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Difflugia · 04-13-2017, 05:03 PM

When it rains, it pours.

I've been waiting for the updated CSB (which used to be the HCSB) to become available as an ebook. I got an email ad about it today and had a look around the website. It's still not available as an ebook, but there is a free mobile app for Android and iOS.

I installed the app on my phone and was fooling around with it when I realized that an epub of the Bible is embedded in the app and can be extracted with a little hacking.

First, you need to get the app's APK file onto your computer. There are a number of ways to do this. Here's one.

Rename (or copy) the .apk file to .zip. For example, my backup app named the file CSB_1.2.6.apk, so I changed the name to CSB_1.2.6.zip.
With Windows XP or later, you should be able to double-click the .zip file to open it. You should see a folder named "assets".
Navigate to assets->www->content and you should see a folder named "CSBRev18".
That folder is the unpacked epub.
Copy that folder somewhere else (another folder or the desktop).
Open that folder, and you should see META-INF, OEBPS, and mimetype. Select all three items, then right-click.
Select "Send to"->"Compressed (zipped) folder". Windows will create a zip file in that directory, probably named mimetype.zip.
Change the name and give it a .epub extension (I used "CSB.epub"). If all went well, the file should open in ADE or Calibre.

One annoying thing is that the file is an epub3 and uses a few features that aren't available in epub2. I tried a bunch of different Android readers to see if any worked and they either didn't or were slow. I ended up using Calibre to covert it to an epub2.

04-13-2017, 05:03 PM	#361
Difflugia Testate Amoeba Posts: 3,049 Karma: 27300000 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Many Android devices, Kindle 2, Toshiba e755 PocketPC	When it rains, it pours. I've been waiting for the updated CSB (which used to be the HCSB) to become available as an ebook. I got an email ad about it today and had a look around the website. It's still not available as an ebook, but there is a free mobile app for Android and iOS. I installed the app on my phone and was fooling around with it when I realized that an epub of the Bible is embedded in the app and can be extracted with a little hacking. First, you need to get the app's APK file onto your computer. There are a number of ways to do this. Here's one. Rename (or copy) the .apk file to .zip. For example, my backup app named the file CSB_1.2.6.apk, so I changed the name to CSB_1.2.6.zip. With Windows XP or later, you should be able to double-click the .zip file to open it. You should see a folder named "assets". Navigate to assets->www->content and you should see a folder named "CSBRev18". That folder is the unpacked epub. Copy that folder somewhere else (another folder or the desktop). Open that folder, and you should see META-INF, OEBPS, and mimetype. Select all three items, then right-click. Select "Send to"->"Compressed (zipped) folder". Windows will create a zip file in that directory, probably named mimetype.zip. Change the name and give it a .epub extension (I used "CSB.epub"). If all went well, the file should open in ADE or Calibre. One annoying thing is that the file is an epub3 and uses a few features that aren't available in epub2. I tried a bunch of different Android readers to see if any worked and they either didn't or were slow. I ended up using Calibre to covert it to an epub2.