Announcing: MobiHandler (a Windows program)

[bwaldron]

Thanks, Alissa.

Using those steps and the newest version of Mobihandler, I'm having no problems with the latest Kindle for PC installed.

[AkumaTakeshi]

Removed previous version and installed the new one, all seems to be working fine

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by Alissa

So, the new version, 1.1.1271, of MobiHandler is ready. It is on my skydrive page as always. Please download mobihandler-1-1-1271-setup.msi

Have fun!

works great! what did you do differently than 1268? just a code cleanup or something more?

[Blossom]

New version works great! Old version wouldn't work at all on AZW once I upgraded to 1.7.0. I tried everything too but the 1.1.1271 worked first time I installed it.

[Alissa]

Thank you all for quick adoption.

Originally Posted by alansplace

what did you do differently than 1268? just a code cleanup or something more?

Mostly slight code cleanup.

I tried to improve the management strategy of file type association so that co-existance with other MOBI file handling applications are more automatc. Unfortunately, I got no significant gains in weeks. So, I decided to postpone the improvemen and to declare the release status.

The most significant change in 1.1.1271 is the updated document (readme.txt). It was unchanged since the initial distribution (way back in April) and some statements were out of sync with the actual program.

If no serious issues are reported in a week or so, I will say MobiHandler is not in a testing stage any more.

So, please use it and let me know any issues.

Alissa

[Alissa]

Originally Posted by Alissa

If no serious issues are reported in a week or so, I will say MobiHandler is not in a testing stage any more.

I heared no complaints in two weeks, so I considered it's fine. I renamed the distribution files of 1.1.1271 to mobihandler-1-1-setup.msi and mobihandler-1-1-src.zip, i.e. no build numbers, and removed all other files in 1.1 series.

Note that the contents of the files are unchanged; it is just renaming.

I'd like to say MobiHandler version 1.1 is released.

[alansplace]

Originally Posted by Alissa

I heared no complaints in two weeks, so I considered it's fine. I renamed the distribution files of 1.1.1271 to mobihandler-1-1-setup.msi and mobihandler-1-1-src.zip, i.e. no build numbers, and removed all other files in 1.1 series.

Note that the contents of the files are unchanged; it is just renaming.

I'd like to say MobiHandler version 1.1 is released.

yup great, and congratulations on a job well done

[Blossom]

Originally Posted by alansplace

yup great, and congratulations on a job well done

[umeca74]

I wonder if this tool can offer plain text previews too? You know these that appear in windows explorer's preview pane? Such a text extraction facility would also make kindle ebooks searchable using windows desktop search. Any ideas? Thanks

[Alissa]

Originally Posted by umeca74

I wonder if this tool can offer plain text previews too? You know these that appear in windows explorer's preview pane? Such a text extraction facility would also make kindle ebooks searchable using windows desktop search. Any ideas? Thanks

No, MobiHandler does NOT provide text preview. It shows the same cover image as thumbnail on the Windows Explorer's preview pane (although the size will be larger.)

You are right that if we can extract the book text and pass it to Windows Search Indexer, we could find MOBI/AZW books containing some particular words. I agree such a feature is useful. I believe I know how to pass the text to Windows Search once it was extracted. There are two problems, however: (1) most of the books sold by Amazon are encrypted (DRM) and breaking it is not what I want to do, and (2) even on unencrypted books, extracting the content text is far more complex task than extracting the cover image.

So, it is not on my to do list, at least for the moment. I don't know you are a programmer, but if you are or you know some who are also interested in making MOBI books searchable on the Windows, you can always download the source files of the MobiHandler and start adding the feature. Please feel free to use it as a basis of your work. I'm willing to answer any question regarding the internals of MobiHandler or something related, as far as I know.

BTW, my to dos for the next version of MobiHandlers are: (1) cleanup of the cover image handling codes that consist of three similar but separate code blocks in this version, (2) isolation of the property sheet handling and anything else (i.e., cover image extraction and other properties management), and (3) improvement of installer especially on the technique to make it coexist with A4PC, calibre, Mobipocket Reader, etc. I'm currently woking (very slowly) on them.

[Doitsu]

@Alissa:
I like your program and use it a lot to quickly check the metadata of unknown mobi files.
Would it be possible for you to include information about the input and output languages of mobi dictionaries in the next version?
This would help to troubleshoot dictionary issues, because many homemade dictionaries contain the wrong input language code and cannot be used as lookup dictionaries.

[aaroncavanaugh2]

Originally Posted by Alissa

Windows Search Indexer, we could find MOBI/AZW books containing some particular words. I agree such a feature is useful. I believe I know how to pass the text to Windows Search once it was extracted. There are two problems, however: (1) most of the books sold by Amazon are encrypted (DRM) and breaking it is not what I want to do, and (2) even on unencrypted books, extracting the content text is far more complex task than extracting the cover image.

Hi Alissa,

for sharing your work.

I also would like to see that above implemented for .azw and .azw1(topaz) files.

Thanks. God Bless.

Aaron.

[KonradK]

How to add manually a new extention to the list of supported types?
I have found that MobiHandler can extract cover and metadata from AZW3 files as long as they have AZW exstention.

[gers1978]

Would a Mac version be possible?

EDIT: found a Mac QuickLook plugin which at least shows you the book cover as the Finder thumbnail, look for mobipocket at the link below, and place the downloaded file in Library > QuickLook

http://www.qlplugins.com/?page=1

[haroldj1701]

Alissa, you are brilliant! This really works, THANX!!