Problem converting/opening books

[koland]

I have two versions of a book, one a PRC and the other epub. Calibre won't open either one, nor do any conversion. I haven't tried another mobi reader, but I can open the epub using Nook for PC. I'm fairly certain that the epub was created via PubIt (there is no DRM on either, or isn't supposed to be). With a couple thousand books, I haven't run into this before.

This is the error I get trying to open the PRC:

calibre, version 0.7.47
ERROR: Could not open ebook: Unknown book type: '\x00BOOKMOB'

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\viewer\main.py", line 62, in run
File "threading.py", line 483, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\oeb\iterator.py", line 195, in __enter__
File "site-packages\calibre\customize\conversion.py", line 204, in __call__
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\mobi\input.py", line 26, in convert
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\mobi\reader.py", line 277, in __init__
MobiError: Unknown book type: '\x00BOOKMOB'


This is the error on the EPUB:
calibre, version 0.7.47
ERROR: Could not open ebook: unpack requires a string argument of length 22

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages\calibre\gui2\viewer\main.py", line 62, in run
File "threading.py", line 483, in run
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\oeb\iterator.py", line 195, in __enter__
File "site-packages\calibre\customize\conversion.py", line 204, in __call__
File "site-packages\calibre\ebooks\epub\input.py", line 137, in convert
File "site-packages\calibre\utils\zipfile.py", line 734, in __init__
File "site-packages\calibre\utils\zipfile.py", line 755, in _GetContents
File "site-packages\calibre\utils\zipfile.py", line 765, in _RealGetContents
File "site-packages\calibre\utils\zipfile.py", line 240, in _EndRecData
error: unpack requires a string argument of length 22


Any suggestions? I tried renaming the .EPUB as .ZIP and opening, but get an error that it isn't a zip file. Yet,the nook app opens it just fine. I just don't want to read it there. Running Calibre 0.7.47

[kovidgoyal]

Both of those files are corrupted.

[ldolse]

I believe Nook prc files are ereader files - definitely not mobi. Not sure what extension you can pick to get Calibre to try and use it's ereader codebase.

It also sounds like you got both version from Barnes and Noble's web site directly/through your Nook. If so they're probably still drm encrypted, which means Calibre can't do anything with them.

[koland]

Nook doesn't do PRC, it does PDB (ereader). I don't have any PDB files. Nor are the files from B&N and there is no DRM on either one.

The EPUB was created via pubit (and opens in the nook app, even though it's corrupted).

The PRC was created with mobicreator. I can't open it with anything, so far.

I'm suspecting an issue with the author's web server, possibly misinterpreting the mime types and it's adding something to each file (or cutting it off prematurely). I've sent a note to the author, asking him to download the files and see if he can open them.

[ldolse]

I see now - got confused with discussion of Nooks, epubs, and prcs at the same time. Odd that the nook app can read the epub - maybe an alternate zip program can do a partial extraction, at least to the point of wherever the corruption is - your suspicion is the most likely one.

[koland]

The author reloaded, bypassing some type of yahoo software he uses for the web site. Looks like that was corrupting the files, as all is well now.

Thanks.