migrating mobipocket library to somewhere else

keen12 · 03-13-2010, 10:15 PM

hi everyone,

i apologise in advance if i'm asking something that has been answered here but i have looked everywhere and can't seem to find anything on my question which is:

i have a large number of books in mobipocket desktop. i have spent a long time over the last year or so importing the books, adding author and title where i it needed correcting, entering the publisher (which often is the site where i found the book rather than the publisher), synopsis/comments etc.

i would now like to export all this information to a csv file or something similar that would allow me to easily manipulate the information and add information on other books that i have in other formats so i have one consolidated list of books.

i can't find information anywhere on how to extract this library information from mobipocket. does anyone know how this can be done? grateful in advance for any advice offered...

keen12

wallcraft · 03-14-2010, 01:10 PM

Did you make the changes with Windows MobiPocket Reader? If so, the information is in the .mbp files which are not even portable to other MOBI devices. If so, one thing you should do is make a backup of the entire directory, because .mbp files can get overwritten sometimes.

The MobiPerl tools have some capability to read .mbp files, and the command line program mobi2mobi can print information about a MOBI ebook. The command mobils lists a small amount of info on all MOBI ebooks, but this is from the MOBI ebooks rather than the .mbp files.

I'm don't think Calibre will read .mbp files, but in the long term you may be better off switching to Calibre as your ebook management system. It, like MobiPerl, can update the metadata in the actual ebook file (even if the MOBI is DRMed), so it can't get lost. It can also get info from external sources, like Amazon, to update the cover and other metadata. It uses a SQL database to store the information, but this can be printed out for export using a command line program.

keen12 · 03-14-2010, 01:37 PM

hi wallcraft,

yes i did make the changes in the windows mobipocket reader (little did i know at the time the issues with export...). i have looked at the mobiperl tools and as you say they can extract the mbp information but only separately from each book file rather than as one document for the whole library.

i was considering moving to calibre but as i don't really need all the information i can get from the web, i've decided to use a good old csv document and then when it's all done import it to listpro so i have the list with me whereever i go.

i was hoping not to have to retype the couple of thousand book entries i already had in mobipocket but there seems no way around it that i can find.

thanks for your advice and the explanation on the mbp files - it's confirmed what i thought - just thought maybe i was missing something out there that would help.

03-13-2010, 10:15 PM	#1
keen12 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2008 Device: BeBook	migrating mobipocket library 'information' (not ebooks) to somewhere else hi everyone, i apologise in advance if i'm asking something that has been answered here but i have looked everywhere and can't seem to find anything on my question which is: i have a large number of books in mobipocket desktop. i have spent a long time over the last year or so importing the books, adding author and title where i it needed correcting, entering the publisher (which often is the site where i found the book rather than the publisher), synopsis/comments etc. i would now like to export all this information to a csv file or something similar that would allow me to easily manipulate the information and add information on other books that i have in other formats so i have one consolidated list of books. i can't find information anywhere on how to extract this library information from mobipocket. does anyone know how this can be done? grateful in advance for any advice offered... keen12 Last edited by keen12; 03-13-2010 at 10:51 PM.

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03-14-2010, 01:10 PM	#2
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,975 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	Did you make the changes with Windows MobiPocket Reader? If so, the information is in the .mbp files which are not even portable to other MOBI devices. If so, one thing you should do is make a backup of the entire directory, because .mbp files can get overwritten sometimes. The MobiPerl tools have some capability to read .mbp files, and the command line program mobi2mobi can print information about a MOBI ebook. The command mobils lists a small amount of info on all MOBI ebooks, but this is from the MOBI ebooks rather than the .mbp files. I'm don't think Calibre will read .mbp files, but in the long term you may be better off switching to Calibre as your ebook management system. It, like MobiPerl, can update the metadata in the actual ebook file (even if the MOBI is DRMed), so it can't get lost. It can also get info from external sources, like Amazon, to update the cover and other metadata. It uses a SQL database to store the information, but this can be printed out for export using a command line program.

03-14-2010, 01:37 PM	#3
keen12 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jun 2008 Device: BeBook	hi wallcraft, yes i did make the changes in the windows mobipocket reader (little did i know at the time the issues with export...). i have looked at the mobiperl tools and as you say they can extract the mbp information but only separately from each book file rather than as one document for the whole library. i was considering moving to calibre but as i don't really need all the information i can get from the web, i've decided to use a good old csv document and then when it's all done import it to listpro so i have the list with me whereever i go. i was hoping not to have to retype the couple of thousand book entries i already had in mobipocket but there seems no way around it that i can find. thanks for your advice and the explanation on the mbp files - it's confirmed what i thought - just thought maybe i was missing something out there that would help.

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