lest ye be judged.
Title: Re: Re: how to get books?
Post by: S.Prime on July 15, 2012, 07:18:20 PM
I assume you are talking about illegal download books and not google books.  Google books are always in the cloud and you can select "download" and put it on any Android device you want.
Judge not, lest ye be judged.


+1 for ibm650

The forum does not support illegal content and yet we recognize that DRM sometimes blocks legitimate content.
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: comiskeybum on July 15, 2012, 08:29:07 PM
For the record I was not judging anyone. Simply thinking out loud.
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: samalex on July 16, 2012, 07:45:34 AM
I created a new thread about Calibre, so follow-up there with any comments or updates regarding N7 working with Calibre:

http://nexus7forum.com/index.php?topic=189.0 (http://nexus7forum.com/index.php?topic=189.0)

Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: newtoandroid on July 16, 2012, 01:01:45 PM
I downloaded ASTRO. Now I managed to get a book show up in one of the folders but every time I click on it a message comes up saying this file is not supported or something similar to this. I've tried mobe and epub formats.
I'm now regretting buying N7. help.
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: samalex on July 16, 2012, 01:24:59 PM
I downloaded ASTRO. Now I managed to get a book show up in one of the folders but every time I click on it a message comes up saying this file is not supported or something similar to this. I've tried mobe and epub formats.
I'm now regretting buying N7. help.


Not unlike a desktop you just need an app to view the files.  I'd suggest Overdrive (https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.overdrive.mobile.android.mediaconsole), which is a pretty good eBook reader that's also compatible with most public libraries.  It supports  ePUB, PDF, MOBI/PRC and LIT [source (http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Overdrive)] which should accommodate most folks.  On my Kindle Fire I use Overdrive and the Kindle app which together play darn near everything.  Honestly I'll probably continue to use the Kindle app instead of Google Play for books mainly because I've used Amazon as my sole source of books for over a decade now. 

If this doesn't work report back, but it should.  And come tomorrow night I'll be able to test it out as well :)
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: edhunter on July 16, 2012, 01:25:33 PM
Have you got the kindle app? I have a Samsung S3 and I use astro to transfer mobi files to the kindle folder and they work fine. Have you tried this?
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: newtoandroid on July 16, 2012, 01:37:21 PM
hey guys
good news! i just managed to get a book on nexus 7. Hurray!!!
here is what i had to do.
download aldiko from google play.
convert the ebook format to epub ( i used calibre to do this)
connect N7 via USB.
open N7 drive on the PC and copy the epub book to a folder (documents in my case)
open aldiko, click on files, click the folder u saved the book in.
clcik on the book and click either open or transfer to aldiko.
now read to ur hearts content.
im so happy now....
thanks for all the suggestions....im going to delete kindle and ASTRO from my N7 now.
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: samalex on July 16, 2012, 03:09:04 PM
Thanks for the writeup...  My goal is to get Calibre working one way or another since it'll also do file conversions, but until they work out the snags I'll check out Aldiko for sure.

Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: newtoandroid on July 16, 2012, 04:09:34 PM
Completely agree. Will be much more convenient if caliber supports nexus 7. Loving my N7.
Title: Re: how to get books?
Post by: js65572 on July 19, 2012, 03:48:59 AM
This may have been covered already so sorry if I am going over old ground, if I am adding all my previously bought ebook files to an app (I am using Kobo) is there a way to find or use a widget that mimics the current one provided by Google Books? I really like the book display widget but am unable to utilise it due to not being able to copy my epub files to Google Books?