Calibre Mobi Files and Archives

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

If you have the ability/skills to convert Amazon purchased books with calibre, then you should also have the ability to maintain your own backups.

So, if you've modified them to your own personal liking and prefer to read that version... then why not just delete the purchases you altered from your Amazon library (archive)?

Why on earth would I delete books which I have purchased from the purchaser? Even if I have the ability to convert the books, which I do, and I maintain backups of the converted files and the originals, which I do, that still does not justify deleting them from Amazon. I would in essence be screwing myself, what if something happened to my backups, I would then have to repurchase them to replenish my library. But thanks for the suggestion.

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

what if something happened to my backups, I would then have to repurchase them to replenish my library.

Not only that but if there is an update that fixes an issue with the ebook you would have to repurchase the book to get it.

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm pretty sure that Amazon's synching mechanism works off the ASIN identifier that's inside the book - and neither removing the DRM nor changing the title alters that. This is illustrated by the fact that Amazon's servers will still show you the "popular highlights" in a book even after you've removed the DRM and changed the title.

I thought I read somewhere that when Calibre converts it to mobi, it adds a "fake" asin. I am in the process now of trying to get my "real" asin numbers back with the book, hopefully this will resolve my issue.

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Just to follow up, I can confirm that calibre is recognizing the "plugboarded" books, so that must have been fixed. I am relieved.

And Nyn, apologies for the thread hijack.

No problem, you gave me food for thought to check this as well.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

I thought I read somewhere that when Calibre converts it to mobi, it adds a "fake" asin. I am in the process now of trying to get my "real" asin numbers back with the book, hopefully this will resolve my issue.

I think it might resolve your issue. From some fiddling I did a minute ago, it looks like books with matching ASINs are in sync in the archive list on the Kindle, regardless of anything that's been done to them.

I had noticed in the past that when I delete a book from the Kindle, sometimes I get a "permanent deletion" warning and sometimes I don't, but I never put any thought into it because I don't use the archive. No permanent deletion warning = ASIN match in the archive.

I only ran one somewhat conclusive test, but when I deleted a book that I knew had a matching ASIN, I got no warning, and the number displayed for the archive went up by 1 and the book now shows in the archive. (Edit to add: I cannot verify that it wasn't already there because my exuberance overrode my proper testing procedures, but I'm still thinking this will work.)

So it does look like having the correct ASINs will sync your archive properly. You may have to leave the wireless on for a while after re-adding those books, but it looks like it should work.

[nynaevelan]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

I think it might resolve your issue. From some fiddling I did a minute ago, it looks like books with matching ASINs are in sync in the archive list on the Kindle, regardless of anything that's been done to them.

I had noticed in the past that when I delete a book from the Kindle, sometimes I get a "permanent deletion" warning and sometimes I don't, but I never put any thought into it because I don't use the archive. No permanent deletion warning = ASIN match in the archive.

I only ran one somewhat conclusive test, but when I deleted a book that I knew had a matching ASIN, I got no warning, and the number displayed for the archive went up by 1 and the book now shows in the archive. (Edit to add: I cannot verify that it wasn't already there because my exuberance overrode my proper testing procedures, but I'm still thinking this will work.)

So it does look like having the correct ASINs will sync your archive properly. You may have to leave the wireless on for a while after re-adding those books, but it looks like it should work.

What settings are you using because this does not seem to have helped?

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

What settings are you using because this does not seem to have helped?

Settings? Do you mean on Amazon? Since I only use one device for reading, I usually have whispersync turned off, with the end result being that all archive items are available via the K3, but the apps (K4PC, etc) only show books that were sent to them and then later removed. I did turn it on and sync, but it didn't seem to change anything here so I turned it off.

If you meant calibre settings, nothing special there in terms of Identifiers or "send to device" options except my series plugboards.

I just did a more thorough investigation. I made sure the wireless on the Kindle was on for a while before I did this, just to be sure.

I conveniently have a Reading List for "KFreebies" so I have a subset of books that I know are from Amazon and would be archived there. I went into calibre and drilled down until I had a list of books that:

a) Definitely came from Amazon (on that list)
b) Have an ASIN as the Amazon ID (ID # starting with B00)
c) Are currently on the Kindle

This gave me a subset of 33 books. None of those books show in the Archived Items on the Kindle. So it seems that this works, but perhaps not always?

I feel like there's something missing here. Like there's something that would keep it from working in some cases? I don't know.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

I thought I read somewhere that when Calibre converts it to mobi, it adds a "fake" asin.

Only if you convert from a different format.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by nynaevelan

I thought I read somewhere that when Calibre converts it to mobi, it adds a "fake" asin. I am in the process now of trying to get my "real" asin numbers back with the book, hopefully this will resolve my issue.

Originally Posted by HarryT

Only if you convert from a different format.

What if you have an original non-DRM AZW on which you change the extension to MOBI and then convert that to an EPUB to edit it with Sigil then convert it back to a MOBI after editing?