Troubleshooting e-mailing Kindle Documents

Bill Brophy · 07-03-2014, 11:38 AM

I have been using Calibre to e-mail as Mobi e-books to my Kindle. I have been getting notification from Amazon that my xxx.azw document has arrived and is available for download. And when I look at the hard drive in the Kindle the file has actually been downloaded as an xxx.azw file rather than mobi. Is Calibre e-mailing the file out as .azw even though I had request .mobi? Or do you think Amazon is converting it after it is received? I know when I directly export from Calibre to the Kindle they arrive on the drive as .mobi files. Can someone explain what's going on via the e-mail route?

eschwartz · 07-04-2014, 02:52 AM

Simple. .mobi and .azw are exactly the same thing, just slightly renamed.

MOBI is a legacy format acquired by Amazon from Mobipocket. Lots of books in that format, and it's the default way of showing them.

AZW is any MOBI book that passes through Amazon's servers, renamed to reflect that fact. Mostly because any book that comes from Amazon's servers is *probably* purchased from them, and has a high likelihood of having DRM.

It gets even more confusing since it can also be PRC, which was used on Palm readers, since apparently the Palm OS cannot sense any filenames that don't end in .prc (Palm Resource Code) for no good reason. So mobipocket books had to be renamed, and some of them are still in this mythical "PRC" format.

To be clear: The actual ebook is is identical, byte for byte. (Except for any metadata changes that may have been made, so maybe it's not so clear.

)

Bill Brophy · 07-05-2014, 10:28 AM

Thanks for the prompt and informative feedback.

07-03-2014, 11:38 AM	#1
Bill Brophy Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2014 Device: Kindle	e-mailing Kindle Documents I have been using Calibre to e-mail as Mobi e-books to my Kindle. I have been getting notification from Amazon that my xxx.azw document has arrived and is available for download. And when I look at the hard drive in the Kindle the file has actually been downloaded as an xxx.azw file rather than mobi. Is Calibre e-mailing the file out as .azw even though I had request .mobi? Or do you think Amazon is converting it after it is received? I know when I directly export from Calibre to the Kindle they arrive on the drive as .mobi files. Can someone explain what's going on via the e-mail route?

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07-04-2014, 02:52 AM	#2
eschwartz Ex-Helpdesk Junkie Posts: 19,421 Karma: 85400180 Join Date: Nov 2012 Location: The Beaten Path, USA, Roundworld, This Side of Infinity Device: Kindle Touch fw5.3.7 (Wifi only)	Simple. .mobi and .azw are exactly the same thing, just slightly renamed. MOBI is a legacy format acquired by Amazon from Mobipocket. Lots of books in that format, and it's the default way of showing them. AZW is any MOBI book that passes through Amazon's servers, renamed to reflect that fact. Mostly because any book that comes from Amazon's servers is probably purchased from them, and has a high likelihood of having DRM. It gets even more confusing since it can also be PRC, which was used on Palm readers, since apparently the Palm OS cannot sense any filenames that don't end in .prc (Palm Resource Code) for no good reason. So mobipocket books had to be renamed, and some of them are still in this mythical "PRC" format. To be clear: The actual ebook is is identical, byte for byte. (Except for any metadata changes that may have been made, so maybe it's not so clear. )

07-05-2014, 10:28 AM	#3
Bill Brophy Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2014 Device: Kindle	Thanks for the prompt and informative feedback.

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