Epub file but its messed up...

[primetime34]

So I have an epub file that, when I import it in Calibre, it shows the title as if it should work, but once I actually try to open it, I get nonsense that doesn't work. I'm trying to put it on my phone to open with Moon Reader+ so I can listen to it.

Any help?

Here is the book (hope this is okay)

[BetterRed]

Moderator Notice
I'm assuming its the Hearts of Children series by Dean Hughes, in which case I'm 99.9% sure it's still under copyright, so I deleted the link - read the Guidelines, there's a link in the blue bar at the bottom of every page. There's a good chance you'll get banned if you do it again

BR

[primetime34]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

I'm assuming its the Hearts of Children series by Dean Hughes, in which case I'm 99.9% sure it's still under copyright, so I deleted the link - read the Guidelines, there's a link in the blue bar at the bottom of every page. There's a good chance you'll get banned if you do it again

BR

Fair point...I (wrongly) assumed it wasn't a big deal since the book isn't actually usable or readable (at least not that I figure)...is there any way to have somebody look at the file without breaking forum rules? I certainly don't want to do that. Thanks.

[BetterRed]

Originally Posted by primetime34

So I have an epub file that, when I import it in Calibre, it shows the title as if it should work, but once I actually try to open it, I get nonsense that doesn't work. I'm trying to put it on my phone to open with Moon Reader+ so I can listen to it.

Any help?

Here is the book (hope this is okay)

Can you read it on your desktop computer with the calibre ebook-reader. If not it may have DRM protection.

Added : We are not allowed to help with DRM directly (not that I know much about it anyway) - apart from suggesting you find Apprentice Alf's site on the web.

BR

[primetime34]

It doesn't ready on my desktop computer with calibre. It's possible it has DRM, but I doubt it. I originally got it as a folder with a structure like this:

Folder titled: META-INF
Folder titled: OEBPS
File titled: mimetype

There are lots of files/folders inside those other two folders.

Consequently, I zipped it up and changed the extension from .zip to .epub, which I have done before and it has worked.

What am I missing?

[BetterRed]

If you bought this from Deseret I note their site says this

eBooks and Audiobooks (MP3) are delivered instantly to the Deseret Bookshelf app. They are not compatible with Kindle or other e-reader devices. Digital items cannot be gifted.

That suggests to me that their books have DRM protection of some kind. Maybe someone familiar with Deseret will be able to help you, I've never heard of them.

BR

[primetime34]

Originally Posted by BetterRed

If you bought this from Deseret I note their site says this



That suggests to me that their books have DRM protection of some kind. Maybe someone familiar with Deseret will be able to help you, I've never heard of them.

BR

I've done this exact process with many books and it has worked everytime, except with this particular book so I doubt it is DRM. Thanks.

[davidfor]

Originally Posted by primetime34

I've done this exact process with many books and it has worked everytime, except with this particular book so I doubt it is DRM. Thanks.

Have you looked at the content of any of the files? If you can read them and see the various HTML tags, it probably doesn't have DRM and the other files have errors. If it did have DRM, then these files will encrypted and unreadable.

[primetime34]

The container.xml file inside the META-INF folder opens up in chrome just fine.

All the images in the images subfolder of OEBPS open just fine.

The main.css file inside the "Styles" subfolder of OEBPS opens just fine.

All of the xhtml files inside the "Text" subfolder of OEBPS gives me the same error in chrome: The Page Contains the Following Errors: error on line 1 at column 1: Document in Empty

There are 169 of these xhtml files and they all do the same thing, but they are of various sizes.

Any ideas with this?

[davidfor]

I wasn't explicit about it, but I meant for you to open the files in a text editor. If they are readable and show the tags, then it probably isn't encrypted. But, I'm expecting that they are and you will see a random set of characters or the text editor will refuse to open it because it is a binary file.

If nothing appears to be encrypted, then open the ePub in either the calibre editor or Sigil. See what they think. And run the error checking routines.

[primetime34]

If I open the xhtml files in a text editor, I get the same garbled set of random characters that I get when I open them in calibre.

Opening it in the calibre editor shows me the same set of random characters.

I don't know what the error checking routines are...

Thanks

[JSWolf]

Validate it with epubcheck 4.0.2 and see what sort of errors you may get. There's a plugin for using epubcheck with the Calibre editor.

[dwig]

Originally Posted by primetime34

If I open the xhtml files in a text editor, I get the same garbled set of random characters that I get when I open them in calibre.

Opening it in the calibre editor shows me the same set of random characters.

I don't know what the error checking routines are...

Thanks

It sounds like the book does have a form of DRM, a proprietary type that doesn't "lock" the container but instead encodes the xHTML files. Their custom app would then use its internal "Magic Decoder Ring" to decode the content.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by primetime34

If I open the xhtml files in a text editor, I get the same garbled set of random characters that I get when I open them in calibre.

Opening it in the calibre editor shows me the same set of random characters.

I don't know what the error checking routines are...

Thanks

That is the DRM'd part. It only affects TEXT section (Mime and the OPF, CSS need to be clear text)

[primetime34]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Validate it with epubcheck 4.0.2 and see what sort of errors you may get. There's a plugin for using epubcheck with the Calibre editor.

Every single one of the xhtml files gives an RSC-016 "Fatal error while parsing file 'content is not allowed in prolog.'" and error RSC-005 "Error while parsing file 'Content is not allowed in prolog."

It also gives this error:

ERROR PKG-006 Hearts of the Children 5-Volume Set Bundle.epub Mimetype file entry is missing or is not the first file in the archive.