Mobi2Mobi Mobi2Mobi v0.13 - GUI for Mobiperl tools

[Jad]

Originally Posted by morninglory

I have downloaded mobiperl-win-0.0.43, mobi2mobi GUI VB v9, and MS .NET Framework 3.5, I unzipped everything, when I open mobi2mobi, under the Mobi2Mobi Dir block it says "No Mobi2Mobi Here". Followed the directions step by step. What am I doing wrong?

If you have installed the Perl version then you will need to manually add the .PL extension to the Mobi2Mobi file so it is recognised by Windows. From the GUI you then point to that file. If you are using the Windows binary (which is a bit easier) then you just need to point to the wherever you have the Mobi2Mobi.exe file.

The GUI is developed under Windows 7 and works fine, well at least for me =8), you shouldn't need to install .NET 3.5 as it comes standard as part of Windows 7 as far as I'm aware.

Also as previously noted, you might be better off using Calibre.

[DiapDealer]

Tome... I'm not familiar with using the CLI tools that come with Calibre... I use the GUI. Yes, you can change the metadata only. Since the Calibre GUI just drives the CLI tools, I expect you can do it at the CLI.

Actually, you're not truly saving any metadata changes to mobi files with Calibre unless you do a conversion (mobi to mobi). Until you do that conversion, the metadata you modify in Calibre is all maintained within Calibre's database and the original mobi is untouched. It's pretty hard to do a mobi to mobi conversion without introducing some changes (albeit very subtle) to the book's formatting.

Mobi2mobi modifies header records without altering the rest of the mobi in any way.

[olaf]

I started using Mobi2Mobi because Calibre can NOT do everything Mobi2Mobi does. If you want to change the clipping limit, or the TTS switch, Mobi2Mobi can do that - Calibre can not. Mobi2mobi can also update the file in place - you don't have to copy things back and forth to your PC.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by olaf

If you want to change the clipping limit, or the TTS switch, Mobi2Mobi can do that - Calibre can not.

Just be warned that you can no longer modify the TTS switch OR the clipping limit on DRM'ed Amazon ebooks. Doing so will render the ebook unreadable.

If the ebooks are already DRM free, there is no issue.

[morninglory]

Thanks everyone for your responses. I finally figured it out, it was where I was placing the files. I did download Calibre also, but for some reason I like Mobi2mobi better, but I do use Calibre when mobi doesn't work (which has only been on 3 books, so far).

I don't think anyone can answer this, but I feel the need to complain about it. We are stationed in Japan, so I download to the computer than transfer to the kindle. I have 2 kindles on the same amazon account and I have to download the same book twice to put it on each kindle. I don't understand this. Why can't I download it once and then be able to read it on either kindle without downloading it twice and having to have two seperate backups for the same book. I also have to change the metadata in both downloads. It seems if you were on the same account you should not have to do this twice or more. Considering getting a kindle for my husband but I do not want to do the downloads three different times for each book.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by morninglory

I don't think anyone can answer this, but I feel the need to complain about it. We are stationed in Japan, so I download to the computer than transfer to the kindle. I have 2 kindles on the same amazon account and I have to download the same book twice to put it on each kindle. I don't understand this. Why can't I download it once and then be able to read it on either kindle without downloading it twice and having to have two seperate backups for the same book. I also have to change the metadata in both downloads. It seems if you were on the same account you should not have to do this twice or more. Considering getting a kindle for my husband but I do not want to do the downloads three different times for each book.

Because the books are encrypted for a specific Kindle... not for a specific account. This keeps you from being able to share ebooks with your other Kindle friends.

If you want to d/l it once, get Kindle 4PC, Calibre and Apprentice Alf's scripts... are you d/l the book to K4PC you can add it to Calibre and it will be "liberated" and then you can use that single copy on all of your Kindles... oh and you can convert it to ePub to use on your iPad or Sony too. (for example)

BOb

[morninglory]

Yeah, I figured that was the case, but I think they should be able to make it available to the account since the kindles are attached to the account itself, but whatever, just more work for me to do. Is there specific scripts I need and where do I go to get them? Thanks again for the help.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by morninglory

Yeah, I figured that was the case, but I think they should be able to make it available to the account since the kindles are attached to the account itself, but whatever, just more work for me to do. Is there specific scripts I need and where do I go to get them? Thanks again for the help.

Just google for Apprentice Alf and you should find what you need.

BOb

[bwaldron]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I don't want to fault mobi2mobi or the GUI that was created for it. It is a great effort and works well. However, any thing you need it for can also be done with Calbre, which gives you a nice easy to use GUI to edit stuff as you want.

I love Calibre ... but (while it comes closer than it used to) it cannot do everything that the Mobiperl tools do.

[keegon]

Ok, so I've attempted to fix this with all kinds of installs, previous versions, etc, but still can't get my mobi2mobi gui to work. I have a windows 7 PC with Mobi2Mobi_GUI_VB_v9 (previous versions 7 and 5) installed using PERL mobiperl-win-0.0.43 (attempted with 42, 40, etc). Windows 7 all ready has .NET 3.5. I receive the error below whenever I attempt to open an .azw file that I want to modify. Any help would be greatly appreciated. I prefer mobi2mobi to Calibre, so please assist!

[DiapDealer]

I receive the error below whenever I attempt to open an .azw file that I want to modify.

Any azw... or just some?
Some azw's from Amazon have been slipping through with no Palm database name, and those books will result in the error you are seeing. Using the command-line mobiperl, you can give those azw's a Palm database name, and then the gui should be able to open them.

[keegon]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Any azw... or just some?
Some azw's from Amazon have been slipping through with no Palm database name, and those books will result in the error you are seeing. Using the command-line mobiperl, you can give those azw's a Palm database name, and then the gui should be able to open them.

All of them.

[DiapDealer]

Still worth a shot checking the database name with the command-line mobi2mobi, no? I just downloaded one of my newest Amazon purchases and I get the exact same error message you are getting (except that I'm still on Vista). Sure enough, the file has no database name. Giving it a database name with the command-line version of mobi2mobi makes the file then work fine with Mobi2Mobi-Gui .

By the way... I'm not sure what you're planning to do with mobi2mobi, but in case you're looking to change the clipping limit or TTS flag on DRMed Amazon azw files, that doesn't work anymore. If you change either of those records while the ebook still contains DRM, the ebook will be unreadable on your devices.

Just a heads-up, of course. You may have other needs that mobi2mobi will work fine for.

[keegon]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Still worth a shot checking the database name with the command-line mobi2mobi, no? I just downloaded one of my newest Amazon purchases and I get the exact same error message you are getting (except that I'm still on Vista). Sure enough, the file has no database name. Giving it a database name with the command-line version of mobi2mobi makes the file then work fine with Mobi2Mobi-Gui .

By the way... I'm not sure what you're planning to do with mobi2mobi, but in case you're looking to change the clipping limit or TTS flag on DRMed Amazon azw files, that doesn't work anymore. If you change either of those records while the ebook still contains DRM, the ebook will be unreadable on your devices.

Just a heads-up, of course. You may have other needs that mobi2mobi will work fine for.

Yeah, that'd be great if I actually knew what you were talking about. How do I use the database with the command prompt? I've basically just gone off the "how-to" from the wikipage.

[DiapDealer]

For simplicity's sake, put one of the azw files in the same folder as mobi2mobi.exe (not the gui program, the folder where all the mobiperl executables are). Then open a command prompt and change (cd) to that folder.

Typing:

mobi2mobi bookname.azw

...and hitting Enter will spit out everything that is known about the file. At the top of that list will be "Database name:" The title of the book (or part of the title) should appear there. If there is nothing there, then the file won't work with Mobi2Mobi-Gui. In that case:

Typing:

mobi2mobi --databasename "Some_Name 32_characters or less" --outfile "New ebook file name so I don't screw up the original one.azw" "bookname.azw"

...and hitting Enter will create a new azw file (with the name you gave for the --outfile parameter) that should work with Mobi2Mobi-Gui.