I just downloaded BAEN's Free Library (I owe them a fat donation) and spent a couple of hours with mobi2mobi stamping the files with proper title and author metadata.

Normally, when you download content from Amazon, the Kindle displays the author as First, Last but sorts as Last, First. With the mobipocket files I've stamped and added manually, it's sorting as displayed, so First, Last.

I guess I can restamp the files as Last, First, but I'd prefer to have them wholly integrated in the library. Anyone know if there's another EXTH category or something I can use to get them to display First, Last and sort Last, First?

Never mind, may have answered my own question. Looks like the Kindle automatically turns around Last, First into First Last on display, so I need to restamp that way.

Never mind, may have answered my own question. Looks like the Kindle automatically turns around Last, First into First Last on display, so I need to restamp that way.

That was kind of a nice functionality. I do not think there is a EXTH data field for another sort order. I think that epub can contain a sort key in the meta data so when we have epub readers we might have this functionality.

Does the Kindle not maintain a cache of book files it has found on the device? Where does it store bookmarks and history and so on? On the SONY you can edit the metadata in the cache to have it show up however you want (that's what libprs500 does).

I don't know about the cache, but I do know that bookmarks are stored in a seperate file for each book.

Does the Kindle not maintain a cache of book files it has found on the device? Where does it store bookmarks and history and so on? On the SONY you can edit the metadata in the cache to have it show up however you want (that's what libprs500 does).

The Gen3 store bookmark in a special data file one per book. I do not think there is a reason to cache the meta data information since it is stored uncompressed and unencrypted in the first record of the file. It is as fast to read that data as to read a cache.

But maybe I just have missed a global cache file. I will look for it sometimes...

I don't know if the Kindle works the same way, but all other versions of the MobiPocket Reader create a file "bookname.mbp" (ie a separate file for each book). This file stores your current reading position in the book, user annotations, bookmarks, etc.

Does the mbp file also contain metadata? i.e. title and author?

The Kindle creates mbp files, too. As far as anyone can tell, it really is a mobipocket reader, with Amazon mobipocket files having the funky AZW extension.

I didn't look in them for metadata, since I didn't have a handy mbp editor hanging out. ;) There is no exposed way to edit the metadata "cache" though. Restamping the books with mobi2mobi --author "last, first" did what I wanted.

I have some batch files quick and dirtied now that will go through a tree of book files and stamp all the authors based on the directory names they're in. Once/if I get those cleaned up a little, I'll upload.

Does the mbp file also contain metadata? i.e. title and author?

It seems to contain the title but not the author.

I find it hard to believe that the kindle doesn't maintain a list of books it has found somewhere on the drive, after all if it didn't, every time it was rebooted it would have to scan everything again, making reboot times unnecessarily long, but maybe it's on a part of the drive not exported via USB or it's in encrypted form somewhere.

I find it hard to believe that the kindle doesn't maintain a list of books it has found somewhere on the drive, after all if it didn't, every time it was rebooted it would have to scan everything again, making reboot times unnecessarily long, but maybe it's on a part of the drive not exported via USB or it's in encrypted form somewhere.

Can't you just scan the books you need for the display? A global cache has to be updated and you have to write code for detecting new files and when files are removed so if you can get good performance without it it is an advantage not to have a cache.

The linux kernel has filesystem notify support, so you would be notified everytime a file/directory is changed and you could rescan it and update the relevant portions of the cache. Seems to me like a much more efficient system than scan on demand.

The linux kernel has filesystem notify support, so you would be notified everytime a file/directory is changed and you could rescan it and update the relevant portions of the cache. Seems to me like a much more efficient system than scan on demand.

Do you know about applications that uses this notify support?

I still think that your solution leads to more complex code and more possibilties for strange bugs. If I designed a system I would avoid a cache if I could.

Most linux filemanagers

Yes, from Java code it seems Home applet rescans the book list when the content folders are updated.

Which probably means it maintains a disk cache somewhere.

Which probably means it maintains a disk cache somewhere.

Why do you think that? If it rescans all books when one book is added I would have thought that was evidence for no cache.

I doubt it rescans all books, just the books in the affected folder. It would be pretty silly to rescan all books if you know only one book/folder has changed. Also the reboot issue.

I've been massaging a number of .prc and .mobi files for my Kindle using tompe's mobiperl programs. Using mobi2mobi I've found quite a few files that do not have the EXTH record and you cannot add author names. You think that the title has been changed but once the file is on the Kindle you can see the title has not been changed and the author's name is not there.

My solution has been to redownload the files as .lit when possible and use lit2mobi. The titles are changed and you can add the author because the EXTH record is created when the .lit is converted to .mobi

I'm no programmer but this is what I've observed.

Well, whatever -they- did, I want the original files stamped so that if I reload them later, I don't have to re-edit.

I wouldn't be surprised to find out their ability to edit metadata is very underdeveloped, even insofar as a cache goes. There's absolutely no way to change metadata on-Kindle, which is unfortunate as a number of free books have very poor filenames.

There's absolutely no way to change metadata on-Kindle, which is unfortunate as a number of free books have very poor filenames.

Tompe's "mobi2mobi" tool will allow you to edit the metadata of Kindle books.

Well, which is where this started. :)

I've only run into a couple of books like TallMomof2 mentions, but they certainly are annoying when you find them. The .lit trick's a good one, I'll remember that. Still (and not to look a gift horse in the mouth--they're otherwise awesome) I wish mobi2mobi could add the EXTH header instead of just dealing with what's there.

Well, which is where this started. :)

I've only run into a couple of books like TallMomof2 mentions, but they certainly are annoying when you find them. The .lit trick's a good one, I'll remember that. Still (and not to look a gift horse in the mouth--they're otherwise awesome) I wish mobi2mobi could add the EXTH header instead of just dealing with what's there.

Well it does add extra headers if needed but I just realized a possible bug when setting EXTH header information does not work if there is no EXTH header at all in the file. I will look into that. But that does not explain why the title could not be changed.

Well it does add extra headers if needed but I just realized a possible bug when setting EXTH header information does not work if there is no EXTH header at all in the file. I will look into that. But that does not explain why the title could not be changed.

I hadn't seen that issue on my side. I was able to change the title of the two EXTH-free books I found.

First off I want to say that I love what Baen is doing and I will patronize them both buying EBooks and paper.

I went to the Baen Free Library.
I downloaded several books, from some of my favorite authors.
I uploaded them to my Kindle (which I do LOVE) and I can read them.
The problem was addressed but I don’t understand or it seemed ambiguous to me.

When I go to my home page of my Kindle (which I do LOVE) I see the title of the book. I can open the book and read it, but the author does not appear as the ones do that I bought from Amazon. Will I have this issue from the other free book places (freedbook.com) and is it the same fix?

Thanks

Terry

The only free site that has proper mobi (i.e. author etc metadata) format is feedbook.com.

When I go to my home page of my Kindle (which I do LOVE) I see the title of the book. I can open the book and read it, but the author does not appear as the ones do that I bought from Amazon. Will I have this issue from the other free book places (freedbook.com) and is it the same fix? There are two MOBI formats, the older one does not include the author as metadata and so this does not appear on the Kindle's home page. The fix is to use mobi2mobi to add an author, see PRC to MOBI (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=18224).

Most free and multi-format sites use the older MOBI format, but feedbooks uses the new format and so the author should get listed. I think Baen will be (or already is) using the new format for new e-books.

Baen have been using the "proper" Mobi format for new eBooks for a couple of months now. They don't appear, however, to be rebuilding older books for the newer format; when an older book reappears in a new "Webscriptions" package it's still in the old format.

The only free site that has proper mobi (i.e. author etc metadata) format is feedbook.com.

Ahem! What about THIS site?

Ahem! What about THIS site?
Oh my bad, Harry. I totally forgot it. MR is more of a forum than a book download website to me. :p

Your Dicksen collections are by far the best eBooks I've seen on my Kindle. They beat many commercial books I bought/sampled on amazon. :thumbsup:

No problem :D.