MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Errors due to format conversion

osnova · 02-23-2012, 02:16 PM

If the issue is formatting errors (not OCR errors), there might be a justification for the publisher's position (I am not saying that there is in this particular case). Hear me out.

A good publisher (such as OSNOVA) creates a file in either Mobipocket or the new KF8 format and tests it on the available devices to make sure that there are no issues. Then the publisher uploads this "good" file to Amazon. Amazon then re-converts that file on their end without participation or any say of the publisher. In most instances no errors are introduced by Amazon's conversion. However, there might be instances when Amazon's conversion could introduce the errors. Alternatively, Amazon may introduce software bugs into Kindle software. The only solution for the publisher in that case is to take the book down.

For instance, OSNOVA Bible publications worked marvelously on all Kindles and Kindle apps. Then Amazon updated their Kindle app for iOS (iPhones and iPads), which had a new bug. All OSNOVA Bible publications started to crash the new Kindle app because the app could not process one specific html tag. Although it was "Amazon's fault," people blamed us. We had to figure out a workaround solution just to keep this bug at bay. Until we found a work-around, we didn't take down the book because it worked well on all other Kindles and Kindle apps except for Kindle for iOS.

Over the years, we have come across a number of software bugs in Kindles (one weird one in Kindle 3 caused a hyperlink end up in the wrong place with certain but not all font sizes). Not one of the bugs that we reported to Amazon was fixed by them.

02-23-2012, 02:16 PM	#25
osnova Kindler of the Flame Posts: 582 Karma: 646016 Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: US of A Device: K DX,3,KT,KP,KF, KFHD; Nook C, PRS600, iPad, Xoom, N900, N810, Zaurus	If the issue is formatting errors (not OCR errors), there might be a justification for the publisher's position (I am not saying that there is in this particular case). Hear me out. A good publisher (such as OSNOVA) creates a file in either Mobipocket or the new KF8 format and tests it on the available devices to make sure that there are no issues. Then the publisher uploads this "good" file to Amazon. Amazon then re-converts that file on their end without participation or any say of the publisher. In most instances no errors are introduced by Amazon's conversion. However, there might be instances when Amazon's conversion could introduce the errors. Alternatively, Amazon may introduce software bugs into Kindle software. The only solution for the publisher in that case is to take the book down. For instance, OSNOVA Bible publications worked marvelously on all Kindles and Kindle apps. Then Amazon updated their Kindle app for iOS (iPhones and iPads), which had a new bug. All OSNOVA Bible publications started to crash the new Kindle app because the app could not process one specific html tag. Although it was "Amazon's fault," people blamed us. We had to figure out a workaround solution just to keep this bug at bay. Until we found a work-around, we didn't take down the book because it worked well on all other Kindles and Kindle apps except for Kindle for iOS. Over the years, we have come across a number of software bugs in Kindles (one weird one in Kindle 3 caused a hyperlink end up in the wrong place with certain but not all font sizes). Not one of the bugs that we reported to Amazon was fixed by them. Last edited by osnova; 02-23-2012 at 02:19 PM.