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ATDrake · 10-07-2010, 04:33 AM

The difference between mp3 and Mobipocket is that mp3 is a relatively well-known, documented format that plenty of developers know how to implement. So you get plenty of useful tools to modify it.

Mobipocket is… not, and all the existing tools that didn't come from Mobipocket/Amazon are all reverse-engineered using people's best guesses. So it's a bit harder and more frustrating to work with.

Perl is a computer scripting language. You can find a free version of it to install for Windows by googling "ActiveState Perl" (I think that's it; I'm on a Mac so I don't know if that's quite the right name).

If Calibre isn't working for you metadata-wise, the Mobi2Mobi GUI for Windows really is the next easiest thing to use. It's a bit tricky to install at first, but apparently once you've got it set up, very easy to use.

Here's the Mobi2Mobi GUI visual guide on the MR Wiki, which walks you through installing and using the interface to make a few simple edits.

It may not link to the latest versions of stuff you need (Wiki doesn't get updated all that often), so the thread above is the best place to get the newer edition. Plus, it's pretty much devoted to helping people get it up and running on their computers and everyone will be happy to troubleshoot if you run into any difficulties.

The tutorial thing is only if you want to try the "add some lines to the HTML" and convert method. It's the closest you can get via tweaking the sources.

You don't need to pay for the html editor, which is why I suggested ignoring that section entirely. You can actually do everything with a simple plain text editor and any number of free conversion tools.

But yes, you would basically be re-assembling part of the book yourself, so it's understandable if that's not the route you want to take.

However, if you'd like to give it a shot, all you need is to cut and paste the example OPF from the tutorial into a new file and tweak it a little. Nothing more.

The OPF is like a separate metadata file that Mobipocket Creator and Calibre can use to add the proper info when it generates a .mobi. There's an entire set of things you can fill in, which are described in some detail in the official specs (section 2.2).

But those aren't important and all you really need for most purposes is to modify the <dc:title>, <dc:creator>, and maybe <dc:language> and <dc:date> contents if you want. After that, just edit the <item href=""> under the <manifest> to point to the location of your existing HTML file, then run Mobipocket Creator or Calibre on your new .opf + html combo, and you should be good to go. There's fancier stuff you can do to produce better-featured .mobi files (chapter marks, cover, start at a particular location, etc.), but this is all you really need to do to fix the title and author.

For the creator, put the author's name in as "Last Name, First Name" so that it sorts correctly on the Kindle (it will display as "FN LN"). Amazon's KindleGen ignore the suggested opf:file-as attribute so I'm guessing Mobipocket Creator does, too. And put any co-authors on a separate <dc:creator> of their own under the first.

Hope this helps.

10-07-2010, 04:33 AM	#5
ATDrake Wizzard Posts: 11,517 Karma: 33048258 Join Date: Mar 2010 Location: Roundworld Device: Kindle 2 International, Sony PRS-T1, BlackBerry PlayBook, Acer Iconia	The difference between mp3 and Mobipocket is that mp3 is a relatively well-known, documented format that plenty of developers know how to implement. So you get plenty of useful tools to modify it. Mobipocket is… not, and all the existing tools that didn't come from Mobipocket/Amazon are all reverse-engineered using people's best guesses. So it's a bit harder and more frustrating to work with. Perl is a computer scripting language. You can find a free version of it to install for Windows by googling "ActiveState Perl" (I think that's it; I'm on a Mac so I don't know if that's quite the right name). If Calibre isn't working for you metadata-wise, the Mobi2Mobi GUI for Windows really is the next easiest thing to use. It's a bit tricky to install at first, but apparently once you've got it set up, very easy to use. Here's the Mobi2Mobi GUI visual guide on the MR Wiki, which walks you through installing and using the interface to make a few simple edits. It may not link to the latest versions of stuff you need (Wiki doesn't get updated all that often), so the thread above is the best place to get the newer edition. Plus, it's pretty much devoted to helping people get it up and running on their computers and everyone will be happy to troubleshoot if you run into any difficulties. The tutorial thing is only if you want to try the "add some lines to the HTML" and convert method. It's the closest you can get via tweaking the sources. You don't need to pay for the html editor, which is why I suggested ignoring that section entirely. You can actually do everything with a simple plain text editor and any number of free conversion tools. But yes, you would basically be re-assembling part of the book yourself, so it's understandable if that's not the route you want to take. However, if you'd like to give it a shot, all you need is to cut and paste the example OPF from the tutorial into a new file and tweak it a little. Nothing more. The OPF is like a separate metadata file that Mobipocket Creator and Calibre can use to add the proper info when it generates a .mobi. There's an entire set of things you can fill in, which are described in some detail in the official specs (section 2.2). But those aren't important and all you really need for most purposes is to modify the <dc:title>, <dc:creator>, and maybe <dc:language> and <dc:date> contents if you want. After that, just edit the <item href=""> under the <manifest> to point to the location of your existing HTML file, then run Mobipocket Creator or Calibre on your new .opf + html combo, and you should be good to go. There's fancier stuff you can do to produce better-featured .mobi files (chapter marks, cover, start at a particular location, etc.), but this is all you really need to do to fix the title and author. For the creator, put the author's name in as "Last Name, First Name" so that it sorts correctly on the Kindle (it will display as "FN LN"). Amazon's KindleGen ignore the suggested opf:file-as attribute so I'm guessing Mobipocket Creator does, too. And put any co-authors on a separate <dc:creator> of their own under the first. Hope this helps.