One little validation error -- forgiveable?

[Psymon]

Just as an experiment, I thought I'd add an audio (MP3) file to my ebook, to see if it would work, following Liz Castro's tutorial on how to do it (I even sprung a whopping $5 on her book about adding audio/video). Apparently audio and video only currently work in iPads and Nooks, but I can certainly attest that they do indeed work no problem in the former (I don't have a Nook, but I'll take her word for it).

The only problem is that adding in the <audio> tag gives my perfectly-valid ebook an error (or series of errors) related to that tag.

Okay, so now my book doesn't validate -- but just how disastrous is that, considering it's merely because of that audio file? For devices that don't support it, they get a "Sorry, your device doesn't support embedded audio" message instead, so what's the big deal?

Is it utterly sacriligious (so to speak) to have an ebook with just that error, related to the included audio file? Or is this so heinous that I should just scrap it and not put it in at all?

[mrmikel]

It all depends on whether you want it published by one of the major booksellers.

If it is just for you, it can have 50 errors and if it doesn't crash your book, it makes no difference. If you intend for others to read it, like in the MR library, you will make no friends posting a buggy book.

[Psymon]

I wish there was some kind of hack to get it to validate, despite that <audio> code. I know that I can convert it from EPUB2 to EPUB3, but that's a pain to do, makes making any changes difficult (because I do all my editing in Sigil, as EPUB2, and then I'd have to re-convert to 3 each time), not to mention there are compatibility limitations with 3, of course.

I may just scrap it, I suppose -- but it's such a shame, because for those readers that can play audio files, it's so nice to actually hear the music that I'm including sheet music for in my book (as per another thread I started on here).

[JSWolf]

If you want audio, you'll need to make sure it's an ePub 3 eBook and not an ePub 2.

[Psymon]

I gather there's no software that can just take my EPUB2 file and just "instantly convert" it to 3? I looked around, but all I could find was tutorials on how to convert it in the code, "manually" (which is a pain, especially if/when I might make changes/corrections down the road -- which is quite possible).

And aren't there compatibility issues with EPUB3, that many readers (especially older readers) can't view those?

[odedta]

You can create a valid epub3 with audio tags...

[JSWolf]

Some publishers have been releasing ePub 3 eBooks that work fine with ADE. Try making yours a true ePub 3 and run it through ADE 2 and see if it works. If it works (except for the audio), then it would work on most ADE compatible Readers.

[Psymon]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Some publishers have been releasing ePub 3 eBooks that work fine with ADE. Try making yours a true ePub 3 and run it through ADE 2 and see if it works. If it works (except for the audio), then it would work on most ADE compatible Readers.

Well, that's an interesting suggestion, except as I was saying it would be a pain to edit as EPUB2, convert to 3, then find that down the road I need to make corrections or something (which I can see being possible -- this is a HUGE book with lots of articles, etc. from different sources, and there could be errors in there that I'll find out about down the road), and then have to keep doing that 2-to-3 conversion over and over again.

Plus I've never done anything with EPUB3 before, it's all new to me. I did find this site...

http://sketchytech.blogspot.ca/2014/...learnt-in.html

...which seems to go through what you need to do, step-by-step, but it would be so handy if there was some program that can do the conversion with the click of a button, all automated.

Is there, do you know?

[Toxaris]

That software does not exist. It is probably not that difficult to program if you want. Conversion is not a big deal. Editing the result, that is tricky since there are no real good ePUB3 editors.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Toxaris

That software does not exist. It is probably not that difficult to program if you want. Conversion is not a big deal. Editing the result, that is tricky since there are no real good ePUB3 editors.

I don't think calibre's editor would care about epub3. As long as you didn't run an auto-fix or something, it should be able to edit and save an epub3. Mainly just a couple of tweaks to the OPF file to poof a plain-jane epub2 into an epub3, no? I mean you don't HAVE to convert everything to HTML5/CSS3 and add a nav document (though it isn't that hard). I would think a valid Sigil epub2 with just an audiofile added would be fairly painless and quick to change into an epub3. And could still be (carefully) edited/saved with calibre's editor. Just have to make sure to turn off the feature that autmatically updates the metadata when opening a calibre library book for editing (or edit the book outside of calibre's library).

[odedta]

Upgrading an epub2 to an epub3 is really easy with Calibre

[Psymon]

Originally Posted by odedta

Upgrading an epub2 to an epub3 is really easy with Calibre

It is? Um, okay... I've fired up Calibre, added my book (as it is now -- still work to do on it, but just thought I'd try this out), clicked on the "Convert books" button...

...and now I'm stuck. All I see is an "EPUB" option, I can't see anywhere to change which version of EPUB. Poked around in some of the other buttons/places, but I just don't see where/how.

I anxiously await your response (so to speak -- whenever you have a moment).

PS/Edit: If this is indeed possible, and fairly simple, so that if -- or, rather when -- I eventually need to make changes/corrections to my book that I can just go back and edit the EPUB2 version in Sigil, and then, as DiapDealer said...

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

poof a plain-jane epub2 into an epub3

That would be nice, if I can just keep doing my book in Sigil, and then just "poof" it (in a veritable moment, and with ridiculous ease) with Calibre into an EPUB3 that validates no prob.

[eschwartz]

http://manual.calibre-ebook.com/edit.html

There is no auto-convert... but coding the changes yourself should involve a minimum of pain, and the editor will happily edit your EPUB3. Only the automatic tools care about EPUB2 vs. EPUB3.

[DiapDealer]

I would think that if you have no epub3-specific metadata needs, simply changing the package version in the OPF file would be enough to make it become an epub3.

But as eschwartz indicated... I was talking about editing it into an epub3 with calibre's editor, not converting it.

[Psymon]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I would think that if you have no epub3-specific metadata needs, simply changing the package version in the OPF file would be enough to make it become an epub3.

I guess what I don't really have is very much of an understanding of 2 vs. 3 -- even after decades of doing web design (and now ebooks), things like the doctype, etc. were always somewhat of a mystery to me.

That site I pointed to before here...

http://sketchytech.blogspot.ca/2014/...learnt-in.html

...seemed to indicate that there's a fair number of things that need to be changed in order to do the conversion correctly. I suppose after you've done it once it's probably not too big a deal, but having never done it before, just looking at that page, I can just picture myself getting confused at it (I'm a bit slow/stupid at times).

Plus I'm so happy with Sigil as my editor. I don't know how easy Calibre is for editing code -- is it comparable to Sigil, do you find (those of you who have used both)?

Elsewhere, in another thread here, it was suggested that I just point readers to a web link instead, where they could hear the audio file -- I suppose that's always another route that I could go, too. That would certainly keep things simple (for stupid little ol' me).