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Latest Kindle for PC Update Adds Support for Comics, Kids eBooks

Amazon may be imperiously demanding that we update the Kindle for PC, but that cloud has a silver lining.

Amazon hasn’t formally announced what is in the 1.14.1 update, but Teleread has noticed, and I can confirm, that the Amazon Kindle Twitter account has been touting new features in the Kindle for PC app, including the ability to read children’s books and comic books.

A quick check of older versions of Kindle4PC confirmed that the latest version now lets you read comics books in Kindle format. The app let me read the several comic books I bought in the Kindle Store, and it even supported the guided reading mode that Amazon developed for the Kindle platform.

kindle pc update comics 1.14.1

It’s really not a very satisfactory reading experience; your only option is one page at a time (as you can see I have enough screen real estate for more), and there’s no way to zoom in on a page and scroll around.

Comics usually have tiny text and I have old eyes, so the lack of options immensely annoying. And given that Comixology (and a lot of PDF apps) offer a significantly better reading experience, I have to wonder why Amazon bothered adding such a lackluster reading experience.

I mean, it was only a few months ago that Amazon merged your Kindle account into your Comixology and let you read all your comics in the Comixology platform. With that kind of support, you’d think Amazon would either add awesome support for comics to the Kindle apps or do nothing at all; there’s really no point to a half-assed effort, not when Amazon has a great digital comics platform down the hall.

But that’s just me; what do you think of the update?

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Comments


Daniel Vian February 13, 2016 um 7:59 pm

Most people have checked the box to allow automatic updates of Kindle for PC, so the update has already happened and is being widely used and the question of whether or not to update is moot for most of us. As far as I can tell, there is nothing wrong with the update, it works as smoothly as the previous version, and it has a few minor improvements.


Mike Hall February 14, 2016 um 6:22 am

Just a note for your UK readers: we are an update behind with the latest version being 1.14.0, at least on amazon.co.uk. I suppose I could download from amazon.com and get 1.14.1 but this will presumably turn up in the UK soon and download automatically (and maybe the US version would cause problems in the UK?).

I don’t care about comics and don’t often use the PC version to read – though it’s nice to know I have all the books on a system where I can strip the DRM if I need to. However, it would be good if it started to order collections in some non random fashion and, better still, extended cloud collections to cover the PC.


Tom Semple February 14, 2016 um 2:20 pm

What they really need to improve is Kindle for Windows 10, specifically library management (search and collections). Might as well make that a universal app so it runs on Windows Phone as well. I think it does support the fixed layout formats. Comixology’s web app works great on Windows, and they have deprecated the Windows app.

Nate Hoffelder February 14, 2016 um 2:49 pm

As I understand it, Kindle for Metro/Win8/Win10 is actually Kindle Cloud Reader. I don’t know that Amazon has put any effort into developing it.

I mean, does it support KF8?


Daily Links and Deals: Yale Museums Making Thousands Of Artwork Images Available For Free Downloading | The eBook Evangelist February 14, 2016 um 2:46 pm

[…] Latest Kindle for PC Update Adds Support for Comics, Kids eBooks (The Digital Reader) –  Yes, you have to update, but here are some exciting new features! […]


Mike Hall February 14, 2016 um 6:07 pm

Nate: I have to admit my complete ignorance of KF8 but when I googled it the results (Mobileread Wiki), for what they are worth, claimed that it is supported by Kindle for PC.

Tom: I think that a PC would be the ideal tool for library management: lots of processing power, screen real estate, a real keyboard, mouse, etc. Mind you, I am trying to manage an account with about 1400 books in some 80 collections across 5 e-ink kindles used by three different people with widely different tastes so I probably do not fall into a common customer category.


Mike Hall February 15, 2016 um 8:15 am

Just to note that my earlier comment is now out of date: the latest update installed itself on my UK based PC this morning. I can’t see any differences in the functionality I use.


TS Challender May 15, 2017 um 10:58 pm

I just bought my first, digital comic collection from Amazon, and was gearing up to buy several more … when I discovered the "Sorry, No Zoomy for You" issue with Kindle for PC.

I, too, have older eyes. And was quite surprised to discover K4PC could not even zoom to width. I had hoped to read comfortably sitting under a tree this summer, and also zoom in and really enjoy some detailed artwork. But sadly, that’s going to have to wait until they update the app.

It is frustrating. I’d planned to buy quite a bit.


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