• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
  • About
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Advertise
method logo sxs 280x96 wht

methodshop

tech news, reviews & how to's

  • Trending
  • Latest
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Internet
    • Software
    • Security
    • Games
    • Advertising
  • Life
    • Entertainment
    • TV & Film
    • Music
    • Health & Science
    • Family
    • Social Media
    • Food
    • Style
  • Learn
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • News
      • Business
      • Crime
      • Politics
  • Fun
    • Featured
    • Humor
    • Holiday
    • Random Articles

Home : Software : What Is Kindle X-Ray And How To Use This Amazing Content Enhancement

kindle coffee
kindle coffee

What Is Kindle X-Ray And How To Use This Amazing Content Enhancement

Amazon created a feature called Amazon X-Ray for the Kindle that allows you to interactively explore Kindle ebooks. The only problem is, most people don't know about Kindle X-Ray or how to use it.

Jul 16, 2017 by J. Frank Wilson
FacebookTweetPinLinkedIn
Table of Contents[Hide][Show]
  • What Is Kindle X-Ray?
  • How To Use Amazon X-Ray On Kindle
  • Where Does Amazon X-Ray’s Information Come From?
  • X-Ray Is Fast
  • Who Can And Can’t Use Kindle X-Ray?
  • Other Reading Enhancements Besides X-Ray
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Ever wish you could interactively explore a book or movie by character, place, topic, or idea? You can. Amazon created a feature called Amazon X-Ray for the Kindle back in 2011 that allows you to interactively explore Kindle ebooks. The only problem is, most people don’t know about Kindle X-Ray or how to use it.

What Is Kindle X-Ray And How To Use This Amazing Content Enhancement

Click To Tweet

What Is Kindle X-Ray?

Amazon’s Kindle X-Ray is a content enhancement feature that allows you to explore the contents or the “bones” of a book or movie. For example, with a simple tap, you can see all of the passages in a book that mention specific ideas, topics, historical figures, fictional characters, and places. X-Ray listings are sorted into two main categories “People” and “Terms”. This typically includes most commonly used character names, locations, or ideas. The Amazon X-Ray feature will also give you definitions and descriptions for these terms.

Kindle X-Ray - What Is Kindle X-Ray?
The california city “palo alto” is a popular term in this kindle book as shown in the x-ray screen.

How To Use Amazon X-Ray On Kindle

Using Amazon X-Ray is easy. While reading a book on your Kindle, just tap the top of the screen to display the toolbars. The secondary toolbar contains an X-Ray button. Tap on the X-Ray button to see a list of terms, characters, and notable phrases. Kindle X-Ray also works for movies, but only on Kindle Fire models or better.

Amazon X-Ray is incredibly useful especially when reading books with a large cast of characters. Books like Game Of Thrones may have 200+ characters and it can be easy to lose track of who is who. Kindle X-Ray will not only provide you with a description of the character but allow you to jump between pages and refresh your memory of how they were introduced.

Where Does Amazon X-Ray’s Information Come From?

The Amazon X-Ray feature pulls its detailed information from IMDB, Wikipedia, and Shelfari, Amazon’s community-powered encyclopedia. If the X-Ray option on your Kindle is greyed out, then your content doesn’t have any X-Ray info available.

Don’t blame Amazon if your book doesn’t have X-Ray info or the info is poorly compiled. It’s up to the book publisher to use the X-Ray feature in their ebook and what terms to include. Amazon just creates the X-Ray platform for them to utilize. If the information you are looking for isn’t preloaded in X-Ray, then just do a Wikipedia search without leaving the page you’re reading.





X-Ray Is Fast

The information in X-Ray is incredibly fast. Publishers pre-calculate what info users might want to access and include a “side file” with all X-Ray compatible Kindle books. Your Kindle doesn’t need to access the Internet for X-Ray information. It’s already part of your book. X-Ray just accesses the pre-loaded side files.

Who Can And Can’t Use Kindle X-Ray?

The Kindle X-Ray feature debuted in 2011 with the Amazon Kindle Touch. So you’ll need a Kindle model that was released in 2011 or later to use X-Ray. Unfortunately, X-Ray is not available for all Kindle books. It’s also currently English only. If X-Ray is not available for the book you are reading, the X-Ray button will be greyed out.

But the good news is X-Ray works on the Kindle app for iPad and iPhone. So even if your Kindle is too old to use X-Ray, your smartphone will probably ok.

Other Reading Enhancements Besides X-Ray

Regardless of if your Kindle has Amazon X-Ray or not, these features are available for all Kindle devices.

  • Dictionary: When you encounter a word or term in a book that you don’t know, the most common action is to skip over rather than grab a dictionary. But with a simple tap, you can instantly look up a word and get back to your book.
    • While reading, press and hold a word, and then release to see the summary definition.
    • Tap “Show Full Definition” to see more. The dictionary opens to the word you looked up. You can tap or swipe to turn pages within the dictionary.
  • Translation: While you are reading, you can select text and then use Instant Translations to translate the text to a different language. To use Instant Translations, your Kindle Touch needs to be connected to a wireless network.
    • While reading, press, and drag to highlight the text you want to translate.
    • In the pop-up menu, tap More, tap Translation, and then select the language to translate the selection into.
  • Music: After you transfer MP3 files to your Kindle Touch, you can listen to music while you read. Kindle Touch and newer models can play MP3 files free of Digital Rights Management (DRM) software. You can either listen through your Kindle Touch external speakers or through earphones that are plugged into the headphone jack. The audio files will play in the order of the date you added them to your Kindle Touch.
    • From Home, tap the Menu icon.
    • Tap Experimental, and then tap MP3 Player.
    • In the audio player that displays at the bottom of your screen, tap Play to begin playing audio files.

Related Articles:






  • Tutorial On How To Find Your UDID On Apple Devices
  • How To Reduce Screen Time By Switching Your iPhone To Grayscale
  • Features to Look For in an e-Book Reader App
  • Kindle Fire vs iPad Mini – The Ultimate Comparison
J. Frank Wilson
J. Frank Wilson

Frank Wilson is a retired teacher with over 30 years of combined experience in the education, small business technology, and real estate business. He now blogs as a hobby and spends most days tinkering with old computers. Wilson is passionate about tech, enjoys fishing, and loves drinking beer.


FacebookTweetPinLinkedIn
Category: Software, Technology Tag: Amazon, Amazon Kindle, Books, eBooks, Kindle, Kindle X-Ray, Shelfari, Wikipedia
Previous Post:sefile 14thfactoryWoman Tries To Take Selfie At Gallery, Destroys $200,000 Worth Of Art
Next Post:How to Force Empty the Trash in Mac OS X And Reclaim Your Sanityempty trash mac

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Oscar

    Sep 29, 2023 at 7:48 PM

    I love Kindle X-Ray! It’s so helpful to be able to see all the details of a book.

  2. Mark

    Jan 20, 2023 at 7:37 AM

    Probably still easier than hunting through an encyclopaedia.

  3. Paul SPIRN

    Oct 23, 2022 at 7:00 AM

    The only problem with the otherwise excellent Kindle feature, Xray, is that the font is too damn small. I don’t see any way to make it large enough to read in bed when light is intentionally dim and the book is suspended at a fixed distance.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Sidebar

Popular Posts

google naked

7 Pictures Of Naked People Captured By Google’s Cameras

rooftop woman

10 Naked Sunbathers Busted By Google Earth

lg tv disable home screen scaled

How To Change The Default LG TV Home Screen To Live TV

new york city skyline

The 21 Best Live Streaming New York City Webcams

harrypotter sex

Controversial Nimbus 2000 Vibrating Harry Potter Broomstick Has Parents In An Uproar

A mom laughing at a smartphone and tablet

250+ Funny Dirty Mom Jokes That Will Make Everyone Laugh (Even Mom)! (NSFW)

hatch restore sleep

Is Your Hatch Restore Already Registered? Here’s How To Fix It And Unregister A Hatch Restore.

Britain’s Sycamore Gap Tree Deliberately Chopped Down in Act of Vandalism

Britain’s Sycamore Gap Tree Deliberately Chopped Down in Act of Vandalism

usb data blockers

The 6 Best USB Data Blockers To Prevent Hackers From Juice Jacking Your Files

Caddyshack Quotes

35 Famous Caddyshack Quotes That’ll Make You Laugh

Jump to comments

About

MethodShop’s mission is to entertain, inform, and sometimes gross you out. MethodShop has affiliate relationships, so we may get a small share of the revenue from your purchases. Items are sold by the retailer, not by us. All prices are subject to change.

Follow

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • Pinterest

Trending Posts

google naked

7 Pictures Of Naked People Captured By Google’s Cameras

rooftop woman

10 Naked Sunbathers Busted By Google Earth

lg tv disable home screen scaled

How To Change The Default LG TV Home Screen To Live TV

Latest Posts

U2 Sphere - A visually stunning concert with U2 performing inside a large glowing ball.

U2 Opens the Sphere in Las Vegas With a Visually Stunning Concert

Famous Gone With The Wind quotes

Frankly, My Dear, You Should ‘Give A Damn’ About These 15 Famous Gone With The Wind Quotes

Britain’s Sycamore Gap Tree Deliberately Chopped Down in Act of Vandalism

Britain’s Sycamore Gap Tree Deliberately Chopped Down in Act of Vandalism

MethodShop Animated Zoom Icon
  • About
  • Submit
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Store

Copyright © 2023 MethodShop · All Rights Reserved.