12-19-2009, 12:20 AM | #1 |
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How to tell between the formats?
I know the answer is here somewhere but I can't figure out how to find it. As the title says, how can I tell what type of file the Kindle book will be BEFORE I buy it. Now that K4PC PID has been found, I can now strip the book and convert to read on my Sony. |
12-19-2009, 09:36 AM | #2 |
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In my experience a TOPAZ ebook never includes its filesize under Product Details.
If you want to be certain, download the sample to K4PC and look in My Documents\My Kindle Content. All ebooks have the extension .prc, and you may need to sort by Date to identify the new ebook (or look for the ASIN), but if you open the ebook file with a text editor it will start with TPZ0 If you want an example, try B001ELJQJU (just search for this at Amazon) which is the TOPAZ of The Princess Bride by William Goldman. |
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12-19-2009, 05:39 PM | #3 |
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Could someone give me the name of a free text editor, so I can use it to check out the files? Thanks in advance.
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12-19-2009, 05:48 PM | #4 |
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12-19-2009, 06:56 PM | #5 |
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Unfortunately, this didn't work. The samples didn't have tpz0 at the start, only symbols (some in Chinese), so I bought the book. Checked them through notepad and they were topaz files. DAMN! Now I have three books that I can't read except through my PC. Does anyone think I can return them and get a refund?
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12-19-2009, 07:05 PM | #6 |
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There is another way to check to see if a book is Topaz.
Edit: You need to download the sample to your computer while on the book's "buy page". The download dialog box will tell you if it is a Topaz book. Last edited by daffy4u; 12-19-2009 at 07:11 PM. |
12-19-2009, 07:25 PM | #7 |
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I use Internet Explorer and there is no dialog box for my downloads. I also got a file size, so that route mention on the thread you linked to, doesn't work. Thank you, though. I'll just have to be more careful and pray that Topaz is broken soon.
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12-19-2009, 07:26 PM | #8 |
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12-19-2009, 07:30 PM | #9 | |
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Quote:
Generally you can return ebooks if you request this soon after you buy. A good reason, if Amazon asks, is that you don't like the formatting (which is often sub-par on TOPAZ ebooks). |
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12-19-2009, 07:30 PM | #10 |
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I have Kindle for the PC which I hope would get me the Amazon books I wanted (the ones not available anywhere else). I can get samples but some of the samples don't start off with tpz0 or mobi. The three books I bought were just gibberish but other samples did tell. I guess I was just unlucky. Thanks for your help, wallcraft.
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12-19-2009, 07:38 PM | #11 |
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The file extension is usually .tpz or .azw1 for Topaz books and samples, and .azw for regular Amazon books.
.prc is the older file extension, not used much any more for Mobipocket format books. .mobi is used often for non-DRM books, but not by Amazon, that I have ever seen, anyway. |
12-19-2009, 07:47 PM | #12 | ||
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Quote:
Quote:
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12-19-2009, 07:55 PM | #13 |
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12-19-2009, 07:55 PM | #14 | |
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Quote:
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12-19-2009, 08:09 PM | #15 |
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Download the sample and open it in a Hex Editor, there you can see the Topaz or Mobi at the top right. You can also look at the file, size. If the sample has several 100 kb then it is most likely Topaz, Mobi files are much smaller. I don't think Topaz will be broken, because none of our favorite hackers seems to be interested in doing it.
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