40MB epub - too big?

[cyruss]

Hi all,

I've just converted a series of around 1,100 HTML pages (weighing it at 100MB in total) into a single 40MB ePub file. It's straight text, no images, and a lot of internal links.

It takes about 2 mins to open on my desktop (with Calibre's ebook viewer), but once it's loaded it works fine. However, I'm yet to actually open it on an iPad ereader (e.g. Stanza), because it takes about 10mins then crashes.

A couple of questions:

1 - is the file simply too big?
2 - does the large volume of split files (~12,000) slow things down?
3 - any recommendations on how to convert such a large file?

FYI, these were the conversion settings.

--no-default-epub-cover
--max-toc-links=0
--max-levels=5
--no-chapters-in-toc
--chapter="/"

[kovidgoyal]

Large files have to be fully parsed the first time they are opened to calculate the number of "pages" in them, that takes a while, especially on a slow device.

[Agama]

Originally Posted by cyruss

However, I'm yet to actually open it on an iPad ereader (e.g. Stanza), because it takes about 10mins then crashes.

I had similar problems with a large book, (6MB), on a Sony PRS-300, (crashing after long delay), and was able to return it to the vendor for a refund. They said that my reader was not powerful enough to handle the book. Since then I have used calibre to convert a different large book and got it to work on my reader by splitting it up into smaller 'sub-books' and using calibre's series data column to link these books in order.

I know that the iPad is a lot more powerful than the PRS-300 but 40MB does seem a VERY large book.