Perhatikan bahwa banyak alat-alat yang tercantum di sini tidak spesifik untuk Kindle, tapi bisa sangat berguna bagi siapa saja yang memiliki e-book Kindle atau perangkat membaca lain.
Dalam list ini termasuk 'Alat Membaca e-book', 'Konversi eBook', ' Konversi PDF ke Kindle', 'Pengorganisasian file pada Kindle', dan 'Mengirim konten web untuk Kindle Anda'.
1. Kindle Cloud Reader: read eBooks from anywhere
This is a web app that connects to your Amazon Kindle account and
lets you read your eBook collection from any PC or device. This service
(which is partially conceived to liberate Kindle eBooks on devices and
tablets from from dependency on ‘app stores’ as go-betweens) is a great
idea and works really well.
Because it is browser based, Kindle Cloud Reader can be used from any platform or internet enabled device.
Go here to get Kindle Cloud Reader.
2. Kindle Reader for PC and Mac: read eBooks on your computer
Kindle Reader for PC/Mac was meant for those who wanted to buy and
read eBooks instantly on their computer without a physical reader. What
it is in effect is as a local desktop client for your Amazon Kindle
eBooks.
This program is different than the cloud reader in that it functions
as a good general use eBook reader and will read all Kindle-readable
formats offline. Double clicking on any .AZW format file (produced by
the Amazon online conversion service, #4 below) will add the file to the
library, or on PC you can import eBooks into the Kindle Reader by
manually placing your Kindle-readable eBook files into the “My Kindle
Content” folder in “My Documents”. (Note: one thing to consider is that
you will need a valid Amazon userid/pass to log into the program).
Go here to download Kindle Reader for PC, and
here for Mac.
3. Kindle Previewer: see how converted eBooks will look on your Kindle
This program is extremely useful if you’ve been converting eBooks to
Kindle appropriate formats (from formats that are presumably less Kindle
friendly), or if you are publishing your own Kindle eBooks. What it
does is simply allow you to see exactly what you eBook will look like on
the Kindle, saving you the trouble of having to upload and test it on
the device. Sounds simple but, as someone who has done a lot of PDF to
Kindle conversions, I can attest that it is extremely useful.
Go here to download Kindle Preview for PC of Mac (scroll down to the middle of the page).
4. Amazon Kindle email conversion service:free online eBook conversion service
Amazon offers an online document conversion service whereby you could
email any of the following format documents (MS Word, PDF, HTML, TXT,
RTF, JPEG, GIF, PNG, BMP, PRC and MOBI, as long as they are unprotected)
and have them remotely converted to Kindle-friendly .AZW format. This
service comes in two flavors, a free one where your document is emailed
back to you, and a paid one where it is beamed down to your Kindle via
whispernet 3G.
What you need to do to use the free service is register your email at
Kindle management page at Amazon.
Next, you can send an email to yourname@free.kindle.com with “Convert”
as the subject, and the file you want to convert added as an attachment.
Note that some email services have size limits on attachments in (for
example max attachment size in Gmail is 25 megs). Also note that you can
zip your document first before attaching. Your converted file will be
sent back to you via return mail.
This is a great service and an excellent way to read all kinds of
documents on your Kindle from anywhere without dealing with local eBook
conversion software.
Go here for more info.
5. Calibre: eBook conversion and management software
This is the reigning king of eBook readers for Windows, Mac, and
Linux. It is an ambitious eBook management suite that includes eBook
format conversion, an eBook reader for any format, and online tagging
and local organizing of eBook files. It also supports syncing with
Android, iOS, and most all eBook reading devices, including the Kindle.
For Kindle owners, Calibre is the surest way to convert most any
document format under the sun into a Kindle friendly format (such as
.MOBI). It is also a great tool for tagging/downloading metadata to your
eBook files as well as syncing them with the Kindle. In short, a great
tool if you have an extensive eBook library, especially if it mostly
from non-Amazon sources. Or if you also like to read and organize eBooks
locally on your computer.
Go here to download Calibre (also see my in-depth
review of Calibre for PC).
6. Hamster Free eBook Converter: casual, powerful eBook converter
This software can convert pretty much any eBook and document format
into a Kindle friendly format such as .MOBI. The reason it is so
powerful? It actually incorporates some of the (open source) code from
Calibre, above. (Note: at one point they were in violation of some of
the terms of usage for this code, but that seems to be no longer the
case).
This is a must have for two reasons (1) it can convert most anything
to Kindle friendly .MOBI quickly and efficiently, and (2) it is great
for one-off, casual use, and doesn’t have the kind of ambition and
breadth that Calibre (above) has, if all you want is to quickly convert
and move on.
Go here to download Hamster Free eBook Converter (also see my in-depth
review of Hamster Free Ebook Converter).
7. Auto Kindle eBook Converter: converts PDF, Lit, and HTML files to Kindle-friendly .MOBI format
Once run, this program will ask you to point to a PDF, LIT, or HTML
file and convert it to MOBI. That’s all there is to it; the program has
no interface, except for a small configuration dialog used mainly to set
the output folder (see screenshot).
When I tested it, there was a bit of a lag between clicking the
program icon and getting the file dialog prompt, but it performed the
conversion well. As a general converter, however, I still prefer the
much slicker and more powerful Hamster Free eBook Converter (#6 above).
Go here to download Auto Kindle eBook Converter (Windows only)
8. Briss: visual PDF cropping tool
For most PDF ebooks out there (and there are very many). the Kindle
unfortunately does not provide a very good reading experience. And while
most of the tools mentioned above can convert a PDF eBook to something
more suited to the Kindle (i.e. .MOBI or .AZW), the headers/footers/page
numbers in most PDF eBooks can end up strewn inside your converted
eBook in a very unpleasant fashion. Briss can help avoid this by letting
you crop these elements (in a semi-automated way) before converting.
Moreover, by eliminating headers/footers and white margins, it can
in many cases result in a Kindle-ready PDF that does not need
conversion at all.
For a step-by-step on on how to crop and convert a PDF check out my post:
Optimize PDF’s for reading on your Kindle 3: crop then (optionally) convert to AZW
Go here to download Briss (also see my in-depth
review of Briss).
9. K2PDFopt: converts complex PDF’s into Kindle friendly ones
This is another tool that can be used to reformat PDFs for a better
Kindle user experience. This tool will auto detect sections of content
and string them together automatically, producing a PDF that looks like
what you would expect a Kindle ebook to look like. It works like magic,
especially on PDF’s that might contain multiple columns.
See an example below:
 Before processing |
 After processing (showing 2 pages) |
The only drawback to using this software is that it converts PDFs to
bitmap images while processing, resulting in a PDF can be more than 30
times the size of the original file that was used to create it.
For step by step instructions on how to use this program, see my posting entitled:
How to read PDFs on the Kindle (or smartphone, or any small-screen device) – revisited.
Go here to download K2PDFopt.
10. Koll3ction: use folder structures to organize your Kindle documents into collections
The Kindle supports ‘collections’, which are the organizational
equivalent of tags. But with its non touch screen interface setting
these tags up can be quite a chore to set up. This is where Koll3ction
can help; it will let you go into your Kindle’s ‘document’, ‘audible‘,
and ‘music’ folders on the Kindle and create your own folders and
subfolder within them. You can then re-arrange your Kindle ebook and
audio files within these folders to organize them into collections (see
image above for an illustration).
Next, run ‘Koll3ctions.bat’ from your PC/Mac/Linux computer. The
program will create collections based on your folders, completely
replacing any collections that existed previously (it will make a backup
of these though). Note that (a) the program does not have an interface;
it will run and exit, and (b) you will need to restart your Kindle for
the new scheme to appear, which on the Kindle 3 involves resetting the
device via holding the ‘on’ switch for 20+ seconds.
Go here to download Koll3ctions (works on Windows/Mac/Linux).
11. SENDtoREADER: bookmarklet to send any web pages, Google Reader entries to your Kindle
SENDtoREADER is a bookmarklet that can be placed in your browser
toolbar and used to send any webpage (text and images) to your Kindle
via WIFI (free) or whispernet (paid).
It can even be added to your Google Reader sharing services, wherein
it will send Google Reader articles in their entirety to your Kindle
(and not just the bit that is visible in Google Reader)
Setup involves adding your Kindle email to SENDtoREADER and adding
SENDtoREADER to your list of your Kindle approved email (on the
‘personal document settings’ in Amazon’s manage your kindle page).
The free version does all the above; the paid version will let you
subscribe to RSS feeds and automatically send them to your Kindle.
Go here to sign up with SENDtoREADER.
12. Kindle It: browser extension that will send any web page to the Kindle
Available as a browser extension for Firefox and Chrome (and
Android), ‘Kindle It’ will let you send any web page to your Kindle on
the fly, and will even display a little preview window to show you
exactly what is being sent. It is a less sophisticated version of
SENDtoREADER (#11 above), in that it has no Google reader integration,
no paid RSS subscriptions, etc.
You will have to do the usual setting up before Kindle It will work with your Kindle (i.e. adding
‘kindle@fivefilters.org’
to your list of Kindle approved emails on Amazon’s manage your kindle
page). After that, all you need to do is enter your Kindle email address
into the form when you are actually using ‘Kindle It’, and it will beam
it to your Kindle (use @free.kindle.com to send via WIFI, and
@kindle.com to send via whispernet).
Go here to get the ‘Kindle It’ browser extensions.
13. KindleFeeder: deliver up to 12 RSS feeds to your Kindle via whispernet
KindleFeeder is an RSS subscription feed service that can send feeds
straight to your Kindle. The free service will let you add and manage up
to 12 RSS feeds; however, it will only send via whispernet (i.e. to
@Kindle.com, Amazon’s paid 3G delivery system), or alternately will send
feeds to your personal email as .MOBI attachments, which you can then
manually move to your Kindle. Free WIFI delivery (i.e. @free.Kindle.com)
is only supported, unfortunately, in their paid service.
Also note that delivery of RSS feeds in the free version is not
automatic; you will have to log in and press a button for RSS feeds to
be delivered to your Kindle.
Go here to sign up with KindleFeeder.
14. Greader2Kindle: read your Google Reader feeds on your Kindle
Enter your Google Reader credentials and your Kindle email, and this
software will go log into your Google Reader, convert your unread items
to .MOBI, and then email them to your Kindle via WIFI (or, you can use
your @Kindle email to send via whispernet). Alternately it can simply
output a .MOBI file that you can install on the Kindle manually.
Note that your Gmail address will have to be added as an approved
email (on the ‘personal document settings’ in Amazon’s manage your
kindle page).
This software can be somewhat glitchy in my experience (e.g. I had to
install it twice, and emailing would at times time out). Also, your
security software might intervene when it detects that it is trying to
contact the gmail servers; however, the output is quite good (see
screenshot above right), and the actual content of the articles is
available for offline reading on the Kindle, not just a listing or
excerpt.
Go here to download Greader2Kindle.
15. Instapaper: automatically delivers unread Instapaper articles to your Kindle
Instapaper natively supports article delivery to the Kindle, using
both WIFI (@free.kindle.com) or Amazon’s paid whispernet 3G
(@kindle.com). All you have to do is go to
Instapaper’s Kindle settings and enter your Kindle’s email address, and set the delivery schedule; daily or weekly.
As with the other services mentioned above, the Instapaper email
address (found on the Kindle setup page) will have to be added to the
list of Kindle approved emails (‘personal document settings’ section in
Amazon’s manage your kindle page).
Go here for Instapaper’s Kindle settings page.
16. ReadItLater: deliver unread ReadItLater articles to your Kindle
Unlike Instapaper (above) ReadItLater does not support Kindle
delivery on it’s own. You can still receive ReadItLater articles on your
Kindle with the help of some of the tools above, namely KindleFeeder
(#13 above) and Calibre (#5 above).
Go here for instructions on how to sync ReadItLater with your Kindle using Calibre.
17. Readability: send any page to your Kindle
Readability is a service similar to Instapaper or ReadItLater
mentioned above. They offer two Kindle related services; however, only
one is free, while the other is a service for paid subscriptions only.
The free service: a convenient browser add on that can be used to
send articles to the Kindle much in the same manner as some of the tools
mentioned above (i.e. SENDtoKINDLE, Kindle It).
Paid subscribers can automatically receive their reading list in a “digest form” every morning.
Go here to get the Kindle browser add-on.
