How to... change sleep-screen pics on your Kindle I recently bought myself a Kindle, which is providing sterling service as an e-book reader for my daily trips in and out of Vulture Central. It's more compact and lighter than a tablet, even a 7in one, like Samsung's Galaxy Tab. Yet its 6in screen means I don't have to squint at a smartphone display. Since it only cost £111, I …
Certainly on ePubs, some do. But equally, an awful lot of eBooks don't, and just have a pretty generic publisher's logo with the author and title. I suspect it's because someone's forgotten to acquire the necessary rights to the image in some cases, rather than sheer laziness. Though you can't rule that out where some companies are concerned
I would think it has far more to do with the size of the image. Entire books occupy tiny amounts of memory and bandwidth. But if you're going to embed pretty pictures in them they take up significantly more. That's why Amazon actively discourage images in their ebooks.
It's the opposite of album covers on MP3s. There the image doesn't take any appreciable room in comparison to the actual content.
Seriously? That'll be why I used to see so many people reading paperbacks with the covers ripped off then. Oh wait, that didn't happen.
If its really such an issue, which it isn't, then a simple option to select 'Current Cover', 'Random Artwork' or 'Blank" would give something relevant for most people and a getout for the paranoid.
Good shout. It's where I've gotten most of mine from.
I really had to turn off the stock images after it kept showing the picture of John Steinbeck. It's only since owning a Kindle that I now have it burned in my mind that he might have been a kiddie fiddler (seriously, look at that 'tache on the sleep screen pic).
Isn't a screensaver or "sleep screen" supposed to stop burn-in? If the kindle screen suffers from burn-in, displaying the same image every time you put it to sleep is the worst thing it could possibly do. And if it doesn't suffer from burn-in, what's the point of having any sort of screen saver?
because its pretty?
Anyway, compare the two phrases "Screensaver" and "Sleep screen". They actually mean different things, they are not 'the same'.
E-ink doesn't suffer burn in, but the image stays on when the device is off (because it doesn't use any power). So you can have your own images on the display when the machine is sitting on the coffee table/bedside table/toilet cistern asleep, rather than ones Amazon have chosen for you.
I speculated about this apparently pointless capability a while ago with a Kindle-owning friend. The best reason we could come up with was that device still needs *some* sort of "not active" mode you can put it in to prevent the keyboard or page turn buttons getting accidentally pressed when you're carrying it about. And, maybe, it draws more power monitoring the buttons than when it's asleep.
And if that is the case you might as well throw in a screen saver to give a clear indication that the system's in that state.
My tuppence worth, anyway.
... for precisely zero result. So _you_ can specify the image you look at for 3/10ths of a second while you're sliding the power switch? Is that really worth "jailbreaking" the device at the potential expense of warranty?
That being said, I too am confused as to why it doesn't sleep to the cover of the (last) active book.
I'm still not sure about these things. I like the idea of not hauling a load of books, magazines or comics on holiday, but I still like the relative romance of an actual paper-based book. If additional content is available, such as puzzles, etc I'd find it even more appealing.
WRT adverts, I'd happily show an ad for something on my sleep screen while I'm not looking at it in exchange for cheap/free content/hardware.
I'm getting a little tired of saying this all the time, but have you told Amazon about your problems with their device? If every person who has a problem with the Kindle sent their feedback to Amazon, we'd have our custom screensavers. It happened with page numbers. Amazon claims to be the most 'consumer oriented company in the world'. As a journalist, it is your job not only to bitch about the tech you use, but to help your readers realise that as customers of Amazon, Amazon is accountable TO THEM. And while you're drafting that feedback email, make sure you mention that you want to read ePub files on your Kindle!
Yes I did. Here's the reply I received:
Hello,
Thanks for writing about the Screen saver pictures on Kindle 3.
We're regularly working on improvements to your Kindle experience. I've let the Kindle team know you're interested in loading custom standby pictures to kindle 3 in the future.
Customer feedback like yours helps us continue to improve the service we provide, and we're glad you took time to write to us. The Kindle Team will carefully review your suggestions.
Thanks for your interest in Kindle.
Er, because it is counter-productive?
Anyone with a clue knows that the kind of customer who bothers to send feedback to the company is *distinctly* unrepresentative. *Normal* people bitch about the product on web forums. Therefore, if you really believe that Amazon listens to their customers, the logical course of action is to bitch about the product on web-sites, to emphasise that your viewpoint is one held by normal people. Sending direct feedback implies that only wierdos want to customise the image.
The Amazon kindle forum has literally hundreds of requests for this. Amazon seems particularly stubborn with the Kindle software.
It was the same for page numbers. Again, hundreds of people asked for it and only recently did Amazon cave in and provide a half arsed solution (you have to press Menu to see the page number). Showing read position as a percentage is absolutely meaningless for books of varying length. Does 92% mean you have 20 or 200 pages left to go? Do you give the book another 30 minutes reading time based on that? You just can't make the call.
...you can't convert DRM'd ePub books to Kindle format.
(Well, not legally, anyway.)
When people say they want ePub support, they mean they want to buy an ePub book from Waterstones, or get a ePub library book, and read it on their Kindle. They don't want to have to find a bit of dubious software to hack it, then transfer it to Calibre, then upload it to the Kindle.
I'd found this script a couple of months ago after inheriting a Kindle. The default images of the Coffee Shop W@nkers Reading List annoyed me in mere minutes.
since my kindle is more likely to be packed with Peter Hamilton than Emily Dickinson, changes had to be made. I do wish I could increase the delay time until the off screen appears.
the first image I loaded was the "troll face" with the text "Problem, Amazon?" :)
You just select the picture from the sleep image menu, if you select several, it will alternate them.
Why is it these days that more and more companies seem to not only want consumers boxed into their format, but are also removing even the most simple customisation options?
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Thanks for that, much better than the default images.
One thing though - I saw on some forums people saying they experienced sluggishness with their Kindle if they had too many images in their folder. Have you noticed anything like this with 700 (or is it possible they were just running out of space)?
... but this is one device I just don't want to hack.
I suppose if you've got a few of them around, it's a good idea, but mine lives on my bedside table - switch on, read, switch off. I don't even notice the sleep image anymore.
Still, I admire the hacker spirit - and it's definately something Amazon should've included by default!
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