How to check mobi file version?

[ajes]

I want to check what exactly version of mobi file I have. Is it old format, new one, or hybrid.
Is there a tool for reading whole header of mobi, and showing all "parameters" in human readable format?

[pdurrant]

KindleUnpack would work, but is probably overkill. But you could certainly adapt it to just find the MOBI version number.

I did do a DRM check script ages ago that also gave version number. But I'm not sure if it would work with newer Kindle versions.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by ajes

I want to check what exactly version of mobi file I have. Is it old format, new one, or hybrid.
Is there a tool for reading whole header of mobi, and showing all "parameters" in human readable format?

It might be helpful if we knew what it was you were trying to do, or achieve. Are you simply trying to determine if it's a dual mobi? Or...?

Hitch

[Notjohn]

If you bought a book, it's the version required by your Kindle reader or app. If you own several Kindles, you may have more than one version.

If you wrote the book, and downloaded the so-called "mobi" after your upload was converted, then it's not really a mobi at all but a collection of several KDP versions plus probably the file your originally uploaded.

[Tarana]

In the past, if you selected Kindle 3, you downloaded a .mobi file. Then if you selected a Fire or a Voyage, you got a kf8 or azw3. So, they were actually different files. The mobi is always the same. It's the UPDATES that I can't figure out - did I download the update and replace the original or not?

[DiapDealer]

I had an old python script around here somewhere that would check files with the various kindle/mobi extensions and report on what they actually contained: mobi, kf8, dual-mobi, print-replica, topaz, etc... It's probably terribly outdated by now, but I might be able to revisit it if there's a need.

Search this subforum for something to the effect of: What's My Mobi? (or WhatsMyMobi).

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Tarana

In the past, if you selected Kindle 3, you downloaded a .mobi file. Then if you selected a Fire or a Voyage, you got a kf8 or azw3. So, they were actually different files. The mobi is always the same. It's the UPDATES that I can't figure out - did I download the update and replace the original or not?

You mean, updated versions of the book? I'm 99.99999% sure that there's no indicator in the book itself of whether or not it's an update, not one that you can see or parse.

If you go to your Content and Devices, at Amazon, it will tell you if an update is available--and if it is, that means you haven't updated the file. As far as I know, that's the only way to detect updated files.

Hitch

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by Hitch

You mean, updated versions of the book? I'm 99.99999% sure that there's no indicator in the book itself of whether or not it's an update, not one that you can see or parse.

If you go to your Content and Devices, at Amazon, it will tell you if an update is available--and if it is, that means you haven't updated the file. As far as I know, that's the only way to detect updated files.

Hitch

Both of the above match my limited experience with updates.

I'm getting a bit sour on updates. In the past year or so, for every single update except one that I have downloaded, the only changes were to the list of "other books you might be interested in" (paraphrased). In the other update, the only change was the correction of a minor typo in the excerpt from an upcoming book.

[Notjohn]

> It's the UPDATES that I can't figure out - did I download the update and replace the original or not?

If this is a book you wrote and published, you ask Kindle Support to "push" the revised file to your Kindle archives.

KDP Support will only rarely send out a notice that an update is available, and never if the update is merely an improvement. They seem interested only in gross errors, and several or many of them.

I've never received such a notice, and if I did I would almost certainly ignore it. The only books I have ever re-read for pleasure were written by Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Proust (usually Proust: I'm now on my fifth iteration).

[kovidgoyal]

If you want to dump mobi headers, use

calibre-debug file.mobi

[KevinH]

And there is the standalone DumpMobiHeaders.py that used to come with KindleUnpack

[DiapDealer]

Anybody know if there's a down-and-dirty way to detect the Kfx format from the mobi-headers or strings contained therein? I wouldn't mind updating KindleUnpack to be kfx aware--even if it's just to quickly bail with a message that it can't handle them at this time.

I've also got some "lite" versions of KindleUnpack's Sectionizer and MobiHeader classes that I'd like to update with the info. They're handy for quickly identifying the underlying format and the presence of drm (or lack thereof) without having to commit to a full header dump or a complete unpacking/parsing.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Anybody know if there's a down-and-dirty way to detect the Kfx format from the mobi-headers or strings contained therein?

KFX container files start with the string b"\xeaDRMION\xee" if encrypted or with b"CONT\x02\x00" if not.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by jhowell

KFX container files start with the string b"\xeaDRMION\xee" if encrypted or with b"CONT\x02\x00" if not.

Thanks. I guess if I'd bothered to look at your kfx calibre input plugin, I could have answered my own question, huh?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Thanks. I guess if I'd bothered to look at your kfx calibre input plugin, I could have answered my own question, huh?

I don't mind answering questions about KFX. It would have taken some digging in the plugin to determine this.