Touch Trouble with eBook covers

[LaLaLia]

I bought a Kobo Touch last friday as my very first e-reader. I didn't want anything fancy and all Kobo readers were currently on sale so it seemed like the perfect option.
I am, however, a perfectionist. I like everything aesthetically perfect. I spent months making sure my iTunes library was perfectly organized, with names correctly spelled, covers with the right resolution and I even spent a huge amount of time adding lyrics to every single song.

My currently issue with my brand new KT is that the covers for certain eBooks are not showing on the device at all or they are too small and end up not fitting the screen well when on sleeping mode.
For most people this wouldn't be a problem and certainly wouldn't stop them from reading but it's bugging me.

I know there are a lot of threads about this issue (and I did researched a bit first before starting my own) but I couldn't find a thread that could help solve my exact problem. Let me explain:

As soon as I decided to buy a Kobo I downloaded and installed Calibre.
Since then I've been uploading a few of my eBooks at a time and editing their metadata.

Yesterday, wanting to finally test my KT, I exported all my 132 books so far from Calibre to the KT main memory. Everything looked perfect: even all the covers were showing.

I had, however, bough a Micro SD card along with the KT. I connected the KT to my laptop again, removed all files from the main memory and sent them to the SD card instead. This is when the problem started: the covers are all kinds of messed up. They are either too small or they are not showing at all!

I spent all day trying to fix this issue on my own but nothing works.

I used Sigil to edit the cover but it didn't work.

The only way the covers will show up the way I want them to is when the books are on the device's main memory. As soon as I upload them to the SD card they get all weird.

Thing you should probably know:
- I'm on a Mac;
- I had to reformat the SD card in order for it to be recognized on the KT.

Would appreciate if someone could help me fix this.
Thank you in advance!

[GeoffR]

Covers are treated differently for books in main memory to those on the external microSD card. For the ones in main memory Calibre can (if you have the "Upload covers for books" box ticked in the KOBOTOUCH driver) send the covers directly, and they will be saved ready for use when needed. But for books on the external card the covers are always generated from the first page of the book, and they are not saved so have to be generated each time they are needed.

So to get the covers of the books on the SD card to look the same as the ones in main memory you might need to modify the cover in the book itself before you send it to the device. You can do this using the "Polish books" feature in calibre, or the "Modify epub" plugin, or by doing an epub to epub conversion of the book (not recommended as this can mess up other things).

However if you want to keep books on the external card then you will have to make some compromise on the covers, as there are some options that are just not available for those books. For example if the aspect ratio of the original cover is not 3:4 then the cover thumbnails generated from the first page of the book will either be distorted or will have white bars at the sides. But covers for books on the internal memory sent from Calibre can retain their true aspect ratio without any white bars.

If you are using the external micro SD card simply as a way to increase storage capacity, then one option is to replace th internal memory (which is also a micro SD card) with a larger one. That way you can keep all your books in internal storage and not compromise on the covers.

[JSWolf]

That is assuming that all eBooks are without DRM or have the DRM removed.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by LaLaLia

My currently issue with my brand new KT is that the covers for certain eBooks are not showing on the device at all or they are too small and end up not fitting the screen well when on sleeping mode.
For most people this wouldn't be a problem and certainly wouldn't stop them from reading but it's bugging me.

I know there are a lot of threads about this issue (and I did researched a bit first before starting my own) but I couldn't find a thread that could help solve my exact problem. Let me explain:

As soon as I decided to buy a Kobo I downloaded and installed Calibre.
Since then I've been uploading a few of my eBooks at a time and editing their metadata.

Yesterday, wanting to finally test my KT, I exported all my 132 books so far from Calibre to the KT main memory. Everything looked perfect: even all the covers were showing.

I had, however, bough a Micro SD card along with the KT. I connected the KT to my laptop again, removed all files from the main memory and sent them to the SD card instead. This is when the problem started: the covers are all kinds of messed up. They are either too small or they are not showing at all!

I spent all day trying to fix this issue on my own but nothing works.

I used Sigil to edit the cover but it didn't work.

The only way the covers will show up the way I want them to is when the books are on the device's main memory. As soon as I upload them to the SD card they get all weird.

Thing you should probably know:
- I'm on a Mac;
- I had to reformat the SD card in order for it to be recognized on the KT.

Would appreciate if someone could help me fix this.
Thank you in advance!

An interesting issue. I have to ask how you removed the books from the Touch. Did you delete the books from the Kobo's UI? Or did you delete them from your computer's UI (Finder) when the Kobo was connected? Or did you delete them using Calibre?

Deleting the books from the Kobo UI works but for more than a couple of books is pretty slow. Several versions back I ran into an issue with Calibre not cleaning up the database properly when I deleted multiple books. This was prior to the Kobo Glo/Touch driver which (I think) has corrected the problem. Deleting the books using Finder is not going to work since all the database records will be left.

At this point, I would suggest that you can either sign out of the Kobo (Settings/Account/Sign Out) or do a factory reset to restore the database. After that, try loading the books onto the SD card.

Having to reformat the SD card seems to be a pretty common issue -- I've had pretty good luck using the SD Association's format program in full overwrite mode and then using my Windows laptop to format the SD card to FAT32 -- but I can't see that as a factor in your problem.

Regards,
David

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by LaLaLia

I bought a Kobo Touch last friday as my very first e-reader. I didn't want anything fancy and all Kobo readers were currently on sale so it seemed like the perfect option.
I am, however, a perfectionist. I like everything aesthetically perfect. I spent months making sure my iTunes library was perfectly organized, with names correctly spelled, covers with the right resolution and I even spent a huge amount of time adding lyrics to every single song.

You are not alone. When it comes to covers and metadata, there are a lot of perfectionists around here.

My currently issue with my brand new KT is that the covers for certain eBooks are not showing on the device at all or they are too small and end up not fitting the screen well when on sleeping mode.
For most people this wouldn't be a problem and certainly wouldn't stop them from reading but it's bugging me.

I know there are a lot of threads about this issue (and I did researched a bit first before starting my own) but I couldn't find a thread that could help solve my exact problem. Let me explain:

As soon as I decided to buy a Kobo I downloaded and installed Calibre.
Since then I've been uploading a few of my eBooks at a time and editing their metadata.

Yesterday, wanting to finally test my KT, I exported all my 132 books so far from Calibre to the KT main memory. Everything looked perfect: even all the covers were showing.

I had, however, bough a Micro SD card along with the KT. I connected the KT to my laptop again, removed all files from the main memory and sent them to the SD card instead. This is when the problem started: the covers are all kinds of messed up. They are either too small or they are not showing at all!

I spent all day trying to fix this issue on my own but nothing works.

I used Sigil to edit the cover but it didn't work.

The only way the covers will show up the way I want them to is when the books are on the device's main memory. As soon as I upload them to the SD card they get all weird.

GeoffR answered most of this. And the problem is probably to do with the difference in how Kobo treat books on the SD card. As the cover images are generated each time from the first page of the book, they have to be fixed in the book before sending them to the device. And this assumes as JSWolf pointed out that there is no DRM on the books.

The first thing to do is open one of the books with the bad cover and look at the first page. Does it look like how you would want the cover to look? That includes any white space down the sides of the image. When the cover image is generated, it will look exactly like this except for the page number at the bottom.

If the cover isn't displayed how you want, it is generally a matter of changing the html code for the cover page. Usually you check the sizes for the image match the actual image used and then set options so the image is stretched to fill the screen. For the latter, you can stretch to fill both ways which might distort the cover, or stretch one way keep the aspect ratio of the image correct. The exact code you use depends on this.

[Lily7]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

If you are using the external micro SD card simply as a way to increase storage capacity, then one option is to replace th internal memory (which is also a micro SD card) with a larger one. That way you can keep all your books in internal storage and not compromise on the covers.

I would love to do this with my Glo, how do I do this? Is there a how-to somewhere?

[PeterT]

See Memory Upgrade Mod Guide (With Pictures)

[Lily7]

Originally Posted by PeterT

See Memory Upgrade Mod Guide (With Pictures)

Yikes. I thought it would be a simple matter of switching out physical cards and done. That looks WAY more complicated, I am too afraid of messing up my Glo to attempt that, as much as I'd love to not have to fuss with all my side loaded epubs in Calibre to get the covers to show. THANK YOU for answering though!

[PeterT]

You're welcome; I do agree that frankly I'd rather not resort to having to open up the device and change cards (especially when so many modern devices are not designed for end-user serviceability).

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by davidfor

GeoffR answered most of this. And the problem is probably to do with the difference in how Kobo treat books on the SD card. As the cover images are generated each time from the first page of the book, they have to be fixed in the book before sending them to the device. And this assumes as JSWolf pointed out that there is no DRM on the books.

The first thing to do is open one of the books with the bad cover and look at the first page. Does it look like how you would want the cover to look? That includes any white space down the sides of the image. When the cover image is generated, it will look exactly like this except for the page number at the bottom.

If the cover isn't dispayed how you want, it is generally a matter of changing the html code for the cover page. Usually you check the sizes for the image match the actual image used and then set options so the image is stretched to fill the screen. For the latter, you can stretch to fill both ways which might distort the cover, or stretch one way keep the aspect ratio of the image correct. The exact code you use depends on this.

As near as I can tell, my Kobo does not display the covers from an ebook in the internal storage any differently from a cover from an ebook in the external storage. There is a delay when the temporary images and thumbnails need to be generated but the cover as displayed looks no different whether in sleep/power down or by scrolling back to the first page of the ebook -- I've played with using other locations in content.opf but the results don't seem any different so I don't bother with them anymore.

I use the same bit of HTML to generate the cover no matter where I am placing the book, the only change needed is from 510x680 to match the resolution of the cover image.

<div>
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" height="100%" preserveAspectRatio="xMidYMid meet" version="1.1" viewBox="0 0 510 680" width="100%" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">
<image height="680" width="510" xlink:href="../Images/cover.jpg"></image>
</svg>
</div>

This can result in letterboxing (horizontal) or pillarboxing (vertical) bars if the orginal image is not in a 4x3 format but I'm willing to live with them rather than a distorted apect ratio which bothers me even more.

I still suspect that removing the books from the internal storage before copying them to the external storage was not done properly which can lead to all kinds of nasties with database corruption. Been there and done that, got the factory resets to show for it.

Regards,
David

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by DNSB

As near as I can tell, my Kobo does not display the covers from an ebook in the internal storage any differently from a cover from an ebook in the external storage.

The difference is only if you are using Calibre to send the covers seperately from the book, which can only be done for the books in internal storage. The covers sent by Calibre don't have to be generated from the first page of the book, so they can have any aspect ratio without being stretched or filled out with whitespace. The Calibre-sent covers can have the same look as for kepubs downloaded from Kobo, something that can't be achieved for covers generated from the first page of the book.

This can result in letterboxing (horizontal) or pillarboxing (vertical) bars if the orginal image is not in a 4x3 format but I'm willing to live with them rather than a distorted apect ratio which bothers me even more.

Sending the covers seperately using Calibre avoids both the letterboxing and the distortion.

I still suspect that removing the books from the internal storage before copying them to the external storage was not done properly which can lead to all kinds of nasties with database corruption. Been there and done that, got the factory resets to show for it.

You might be right, it depends what the OP means by "messed up" I guess. I always use the delete function on the device to delete books myself.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by GeoffR

The difference is only if you are using Calibre to send the covers seperately from the book, which can only be done for the books in internal storage. The covers sent by Calibre don't have to be generated from the first page of the book, so they can have any aspect ratio without being stretched or filled out with whitespace. The Calibre-sent covers can have the same look as for kepubs downloaded from Kobo, something that can't be achieved for covers generated from the first page of the book.

Since I keep 99.9% of my books on the external uSD card, I've never made any use of Calibre's ability to send the covers. I've used Calibre to locate cover images but most of the ones it locates are not even close to the "golden: 4:3 ratio I'm looking for.

Originally Posted by GeoffR

Sending the covers seperately using Calibre avoids both the letterboxing and the distortion.

Interesting to see how that is done. Outside of resizing the image to fill the screen which will either cause distortion if the full image is used or lose part of the image if the full image is not used. I've often used search.overdrive.com to grab cover images with the 4:3 aspect ratio to replace some of the odd images used for covers by some publishers.

Originally Posted by GeoffR

You might be right, it depends what the OP means by "messed up" I guess. I always use the delete function on the device to delete books myself.

With 132 books to delete, using the Kobo UI was going to take quite a while. I'd rather wipe the books and do a reset which is likely to be faster.

Regards,
David

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Interesting to see how that is done. Outside of resizing the image to fill the screen which will either cause distortion if the full image is used or lose part of the image if the full image is not used. I've often used search.overdrive.com to grab cover images with the 4:3 aspect ratio to replace some of the odd images used for covers by some publishers.

There was a change in the firmware for handling cover images in 2.3.1. Before that, it resized the stored cover images to a 3:4 aspect ratio before displaying them. Now, it preserves the aspect ratio. If you look at any purchased kepubs, you will probably find some tall and skinny covers displayed in the library list or on the home screen. In the calibre driver, I added an option to keep the aspect ratio if you send the cover separately from the book.

With 132 books to delete, using the Kobo UI was going to take quite a while. I'd rather wipe the books and do a reset which is likely to be faster.

Deleting from calibre will also do it correctly and is fast enough.

[GeoffR]

Originally Posted by DNSB

Interesting to see how that is done. Outside of resizing the image to fill the screen which will either cause distortion if the full image is used or lose part of the image if the full image is not used. I've often used search.overdrive.com to grab cover images with the 4:3 aspect ratio to replace some of the odd images used for covers by some publishers.

The first two photos show four covers generated from the first page of their books: stretched in the first, with white space in the second. The third photo shows the covers sent from Calibre with aspect ratio preserved, no white space or stretching.

[LaLaLia]

It recently occurred to my I had completely forgotten about this thread. I'm so sorry I never came back to thank you all for your precious help.

With your advice I found out how to make things work the way I wanted them to. Basically, I need to run every single .jpeg file through Photoshop and resize it to precisely 600x800 pixels. Then I open Calibre and use the 'Edit Metadata' tool to change the cover. After that, I send the ePub file to the external SD card and it looks perfect! Every cover looks exactly like the third picture GeoffR shared above.

There's probably an easy way to do this but I'm a bit of a technophobe. I mean, I love technology. Technology is great but at the same time I fear it! I fear I may mess things up and damage things for good. So as far as this "system" works I guess I'm sticking with it, doesn't matter how time-consuming it can get. Unless someone comes up with an equally easy solution...

Again, thank you so much for the help