I have many books on my Kindle that I emailed to Amazon to convert for me, therefore my list shows my email address as the author and the title of the book isn't necessary exactly as it should be. How can I change the look of this list on my Kindle? It makes it hard to search for a book when the authors are not correct. :blink::blink:

I have many books on my Kindle that I emailed to Amazon to convert for me, therefore my list shows my email address as the author and the title of the book isn't necessary exactly as it should be. How can I change the look of this list on my Kindle? It makes it hard to search for a book when the authors are not correct. :blink::blink:


Don't you just hate that???

You have to install the 'mobi2mobi script on your computer.

I've done it, but can't explain!

Anyone?

Now all my books show beautifully.

You have to install the 'mobi2mobi script on your computer.

I've done it, but can't explain!

Anyone?


Step by step directions are on the Wiki.

BOb

You can install Calibre instead, which works very nicely as a library as well as letting you change the meta data of the book and put in the author's name correctly sothat your books sort well on the Kindle. Plus you can add tags to sort your books by category - Hooray! Hooray!

cheers

I've been wondering how to do this - thanks!

By the way, how irritating is it when you purchase a Kindle book from Amazon, and the author name is incorrect or backwards (sorts under first name instead of last, or vice versa)? I delayed buying Stephen King's Dark Tower 7 because it showed Michael Whalen as the author (he's the illustrator). I was afraid it was a companion book or some other fan fiction, and so had to take the time to confirm it was really what I wanted.

You can install Calibre instead

Yes, Calibre's new support for metadata with Mobi files is very nice.

I've been wondering how to do this - thanks!

By the way, how irritating is it when you purchase a Kindle book from Amazon, and the author name is incorrect or backwards (sorts under first name instead of last, or vice versa)? I delayed buying Stephen King's Dark Tower 7 because it showed Michael Whalen as the author (he's the illustrator). I was afraid it was a companion book or some other fan fiction, and so had to take the time to confirm it was really what I wanted.

That was the only issue I ever had with my Kindle..but now?? Its a thing of beauty. The actually reformatting takes but a couple of minutes.

Hi,
Does anyone know of a similar program that will work on a Mac? I have a number of books where the authors and titles do not sort well on my kindle and I would like to change the metadata.
Thanks,
k4k

Hi,
Does anyone know of a similar program that will work on a Mac? I have a number of books where the authors and titles do not sort well on my kindle and I would like to change the metadata.
Thanks,
k4k

Calibre (http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/download) works on Macs, Windows and Linux.

You can also follow the Mac instructions from the Visual Kindle Guide.

Thank you, daffyu,

I tried calibre last night on Herland (downloaded from this site). Even though I added the title and author in the correct categories, it still showed up the same way on my kindle. Maybe I have to read the directions more carefully. k4k

The best way to circumvent that problem is to convert your .prc files to .mobi in Calibre after you look up the meta data and get your cover. (be sure and change the default conversion settings the first time for input format mobi and output format Kindle). Now when you transfer the book to your Kindle, the mobi meta data will display correctly. One Hint: when you set the meta data in Calibre, you need to enter the authors name last, first - not just sort by last, first - because Kindle uses that for sorting.

Mine are looking so nice now that I figured that part out. And check out the curved arrow on the bottom of the Calibre screen, let's you visually click through your books by cover - is that too cool?

cheers

Thanks, Leep! I will try your suggestions. k4k

You are all angels! Thank you!

Hi Leep,

I tried Calibre. Maybe I just don't have enough patience. I did manage to change the title to Herland and the author to Charlotte Gilman. So it sorted properly and looked great when I had the Kindle set up to sort by title, but when I sorted by author, it sorted to "Charlotte" no matter what I did. Also, I seemed to lose the links between the table of contents and the chapters. I will keep trying, but it seems not to be that straightforward.

Thanks for all your suggestions,

k4k

I wander if K2 well be easier
s

Hi Leep,

I tried Calibre. Maybe I just don't have enough patience. I did manage to change the title to Herland and the author to Charlotte Gilman. So it sorted properly and looked great when I had the Kindle set up to sort by title, but when I sorted by author, it sorted to "Charlotte" no matter what I did. Also, I seemed to lose the links between the table of contents and the chapters. I will keep trying, but it seems not to be that straightforward.

Thanks for all your suggestions,

k4k

Okay, I downloaded Herland and tried to make your changes. I'm using Vista, so I hope the steps are similar.

1. I imported the book into Calibre and made my meta data changes (herland2). As you can see, I made sure that both "Author" and "Author Sort" were entered as "lastname, firstname". I clicked okay.

2. Once back in the main window, I right clicked on the book title and chose "Convert E-books". Once I was in the convert window, I clicked the "page set-up" icon and for the "Destination Profile", I chose "Kindle" (herland6). I clicked okay and was sent back to the main window.

3. I watch the hour glass do it's dance for a few moments. I then went to my Calibre ebook directory and transferred the resulting .mobi file to my Kindle "documents" folder (herland7 - before and after). The title was changed and I was able to sort by author and have the book show up with the "G" authors.

Daffy,

Do you need to "convert" it? I thought that the newest version of Calibre just edited the existing metadata of the existing file? OR perhaps I misunderstood the new feature. (Haven't tried it yet.)

BOb

Daffy,

Do you need to "convert" it? I thought that the newest version of Calibre just edited the existing metadata of the existing file? OR perhaps I misunderstood the new feature. (Haven't tried it yet.)

BOb

First let me admit that I haven't looked at the help files and have just been winging it (duck joke) to test how easy it is to use.

I made an attempt without using convert and it didn't work. I may have missed a step somewhere. I'll try it again without the convert but not tonight. :)

First let me admit that I haven't looked at the help files and have just been winging it (duck joke) to test how easy it is to use.

I made an attempt without using convert and it didn't work. I may have missed a step somewhere. I'll try it again without the convert but not tonight. :)

Are you using Send To Device? I read the change log and it isn't clear to me if it actually edits the mobi data inplace in the current file, or only when you do a send to device and/or convert to Mobi.

I'm sure Kovid (or someone) will see this thread and chime in.

BOb

Are you using Send To Device? I read the change log and it isn't clear to me if it actually edits the mobi data inplace in the current file, or only when you do a send to device and/or convert to Mobi.

I'm sure Kovid (or someone) will see this thread and chime in.

BOb

First I tried "send to" with my Kindle connected but it just made a subdirectory and there was no change in the metadata.

The next time, I used convert then drag and dropped the file from the Calibre directory. I actually ended up with a .prc, .mobi and .opf file in a subdirectory. I used the .mobi file and that one worked.

Display of the metadata is dependent on what is in the file, not on the Kindle itself. The metadata is embedded in the .mobi/.prc file itself, and is defined by the format specifications, not by the Kindle. The Amazon .azw is just a slight variant of the Mobipocket format.

Display of the metadata is dependent on what is in the file, not on the Kindle itself. The metadata is embedded in the .mobi/.prc file itself, and is defined by the format specifications, not by the Kindle. The Amazon .azw is just a slight variant of the Mobipocket format.

Yes, that's why this thread talks about using a tool to modify the metadata that is in the book file. I guess... I missed your point?

BOb

Author names should be entered as last name, first name, at least for Kindle. Then they will show up correctly.

Kindle 2 is the same at displaying author names, as far as is known.

I had some of the same issue when I first started editing the metadata in Calibre. Here's the procedure that works for me:
Change the author to last, first (Deb's right -not just the author sort) Also you need to do this after you look up the metadata and get the cover because when it looks up the metadata, 50% of the time it changes it back to first last.

I then convert the book to mobi (yes, I know it's already mobi, but changing the metadata and transfering the .prc file works only some of the time) This seems to be the only sure fire solution.

cheers

Author names should be entered as last name, first name, at least for Kindle. Then they will show up correctly.

Actually, they can be in either "last, first" or "first last" format and show up properly on the Kindle

Actually, they can be in either "last, first" or "first last" format and show up properly on the Kindle

true. I have just a few showing first, last that still show up under last.

Alright, as you can see, I'm a n00b. I started with a Kindle 2, and judging by the thread thus far, all yalls are workin with a Kindle 1, right? I have Calibre, I have all my books (all 300 of them) in Calibre, ready to be uploaded to my K2... But I tried to upload, and nothing really happened. I also tried to convert, and absolutely NOTHING happened. I'm not sure if I have to start with a .prc file (all I have are .doc and .pdf files) and if I have to convert it to some other file. I've tried other websites, and you all seem to know what you are talking about. Maybe you can walk me through it from the VERY beginning? I've tried to pick up on what earlier posts have said, but I'm so very lost. I'm working with Windows XP, help?! :-)

First, do your books have DRM (Digital Rights Management), i.e. are encrypted. If they are then Calibre will not handle them. If not, Calibre should handle the PDF files and you can use MS Word (or Open office - free download) to convert the DOC to RTF filesand Calibre will handle them.

If they do have DRM (and I don't think the DOC files could but am not sure) then you'll have to deal with the DRM first.

Once Calibre will handle the files, you'll need to convert them to PRC for the Kindle to read them. However, my results with Calibre converting to PRC and trying to read on the Kindle were unsatisfactory - the font was too small and would not change sizes on the Kindle. I haven't tried with the latest version of Calibre yet. I prefer Mobipocket Creator but I don't think it will do batch jobs, i.e. you'd have to do them one at a time.

You can use Tommy's "mobi2mobi" tool to edit the metadata on DRM-protected Kindle books.

First, do your books have DRM (Digital Rights Management), i.e. are encrypted. If they are then Calibre will not handle them. If not, Calibre should handle the PDF files and you can use MS Word (or Open office - free download) to convert the DOC to RTF filesand Calibre will handle them.

If they do have DRM (and I don't think the DOC files could but am not sure) then you'll have to deal with the DRM first.

Once Calibre will handle the files, you'll need to convert them to PRC for the Kindle to read them. However, my results with Calibre converting to PRC and trying to read on the Kindle were unsatisfactory - the font was too small and would not change sizes on the Kindle. I haven't tried with the latest version of Calibre yet. I prefer Mobipocket Creator but I don't think it will do batch jobs, i.e. you'd have to do them one at a time.


OK, they are not encrypted, but I need to convert them to PRC, no prob. Per you, don't use Calibre to convert to PRC, so I'll see if I can download a .doc/.pdf to PRC converter, gotta be one out there.

1.) Convert .doc/.pdf to PRC
2.) Put books back into Calibre
3.) Make titles/authors spiffy
..... Now what?

Put them back on your Kindle with the usb cord. Make sure that you remove the existing same ebook from your Kindle first. You can do that through Calibre or by plugging in your Kindle and opening the "documents" folder on your Kindle (Mine shows up as F:\ drive) and deleting the book(s) that you have fixed and want to reload. Or you can do it from the main page in your Kindle by running up the scroll to the book name and pressing the "back" (left arrow) button.

Next - have fun reading them!

Put them back on your Kindle with the usb cord. Make sure that you remove the existing same ebook from your Kindle first. You can do that through Calibre or by plugging in your Kindle and opening the "documents" folder on your Kindle (Mine shows up as F:\ drive) and deleting the book(s) that you have fixed and want to reload. Or you can do it from the main page in your Kindle by running up the scroll to the book name and pressing the "back" (left arrow) button.

Next - have fun reading them!

Lemme just repeat so I understand...
Leave them in PRC format and just copy/paste into the file? I don't think that will work with the K2... Doesn't the K2 have to be .azw format only? I'll try tonight when I get home, but I'm fairly certain it HAS to be .azw for Kindle 2...

No, Kindle can use PRC or MOBI files natively.

HOWEVER, it's my understanding that Kindle will not update the metadata on PRC files. Even on send-to-device. So you need to convert to MOBI, and *then* after you've editing the metadata the way you like, send-to-device the MOBI file.

OK, thank you! I followed the process yall provided and it worked like a charm! A little lengthy for 300 books, but WORTH it! Thank you!!!!!

Okay, I downloaded Herland and tried to make your changes. I'm using Vista, so I hope the steps are similar.

1. I imported the book into Calibre and made my meta data changes (herland2). As you can see, I made sure that both "Author" and "Author Sort" were entered as "lastname, firstname". I clicked okay.

2. Once back in the main window, I right clicked on the book title and chose "Convert E-books". Once I was in the convert window, I clicked the "page set-up" icon and for the "Destination Profile", I chose "Kindle" (herland6). I clicked okay and was sent back to the main window.

3. I watch the hour glass do it's dance for a few moments. I then went to my Calibre ebook directory and transferred the resulting .mobi file to my Kindle "documents" folder (herland7 - before and after). The title was changed and I was able to sort by author and have the book show up with the "G" authors.

Thanks, daffy. Sorry it took me so long to respond. I tried again and still could not sort by author. Also, I noticed that my book was no longer left justified and I could not change it. Calibre was acting strangely. I could swear half the commands were in Arabic. I must have been having a font problem also. I might wait for a few upgrades and try again. I do appreciate your help.

k4k

The Arabic bug on MacOS has been fixed.

can anyone help with increasing print size on my kindle. some books have tiny print and illustrations which can't be seen on the largest font size

can anyone help with increasing print size on my kindle. some books have tiny print and illustrations which can't be seen on the largest font size

Have you tried to zoom the images (the tiny print may be an image as well)?

Hello, I've been a lurker previously and this is my first post. First, I would like to thank all the generous people here for offering their expertise to so many. :)

I've been reading this thread and others with great interest and still cannot successfully convert .prc to Mobi without getting a lenthy error log. The file in question is non-DRM'd, .prc format and I've corrected the author name in order for it to appear on my Kindle (I've yet to find out!). When I select convert 'individually', the hourglass does its thing, but this is the error I am receiving (below). (Calibre v.0.5.1)

Can anyone help? I am at my wit's end! :help::
Thank you very much.

Job: **Convert book: Truman**
**tuple**: ('IOError', u'decoding error when reading image file')
**Traceback**:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "parallel.py", line 958, in worker
File "parallel.py", line 916, in work
File "calibre\ebooks\mobi\from_any.pyo", line 51, in any2mobi
File "calibre\ebooks\epub\from_any.pyo", line 167, in any2epub
File "calibre\ebooks\epub\from_any.pyo", line 63, in mobi2opf
File "C:\Program Files\calibre\library.zip\calibre\ebooks\mobi\read er.py", line 197, in extract_content
File "C:\Program Files\calibre\library.zip\calibre\ebooks\mobi\read er.py", line 540, in extract_images
File "PIL\Image.pyo", line 653, in convert
File "PIL\ImageFile.pyo", line 207, in load
IOError: decoding error when reading image file

**Log**:
Exploding MOBI file: c:\docume~1\pt\locals~1\temp\calibre_0.5.1_oqz4u7. prc
('IOError', u'decoding error when reading image file')
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "parallel.py", line 958, in worker
File "parallel.py", line 916, in work
File "calibre\ebooks\mobi\from_any.pyo", line 51, in any2mobi
File "calibre\ebooks\epub\from_any.pyo", line 167, in any2epub
File "calibre\ebooks\epub\from_any.pyo", line 63, in mobi2opf
File "C:\Program Files\calibre\library.zip\calibre\ebooks\mobi\read er.py", line 197, in extract_content
File "C:\Program Files\calibre\library.zip\calibre\ebooks\mobi\read er.py", line 540, in extract_images
File "PIL\Image.pyo", line 653, in convert
File "PIL\ImageFile.pyo", line 207, in load
IOError: decoding error when reading image file

First, try downloading and installing 0.5.3 and see if that fixes it.

Second, if not, create an account on the calibre web page, log in, file a new ticket, and attach a copy of the prc file.

Hi Skydog, welcome to MobileRead! :)

You don't have to convert a DRM free .prc file to use on your Kindle. The Kindle will read it natively just make sure to place it in the "documents" folder on your Kindle.

You don't have to convert a DRM free .prc file to use on your Kindle.

In this case, he does, because he's changing the author name.

Sirbruce,

Thank you for the suggestion - I'll update to the most current version and try again.

daffy4u,

Thank you also - I'm well aware that the file does not require conversion to be read. As I mentioned, I need to edit the metadata which reportedly works best if subsequently converted to .mobi before porting to the Kindle. Editing a .prc seems to be ineffective.

(and thank you for the welcome :) )

In this case, he does, because he's changing the author name.

Gotcha, you're right for Calibre. It can be done without converting the file with either MobiPocket Creator or Mobi2Mobi (though it's good to learn all the ins and outs of Calibre).

In this case, he does, because he's changing the author name.

Actually, I'm a "she," not that it matters. ;)

Actually, I'm a "she," not that it matters. ;)

Yes, it does matter, 'cuz chicks rule! I'm a she as well. I'm sorry. :o :)

Edit: Hey, I just realized it wasn't me. Chicks still rule!

In this case, he does, because he's changing the author name.

Gotcha, you're right for Calibre. It can be done without converting the file with either MobiPocket Creator or Mobi2Mobi (though it's good to learn all the ins and outs of Calibre).

Well, that brings up another head-scratcher for me. I did originally try to open/build in Mobi Creator (pub ed.) but whenver I attempted to open the .prc it wouldn't open. (I tried all my backup copies, too.

Yes, it does matter, 'cuz chicks rule! I'm a she as well. I'm sorry. :o :)

Oh - that was for sirbruce... all in fun, of course. :D

I'm very envious of your Daffy screensaver. Love it!

Well, that brings up another head-scratcher for me. I did originally try to open/build in Mobi Creator (pub ed.) but whenver I attempted to open the .prc it wouldn't open. (I tried all my backup copies, too.

Interesting, where did this book come from? Are you able to open and view it in Calibre?

Oh - that was for sirbruce... all in fun, of course. :D


Mmmmm.... chicks.... :drool:

Interesting, where did this book come from? Are you able to open and view it in Calibre?

I purchased it and can read it with no problem on my K2 and MobiReader as a .prc. Unfortunately, the author name does not appear in my book list on the Kindle and I want to correct that.

I just tried converting again with the latest version (0.5.3) of Calibre, but still receive the same error log. :(

I just tried converting again with the latest version (0.5.3) of Calibre, but still receive the same error log. :(

I have no idea if this will work but rename with file with a .mobi extension instead of the .prc and try it again.

I have no idea if this will work but rename with file with a .mobi extension instead of the .prc and try it again.

Rename, converting .mobi to .mobi?

Rename, converting .mobi to .mobi?

Yeah, just rename book.prc to book.mobi, check to see if your changes are still intact and try it on your Kindle. If not, change the metadata on book.mobi and see if that works.

If that fails try Mobi2Mobi (http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Visual_Kindle_Guide).

using calibre worked great for fixing the author metadata, however I noticed that it doubled the size of the mobi file during conversion (even for the ones that were originally mobi that i converted to mobi).. is this expected behaivor?

using calibre worked great for fixing the author metadata, however I noticed that it doubled the size of the mobi file during conversion (even for the ones that were originally mobi that i converted to mobi).. is this expected behaivor?

THere should be no need to convert it. Unless it isn't really a .mobi file. Just do a send to device and the meta data should be corrected on the file on the device.

BOb

THere should be no need to convert it. Unless it isn't really a .mobi file. Just do a send to device and the meta data should be corrected on the file on the device.

BOb

Well, now I am confused. I read all the relative posts (most right here) and recall someone mentioning that any editing of metadata on a .prc was ineffective and required a conversion from .prc to .mobi for the edited metadata to display on the Kindle. Regardless of methods I've tried, only the book title appears on the Kindle home page and no author, even though I have added or edited author information.

The only file change I have noticed, following an edit within Calibre, is that the file name changes from book.prc to book - author.prc. It would seem the metadata (with author name) itself is not being saved within the file.

Well, now I am confused. I read all the relative posts (most right here) and recall someone mentioning that any editing of metadata on a .prc was ineffective and required a conversion from .prc to .mobi for the edited metadata to display on the Kindle. Regardless of methods I've tried, only the book title appears on the Kindle home page and no author, even though I have added or edited author information.

The only file change I have noticed, following an edit within Calibre, is that the file name changes from book.prc to book - author.prc. It would seem the metadata (with author name) itself is not being saved within the file.

I think I know why things are getting confused (for me as well). Calibre is a living thing and changes based on features Kovid wants to introduce and requests made to him as well as work done by others. Not all of earlier posts relate to the later or current releases. I have an earlier post in this thread where I did have to save a copy but I think it was 3 or 4 releases ago. I'm still learning my way around Calibre myself.

Have you upgraded to the most current release (0.5.3)?

using calibre worked great for fixing the author metadata, however I noticed that it doubled the size of the mobi file during conversion (even for the ones that were originally mobi that i converted to mobi).. is this expected behaivor? This is because the GUI version of Calibre does not compress the MOBI output. The any2mobi command has a compress option, but it is slow.

I think I know why things are getting confused (for me as well). Calibre is a living thing and changes based on features Kovid wants to introduce and requests made to him as well as work done by others. Not all of earlier posts relate to the later or current releases. I have an earlier post in this thread where I did have to save a copy but I think it was 3 or 4 releases ago. I'm still learning my way around Calibre myself.

Have you upgraded to the most current release (0.5.3)?

Yes, I have. (see post #52)

I haven't yet tried Mobi2Mobi but that looks the simplest to me and I just downloaded it. Thank you and pilotBob for putting together the wiki.

Yes, I have. (see post #52)

I haven't yet tried Mobi2Mobi but that looks the simplest to me and I just downloaded it. Thank you and pilotBob for putting together the wiki.

D'uh on me. I looked right at your post about upgrading but it didn't register in my head. :)

If you are using Windows, the GUI is the way to go. Thanks for hanging in there.

D'uh on me. I looked right at your post about upgrading but it didn't register in my head. :)

If you are using Windows, the GUI is the way to go. Thanks for hanging in there.

I agree with you. (also why I stick with XP Pro on all my rigs). I'll try it this evening and see what happens. Good to know you are here. :)

And thank you for your replies and patience!

Success! It took me less than a minute with Mobi2Mobi. Why, oh why, did I waste my time and not use the simple scripts in the first place? :smack:

My book list looks great, with the author added. Thank you so very much for your help! :thanks:

Now off to fix the rest of 'em...