PRS-T2 Epub turns into EPU?

[Son of Queequeg]

Once in a while, when going into the library on the Reader, I find that an epub file has changed its title and turned into something called .EPU

On my computer, I can simply rename the file and open it as an epub file again. But maybe the file is somehow corrupt, since this happens by itself? Also, it seems to be one of the things that leads to the message ”The application contentservice has stopped unexpectedly” when loading new books onto the Reader.

Anyone who knows anything about this and why it happens?

[Ripplinger]

It sounds like something on your system is adhering to the old requirements of file extensions being no more than 3 characters long, so it gets cut down to .epu because of that. I'm pretty certain that nothing the Sony or the Reader software does is causing that.

[Son of Queequeg]

Thanks, that might be an explanation. Still, this has so far only happened with 5-10 out of several hundred files ending in ”.epub”, so I wonder why some are singled out? They seem to have nothing in common: source, size of the file, length of titel and characters used…

For instance, I downloaded seven epubs with works of John Hogg posted recently here on mobileread, and only one of them was ”transformed”:
”Shepherd’s Calendar Vol I (of II), the.epub” turned in to ”SHEPHE~1.EPU”. (The new versions all end like that, ”~(number).EPU”.)

I guess I will just keep erasing these as they turn up, possibly renaming and retrying (sometimes seems to works, sometimes not).

[Ripplinger]

”SHEPHE~1.EPU” is definitely the old file system limitations, 8 characters for the name, 3 for the extension, adding the ~# when it shortens the name. As to why your system is doing that on just a few random file, no idea, unless it just doesn't like the combination of characters. I occasionally get them popping up depending on the program, but it's very rare (I'm still on WinXP).

[AJ Starr]

could it have something to do with the special characters in the file name. I was under the impression that the ' and the , could not be in a file name. (I have Win 7)

AJ


”Shepherd’s Calendar Vol I (of II), the.epub” turned in to ”SHEPHE~1.EPU”.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by AJ Starr

could it have something to do with the special characters in the file name. I was under the impression that the ' and the , could not be in a file name. (I have Win 7)...

Apostrophes and commas are allowed in Windows long file names.

But when Windows encounters a long file name it may create a 8.3 short "alias" filename for the file when it is written to disc. The file extension is also aliased if it is longer than the allowed 3 characters for short file name extensions. EPU is the alias for EPUB. So the file name the OP is seeing is the alias that Windows has created for its own purposes.

There are some differences between the allowed character set as between long and short file names. Limiting comment to just the file name mentioned the apostrophe is allowed in a short filename but the comma is not so it will be stripped out, the apostrophe probably too, but not necessarily so as it is legal (I am, however, unsure of the rules Windows uses for aliasing).

It would seem to me that the OP has a problem related to Windows aliasing filenames and presenting those on occasion instead of the long name. What that problem may be I have no idea. I have run into the same issue but only more than a decade ago with the versions of Windows then which with some imported files would alias them and present that alias instead of the long name.

Putting aside the possibility that the OP has a modern version of Windows that is somehow corrupted (unlikely I would have thought) my first suspicion would be along the lines that the OP is using an old (old meaning pre XP) version of Windows or if not then is importing files that have been resident on a PC with such an old version of Windows.

I am not claiming that is so, just a guess given at this stage as we do not know what version of Windows the OP is using, nor what PCs the problem files have been resident on in the past.

[Son of Queequeg]

Thanks for all the info! (Sorry for not listening in, didn’t get any notifications…)

Actually I’m using Mac – don’t know if it has similar limitations for filenames as the one mentioned for Windows above. (As a rather typical Mac-user, I’m blissfully ignorant of everything that goes on on ”the far side” – of keyboard and screen.)

In any case, the problem has never occurred with any of the files stored on my computer, the ”mutations” only turn up in the Library of the Reader (and only on the SD-card, if I remember right) – usually, as I said, when I check after getting the message ”contentservice has stopped unexpectedly”.

Looking through my files I see several with commas and apostrophes, unaffected, but maybe it is a combination of name-length and special characters, as hinted above. I will try to check closer on the earlier cases.

My real fear was that this was some kind of viral thing, so that I might one day turn on my Reader and find ALL my files to be unreadable ”EPU”:s … But from what has been said here, I guess that won’t happen.

-------------------------------- Edit:
Checked up on the ”ghost files” (half of them still unreadable after renaming, the other half not).

Just to take a further example, another file downloaded here (very nicely done by brucewelch):

Zweig, Stefan - Ungeduld des Herzens. 1939.epub

which was transformed (while on the Reader) into the short but unsweet:

ZWEIG_~5.EPU

(Worked as it should after renaming to EPUB.) Not particularly long title, no special characters (the dash is common enough)… My Mac is not the newest (OS 10.5.8), but as already mentioned, there are never any problems with the files on the computer.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Son of Queequeg

...Actually I’m using Mac – don’t know if it has similar limitations for filenames as the one mentioned for Windows above. (As a rather typical Mac-user, I’m blissfully ignorant of everything that goes on on ”the far side” – of keyboard and screen.)

In any case, the problem has never occurred with any of the files stored on my computer, the ”mutations” only turn up in the Library of the Reader (and only on the SD-card, if I remember right) – usually, as I said, when I check after getting the message ”contentservice has stopped unexpectedly”...

The aliasing is dependant of how the OS manages long filenames in the disc file system so is not just a Windows thing, but I cannot comment on how Apple (HFS+ file system) goes about it. My knowledge of Apple is rotten to the core but my understanding is that Apple OSs use aliasing in some way or another too.

The Sony T family (Android OS) use FAT and FAT32 file systems for their own and card memories, and Windows uses those too as well as NTFS. As I said, Windows uses aliasing and as far as I know Android does too (in some way or another, am no expert on Android).

Everything you say (the EPU extension and the truncated to 8 characters filename) indicates that the shortened filenames you are getting are alias filenames propagating from somewhere in the PC->eReader->SD card chain, or else it is something in the Apple's OS which is preventing it seeing some long filenames on the eReader as anything other than their alias in the FAT filesystem.

It may be possible, although less likely, that a machine the file resided on in the past is implicated. As I mentioned this used to occasionally happen even with files between Windows OS PCs way back in the past (for example long file names on Windows 95 and later would show as the 8.3 character alias on earlier Windows and vice versa).

I don't know where the cause of your problem lies. But, your comment that perhaps it occurs only with files on the SD card may be a clue as to this being where the problem lies. So my first suggestion would be to reformat it, if not done already since the problem arose, preferably using the eReaders own formatting tool or else with a reliable FAT32 formatting tool such as those provided with the Windows OSs, and see what comes of that.

[Son of Queequeg]

Thanks for the advice, I might consider reformatting if the problem should begin to occur more frequently. As it is, I have only experienced this with a handful of files, so I’d rather live with that instead of reformatting the SD-card (which would mean recreating and restacking the almost 100 ”bookshelves” on my Reader).

I guess the problem might be the length and/or characters used in the name of the file, which would cause some system or other to abbreviate it – and as far as I can understand the transformation in that case happens on the Reader, not on my computer (where I have the same files stored, all of them unchanged).

What remains bewildering to me is the fact that some of these files work fine after renaming to ”.epub”, while some seem to have been corrupted as well in the process, or were corrupted from the start (so that they can’t be opened, even after renaming, and not even by the Reader-program on my computer).

As I opened the original, unchanged version of a couple of the corrupted files, they actually turned out to be kind of strange on the ”inside” as well: text overflowing the margins and other oddities (NOT the ones mentioned above, though). So I somehow suspect that the problem, at least in some cases, has to do with the ”quality” of the file in some technical sense, making it intractable to the Sony Reader program.

Anyhow, thanks for enlightening me on the issues involved. For the time being, I will try to reload the files that seem to be OK, and simply leave the others alone.

[AnotherCat]

Originally Posted by Son of Queequeg

...What remains bewildering to me is the fact that some of these files work fine after renaming to ”.epub”, while some seem to have been corrupted as well in the process, or were corrupted from the start (so that they can’t be opened, even after renaming, and not even by the Reader-program on my computer)...

I cannot speak for Apple nor Android (the Sony) but in Windows that is experienced behaviour, an alias named file if manually renamed does not necessarily work. But keeping in mind that ending up with an alias name presented to one to use in Windows is very rare, usually associated with files traversing very old and newer Windows. I haven't come across it for over a decade.

But it may, as you say, also be that the original files have some sort of corruption.