consolidation of libraries

[codrutoctavian]

My problem is the following:
- I have a Kindle 3 with 42 books from amazon in azw format
- I have recovered 32 books which I bought a few years ago from Sony ebook store in epub format.
- I have deDRMed my epub files and imported into Calibre
- I have also imported my azw files from Kindle into Calibre for backup (I don't want to loose these files as I almost happened with my Sony ebooks)
- I also added some pdf files to my Calibre library

Now I have the following questions:

1. Some of the azw files from Kindle where converted not in mobi format but in HTMLZ format. I cannot open these files in Calibre. What am I supposed to do with these files? All I want is to keep a backup of my amazon files.

2. Is there any way to convert all of the files to mobi format? What is the better format epub or mobi?

3. Regarding pdf, I know this is the most difficult format. I have a license for a software named DeskUNPDF for Mac. I have bought this software a few years ago exactly trying to improve the conversion of pdf to ebook readers format. So far it was not really useful. However I have tried to convert a very large pdf with multiple columns and graphics to html and it did a nice job. Is there any advantage in processing a html file? Perhaps the conversion is better from HTMP to MOBI. If so, how to do this?

4. Does it worth trying to convert the pdf files to mobi? Or should I leave them as pdf?

Thanks.

[codrutoctavian]

Here are my questions again:

1. I have imported the AZW and AZW1 files from my Kindle in my Calibre library for backup purposes. Some of the files appear now as MOBI files while some of them as HTMLZ files.

What are these HTML files? Is there any way I can get MOBI files out of these?

2. What is the better format for keeping a backup of my books in Calibre? EPUB or MOBI?

3. I am using a software named DeskUNPDF for Mac which can convert PDF to DOC or HTML quite nicely. Is there any way to convert HTML to MOBI in Calibre? What I am trying is to get as good as possible MOBI files out of my PDFs. Calibre can convert them but my PDFs are large and complicated and the conversion is not perfect. I am hoping that HTML as source for Calibre is a better option.

Anyone?

Thanks

[Synamon]

I'm not sure where the zipped HTML files in your first question came from. You could try unzipping them and converting them to MOBI with calibre and see what you end up with.

Originally Posted by codrutoctavian

2. What is the better format for keeping a backup of my books in Calibre? EPUB or MOBI?

I see that your device is a Kindle, so you might as well have them all as MOBI. Those two formats convert back and forth easily. You don't have that many books, so you could even keep a copy of both formats of each book in your calibre library.

3. I am using a software named DeskUNPDF for Mac which can convert PDF to DOC or HTML quite nicely. Is there any way to convert HTML to MOBI in Calibre? What I am trying is to get as good as possible MOBI files out of my PDFs. Calibre can convert them but my PDFs are large and complicated and the conversion is not perfect. I am hoping that HTML as source for Calibre is a better option.

Yes, calibre can convert from HTML to MOBI and calibre likes HTML much better than PDF as a input format. Directly converting PDF to MOBI with calibre is not ideal, I've had better luck emailing the PDF to my Kindle through Amazon and having them convert it. If you like the HTML version you get with your PDF converter then calibre would be able to handle the next step and convert the HTML to MOBI just fine.