Mobipocket Reader - recognizing directories

timezone · 11-23-2010, 09:10 PM

I have been reading Mobipocket books on the iRex Digital Reader. Many of the books are from Fictionwise. I got the new PID from the Mobipocket reader on my Slate and updated Fictionwise and downloaded a book. I also noticed all I had to do was supply the username and password for the location where the books were bought and the book opens. Appears to only need this once. I mentioned all of this to say I am able to read a book on the new device.

However I am unable to add to the Library the folder where the books are located. Nor can I do this with the filename. Of course this means I have to goto the folder to open the book rather than through the Mobipocket program. How can I get this to work? I did try to open up the folder where the book is located but I would rather be able to identify the folder where I have all my other folders located by Fiction, History, etc. Can I just identify the highest level folder or do I have to identify each folder where the books reside? Thank you

wallcraft · 11-23-2010, 09:19 PM

The Windows MobiPocket Reader (WMR) does not "know" about folders. If you open an ebook in a random folder by clicking on it, what it does is copy that ebook into its own single folder. I have these in My Documents\My eBooks\Mobipocket, but I think the default may be My Documents\My eBooks. Look in ? -> Settings -> Advanced for the location.

Also, when you open an existing ebook from FictionWise it will only have the DR1000's PID in it, so WMR logs on to FictionWise and gets a new copy with your WMR PID (and probably your DR1000 PID) inside it. This is then the copy in the WMR default directory (I don't think it updates the original).

The single directory layout is a hold over from the early days of Mobipocket when reading devices were PDAs.

timezone · 11-23-2010, 09:42 PM

Thanks for the quick reply. Certainly what I am seeing suggests you are correct about the folders. Why then does the Mobipocket Reader PC version in the File dropdown have a Add to Library -> add Folder or add File? It certainly appears as if you can set the folders. Or is that feature for something else?

I went back to Fictionwise and added the PID from the PC version to one of my books. However even without the PID the reader asked for the Fictionwise login/password. After entering it once I was able to access the book. Suggesting there is not a requirement to go back and add the new PID to all of my books.

timezone · 11-23-2010, 09:55 PM

Of course you were correct. I changed my file location and a book showed up. I then moved another book over to the same location and it also appeared. I will now move all of my books to this location.

Can you explain why they have the option to add a folder if it is not used?

wallcraft · 11-23-2010, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by timezone

Why then does the Mobipocket Reader PC version in the File dropdown have a Add to Library -> add Folder or add File? It certainly appears as if you can set the folders. Or is that feature for something else?

I went back to Fictionwise and added the PID from the PC version to one of my books. However even without the PID the reader asked for the Fictionwise login/password. After entering it once I was able to access the book. Suggesting there is not a requirement to go back and add the new PID to all of my books.

The Add to Library -> Add File does exactly the same as clicking on the file. A copy of the ebook is created in the standard MobiPocket directory. The Add Folder option does the same for all MOBI/PRC ebooks in that folder. I don't know if it also does sub-folders or not.

WMR will go out to FictionWise and redownload your ebooks for you, probably when you first open each for reading. Note that FictionWise is now part of B&N and may not be around forever. The MOBI format is essentially dead with no new reader software ever again from MobiPocket (the existing software still works, but there is no iPhone or Android mobipocket reader for example). This means that you need to make sure you have copies of all your MOBI ebooks, and I would argue that you need to have a DRM-free copy or at a minimum a list of your PIDs in a safe place. See Apprentice Alf's Blog (and the tools_v2.2a bundle) for more about DRM removal.

timezone · 11-23-2010, 10:33 PM

I agree with you regarding the future of Mobipocket. It is ashame and of course I don't want to lose the books I purchased. However I wonder about Fictionwise. I wrote to them about an issue and they honored my request to return my lost credits. I am also starting to get a lot of emails from them again. It seems to me they are again actively going after customers. Even if B&N closed them down they would want to transition all of these customers to their main site. Why lose the customer base? That would be plain stupid. It costs less to retain a customer than to get a new one.

As an example I created a directory \books. I added my books in this directory and they are now appearing in the Mobipocket Reader.

The reader created a \books\covers and \books\Covers\bookshelf

I tried moving what I thought were the covers to the books\covers directory but the covers do not appear until I click on the plain pink book image.

Should I move the books to \books\Covers\Bookshelf

Sometimes the books disappear and only reappear after closing and reopenning the program. I got to get off of this program.

Do you know how to recover the covers? Thanks again and I will check out the DRM conversion.

Are there any other readers for the PC that can read DRM Mobipocket books?

11-23-2010, 09:10 PM	#1
timezone Addict Posts: 244 Karma: 1232 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Boston, MA Device: Windows Phone7, Kindle Fire	Mobipocket Reader - recognizing directories I have been reading Mobipocket books on the iRex Digital Reader. Many of the books are from Fictionwise. I got the new PID from the Mobipocket reader on my Slate and updated Fictionwise and downloaded a book. I also noticed all I had to do was supply the username and password for the location where the books were bought and the book opens. Appears to only need this once. I mentioned all of this to say I am able to read a book on the new device. However I am unable to add to the Library the folder where the books are located. Nor can I do this with the filename. Of course this means I have to goto the folder to open the book rather than through the Mobipocket program. How can I get this to work? I did try to open up the folder where the book is located but I would rather be able to identify the folder where I have all my other folders located by Fiction, History, etc. Can I just identify the highest level folder or do I have to identify each folder where the books reside? Thank you

11-23-2010, 09:42 PM	#3
timezone Addict Posts: 244 Karma: 1232 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Boston, MA Device: Windows Phone7, Kindle Fire	Thanks for the quick reply. Certainly what I am seeing suggests you are correct about the folders. Why then does the Mobipocket Reader PC version in the File dropdown have a Add to Library -> add Folder or add File? It certainly appears as if you can set the folders. Or is that feature for something else? I went back to Fictionwise and added the PID from the PC version to one of my books. However even without the PID the reader asked for the Fictionwise login/password. After entering it once I was able to access the book. Suggesting there is not a requirement to go back and add the new PID to all of my books. Last edited by timezone; 11-23-2010 at 09:44 PM.

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11-23-2010, 09:19 PM	#2
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,977 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	The Windows MobiPocket Reader (WMR) does not "know" about folders. If you open an ebook in a random folder by clicking on it, what it does is copy that ebook into its own single folder. I have these in My Documents\My eBooks\Mobipocket, but I think the default may be My Documents\My eBooks. Look in ? -> Settings -> Advanced for the location. Also, when you open an existing ebook from FictionWise it will only have the DR1000's PID in it, so WMR logs on to FictionWise and gets a new copy with your WMR PID (and probably your DR1000 PID) inside it. This is then the copy in the WMR default directory (I don't think it updates the original). The single directory layout is a hold over from the early days of Mobipocket when reading devices were PDAs.

11-23-2010, 09:55 PM	#4
timezone Addict Posts: 244 Karma: 1232 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Boston, MA Device: Windows Phone7, Kindle Fire	Of course you were correct. I changed my file location and a book showed up. I then moved another book over to the same location and it also appeared. I will now move all of my books to this location. Can you explain why they have the option to add a folder if it is not used?

11-23-2010, 10:33 PM	#6
timezone Addict Posts: 244 Karma: 1232 Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Boston, MA Device: Windows Phone7, Kindle Fire	I agree with you regarding the future of Mobipocket. It is ashame and of course I don't want to lose the books I purchased. However I wonder about Fictionwise. I wrote to them about an issue and they honored my request to return my lost credits. I am also starting to get a lot of emails from them again. It seems to me they are again actively going after customers. Even if B&N closed them down they would want to transition all of these customers to their main site. Why lose the customer base? That would be plain stupid. It costs less to retain a customer than to get a new one. As an example I created a directory \books. I added my books in this directory and they are now appearing in the Mobipocket Reader. The reader created a \books\covers and \books\Covers\bookshelf I tried moving what I thought were the covers to the books\covers directory but the covers do not appear until I click on the plain pink book image. Should I move the books to \books\Covers\Bookshelf Sometimes the books disappear and only reappear after closing and reopenning the program. I got to get off of this program. Do you know how to recover the covers? Thanks again and I will check out the DRM conversion. Are there any other readers for the PC that can read DRM Mobipocket books?

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