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A Fix For the Blank eBooks Problem in Kindle Fire

February 14, 2012 By Doogie - Copyright - All Rights Reserved

The Kindle Fire has certainly taken the ebook market by storm, but the device does have a few problems.

There are two problems related to books that are blank after being downloaded or transferred to the device. The first is when a book is downloaded from Amazon and it is blank when you try to view it in the Kindle Fire. That is an Amazon problem that needs to be reported. The second problem is when a book that is available for lending or is in the public domain is copied to the Kindle, but also shows as blank. This fix deals with this issue.

The problem frequently shows up when Kindle books are downloaded from public libraries and sites offering “public domain” books. I saw it with a collection of classic public domain books that I purchased on eBay. When a book is in the public domain, is is free from copyright issues, so the books can be freely downloaded. The problems appear to be related to DRM (digital rights management) protection that should not even be applied to books in the public domain, but nonetheless sometimes is.

The fix that I found that works is to convert the e-book format to a special mobi format used by the Kindle Fire. This is easy to do using Calibre, which is the most popular free e-book management and conversion software. Calibre (pronounced cal-i-bur) is incredibly easy to use and the current version does have a configuration for the Kindle Fire that is selected during the installation.

The Calibre site has a video tutorial (the Demo tab) that walks you through the process. The one part that is missing from the video tutorial is that you need to convert the e-book to the Kindle Fire format before it is copied to your Kindle Fire. If the file is in a recognized kindle format, it will not automatically convert, as the video suggests. Follow the instructions in the tutorial, convert the book using the Convert button in Calibre, and transfer the converted book to your Kindle Fire.

In addition to being able to convert the file format, Calibre allows you to download book covers, which are frequently missing from works in the public domain.

If you are having problems with blank e-books on the Kindle Fire, visit the Calibre site, watch the video tutorial, install Calibre, and fix your problems with blank e-books.

Filed Under: Kindle Tips

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