what's the difference between "compiled" and "converted" folders?

[Gregg Bell]

I have two different folders saved on my flash drive. One is "compiled." The other is "converted." They both have .mobi files in them. The most recently made .mobi is in the "converted" folder, and that's the one I'd like to go with, but I'd like to know what the difference is between compiled and converted is and if that has any bearing on the .mobi files within. (see screenshot--it's from the flashdrive) Thanks.

[HarryT]

How were these folders created?

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by HarryT

How were these folders created?

Hey Harry. Thanks for responding. I created the folders back in June and I didn't even know I was creating them. I was just taking an epub I had made in Sigil and dropping it on Kindle Previewer. This of course created a .mobi, which I then proceeded to upload (step 5 at KDP) to Kindle.

Checking the dates on the mobis I found that the .mobi in the "converted" folder was created after (this all happened back in June) the mobi in the "compiled" folder so I'm assuming that's the mobi (the one in the "converted" folder) to use. (I looked at both mobis in Calibre's ebook viewer, and they looked identical. Unfortunately since they are mobis I couldn't compare them in DiffNow or Kdiff to see if they are indeed identical.

Reviewers are wanting mobis of a book I'm asking them to review, and I just want to make sure I'm giving them a sound file. Thanks for your help.

[PeterT]

Just remember looking at the mobi files via calibre's ebook viewer does an internal mobi to epub conversion.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Just remember looking at the mobi files via calibre's ebook viewer does an internal mobi to epub conversion.

Thanks Peter. That's interesting. First I've heard of internal conversion. So how do I get a mobi to just work on people's Kindles? All this "compiled" and "converted" stuff seems to be making it all so complicated. Add the "dual mobi" stuff. It's getting to the point that it's over my head. Notjohn said even though a file may have a .mobi extension it's not necessarily a .mobi. LOL Man, I'm needing a couple of aspirins.

[Lagopus]

Originally Posted by Gregg Bell

Notjohn said even though a file may have a .mobi extension it's not necessarily a .mobi.

If you're referring to the reply you got at the amazon forum, I'd say it's a little misleading.

The mobi format is a "container" format. It can - and often will - contain "itself" - that is, a mobi file can be unpacked into several files that are valid mobi files by themselves. The outer "container" is also a valid mobi file, though. There's generally no reason to start digging into it to split out the internal versions.

(On rereading my convoluted sentences, I'm not sure I made your need for aspirin any smaller, though.)

As for your original question: The "converted" folder is created by Kindle Previewer. Say you have a file named
"Bell,Gregg-ANovel.epub"
You open that file in (a recent version of) Kindle Previewer. Previewer creates a folder named
"converted-Bell,Gregg-ANovel.epub"
and saves the mobi version of your book inside that folder, with a name on the format
"Bell,Gregg-ANovel_2014-03-30-21-55.mobi"

If you open the epub again a little later, Previewer will repeat the conversion process and store the result as
Bell,Gregg-ANovel_2014-03-30-22-06.mobi

I think - although I must admit I'm not 100% sure - that the "compiled" folder serves the exact same purpose, except that it is created by an older version of Kindle Previewer. I.e. there's no real difference between the folders, except that they're created by different versions of Kindle Previewer.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by Lagopus

If you're referring to the reply you got at the amazon forum, I'd say it's a little misleading.

The mobi format is a "container" format. It can - and often will - contain "itself" - that is, a mobi file can be unpacked into several files that are valid mobi files by themselves. The outer "container" is also a valid mobi file, though. There's generally no reason to start digging into it to split out the internal versions.

Thanks Lagopus. Thanks for the explanation as to what a mobi is. It does sound a little convoluted (not your explanation, but the file, the container containing mobis and yet being a mobi itself). And it seemed nutty that the mobi in the "compiled" folder would be different than the mobi in the "converted" folder (except for whatever changes I might have made).

Originally Posted by Lagopus

As for your original question: The "converted" folder is created by Kindle Previewer. Say you have a file named
"Bell,Gregg-ANovel.epub"
You open that file in (a recent version of) Kindle Previewer. Previewer creates a folder named
"converted-Bell,Gregg-ANovel.epub"
and saves the mobi version of your book inside that folder, with a name on the format
"Bell,Gregg-ANovel_2014-03-30-21-55.mobi"

If you open the epub again a little later, Previewer will repeat the conversion process and store the result as
Bell,Gregg-ANovel_2014-03-30-22-06.mobi

I think - although I must admit I'm not 100% sure - that the "compiled" folder serves the exact same purpose, except that it is created by an older version of Kindle Previewer. I.e. there's no real difference between the folders, except that they're created by different versions of Kindle Previewer.

Thanks for the explanation. But in some ways it's not lining up with my experience though. With the two folders in question, the "compiled" folder and "converted" folder were both made on the same day (the compiled folder was made 40 minutes before the converted folder) using the same version of Kindle Previewer.

I got the sense from you said,though, that no matter which file (from either folder) I used, it would work properly (and similarly) in people's ereaders. Would you agree?

To me, and I don't have a Kindle Previewer right now because I'm on Linux so I can't experiment with it, the only thing that makes sense is that I dropped my epub on Kindle Previewer and that made the "compiled" folder and the mobi within it. Then I uploaded that mobi into Kindle Direct Publishing's uploader and that process gave me a mobi to download so as to review it. Then I take that mobi and open it in Kindle Previewer (to review it) and Kindle Previewer then designates the newly opened folder a "converted" folder.

I've got reviewers who want .mobi files. I just need to know how to get them. Even forget this latest situation. Say I write a new book and make it into an epub and drop it on Kindle Previewer (or use Kindlegen in the command line). Is that the .mobi I want to send them. Or do I want the mobi that has gone through KDP's uploading and then been opened in Kindle Previewer? Or something else?

[eschwartz]

They are all the same .mobi, I believe.

Kindle Previewer and KDP both use kindlegen to do the actual conversion.

[Gregg Bell]

Originally Posted by eschwartz

They are all the same .mobi, I believe.

Kindle Previewer and KDP both use kindlegen to do the actual conversion.

Well, that was easy. Thanks!