Okay, seriously confused about MobiDeDrm

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Sure... this thread is like deja vu... perhaps a Wiki entry is in order?

BOb

Might be a good idea, as there are probably quiet a few members like me who actually learned how to do this just to strip DRM, and as such are not aware of how to change or modify things.

Also, being a bit lazy I don't like to spend ages converting books, especially when I've buy them by the dozen, so this was something I was keen to do for a while, but couldn't figure how to so asked here.

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Mobi2oeb is not quite the same. If you are mass converting, then you'll end up with the images all in the same images directory if you do it all in the same directory. But you could modify your script to sort out the eBooks based on the title and create seperate directories and move each eBook and go to each directory and then run the command. Mobi2oeb works way better then mobihuff. And in some cases, better then mobi2html.

So By default, Mobi2Oeb uncompress's all files to one folder?

Can you set which folder it uncompress's to, or does it only allow to the root folder.

If it does, could you use something similar to what you can do with Mobi2Html, where you can put an output folder, which in combination with the FOR command

For %%i in (*.prc) Do mobi2html.exe %%i %%~ni

Extracts all the files (images and all) in a ebook to a folder of the same name

[JSWolf]

Usage: mobi2oeb [options] myebook.mobi

Whenever you pass arguments to mobi2oeb that have spaces in them, enclose the ar
guments in quotation marks.

Options:
--version show program's version number and exit

-h, --help show this help message and exit

-o OUTPUT_DIR, --output-dir=OUTPUT_DIR
Output directory. Defaults to current directory.

--verbose Useful for debugging.


Created by Kovid Goyal <kovid@kovidgoyal.net>

You can set what output directory you want to extract to.

[ritibelle]

Sorry if I'm being dumb, but where do I find the mobi2oeb.py?
I've tried Calibre but as far as I can see it only converts to lrf and I wanted to convert my prc file to html.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by ritibelle

where do I find the mobi2oeb.py?

This is a command-line utility that is included with Calibre. If you installed Calibre this command should already be in your "path" and so to use it just type mobi2oeb in any command window.

[Justy]

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

Just an update that the Batch command really works well with MobiDeDRM, using the following syntex

For %%i in (*.prc) Do mobiddrm04.py %%i %%~ni-1.prc PID

pause

MOdified it slightly to leave the original file there, so that there is less chance of confusion

Thank you for posting this, it works a charm and has already saved me sooo much time with my bulk purchases and downloads.

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by Justy

Thank you for posting this, it works a charm and has already saved me sooo much time with my bulk purchases and downloads.

Your Welcome, But the real thanks go to Pilotbob, DaleDe and JSwolf for having the patience for talking me through the modifications, and answering any queries.

I've used this script, slightly modified to create bat files for MobiDeDRM, eReader2html, mobi2html, mobihuff, etc so its really easy to do batches of files.

[ritibelle]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

just type mobi2oeb in any command window.

After discovering you were talking about dos, not python it was indeed not that difficult.

Thanks for the heads up!

[Justy]

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

Your Welcome, But the real thanks go to Pilotbob, DaleDe and JSwolf for having the patience for talking me through the modifications, and answering any queries.

My heartfelt Thanks go out to Pilotbob, DaleDe, and JSwolf!!! Chocolate of your choosing to all of you!

[koland]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Frankly I have come to the conclusion that people that basically use a PC for Web/Mail are much better off with Mac/Linux than Windows. They are much safer and you can use a much less powerful (cheaper) PC and get better performance to boot.

Every Mac I see advertised is roughly double the price of an equivalent PC - been that way since about the time the Mac was invented (maybe since about the IIc). And as badly as they handle Windows, the thought of them having to cope with linux is even more scary.

What they need are windows terminals that just play on the web (for real apps, they hook up to managed terminal servers, where hopefully someone that knows what they are doing does the installs and backups).

[koland]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

Actually one batch should do it.

The command would appear like:

For %%i in (*.pdb) Do command parameters.

Where command is the python script and the parameters are the standard arguments for the script. Use %%i wherever you need the file name.

Yes, but this leaves the original behind (perhaps to be converted again), while using a second batch file lets you add commands to move it out of the way (rather than depending on the user to remember to do so). For mobidedrm, this is even more essential, at least if you want both the original and the new file to have the same name - my 2nd batch file does the conversion, moves the original, renames the new file and then moves it to a different directory. One directory always has the originals, the other those ready to read and if the conversion directory is clean, there is nothing new to convert.

But, I do have a question -- if I have an epub, what is the best way to convert it to mobi?

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by koland

if I have an epub, what is the best way to convert it to mobi?

To convert a DRM-free ePub to MOBI, import it to Windows MobiPocket Reader (MOBI will be in the standard MobiPocket ebook directory) or use the command line program mobigen from MobiPocket (WIndows or Linux).

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by koland

Every Mac I see advertised is roughly double the price of an equivalent PC - been that way since about the time the Mac was invented (maybe since about the IIc). And as badly as they handle Windows, the thought of them having to cope with linux is even more scary.

Ok... double is certainly an exaggeration. But, I said Mac/Linux meaning one or the other... not a Mac running Linux. You can buy a basic Dell desktop with Linux on it for less (about $120) than a Dell with Windows on it. But, if you want better support and usability (in my opinion) go with the Mac.

A Mac mini (1.83Ghz Core 2 Duo, 1GB Ram, 80Gb hard drive) is $600. Then you will need a monitor and keyboard mouse. A similar Dell Vostro is probably around $400 or so. Not quite 1/2. BUt then again "low end" machines isn't really Apples market.

Still, if you do get the Dell, get it with Ubuntu. I still contend your average Web Surfing eMailer will be much safer with Ubuntu that with Windows. Firefox is pretty much the same on both systems.

BOb

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by koland

Yes, but this leaves the original behind (perhaps to be converted again), while using a second batch file lets you add commands to move it out of the way (rather than depending on the user to remember to do so). For mobidedrm, this is even more essential, at least if you want both the original and the new file to have the same name - my 2nd batch file does the conversion, moves the original, renames the new file and then moves it to a different directory. One directory always has the originals, the other those ready to read and if the conversion directory is clean, there is nothing new to convert.

But, I do have a question -- if I have an epub, what is the best way to convert it to mobi?

You don't need a second batch file, just a second line in the one you start with, unless you need to do this independently of the first task.

To convert an ePUB to mobi download the latest version of the Windows Mobipocket Reader and then you can simply drag the epub file to the reader icon.

Dale

[koland]

Originally Posted by DaleDe

You don't need a second batch file, just a second line in the one you start with, unless you need to do this independently of the first task.

But the FOR command only works on the one command, not on a second command in the same batch file. So, for example, you can process a bunch of ereader files, naming the directories the same as the original file, but all of them will be called book.html, which means more work to change those names before converting to another format (such as using mobicreator). Sure, you could move all the originals out when done - but if you are downloading more while the batch file is running, they can be skipped; using two batch files both ensures this doesn't happen and lets you rename that book.html file that gets created (as well as do anything else you want to do).

If using mobidedrm, you must either name the new file with a variation of the original name use a combo of two directories in the one command (which can be a bit trickier to do, but it is possible. It is just easier to use two commands.

A side benefit of the two commands - you can call the "fix" command at the command line and watch what it does, which can help with debugging, and it runs all the steps for one book. A "fixall" command then only needs the for loop in it and you can then drop a shortcut on the desktop. Once set up, the end user need know nothing (the batch files could also copy the files to a reader (if plugged in or nteworked ) or send them via email, providing you have the write expertise and software to set this up, having them magically appear on a reader with just a single click, after downloading to the correct directory on the desktop.

To convert an ePUB to mobi download the latest version of the Windows Mobipocket Reader and then you can simply drag the epub file to the reader icon.

I'll give the reader another shot - the version I have claims to do that, but looks pretty bad when you do. Does it create a PRC or MOBI file or just copy the epub into it's directory (not that I could not look it up, I'm just being lazy)