Formatting issues with .prc files generated from Kindle ebooks

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Hi folks. I recently purchased and decoded a .azw ebook and then converted it to .prc for my own private use (edit: that should read 'decoded a .azw book to mobi format for my own private use'). I then converted the mobi file to Sony Reader's native .lrf format. However, no matter what, I get blank space between the paragraphs.

Converting it to epub works just fine to get rid of those extra line breaks, but I hate the way epub files display on the Sony 505, and would much prefer Sony's native format for that reason (I also tried converting from azw-->prc-->epub-->lrf, hoping the epub conversion would solve the line break problem, but it didn't).

What tools or tips or forum entries should I be looking at to fix those extra spaces between paragraphs, given that I primarily work on a Macbook (non-dual booting)? I have occasional access to a PC running XP, but only occasionally, so if there happen to be any mac-based solutions anyone can think of off the top of their head, I'd be really grateful.

PS: I tried downloading and playing around with Jutoh and eCub, but became rapidly baffled trying to figure out how they worked.

Edit: I did figure out how to 'unpack' a mobipocket file using a tool mentioned elsewhere in the mobipocket discussion area, but I'm still bamboozled which bit of the HTML I'm supposed to be stripping out.

[wallcraft]

Once the DRM is removed from an AZW, the result is a MOBI ebook. So there is no need to "convert" it to PRC, just rename it to .prc or .mobi. Recent versions of mobidedrm.py can be used as a pre-processor for Calibre, and in this mode any .azw you import will automatically end up as a DRM-free .mobi.

Have you tried Calibre's Paragraph spacing options? This (Remove spacing between paragraphs) should always work unless there are hard page breaks in the original AZW ebook.

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Originally Posted by wallcraft

Once the DRM is removed from an AZW, the result is a MOBI ebook. So there is no need to "convert" it to PRC, just rename it to .prc or .mobi. Recent versions of mobidedrm.py can be used as a pre-processor for Calibre, and in this mode any .azw you import will automatically end up as a DRM-free .mobi.

Have you tried Calibre's Paragraph spacing options? This (Remove spacing between paragraphs) should always work unless there are hard page breaks in the original AZW ebook.

Funnily enough, I've made some progress with this one. I tried switching off paragraph spacing in Calibre, but there are some circumstances where it appears not to work - like this one.

Unswindle did indeed automatically generate a mobi file from the original azw. In order to get rid of the extra hard returns, I then used Calibre to convert the mobi file to Epub instead of Sony's LRF and edited that epub file with Sigil. I played around for a few minutes and found this culprit line inserted between every paragraph:

'<div class="calibre4"></div>'

So I did a global search on this line and replaced every appearance with a single blank space. Then I saved the epub, converted that to lrf in Calibre...and it worked! No more hard returns!