Converting to azk through KindlePreviewer

[EditorOne]

Other info that might be of note:

Originally, I had problems converting the epub with expanded CSS to azk, so I reverted to using the original epub and conversions worked well--until now. Today, I've tried the epub with expanded CSS, the original epub, two mobis converted by KP from both epub versions, a Calibre converted mobi and a Calibre converted azw3, all to no avail.

[EditorOne]

Update: The first generation iPad I bought on ebay arrived. But I'm still S.O.L. Apparently Apple has guaranteed that no earlier version of iBooks is available anywhere, anyhow. If you don't have iOS 7 (first gen has 5.1.1.), you cannot find an iBooks app. I found forum sites that said if you purchased a book or app on iTunes, when you synced, it would ask if you wanted the earlier version. Didn't.
*sigh*

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by EditorOne

Update: The first generation iPad I bought on ebay arrived. But I'm still S.O.L. Apparently Apple has guaranteed that no earlier version of iBooks is available anywhere, anyhow. If you don't have iOS 7 (first gen has 5.1.1.), you cannot find an iBooks app. I found forum sites that said if you purchased a book or app on iTunes, when you synced, it would ask if you wanted the earlier version. Didn't.
*sigh*

Sorry, at this point, I'm not following. Oh--you literally cannot get iBooks now, you mean? But iBooks has nothing to do with your MOBI? You mean, K4iPad?

Hitch

[EditorOne]

I was saying that having bought a used Generation 1 iPad that there was no place I could find that would provide the earlier version of ibooks. However, what didn't work yesterday, worked today: got iBooks on my computer iTunes. Synced with the iPad and when I opened iBooks on the iPad, it said I needed the older version and generously downloaded it. So my next task will be to try to sideload my azk file to the iPad so i can preview it in the device and find any issues I need to fix. I think I have to sign up with iAuthor on iTunes to do that, so that's my next step.

I'm already able to preview my mobi files in my Kindle device and the epubs in a Nook device and in various readers on my tablet and on the computer. Having the capability to preview an azk on a real iOS device will be a plus. Somewhere I read that iBooks uses the extension .ibooks. Can I replace .azk with .ibooks? I will be experimenting today.

[EditorOne]

Also, FYI, the iPad 1 does not offer file sharing, but I was able to download an app to do that.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by EditorOne

I was saying that having bought a used Generation 1 iPad that there was no place I could find that would provide the earlier version of ibooks. However, what didn't work yesterday, worked today: got iBooks on my computer iTunes. Synced with the iPad and when I opened iBooks on the iPad, it said I needed the older version and generously downloaded it. So my next task will be to try to sideload my azk file to the iPad so i can preview it in the device and find any issues I need to fix. I think I have to sign up with iAuthor on iTunes to do that, so that's my next step.

One of us is confused. Perhaps it's me. iBooks has NOTHING to do with mobi files, at all. Or AZK's. Why are you trying to view an AZK on iBooks? That's my question? Why aren't you simply loading the AZK to K4iPad?

I'm already able to preview my mobi files in my Kindle device and the epubs in a Nook device and in various readers on my tablet and on the computer. Having the capability to preview an azk on a real iOS device will be a plus. Somewhere I read that iBooks uses the extension .ibooks. Can I replace .azk with .ibooks? I will be experimenting today.

No, you can't change an azk file to an iBooks file. That's ...beyond night and day. An iBooks or iba file is a proprietary output from the iAuthor application, and outputs fairly bloated ePUB formatted files, that really only work on iBooks. An .azk file is a MOBI FILE, of a type tailored for iOS devices. IT's a KINDLE book. It's not an iBooks-book. iBooks reads ePUBs and PDF's, not MOBIs or AZK's. This is why I am confused.

Moreover--for what it's worth--the first-gen iBooks and every-other-gen iBooks all work differently. Apple, being Apple, utterly abandoned the first-gen iPad and all its glitchy apps, like iBooks, and never fixed them. So, books that work fine on later gen iBooks don't work properly on first-gen iBooks, and they CANNOT be fixed, no matter what you do. So...I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep over iBooks, other than, now you're stuffed, because you can't load any version of iBooks on a first-gen iPad, because it no longer exists, as you've already noted.

HOWEVER, again, to restate: that has NOTHING to do with the azk file.

Hitch

[EditorOne]

Hmm. I thought I posted a reply, but it's not here. My problem was getting an earlier version of iBooks for the used iPad 1 that I bought in order to preview files I create for clients who want epub, mobi, and azk (for iOS). The azk was a problem because I had nothing to preview them with. The mobi and epubs were easy to preview on my devices, tablet, and computer. I finally succeeded in getting the older version of iBooks that will work on the older iPad. It wasn't easy, but it finally worked. I discovered the older iPad did not also provide file sharing, but I downloaded a transfer app which works fine.

I probably need a clarification now on ebooks for iOS. Kindle Previewer creates a file with the .azk extension for iOS. (Recently, my KP has failed consistently to convert the most recent--and,hopefully, final ebook file.)

I sideloaded an earlier .azk file to the iPad, but it was not recognized as an iBook so I couldn't open it. Then I read that iBooks will read epubs, so I sideloaded the epub version of the book and it opened beautifully. Looks fantastic. The only problem was that the book image in the collections did not have the cover image, just a generic one. Maybe there is a way to upload the cover image separately as we do on Amazon?

So my question now is do we really need to do a azk conversion? Also, can authors upload an epub file to sell on iTunes?

[EditorOne]

Just saw your reply to my reply that I thought went missing.

I have apparently been laboring under the false impression that because Kindle Previewer had the azk conversion for iOS (iPad and iPhone), that reading a book on an iPad or iPhone required the azk file. Now i see that's wrong. I happily see that's wrong and I'll be able to wrap this project up with an epub file with the iOS metadata and forget azk all together.

Thank you for driving out my demons of stupidity. And for your patience with my struggles. Every time I visit this forum, you are the best teacher.

[JSWolf]

Buying a first gen iPad is one of the worst things one can do. It' an abandoned tablet. It is slow and has not enough memory. Apps crash a lot on it. The screen is just 1024x768. It's old, slow, crashy, and is never going to be updated. It doesn't have a camera, it doesn't have anything going for it. It is one of the worst things Apple ever did was to make the 1st gen iPad with such crappy specs. Apple screwed many people with the 1st Gen iPad. Appl should be made to give everyone with a 1st gen iPad an iPad Air to get rid of stock and as a way of apologizing for the abomination that is the 1st gen iPad.

EditorOne, you screwed yourself big time buying a 1st gen iPad. There's not a lot you can do other than call it a loss and toss it out.

[EditorOne]

I know it's an obsolete tablet, and I have no plans for using it beyond checking the files that clients want to upload to iTunes. As a functional device for looking at books I've created for iBooks, it should work okay. I have no delusions that it will do anything else for me. I only paid a pittance for it. It was a risk, but since I now know that my client can publish through iTunes without issues, that might be worth it. It's just part of my device collection for ebook production and quality control along with my Kindle, Nook, and my Android tablet with multiple ereader apps (and all the bells and whistles). Thanks.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by EditorOne

I know it's an obsolete tablet, and I have no plans for using it beyond checking the files that clients want to upload to iTunes. As a functional device for looking at books I've created for iBooks, it should work okay. I have no delusions that it will do anything else for me. I only paid a pittance for it. It was a risk, but since I now know that my client can publish through iTunes without issues, that might be worth it. It's just part of my device collection for ebook production and quality control along with my Kindle, Nook, and my Android tablet with multiple ereader apps (and all the bells and whistles). Thanks.

But that's the problem. A 1st gen iPad is USELESS for checking files your clients want to upload to iTunes. It won't run the current iBooks and it won't run ant apps that need iOS 6 or later. Even some apps it does run don't run well and crash. For example, there is not enough memory to run most apps that need to connect to Facebook you need to run both the game app and the Facebook app and that causes a crash.

iBooks on a 1st gen iPad is functionally different to the current version. What you see with the old obsolete iBooks might not be what someone with the current version would see. So it is worthless for what you want. You cannot check your client's work using that obsolete version of iBooks. You need to have a device that runs the current iBooks. A 1st gen iPad isn't it and it never will be. You cannot see what they see. You cannot give then suggestions on how to fix things as things that might look broken to you might not be on the current iBooks. So no, a 1st gen iPad will not do what you need/want it to do. It won't show you things the way you want and it won't work with a lot of apps that are iOS 5 compatible. It's best use is as a large paperweight.

Sorry, but you cannot use a 1st gen iPad and be of any use to your clients. You are doing your clients a major disservice if you don't trash that iPad and get a new one.

[DiapDealer]

Stop it, Jon. Testing on an old iPad is better than testing on NO iPad at all. If EditorOne's conscious decision to buy an old, inexpensive device for testing troubles you that much, I'm sure they'd be happy to provide an address to which you could ship your generous donation of a brand-new iPad for them to test with.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Stop it, Jon. Testing on an old iPad is better than testing on NO iPad at all. If EditorOne's conscious decision to buy an old, inexpensive device for testing troubles you that much, I'm sure they'd be happy to provide an address to which you could ship your generous donation of a brand-new iPad for them to test with.

Even Hitch knows a 1st gen ipad is not going to help show you what things will look like on the current version iBooks. So no, it's not alright. It means that he cannot see how things will actually look and they could look different.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Even Hitch knows a 1st gen ipad is not going to help show you what things will look like on the current version iBooks. So no, it's not alright. It means that he cannot see how things will actually look and they could look different.

Even Hitch knows?
What the heck is that supposed to mean?

I still propose that you are being a tad ridiculous by suggesting that someone MUST throw away a device and buy a brand new one to satisfy your personal ideas about what is the "right way" to do something. It's rude and insulting to keep harping on it.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Even Hitch knows?
What the heck is that supposed to mean?

Hmmm...I may have to interrogate old Wolfie about that one, myself. You don't suppose that, gasp, he means, EVEN A GIRL KNOWS, do ya????

I still propose that you are being a tad ridiculous by suggesting that someone MUST throw away a device and buy a brand new one to satisfy your personal ideas about what is the "right way" to do something. It's rude and insulting to keep harping on it.

Listen, I think the poor guy is already beating himself up enough. I would be, had I done what he's done. It must be frustrating as hell. Crap, I get annoyed/vexed/frustrated with Apple when MY first-gen is useless, and at least I got 2 years of viable use out of it! Were I him, I'd just turn around and resell it, and try for something more useful for his current purposes. Jon, I think he already KNOWS that it's not what he hoped for, so let's not torture the poor guy, right?

Hitch