Just to verify that I am not seeing things:

HTML documents - image tags don't work, right?

Also, when viewing text or PalmDOC files, multiple spaces seem to come across as small boxes (single spaces appear just fine). I verified that the files have spaces and not some sort of strange character. Is this normal?

The delete button doesn't work yet, right?

Also, when viewing text or PalmDOC files, multiple spaces seem to come across as small boxes (single spaces appear just fine). I verified that the files have spaces and not some sort of strange character. Is this normal?


Have not seen that (the other things was correct). How did you verify what character it was? Was it really two 0x20?

Just to verify that I am not seeing things:

HTML documents - image tags don't work, right?


No external references work. Best to use Mobi Creator (or whatever) to convert the HTML to Mobi if you want image, links between HTML files, etc.

Also, when viewing text or PalmDOC files, multiple spaces seem to come across as small boxes (single spaces appear just fine). I verified that the files have spaces and not some sort of strange character. Is this normal?

That's a new one! Just tried it and it seems to work fine for me.

The delete button doesn't work yet, right?

Correct. As the user guide tells you :)

Have not seen that (the other things was correct). How did you verify what character it was? Was it really two 0x20?

Ya, I did a hexedit on the file and they were a 0x20.

No external references work. Best to use Mobi Creator (or whatever) to convert the HTML to Mobi if you want image, links between HTML files, etc.

Mobipocket is a proprietary format and should be avoided.

Correct. As the user guide tells you :)

The manual! Who reads the manual?

I just did some more testing on the text file strangeness.

At work (where we actually pay to use buggy, insecure operating systems) I created a text file, using Notepad and put it on my Cybook. The same problem. Anywhere there is a group of spaces, all but 1 of the spaces is replaced by a box character (the usual character that most devices display when they don't understand the character).

Using a hex editor, the file on the SD card in the Cybook has 0x20s there. So they are spaces. But the Cybook doesn't take them as such.

Note that single spaces display just fine.

Mobipocket is a proprietary format and should be avoided.

<shrug>

It can trivially be converted back to HTML using non-proprietory tools. It was just a suggestion - take it or leave it.

The manual! Who reads the manual?

You wouldn't have had to ask the question if you'd done so :).

It can trivially be converted back to HTML using non-proprietory tools. It was just a suggestion - take it or leave it.


I do not believe this is true. It is not trivial and all available tools seems to have bugs or limitations that makes it fail on files.

It was your tool that I was referring to, Tommy. It's worked beautifully on the files that I've tried it with! In any case, if Lauzon is converting files for his own use, the "reversibility" or otherwise of the format is irrevelent, since he'll have the original files to re-convert if required. I certainly don't think that being "proprietory" or otherwise is a reason to avoid a file format. The important thing (IMHO) is the availablity of tools to work with the format, not whether or not someone "owns" the specification. Largely thanks to you, we have some excellent tools available to work with MobiPocket files.

It was your tool that I was referring to, Tommy. It's worked beautifully on the files that I've tried it with! In any case, if Lauzon is converting files for his own use, the "reversibility" or otherwise of the format is irrevelent, since he'll have the original files to re-convert if required. I certainly don't think that being "proprietory" or otherwise is a reason to avoid a file format.

I've asked you this several times:
1. Where is the open source version of mobigen?
2. Where are the complete specifications of the Mobipocket format so that an open source version of mobigen can be created?

You've never answered when I asked. I believe that the reason is that the answers are:
1. There is none.
2. They are not publicly available.

A format that relies on any single entity (even a company like Mobipocket that's been generous so far) forms a monopoly and monopolies are always bad for the consumer.

Remember that 10 years ago, Microsoft said it was OK to take your company's MS Office CDs home to install on your home computer. Very generous. That's certainly not Microsoft's policy today.

Companies can change their mind. The only way to protect yourself is simply not to rely on the generosity (or even the word of) a single company.

Until the Mobipocket format is open sourced, it's proprietary and should be avoided like the plague.

I've asked you this several times:
1. Where is the open source version of mobigen?

tompe's written open source Python tools to compile, edit the metadata of, and decompile MobiPocket files. Give them a go - they work great and run on any o/s which supports Python!

2. Where are the complete specifications of the Mobipocket format so that an open source version of mobigen can be created?

Ask tompe!

tompe's written open source Python tools to compile, edit the metadata of, and decompile MobiPocket files. Give them a go - they work great and run on any o/s which supports Python!

I assume that you mean this:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20341

Which doesn't do what you think it does and that thread contains no links to code that can be used to create a Mobipocket eBook.

Ask tompe!

If tompe's not Mobipocket, that does nothing.

So I'll ask yet again (without hope for useful information):
1. Where is the open source version of mobigen?
2. Where are the complete specifications of the Mobipocket format so that an open source version of mobigen can be created?

I assume that you mean this:
http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=20341

Which doesn't do what you think it does and that thread contains no links to code that can be used to create a Mobipocket eBook.

No, he means this (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17718), which does.

So I'll ask yet again (without hope for useful information):
1. Where is the open source version of mobigen?
2. Where are the complete specifications of the Mobipocket format so that an open source version of mobigen can be created?

1. MobiPerl (http://www.ida.liu.se/~tompe/mobiperl/) may not be exactly mobigen, but it certainly allows you to create a Mobipocket file from HTML and is open source.

2. MobiPerl is open source. If you want to duplicate tompe's effort, though, or want to insist on Mobipocket freely publicizing their specification, feel free to do so. But in that case you're barking up the wrong tree.

No, he means this (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17718), which does.

Ah, yes, the infamous perl utility. I tried that a while back but couldn't get the graphics libraries working on my system. If the utility is stable now, I might try it again.

2. MobiPerl is open source. If you want to duplicate tompe's effort, though, or want to insist on Mobipocket freely publicizing their specification, feel free to do so. But in that case you're barking up the wrong tree.

What I really want is a Mobipocket created (or at least blessed) version. Reverse-engineering a proprietary format always has problems.

Well, as I said at the start of all this, it's your choice. You can either stick with the pretty ropey HTML support of the Gen3 (no images, no cross-file links, etc) or you can create functional MobiPocket books using any one of the excellent free tools which are available, either from Mobi themselves or as a result of tompe's hard work. The choice is entirely yours. All anyone's trying to do here is provide you with options; it's entirely your decision what you do.

No, he means this (http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17718), which does.


Thank you - my mistake; I always get Perl and Python mixed up :).

Well, as I said at the start of all this, it's your choice.

No argument there. I knew (pretty much) what I was getting into. I had just hoped that Bookeen (having gotten the nod from Baen) would have offered a better choice than between "proprietary" and "page-layout" formats.

You can either stick with the pretty ropey HTML support of the Gen3 (no images, no cross-file links, etc) or you can create functional MobiPocket books using any one of the excellent free tools which are available, either from Mobi themselves or as a result of tompe's hard work.

What free tools are those?

Sorry. I've been reading Lessig's Free Culture (http://manybooks.net/titles/lessiglother04free_culture.html) lately.

Mobipocket tools are not "free" as in "libre". They are free as in "gratis".
While tompe's work are "free" in both senses, his work will require a great deal of my time to get working correctly - effectively making the tools not "free" as in "gratis".

On top of that, giving support to a proprietary format is pretty much the dumbest thing we can do as eBook readers. That sends the wrong message to eBook vendors - namely that we will accept proprietary formats.

While tompe's work are "free" in both senses, his work will require a great deal of my time to get working correctly - effectively making the tools not "free" as in "gratis".

You could always download his Windows binaries and run them on your buggy and insecure work machines.

You could always download his Windows binaries and run them on your buggy and insecure work machines.

I try not to use work machines for non-work (Note I said "try" 8-) ).

Joking aside: using any resource you do not control for something that you rely on is not a good idea. That's why I don't like hacks and such to make proprietary technology work. Sooner or later something will come along and break the hack, leaving you with useless technology.

I had just hoped that Bookeen (having gotten the nod from Baen) would have offered a better choice than between "proprietary" and "page-layout" formats.Just to split a quick hair -- unless something's changed that I haven't heard about, NAEB isn't part of Baen. They just used the Baen forum (with Jim's blessing) to organize the effort that eventually became NAEB. If they had been part of Baen, they wouldn't have had to bother with incorporating, and would have probably had a whole lot less trouble with PayPal et. al., which would have been nice for all concerned. :nice:

I've asked you this several times:
1. Where is the open source version of mobigen?
2. Where are the complete specifications of the Mobipocket format so that an open source version of mobigen can be created?

You've never answered when I asked. I believe that the reason is that the answers are:
1. There is none.
2. They are not publicly available.

A format that relies on any single entity (even a company like Mobipocket that's been generous so far) forms a monopoly and monopolies are always bad for the consumer.

Remember that 10 years ago, Microsoft said it was OK to take your company's MS Office CDs home to install on your home computer. Very generous. That's certainly not Microsoft's policy today.

Companies can change their mind. The only way to protect yourself is simply not to rely on the generosity (or even the word of) a single company.

Until the Mobipocket format is open sourced, it's proprietary and should be avoided like the plague.


Well, then that means using eReader's proprietary format, Amazon's proprietary format, Sony's proprietary format or Hanlin's proprietary format - if you want to read a CURRENT title and don't want to go through the bother of buying the dead-tree version and going through the process of scanning, editing and formatting for a non-proprietary ebook format. Unless, of course, you choose to limit the books you purchase to those offered by Baen through Webscriptions. I'm all for that, but Baen doesn't offer all the titles *I* want to read.

Yes, we could always download the 'free' files that have been scanned in by someone else, but that is illegal and is ripping off the author. Or, we can track down the tools which break the DRM and make 'free' versions of our friends DRM-protected ebooks, but that is also illegal and is ripping off the author.

And waiting around for the publishers to get a clue that DRM is bad means that WE suffer, not the publishers.

Oh, what to do? I know! Pick a DRM format that has the widest systems support and a reasonably large number of current titles and hope for the best. Which is what Bookeen has done by choosing to use the Mobipocket format.

As for the 'extra spaces as squares' problem, I've re-created it with a simple test file and you are absolutely correct. A basic palmdoc version or txt version of a simple document shows those nasty squares. However, I note the Mobipocket version created with BookDesigner, using the txt file does NOT show those nasty squares. However, BD *also* stripped out those extra spaces from the displayed file. I'll see what setting I need to have them display properly.

And, yes, I'm forwarding on these test files to Bookeen because this *IS* a problem.

Derek

Joking aside: using any resource you do not control for something that you rely on is not a good idea. That's why I don't like hacks and such to make proprietary technology work. Sooner or later something will come along and break the hack, leaving you with useless technology.


Do you have control over the electrical power companies?

Do you have control over the medical world?

Do you have control over the Internet?

I heavely rely on these resources. I think it is the same with you. Sometimes there are only two options. Use what is available, or don't use it at all and live with the consequences

Do you have control over the electrical power companies?

Do you have control over the medical world?

Do you have control over the Internet?

I heavely rely on these resources. I think it is the same with you. Sometimes there are only two options. Use what is available, or don't use it at all and live with the consequences

Not valid comparisons.
I have several electric companies to choose from and they all use the same power grid.
I can choose my doctor and hospital, even though their treatment might be the same.
The internet is even the best example on what rlauzon means. Everyone can be part of it, and help make it what it is. There is not a single company or person that can pull the plug.

So while i agree with rlauzon, that an open standard, that can be implemented by anyone would be a great advantage, and he definately is right, that the mobipocket is a closed format, he is also trying to force happiness on people who do not want it.

And as long as such an open standard does not exist for DRM books, i am quite happy with the mobipocket format, or any other format my reader is able to display.

@rlauzon: You avatar suits you very well :D

What I really want is a Mobipocket created (or at least blessed) version. Reverse-engineering a proprietary format always has problems.

I do not really care about a Mobipocket created version but I would really like to see the specification. But I suspect that the specification is their implementation in some respect so they will probably never release a specification.

Reverse engineering as its problem but in this case a lot of information is available so I do not think there are any significant bugs left concerning the format. A new reader implementation mighy change that.

It was your tool that I was referring to, Tommy. It's worked beautifully on the files that I've tried it with! In any case, if Lauzon is converting files for his own use, the "reversibility" or otherwise of the format is irrevelent, since he'll have the original files to re-convert if required. I certainly don't think that being "proprietory" or otherwise is a reason to avoid a file format. The important thing (IMHO) is the availablity of tools to work with the format, not whether or not someone "owns" the specification. Largely thanks to you, we have some excellent tools available to work with MobiPocket files.

It works well on many files. When i wrote my comment I had just had a lot of trouble with UTF-8 and problem with filepos pointing incorrectly.

The disadvantage with a format you do not have a specification of that works as a contract is that buggy converter programs cannot be detected. They might generate files that can be read on all readers but they might not generate correct files so other conversion tools will fail on the files.

Actually I do not think you should support proprietary formats but I do not see MobiPerl as a support of MobiPocket. For me the important format is what you archieve the book in and that should probably be something like epub. So Mobipocket can be used to convert from MobiPocket to some suitable base format. Convertingt from HTML to Mobipocket ör manipulating MobiPocket files I see just like something you do for your current display device and just a practical way to solve a problem that exists now.

And when you work on the format and expose the details you show how badly suited the format is for ceratin things so the knowledge about the format inccrease which makes it much more probable that you will switch to another better format.

Do you have control over the electrical power companies?

Yes. It's called the Public Utilities Commission.

Do you have control over the medical world?

Yes. Several agencies regulate the medical world on my behalf.

Do you have control over the Internet?

Yes. I can control what systems I access and how. I can control what systems access my PC.

So while i agree with rlauzon, that an open standard, that can be implemented by anyone would be a great advantage, and he definately is right, that the mobipocket is a closed format, he is also trying to force happiness on people who do not want it.

Not at all.

I am making sure that people are aware of what they are getting.

How would you feel if your new Ford could only use Ford gasoline and Ford tires, and drive on Ford-approved roads?

If you knew those restrictions before you purchased and thought it was a good deal, then fine. But how would you feel if you didn't know those restrictions before hand?

I've been working in the computer industry for over 20 years. I've seen, time and again, where a company gives away something to drive out the competition. Then changes their mind when you can no longer drop their product without incurring plenty of pain. Microsoft is a wonderful example of this.

The only way to protect yourself is not to become dependent on any "standard" that is owned by a single entity.

The ODF/OOXML controversy that's been going on is a recent example of how many people are realizing that having all their documents in a proproprietary format is not a good thing.

Not valid comparisons.
I have several electric companies to choose from and they all use the same power grid.
I can choose my doctor and hospital, even though their treatment might be the same.
The internet is even the best example on what rlauzon means. Everyone can be part of it, and help make it what it is. There is not a single company or person that can pull the plug.
@rlauzon: You avatar suits you very well :D


I can choose from several power companies also. But that makes no difference. It is only an adminstrative matter. They sell me energy, not the way to get it. The powerlines I cannot choose, the voltage I cannot choose, the frequency I cannot choose. There are much better options than 240 Volts 50 Hz. But I cannot get them. I'm completely stuck with them. And so are you. We have no control.

And I can also choose my doctor and hospital. If I have the time do do so. In an emergency they bring me to the nearest place (as they should). And some insurance companies only let you go to certain hospitals and certain doctors. But the treatment is always according to protocol. A protocol I have no control over (I don't want to, they know better what to do than I do)

The internet is as it is. I cannot change that. I'm not talking about the data, but about the way it works. I have no control over the way data is sent around the world. I can choose my ISP. But there are only two ways it can reach my home. By cable or by phoneline. The cable is a monopoly. The phone is not. BUT it is the same problem as with the powerlines. I can choose my ISP. But not the copper lines. I have no control over them

The way you look at the internet is that you can change the information on it. That is thru. But that is also the case with books. The mobi bookformat is as the way it works. The story in the book is what you can influence

Yes. It's called the Public Utilities Commission.


You cannot change the way it works. Voltage, frequency etc are fixed. Even if you don't like it




Yes. Several agencies regulate the medical world on my behalf.


You do not have control over medical procedures. Others decide that for you. Protocols in an operating room are fixed. You cannot choose how an incision is made. Or what kind of stitches are used. It is up to the doctor. And if he is not following protocol he can end up in court for that if something goes wrong.



Yes. I can control what systems I access and how. I can control what systems access my PC.

Yes, you can choose high level things like that...but not the way it works...the technology is fixed

It is as with an ebook. You can choose what book to read. But not how it is made. If a company wants to use mobi for it's books it is their choice. Use it or leave it. You can choose to access a website. But you can not refuse to use the iP protocol if you do. You have no control over it. You can refuse to use it of course. That is a form of control.

Do you have control over the electrical power companies?

Do you have control over the medical world?

Do you have control over the Internet?

I heavely rely on these resources. I think it is the same with you. Sometimes there are only two options. Use what is available, or don't use it at all and live with the consequences

Like my Pappy used to say (and it's true for most things in life), "You pays your nickel and takes your chance.":chinscratch:

I can choose from several power companies also. But that makes no difference. It is only an adminstrative matter. They sell me energy, not the way to get it. The powerlines I cannot choose, the voltage I cannot choose, the frequency I cannot choose. There are much better options than 240 Volts 50 Hz. But I cannot get them. I'm completely stuck with them. And so are you. We have no control.

And I can also choose my doctor and hospital. If I have the time do do so. In an emergency they bring me to the nearest place (as they should). And some insurance companies only let you go to certain hospitals and certain doctors. But the treatment is always according to protocol. A protocol I have no control over (I don't want to, they know better what to do than I do)

The internet is as it is. I cannot change that. I'm not talking about the data, but about the way it works. I have no control over the way data is sent around the world. I can choose my ISP. But there are only two ways it can reach my home. By cable or by phoneline. The cable is a monopoly. The phone is not. BUT it is the same problem as with the powerlines. I can choose my ISP. But not the copper lines. I have no control over them

The way you look at the internet is that you can change the information on it. That is thru. But that is also the case with books. The mobi bookformat is as the way it works. The story in the book is what you can influence


And now you confuse open systems with standards. If you wanted, you could make your own electricity and make it a standard. And i am not saying a standard has to be the best that is out there, but with a standard, you can have in case of energy for example severlas sources of energy, that contribute to the whole. You can be a source yourself, when you know, how to contribute. Everyone can connect to the powergrid, because they know how, and there is a standard which allows to interconnect the grids. So while you cannot choose the standard, you can choose the means to connect and what sources you use. And you could participate yourself. So the system is not controlled by a single entity.

Actually I do not think you should support proprietary formats but I do not see MobiPerl as a support of MobiPocket. For me the important format is what you archieve the book in and that should probably be something like epub. So Mobipocket can be used to convert from MobiPocket to some suitable base format. Convertingt from HTML to Mobipocket ör manipulating MobiPocket files I see just like something you do for your current display device and just a practical way to solve a problem that exists now.


Certainly I agree with you that Mobi should be regarded as a terminal format, not a long-term storage format. That's why, when I create books, I always store the original source files (text, HTML, or whatever) in addition to the converted book. I may not be able to read my MobiPocket files in 20 years' time, but I'm sure that I'll be able to convert the source files into whatever I'm using at that time.

And now you confuse open systems with standards. If you wanted, you could make your own electricity and make it a standard.

I was reacting to somethings that rlauzon wrote:


Joking aside: using any resource you do not control for something that you rely on is not a good idea.

That remark is so general that you better stop breathing. Because you have no control over the oxygen supply. You can only hope it is always there.

Sometimes something is beyond your control, no official standard but a de-facto standard. It does not matter if it is open or closed then. It simply is there.

Of course everybody is free to create an open source ebook format. One can hope that it used. I won't use it, because there are no books available in this format.

Today the most common format is some version of mobi. It works good enough for most people. Can it be impoved? Yes! Will this process go faster when it is open source? Probably. Do people care? Most of them won't. It only has to work. Even is Mobipocket' stops today the books will still be there. I can make them, you can make them.

If you don't like the current 'standard' don't buy books in this format. But I think you'll have to go back to p-Books

The reality is that a lot (most) of things in this world are outside your circle of influence. And if you have to stop using all those things, live will be very difficult if not impossible

I'm not really bothered that much by using a propriertary format because everyday I'm using a thousand things which are proprietary and beyond my control. The example with the car going only on Ford gasoline is not quite accurate: How many parts of a car you buy can you actually decide on? I highly doubt that you get a say on what type and make of air bag Ford used in manufacturing your car.
So, while I have no objections to using proprietory formats if there is no "open" alternative which meets my demands I do prefer to use "standardized" formats (someone already pointed out that that is something gotten mixed up). And if something is standardized it is usually just a question of time until there is some kind of converter into or out of this format (if there is only so much you can keep secret in a standard or it wouldn't be a standard).

What I consider a lot more dangerous is the use of various DRM formats for eBooks. It breaks my heart to think that every book I bought might become unreadable for me once my device stops working and I decide to buy another brand. I find it highly annoying that the book industry seems to have slept through the last couple of years and missed completely what direction music and film is going. People do not want to buy everything again everytime they change their devices, at least not as long as the price is that high. If they charge me 99 cents per book I'd be more willing to re-buy them if I change devices or - if they want to maintain current prices - they company I buy books from should be obliged to change all my DRMed books over to another DRMed format so I could continue using them ( I think Adobe is trying something in that direction but there is a long road ahead).

I do not really care about a Mobipocket created version but I would really like to see the specification. But I suspect that the specification is their implementation in some respect so they will probably never release a specification.

Reverse engineering as its problem but in this case a lot of information is available so I do not think there are any significant bugs left concerning the format. A new reader implementation mighy change that.

Your work has been greatly appreciated, and I'm now extremely happy that I can convert mobi files to a non-terminal format (I'm safeguarding my ebooks in anticipation of a radicial evolution of formats). Would you, along with others who have spent so much time reverse engineering, be willing to document the format? If not, I wonder if you'd mind me assisting by reverse engeering your tools in order to produce such documentation? Would this documentation be suitable content for the MobileRead wiki?

-Wayne

Your work has been greatly appreciated, and I'm now extremely happy that I can convert mobi files to a non-terminal format (I'm safeguarding my ebooks in anticipation of a radicial evolution of formats). Would you, along with others who have spent so much time reverse engineering, be willing to document the format? If not, I wonder if you'd mind me assisting by reverse engeering your tools in order to produce such documentation? Would this documentation be suitable content for the MobileRead wiki?


I am waiting for igorsk documentation :) I tried to write the Perl code so that it would be easy to understand the format. If there was a wiki page or something I would help to document the format.

I am waiting for igorsk documentation :) I tried to write the Perl code so that it would be easy to understand the format. If there was a wiki page or something I would help to document the format.

There is a wiki page that has been created by one of the MR moderators at http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/MOBI; it looks to be an ideal place for such valuable documentation.

Yes. It's called the Public Utilities Commission.



Yes. Several agencies regulate the medical world on my behalf.



Yes. I can control what systems I access and how. I can control what systems access my PC.

good read, it has been a while since I've read such an amusing post :)

It's kids like you that give the open source community a bad name...
Just use the frikkin' mobipocket format and quit complaining about problems that can be EASILY resolved with solutions you refuse to use for whatever ridiculous reason that might be.

good read, it has been a while since I've read such an amusing post :)

It's kids like you that give the open source community a bad name...
Just use the frikkin' mobipocket format and quit complaining about problems that can be EASILY resolved with solutions you refuse to use for whatever ridiculous reason that might be.

Oh, so you can easily solve all problems. Please send me the specification of the huffdic compression scheme then. I need it to do a clean room implementation of it in Perl.

good read, it has been a while since I've read such an amusing post :)

It's kids like you that give the open source community a bad name...
Just use the frikkin' mobipocket format and quit complaining about problems that can be EASILY resolved with solutions you refuse to use for whatever ridiculous reason that might be.
Please don't call anyone a kid like that. It's not nice.

Yes. DRM and formats are always a heated topic, but let's try to keep away from personal attacks, shall we?

The solution to his problem is there: the mobipocket creator. If he refuses to use it for whatever reason, that is his problem. To keep complaining about it is just childish behaviour imo.

The solution to his problem is there: the mobipocket creator. If he refuses to use it for whatever reason, that is his problem. To keep complaining about it is just childish behaviour imo.You're certainly entitled to hold that opinion, but there's really nothing gained by expressing it in a belittling manner. In fact, the main thing that name calling does is undermine the legitimacy of the arguments of the name caller. :shrug:

All we're asking is that the discussion be kept on a mature, respectful level. No one is suggesting that everyone agree on everything (far from it!), only that the disagreement be polite.

I've been around this forum for just over two years now, and the main thing that has kept me here is that this community is so very different from the vast majority of on-line discussion forums in that it's not a venomous snake-pit full of people saying things in print that they'd never consider saying in person.

The ability to have intelligent discussions on a variety of topics is one of MobileRead's greatest strength, and, consequently, something we value pretty highly.


It's easy to get ... over-involved in some of these discussions (DRM and proprietary formats are probably the very best examples of that sort of topic), and it's happened to all of us. It's just important to sometimes take a breath and remember that sometimes we're getting more excited than we mean to be.

The solution to his problem is there: the mobipocket creator. If he refuses to use it for whatever reason, that is his problem. To keep complaining about it is just childish behaviour imo.

So you should have to by a Windows license to be able to solve whatever problem you have?

I also have a lot of things I want to do that you cannot do in MobiPocket creator. For example I need to find all MobiPocket files on my disk that does not have author information specified. How do I do that in MobiPocket creator or how do I do that without knowledge about the data format?

For example I need to find all MobiPocket files on my disk that does not have author information specified. How do I do that in MobiPocket creator or how do I do that without knowledge about the data format?

You can do that with the MobiReader. It shows all meta data in the 'list' view

Yes. It's called the Public Utilities Commission.



Yes. Several agencies regulate the medical world on my behalf.



Yes. I can control what systems I access and how. I can control what systems access my PC.

You certainly have control over any perl module since it is a scripting language and the source is available to you simply by looking at the file. You can modify it to your hearts content. There is no better control than that.

Dale