Content Master List of Books with Known Formatting Issues

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I dunno, I bought it from the Sony Connect store via their library software. The "info" button on my 505 says BBeb is all I know.

When you view book info it should show you the path/filename also.

BOb

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

I dunno, I bought it from the Sony Connect store via their library software. The "info" button on my 505 says BBeb is all I know.

LRX so it has DRM.

[koland]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

(re: turn coat): As for the duplicated text, that's unique to the Kindle edition. Neither the Mobipocket or MS Reader have it.

yes, the mobipocket version (from fictionwise) does. And in an earlier chapters as well.

Karen
http://booksontheknob.blogspot.com/

[JSWolf]

Please have a look at https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=45548 so we can hopefully get a forum where topics like this can have a proper home.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by koland

yes, the mobipocket version (from fictionwise) does. And in an earlier chapters as well.

Karen
http://booksontheknob.blogspot.com/

Can you point out where this is? I can have the Mobipocket and MS Reader versions checked. I had the Mobipocket and MS Reader versions checked and what was posted as duplicate wasn't.

[AlexBell]

Could the moderator tell me please where this thread will be found in future? I think it is very important that we exercise our consumer power to get vendors to improve their standards, and this is a good way.

Title: The Hobbit
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
ASIN: unknown
Format: Mobipocket
Issues: At least four occasions in which there are inappropriate line returns and indents - eg 'where the Front Gate stood' appears as
'where the Front
Gate stood'
and the word benefit appears as bene-fit on the last page.
Steps taken: emailed HarperCollins with details, and asked them to make corrections.

Regards, Alex

[JMikeD]

Originally Posted by thorn

Title: Death by black hole
Author: Neil De Grasse Tyson
ASIN: B000XPPVCY

Issue: First letter of first word of each chapter is a drop-cap in the print version -- a fancy graphic. The electronic version lacks that letter. In other words, in print a chapter starts "The universe.." but electronically: "he universe." A minor issue, but I didn't buy the book after seeing this flaw in the sample.

Steps taken: I may have e-mailed Amazon customer service. I have also whined a lot.

e/t/a Whoops, sorry. Kindle ed. (in case the thread ever moves.)

This has been fixed. There is a new version of the book in the Amazon store with a much more readable font, and the errors fixed. Unfortunately, the old version is still there also.

The new version has the title in all caps (that's how I tell the difference, other than the ASIN numbers). I only have the samples at the moment, but will buy the book shortly.

Mike

PS. I emailed customer service about the problems when the book first appeared. It took quite a while to get fixed.

[zelda_pinwheel]

this seems like an excellent idea and very helpful. i would suggest that perhaps the information could be posted in the wiki, so that anyone can add / complete / update any specific book entries, particularly if you want to expand the entries to include all formats (which seems like a good idea). the wiki also supports tables, which seems like an appropriate form to present the entries. you could add a link to the wiki page in the first post of this thread so that people could find it easily.

[koland]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Can you point out where this is? I can have the Mobipocket and MS Reader versions checked. I had the Mobipocket and MS Reader versions checked and what was posted as duplicate wasn't.

Examples; chap 3, first and second word ran together: "Igot" instead of "I got"

Chap 9: "Thomas stared hard at the floor below, and then nodded once, as if in recognition. “Harry,” he said in a steady, quiet voice, “stay out of this.” in recognition. “Harry,” he said in a steady, quiet voice, “stay out of this.” “Stay out of what?” I asked."

Chap 17: "...Many of the shelves were loaded with binders presumably full of files and documents, similarly organized, in a dazzling array of hues. I files and documents, similarly organized, in a dazzling array of hues. I guess it takes all kinds of colors to make a bureaucratic rainbow."

Chap 20: "Molly and I each had to get under one of Morgan’s arms and half carry him to the trail. I left Molly and Mouse with him, went back half carry him to the trail. I left Molly and Mouse with him, went back and got the wheelchair, and dragged it..."

I put the duplicated info in bold. These are direct copies from mobireader. I suspect some readers skim or read quickly and never register the problem. I had to look a couple of times to find the chap 9 error again, since I was actually reading, just skimming to find a problem and I knew it was in the first paragraph of a chapter, but went by it several times before finding it (by forcing myself to read each chapter start slowly).

Interestingly, although it doesn't help on Kindle, if you use the reader in Calibre, there is only a single blank line between paragraphs (two-sh between "sections", which happens now and then inside a chapter). Mobireader and Kindle both add the extra large spacing, so it seems to be an inherent problem in interpreting the DIV codes, not a coding problem per se.

Karen
http://booksontheknob.blogspot.com/

[JSWolf]

koland, not all of the errors you've posted show up in the copies I have. But some do and just as you've posted them.

I'm wondering if we'll get a good copy and if so, how will we know what's out now has been replaced with a fixed copy? This is a problem with eBooks. There seems to be no mechanism in place for letting the people who have purchased know that they purchased content has been upaded. And we also need to know it's being updated so we can stop reading to wait for the updated edition.

[koland]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

koland, not all of the errors you've posted show up in the copies I have. But some do and just as you've posted them.

I'm wondering if we'll get a good copy and if so, how will we know what's out now has been replaced with a fixed copy? This is a problem with eBooks. There seems to be no mechanism in place for letting the people who have purchased know that they purchased content has been upaded. And we also need to know it's being updated so we can stop reading to wait for the updated edition.

I downloaded my copy from Fictionwise as soon as it was available. I re-downloaded it as I did that email and checked each error (after deleting the book from my mobipocket directory, as I know it will often ignore a replacement if the older filename exists). All the errors are still there.

Possibly the overdrive version doesn't have the same problems, but I believe these are the same ones seen at Amazon (plus the early two, that are easily overlooked). I don't recall seeing a problem anywhere other than these chapter leading paragraphs (which is a bit odd) other than the super-large spacing.

Karen
http://booksontheknob.blogspot.com/

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by koland

I downloaded my copy from Fictionwise as soon as it was available. I re-downloaded it as I did that email and checked each error (after deleting the book from my mobipocket directory, as I know it will often ignore a replacement if the older filename exists). All the errors are still there.

Possibly the overdrive version doesn't have the same problems, but I believe these are the same ones seen at Amazon (plus the early two, that are easily overlooked). I don't recall seeing a problem anywhere other than these chapter leading paragraphs (which is a bit odd) other than the super-large spacing.

Karen
http://booksontheknob.blogspot.com/

If those are all the errors, it will be trivial to fix.

[Zoidbert]

The Kindle Bookstore sorely needs an "update my library" and "report formatting problem" feature. The latter to make it easier for those of us who purchased the books to report a problem with them -- after all, if you bought a hardcopy book and it had similar formatting issues, you could return it for a "right" copy.

The former -- "update my library" -- to allow us to get corrected copies of any books whose formatting has been corrected. It's akin to the the Apple iPhone App Store; when a new version of some piece of software on my phone is available, a little red logo appears on the software. Amazon tracks my purchases ad infinitum, it would be a small matter to let me know that a corrected version of the book is available.

This is my first real frustration with my Kindle. Have absolutely loved it since my purchase last summer; however, the frequency of these formatting problems seems to be increasing -- it's as if no one at the publishing companies bothers to review their Kindle editions before publishing them.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Zoidbert

The Kindle Bookstore sorely needs an "update my library" and "report formatting problem" feature. The latter to make it easier for those of us who purchased the books to report a problem with them -- after all, if you bought a hardcopy book and it had similar formatting issues, you could return it for a "right" copy.

The former -- "update my library" -- to allow us to get corrected copies of any books whose formatting has been corrected. It's akin to the the Apple iPhone App Store; when a new version of some piece of software on my phone is available, a little red logo appears on the software. Amazon tracks my purchases ad infinitum, it would be a small matter to let me know that a corrected version of the book is available.

This is my first real frustration with my Kindle. Have absolutely loved it since my purchase last summer; however, the frequency of these formatting problems seems to be increasing -- it's as if no one at the publishing companies bothers to review their Kindle editions before publishing them.

I do like when an iPod Touch app is updated. Apple makes it so easy to get the updated apps.

I do wish all eBook stores had a place to report errors in eBooks and then would let us know via email that we had new editions ready to download.

[thorn]

Originally Posted by JMikeD

This has been fixed. There is a new version of the book in the Amazon store with a much more readable font, and the errors fixed. Unfortunately, the old version is still there also.

The new version has the title in all caps (that's how I tell the difference, other than the ASIN numbers). I only have the samples at the moment, but will buy the book shortly.

Mike

PS. I emailed customer service about the problems when the book first appeared. It took quite a while to get fixed.

thanks for letting me know about this! i've downloaded a sample. it looks great! no more imaginary chapter-initial caps! should be able to buy & start reading in a couple of weeks.