Can't convert MOBI to EPUB anymore

killerX · 10-12-2014, 03:35 PM

For some reason, every time I try to convert any mobi to an epub now, I get an error message like this:

Spoiler:

I'm not doing anything differently than I ever did, except that I just downloaded the latest update. Anyone else having this problem now?

eschwartz · 10-14-2014, 02:03 AM

Can you open the book in a MOBI viewer?

calibre seems to think the book is unreadable.

cdixon5612 · 10-19-2014, 01:53 PM

I too seem to have this problem. The Calibre viewer won't open it, but the Kindle for PC has no problem.

JSWolf · 10-19-2014, 02:13 PM

I know exactly what caused that problem. That problem is caused by the version of the DeDRM plugin you are using that inserts nulls in place of the Amazon watermark. This only seems to be a problem on OS X. If you are using OS X, update to Calibre 2.6. This has been fixed.

There is a version of the DeDRM tools that replaces the Amazon watermark with spaces instead of nulls. The nulls cause no end of problems. So it was changed to be spaces which do not cause any trouble at all. KindleUnpack had to be fixed to deal with these nulls.

cdixon5612 · 10-19-2014, 05:13 PM

It may well be DeDRM, but I have what I believe to be the current version (6.0.9), nor is the problem isolate to OS X as I am on Windows 7.

JSWolf · 10-19-2014, 10:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cdixon5612

It may well be DeDRM, but I have what I believe to be the current version (6.0.9), nor is the problem isolate to OS X as I am on Windows 7.

Well, it \x00 is a null and the only way you get that is using the version of DeDRM that uses nulls instead of Amazon's watermark.

Are you in fact using the DeDRM that replaces Amazon's watermark?

kovidgoyal · 10-19-2014, 11:02 PM

If you have a DRM free MOBI file that opens in Kindle for PC but not the calibre viewer, open a bug report and atach the file.

KevinH · 10-20-2014, 10:55 AM

Hi,

But the error report shows it is the book type field not the watermark that is all nulls. And why on earth would the DeDRM code write over a metadata entry? It should not be changing anything in the metadata.

KevinH

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I know exactly what caused that problem. That problem is caused by the version of the DeDRM plugin you are using that inserts nulls in place of the Amazon watermark. This only seems to be a problem on OS X. If you are using OS X, update to Calibre 2.6. This has been fixed.

There is a version of the DeDRM tools that replaces the Amazon watermark with spaces instead of nulls. The nulls cause no end of problems. So it was changed to be spaces which do not cause any trouble at all. KindleUnpack had to be fixed to deal with these nulls.

DiapDealer · 10-20-2014, 11:42 AM

I'm guessing somebody's running a metadata "cleaning" script AFTER DRM removal (or as part of a modified DRM removal tool) in an attempt to remove any (potentially) personally identifying metadata... or other metadata tweaks to achieve extra functionality of some type. I've seen similarly butchered metadata before. I don't really expect calibre or KindleUnpack to have to bend over backwards to account for the output of every cut-rate 3rd-party metadata diddling script in existence.

cdixon5612 · 11-22-2014, 01:27 PM

In my case all that was run was the usual DRM removal plugin. A hex editor shows the same large block of hex zeros in the input AZW and the output mobi. I suspect this just gets copied over during DRM removal. Mobi File Reader can open the mobi file and export to HTML; so, my problem is solved. Calibre conversion has worked on everything since; so, I suspect it is just a weirdness of that particular file.

10-12-2014, 03:35 PM	#1
killerX Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2014 Device: kobo glo	Can't convert MOBI to EPUB anymore For some reason, every time I try to convert any mobi to an epub now, I get an error message like this: Spoiler: calibre, version 2.5.0 (win32, isfrozen: True) Conversion Error: Failed: Convert book 1 of 1 (Alex Adams) Convert book 1 of 1 (Alex Adams) Resolved conversion options calibre version: 2.5.0 {'asciiize': False, 'author_sort': None, 'authors': None, 'base_font_size': 0.0, 'book_producer': None, 'change_justification': u'original', 'chapter': u"//[((name()='h1' or name()='h2') and re:test(., '\\s((chapter\|book\|section\|part)\\s+)\|((prolog\|pr ologue\|epilogue)(\\s+\|$))', 'i')) or @class = 'chapter']", 'chapter_mark': u'pagebreak', 'comments': None, 'cover': None, 'debug_pipeline': None, 'dehyphenate': True, 'delete_blank_paragraphs': True, 'disable_font_rescaling': False, 'dont_split_on_page_breaks': False, 'duplicate_links_in_toc': False, 'embed_all_fonts': False, 'embed_font_family': None, 'enable_heuristics': False, 'epub_flatten': False, 'epub_inline_toc': False, 'epub_toc_at_end': False, 'expand_css': False, 'extra_css': None, 'extract_to': None, 'filter_css': u'', 'fix_indents': True, 'flow_size': 260, 'font_size_mapping': None, 'format_scene_breaks': True, 'html_unwrap_factor': 0.4, 'input_encoding': None, 'input_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.InputProfile object at 0x041BD830>, 'insert_blank_line': False, 'insert_blank_line_size': 0.5, 'insert_metadata': False, 'isbn': None, 'italicize_common_cases': True, 'keep_ligatures': False, 'language': None, 'level1_toc': None, 'level2_toc': None, 'level3_toc': None, 'line_height': 0.0, 'linearize_tables': False, 'margin_bottom': 5.0, 'margin_left': 5.0, 'margin_right': 5.0, 'margin_top': 5.0, 'markup_chapter_headings': True, 'max_toc_links': 50, 'minimum_line_height': 120.0, 'no_chapters_in_toc': False, 'no_default_epub_cover': False, 'no_inline_navbars': False, 'no_svg_cover': False, 'output_profile': <calibre.customize.profiles.KoboReaderOutput object at 0x041BDBF0>, 'page_breaks_before': u"//[name()='h1' or name()='h2']", 'prefer_metadata_cover': False, 'preserve_cover_aspect_ratio': False, 'pretty_print': True, 'pubdate': None, 'publisher': None, 'rating': None, 'read_metadata_from_opf': u'C:\\Users\\killer\\AppData\\Local\\Temp\\calibre _d_nmi2\\pmxmmi.opf', 'remove_fake_margins': True, 'remove_first_image': False, 'remove_paragraph_spacing': False, 'remove_paragraph_spacing_indent_size': 1.5, 'renumber_headings': True, 'replace_scene_breaks': u'', 'search_replace': '[]', 'series': None, 'series_index': None, 'smarten_punctuation': False, 'sr1_replace': None, 'sr1_search': None, 'sr2_replace': None, 'sr2_search': None, 'sr3_replace': None, 'sr3_search': None, 'start_reading_at': None, 'subset_embedded_fonts': False, 'tags': None, 'timestamp': None, 'title': None, 'title_sort': None, 'toc_filter': None, 'toc_threshold': 6, 'toc_title': None, 'unsmarten_punctuation': False, 'unwrap_lines': True, 'use_auto_toc': False, 'verbose': 2} InputFormatPlugin: MOBI Input running on C:\Users\killer\AppData\Local\Temp\calibre_d_nmi2\ eez1kw.mobi Python function terminated unexpectedly Unknown book type: '\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00' (Error Code: 1) Traceback (most recent call last): File "site.py", line 132, in main File "site.py", line 109, in run_entry_point File "site-packages\calibre\utils\ipc\worker.py", line 195, in main File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\convert\gui_conversion.py", line 31, in gui_convert_override File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\convert\gui_conversion.py", line 25, in gui_convert File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\conversion\plumber.py", line 1041, in run File "site-packages\calibre\customize\conversion.py", line 241, in __call__ File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\conversion\plugins\mobi_in put.py", line 33, in convert File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\mobi\reader\mobi6.py", line 82, in __init__ calibre.ebooks.mobi.MobiError: Unknown book type: '\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00\x00' I'm not doing anything differently than I ever did, except that I just downloaded the latest update. Anyone else having this problem now? Last edited by theducks; 10-12-2014 at 04:31 PM. Reason: Wrapped long paste in Spoiler*

10-20-2014, 11:42 AM	#9
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 27,549 Karma: 193191846 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	I'm guessing somebody's running a metadata "cleaning" script AFTER DRM removal (or as part of a modified DRM removal tool) in an attempt to remove any (potentially) personally identifying metadata... or other metadata tweaks to achieve extra functionality of some type. I've seen similarly butchered metadata before. I don't really expect calibre or KindleUnpack to have to bend over backwards to account for the output of every cut-rate 3rd-party metadata diddling script in existence. Last edited by DiapDealer; 10-20-2014 at 12:05 PM.

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10-14-2014, 02:03 AM	#2
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,422 Karma: 85397180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Can you open the book in a MOBI viewer? calibre seems to think the book is unreadable.

10-19-2014, 01:53 PM	#3
cdixon5612 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2014 Device: Kobo	I too seem to have this problem. The Calibre viewer won't open it, but the Kindle for PC has no problem.

10-19-2014, 02:13 PM	#4
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,972 Karma: 128903378 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	I know exactly what caused that problem. That problem is caused by the version of the DeDRM plugin you are using that inserts nulls in place of the Amazon watermark. This only seems to be a problem on OS X. If you are using OS X, update to Calibre 2.6. This has been fixed. There is a version of the DeDRM tools that replaces the Amazon watermark with spaces instead of nulls. The nulls cause no end of problems. So it was changed to be spaces which do not cause any trouble at all. KindleUnpack had to be fixed to deal with these nulls.

10-19-2014, 05:13 PM	#5
cdixon5612 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2014 Device: Kobo	It may well be DeDRM, but I have what I believe to be the current version (6.0.9), nor is the problem isolate to OS X as I am on Windows 7.

10-19-2014, 11:02 PM	#7
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,858 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	If you have a DRM free MOBI file that opens in Kindle for PC but not the calibre viewer, open a bug report and atach the file.

11-22-2014, 01:27 PM	#10
cdixon5612 Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2014 Device: Kobo	In my case all that was run was the usual DRM removal plugin. A hex editor shows the same large block of hex zeros in the input AZW and the output mobi. I suspect this just gets copied over during DRM removal. Mobi File Reader can open the mobi file and export to HTML; so, my problem is solved. Calibre conversion has worked on everything since; so, I suspect it is just a weirdness of that particular file.