Help with .mobi files

Biteme81 · 09-19-2012, 11:19 PM

I have copied .Mobi books onto my Kobo Touch but it is only showing a single page and not the whole book. Has anyone else had this problem and how did you solve it????

DustyDisks · 09-19-2012, 11:51 PM

This probably will be moved.

Any Kindle questions will be answered faster and the
correct sub forum to post in is the

Amazon Kindle forum, Just below this one.

pidgeon92 · 09-20-2012, 12:42 AM

I think the Kobo subforum would be better. I just looked at the specs for the Touch, and apparently it does do .mobi natively.

HarryT · 09-20-2012, 01:22 AM

Moved to the Kobo forum.

davidfor · 09-20-2012, 03:21 AM

Does the mobi file have DRM? If so, the Kobo can't read them. For other mobi files, some work fine and others have problems. Mostly the problems are with the formatting. They just don't quite display properly. I have given up trying and simply convert them to epub with calibre. The Kobo handles this perfectly.

Biteme81 · 09-21-2012, 01:13 AM

Thank you

mr-j0nes · 10-10-2012, 12:33 PM

I have the same problem, even after converting to epub. Says the book is only 1 page long and when I try to turn the page on the kobo it goes back to the home screen. Any other suggestions?
Strange thing is, I've used exactly the same .mobi files before and they have worked.

davidfor · 10-10-2012, 06:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mr-j0nes

I have the same problem, even after converting to epub. Says the book is only 1 page long and when I try to turn the page on the kobo it goes back to the home screen. Any other suggestions?
Strange thing is, I've used exactly the same .mobi files before and they have worked.

If there is not DRM in the book, the conversion should work. It is possible there is an error in the book structure that means it doesn't convert properly. I'd have to see either the mobi or the epub to get an idea.

davidfor · 10-30-2012, 06:48 AM

mr-j0nes sent me a few mobi books to look at. Some of them had the one page only problem, and some seemed to be OK. The interesting thing is that the one-page books had the zoom icon instead of the fonts icon when the bottom bar was displayed.

It looks like the first page is rendered as an image. The zoom icon works to zoom in and then move the page around the screen.

I pulled a few books apart and I can only see one difference between the good and bad books. The working books have the text wrapped in <div>'s. The bad ones, don't have this. I don't know if this is the reason for the problem or not.

I did convert a few of the non-working to epub. mr-j0nes said he had problem with at least one of these stopping after only 15 pages. I didn't have any problems with any of them. I didn't actually read them, just kept tapping the screen to page forward while I was reading this forum. I only tried two or three, so I might have missed the bad one.

MisterBuggie · 10-30-2012, 08:51 AM

....I didn't even know the KT would accept .mobi files. I always convert them.

david, was the text properly declared in the manifest? If the only page is a fake-text cover, it sounds like the mobi file isn't even aware of there being any text in the book, or at least that the manifest isn't formatted properly for the KT to understand.

davidfor · 10-31-2012, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterBuggie

....I didn't even know the KT would accept .mobi files. I always convert them.

That makes two of us. I have tested them in the past, and wasn't happy with the results. Converting them always gave better results. Plus I could fiddle with the epub if needed.

Quote:

david, was the text properly declared in the manifest? If the only page is a fake-text cover, it sounds like the mobi file isn't even aware of there being any text in the book, or at least that the manifest isn't formatted properly for the KT to understand.

I don't know the mobi format very well, but didn't notice an obvious errors. Does the following look correct?

Code:

<manifest>
<item id="item0" media-type="text/x-oeb1-document" href="The Hard Way_ A Reacher Novel - Lee Child.html" />
<item id="cover_img" media-type="image/jpeg" href="Images/image00001.jpeg" />
<item id="ncx" media-type="application/x-dtbncx+xml" href="The Hard Way_ A Reacher Novel - Lee Child.ncx"></item>
</manifest>
<spine toc="ncx">
<itemref idref="item0"/>
</spine>
<tours>
</tours>
<guide>
<reference type="toc" title="Table of Contents" href="The Hard Way_ A Reacher Novel - Lee Child.html#filepos1025333" />
</guide>

MisterBuggie · 11-01-2012, 01:47 PM

No syntax errors that I can see. I take it you have checked that the filename "The Hard Way_ A Reacher Novel - Lee Child.html" is correct, there's not so much as a capitalisation out of place (given that Windows doesn't care about capitals, but linux does) and contains all of the text that's not being displayed.

I don't know that much about the mobi format either, but if you forward the books I can take a look and see if I can work out what's going on. I might see something you missed.

davidfor · 11-01-2012, 10:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MisterBuggie

No syntax errors that I can see. I take it you have checked that the filename "The Hard Way_ A Reacher Novel - Lee Child.html" is correct, there's not so much as a capitalisation out of place (given that Windows doesn't care about capitals, but linux does) and contains all of the text that's not being displayed.

I thought of the case when I posted above. I checked it quickly by eye and it seemed to be OK.

Quote:

I don't know that much about the mobi format either, but if you forward the books I can take a look and see if I can work out what's going on. I might see something you missed.

I sent you a PM.

jlg432 · 11-02-2012, 11:16 AM

A trick I use if I am not happy with the mobi to epub conversion in Calibre is to add a middle step. I convert from mobi to txt then quickly check out the txt file (within Calibre) and then format from txt to epub. This even adds a TOC sometimes when the mobi to epub doesn't. As the txt reside in the same folder as the mobi file the book cover is usually added to the epub file automatically.

John

MisterBuggie · 11-02-2012, 12:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by davidfor

I thought of the case when I posted above. I checked it quickly by eye and it seemed to be OK.

I sent you a PM.

Thanks. The problem is in the HTML file itself, but I'm unable to figure out why. I compared it with some other mobi files I had, and removed any tags that werent' in the working ones (basically the <font> because of the rgb use, the <div> and some pagebreak tags), but that didn't help. Adding only the html file back to calibre and converting back to mobi still caused the same problem. I can't explain why the first page is treated like an image, as there is no image of the text, and no image at all in the mobi file once I stripped it and converted it back.
Sending the html straight to the KT without conversion did work though, although exiting the book by pressing home took a while.

The only thing I can think of is the TOC is at the end (but declared at the beginning). But I wouldn't want to move it because of the filepos references that I don't know how to update.

As the conversion to epub works fine, I can only suggest converting it and forgetting about the mobi format.

09-19-2012, 11:19 PM	#1
Biteme81 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Kobo Touch	Help with .mobi files I have copied .Mobi books onto my Kobo Touch but it is only showing a single page and not the whole book. Has anyone else had this problem and how did you solve it????

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09-19-2012, 11:51 PM	#2
DustyDisks Old Fart In Training Posts: 534 Karma: 2742476 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Gladewater, Texas Device: K3+3g/KFHD 7"/Nexus 7/Nexus 7.2	This probably will be moved. Any Kindle questions will be answered faster and the correct sub forum to post in is the Amazon Kindle forum, Just below this one.

09-20-2012, 12:42 AM	#3
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	I think the Kobo subforum would be better. I just looked at the specs for the Touch, and apparently it does do .mobi natively.

09-20-2012, 01:22 AM	#4
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Moved to the Kobo forum.

09-20-2012, 03:21 AM	#5
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	Does the mobi file have DRM? If so, the Kobo can't read them. For other mobi files, some work fine and others have problems. Mostly the problems are with the formatting. They just don't quite display properly. I have given up trying and simply convert them to epub with calibre. The Kobo handles this perfectly.

09-21-2012, 01:13 AM	#6
Biteme81 Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2012 Device: Kobo Touch	Thank you

10-10-2012, 12:33 PM	#7
mr-j0nes Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kobo	I have the same problem, even after converting to epub. Says the book is only 1 page long and when I try to turn the page on the kobo it goes back to the home screen. Any other suggestions? Strange thing is, I've used exactly the same .mobi files before and they have worked.

10-30-2012, 06:48 AM	#9
davidfor Grand Sorcerer Posts: 24,905 Karma: 47303824 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Sydney, Australia Device: Kobo:Touch,Glo, AuraH2O, GloHD,AuraONE, ClaraHD, Libra H2O; tolinoepos	mr-j0nes sent me a few mobi books to look at. Some of them had the one page only problem, and some seemed to be OK. The interesting thing is that the one-page books had the zoom icon instead of the fonts icon when the bottom bar was displayed. It looks like the first page is rendered as an image. The zoom icon works to zoom in and then move the page around the screen. I pulled a few books apart and I can only see one difference between the good and bad books. The working books have the text wrapped in <div>'s. The bad ones, don't have this. I don't know if this is the reason for the problem or not. I did convert a few of the non-working to epub. mr-j0nes said he had problem with at least one of these stopping after only 15 pages. I didn't have any problems with any of them. I didn't actually read them, just kept tapping the screen to page forward while I was reading this forum. I only tried two or three, so I might have missed the bad one.

10-30-2012, 08:51 AM	#10
MisterBuggie Enthusiast Posts: 46 Karma: 4388 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura H20 2nd edition	....I didn't even know the KT would accept .mobi files. I always convert them. david, was the text properly declared in the manifest? If the only page is a fake-text cover, it sounds like the mobi file isn't even aware of there being any text in the book, or at least that the manifest isn't formatted properly for the KT to understand.

11-01-2012, 01:47 PM	#12
MisterBuggie Enthusiast Posts: 46 Karma: 4388 Join Date: Oct 2012 Device: Kobo Touch, Kobo Aura H20 2nd edition	No syntax errors that I can see. I take it you have checked that the filename "The Hard Way_ A Reacher Novel - Lee Child.html" is correct, there's not so much as a capitalisation out of place (given that Windows doesn't care about capitals, but linux does) and contains all of the text that's not being displayed. I don't know that much about the mobi format either, but if you forward the books I can take a look and see if I can work out what's going on. I might see something you missed.

11-02-2012, 11:16 AM	#14
jlg432 Addict Posts: 237 Karma: 15786 Join Date: Apr 2010 Device: jetBook, ALP, Pandigital 7"Color(Black+ White), Kyros MID7015a	A trick I use if I am not happy with the mobi to epub conversion in Calibre is to add a middle step. I convert from mobi to txt then quickly check out the txt file (within Calibre) and then format from txt to epub. This even adds a TOC sometimes when the mobi to epub doesn't. As the txt reside in the same folder as the mobi file the book cover is usually added to the epub file automatically. John