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View Full Version : Feedbooks "Page Error" with some epub books


Dr. Drib
08-15-2008, 08:07 PM
I downloaded the entire Proust and loaded them onto my PRS-505.

The titles load fine on the software Adobe Digital Editions, but not on my Reader.

Anyone else encountering these errors?

_____________________

UPDATE: Interestingly, the titles open fine in the Reader software, but not ON the Reader. Some titles I uploaded from Feedbooks a few days ago work flawlessly.


Thanks,
Don

(For the curious, I've been busy reading; also, I just got back from a visit to the U.S.)

Canterbury Tail
08-15-2008, 08:43 PM
I've downloaded loads from Feedbooks, but again when loaded onto my 505 they don't work, contain 1 page and it's a page error.

I put it down to loading to the 505 through Calibre, and haven't gotten around to trying them again pushing from DE.

Madam Broshkina
08-15-2008, 08:43 PM
I have not had any problems with Feedbook epups on my reader. However lately I have been converting the epub files to LRF using Calibre. I prefer the LRF version better.

Dr. Drib
08-15-2008, 10:16 PM
Someone do a test, please:

Take one of the Proust's titles from "Remembrance of Things Past" in English and download it. See if loads and then works on the PRS-505.

This may not be an isolated incident.

[C]alibre was not used on the titles I downloaded.


Don

wallcraft
08-15-2008, 10:31 PM
For most authors, Adobe DE's requirement (for the Sony and, eventually, other handheld devices) of < 300 KB per ePub XML file is easily met by using one file per chapter. Feedbooks has been using this approach for some time now. However, Proust is one of the authors where this isn't sufficient. In the case of Swann's Way, for example, Part 3 is 508 KB.

The only solution I am aware of is to arbitrarily split large files into smaller files. This matters because DE always adds a page break at the end of each file.

Dr. Drib
08-16-2008, 07:54 AM
"Swann's Way" is 444 kb, which is less than the 500 kb you mention. (I don't know how to calculate the XML file that you mention.)

I repeat: Every one of these files will load and will work on the Sony Software - flawlessly. Load them onto the Sony Reader, however, and a page error occurs. The books are not readable or accessible.

The editor at Feedbooks needs to examine these epub files before the inventory gets too large and frustration reigns supreme.

Anyone else experiencing this problem?

Someone download the files to see if this is not an isolated incident that Canterbury Tail and myself are experiencing.

Don

igorsk
08-16-2008, 07:56 AM
eBook Library probably can handle the file because PC has more memory and processing power than the Reader.
Open the file in Digital Editions on PC, then go to "Item Info". If you see warnings, then the file needs to be fixed.

Dr. Drib
08-16-2008, 08:19 AM
eBook Library probably can handle the file because PC has more memory and processing power than the Reader.
Open the file in Digital Editions on PC, then go to "Item Info". If you see warnings, then the file needs to be fixed.

That's it: "Document contains a resource which is too long."

What's my workaround, until (and if) Feedbooks does a workaround? Any ideas?

And thanks for the heads up on verifying this problem with some Feedbooks titles.


Don

wallcraft
08-16-2008, 10:21 AM
"Swann's Way" is 444 kb, which is less than the 500 kb you mention. (I don't know how to calculate the XML file that you mention.) An advantage of ePub files is that they are also zip files. Rename the file (or a copy) from .epub to .zip and unzip it. The OPS subdirectory contains the bulk of the ebook, including main5.xml (Part 3) at 508 KB and main3.xml at 361 KB.

It is possible to manually split these files into two, update fb.opf to track the change and recreate a new ePub, but I don't expect it will be very long before Feedbooks create new versions of their Proust ePubs with smaller XML files.

rprouse
09-09-2008, 05:31 PM
I downloaded about a half dozen books from Feedbooks in ePub format today and most of them didn't work on my Sony Reader, so I guess that it is still not fixed. I went back and downloaded Sony PDF files and used Calibre to convert them. Those work fine. I guess I will be sticking with that for awhile :(

Hadrien
09-10-2008, 06:21 AM
First of all, it's not "most" books, but rather books where there's no proper chapter division or page break. For an authors like Proust, it's probably all of his books but overall it represent only a small % of books.
I could probably detect those books and flag them, but honestly, I really hate the fact that the only way to get rid of this problem is not to "fix" the files but rather to "modify" the presentation of the books by adding page breaks where there should be none.

The gap between IDPF-compliant ePub and DE-compatible ePub is annoying, and that's an issue that should be clearly discussed within IDPF.

wallcraft
09-26-2008, 02:50 AM
That's it: "Document contains a resource which is too long."

What's my workaround, until (and if) Feedbooks does a workaround?
Calibre can optionally split long chapters for you when building an ePub. However, it's any2epub does not allow epub input (i.e. it isn't an epub2epub). If you rename file.epub to file.zip any2epub can import it and produce a new epub that should work on the Sony, although it does make some other changes to the layout. The command is: any2epub -o file_sony.epub file.zip

I enclose screenshots of Adobe Digital Editions for the original FeedBooks version and the split any2epub version. Note the awkward forced page break - fortunately only three of these are needed for the entire ebook.