How to get EBook Title changed and show on Kindle

[Alan2311]

Hi All,

I am having trouble getting the meta-data (specifically, the ebook 'title') to show in my Kindle as it does (or at least I think it does) in the Mobi file.

This is what I have done:

1) I have changed the 'title' of the mobi file from XXX to YYY using ebook-meta like this:

ebook-meta FileName.mobi --title="YYY"

The command putput shows (amongst other stuff):

Original metadata::
	Title               : XXX

Changed metadata::
	Title               : YYY

2) I have confirmed that the change was effective using this:

ebook-meta FileName.mobi

Title               : YYY

3) I have also confirmed that the title was changed via:

exiftool FileName.mobi

ExifTool Version Number         : 11.88
File Name                       : FileName.mobi
Book Name                       : YYY
Updated Title                   : YYY

4) I have put my Kindle (Paperwhite) into flight-mode (no WiFi connection), and connected via a USB cable to my PC, and copied over FileName.mobi to the 'documents' directory.


5) Ejected the Kindle from the PC (safely remove the USB device) to be sure that the write(s) are complete, and then opened my Kindle, but the ebook title is still:

XXX



For what it's worth, I also opened the ebook in Calibre (GUI) and it shows the title as 'YYY'.


Obviously I am misunderstanding how this works, but I haven't a clue how to get my Kindle to see the new book title ('YYY'), so any suggestions would be very welcome!


Thanks,

Alan.

[jhowell]

One possibility is that your MOBI file is actually what calibre calls a dual MOBI and Amazon calls a Master MOBI. That is a single file that contains both MOBI and KF8 (AZW3) formats. If so then calibre will only display and update metadata from the first format in the file (MOBI) while a Kindle will use the second format (KF8) for metadata and reading.

[Alan2311]

Hi JHowell,

Originally Posted by jhowell

One possibility is that your MOBI file is actually what calibre calls a dual MOBI and Amazon calls a Master MOBI. That is a single file that contains both MOBI and KF8 (AZW3) formats. If so then calibre will only display and update metadata from the first format in the file (MOBI) while a Kindle will use the second format (KF8) for metadata and reading.

Could any of this be helpful in determining if the file is a 'Dual Mobi / Master Mobi'?

ExifTool Version Number         : 11.88
File Type                       : MOBI
File Type Extension             : mobi
MIME Type                       : application/x-mobipocket-ebook
Palm File Type                  : Mobipocket
Compression                     : PalmDOC
Mobi Type                       : Mobipocket Book
KF8 Cover URI                   : kindle:embed:0002

Does the mention of 'KF8 Cover URI' seem interesting in the context of your suggestion?

If it is a 'Dual Mobi / Master Mobi', how do I make it a 'Standard Mobi' so that title shows correctly on my Kindle?


Thanks,

Alan.

[Alan2311]

Hi JHowell,

Reading around, I found that my kindle can also display AZW3 files, so I tried converting to that file format, and copying to the kindle, and it displays the title correctly.

That makes me think that your suggestion above about the 'Dual Mobi' format was correct, and converting to AZW3 made it a pure format file which then works better.

Maybe I would be better staying away from MOBI, and just use AZW3 unless there is some significant downside to that format?


Thanks,

Alan.

[jhowell]

The KindleUnpack plugin for calibre will show an enabled "Split KF8/MOBI" option for MOBI files that contain multiple formats.

AZW3 is superior to MOBI is just about every way.

[Alan2311]

Hi JHowell,

Originally Posted by jhowell

The KindleUnpack plugin for calibre will show an enabled "Split KF8/MOBI" option for MOBI files that contain multiple formats.

I'll have a look at that.

Originally Posted by jhowell

AZW3 is superior to MOBI is just about every way.

In that case, I think I'll stick with AZW3 going forwards :-)


Thanks for your assistance!

Alan.