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Old 02-09-2011, 06:43 PM   #8
dwig
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Join Date: Dec 2004
Location: Paradise (Key West, FL)
Device: Current:Surface Go & Kindle 3 - Retired: DellV8p, Clie UX50, ...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dclone View Post
...What is likely to happen with converting beyond formatting issues ? Will some stuff corrupt ?
Corrupt? No.

The problems are formatting. Epub supports several formatting options that the Kindle's MOBI/AZW format doesn't support. When books use these the converted MOBI/AZW file has to omit the formatting option. Usually the results are fine, but occasionally not.

MOBI/AZW don't support wrapping text around images so when an image is embedded into the text this way in an ePub the converted MOBI file shows the image on its own line. When images are used for ornamental caps at the beginning of a chapter the converted file does look odd.

MOBI/AZW don't support embeded fonts. When an ePub makes special use of an embedded font it may or may not render well in the conveted file.

Also, converters occasionally have difficulty dealing with poorly formatted ePubs that have multiple combined styles setting margins (e.g. one margin setting defined for the page and another defined for a paragraph). The usual error is to create an overly wide margin in the converted file. Calibre has recently added an "ignore margins" option in its MOBI output to deal with such problem files.

I've converted several hundred ePubs to MOBI using Calibre and have rarely had any problems. My habit with most free sites is to download the ePub, import into Calibre, edit to massage the formatting in Sigil (usually to break the component file(s) into chapters so that the converted MOBI has chapter marks for navigation with the Kindle's 5-way controller), then convert to MOBI for my K3 in Calibre.
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