PRS-650 How to change up book covers on prs650?

gbloom182 · 01-05-2011, 09:30 PM

Okay, I'm sure this has been asked before but google search is getting me nowhere. I'm a graphic designer so the visual element of my ereader means a lot to me. I just got my sony PRS-650 last week. I tried to upload some books and a few of them have generic cover art on the device. One book in question is Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. I bought the book tonight and it has a generic cover in the epub file rather than the original artwork that the paperbacks have. Any clue why some books come this way? and how can I change it so my PRS-650 shows the original artwork? Seems strange that you buy the book but apparently that money doesn't get you a decent cover.

SeaBookGuy · 01-05-2011, 09:38 PM

(Rights to) the artwork is a separate "expense" that some publishers don't spring for, so the book arrives with their generic cover.

Try replacing the "main_thumbnail" generic cover associated with the book on the device with one of the actual cover art. That one will also need to be called "main_thumbnail" so you're best bet is deleting the old (bad) one first, and then dropping in the new (good) one.

baronrus · 01-05-2011, 10:34 PM

IF you use Calibre you can download the metadata and bookcover then load the new book onto your reader. The catch is the book has to be drm free to do this.

BaenSidhe · 01-05-2011, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by baronrus

IF you use Calibre you can download the metadata and bookcover then load the new book onto your reader. The catch is the book has to be drm free to do this.

Is there some setting you have to enable to do this? I've updated the cover on the Edit Metadata screen and when I load the book to my reader, it's still using the old cover. I have to reconvert the book to change the cover.

SeaBookGuy · 01-05-2011, 11:05 PM

Yes, you do have to convert them. I didn't mention that option as I was assuming gbloom's books were (still) DRM protected.

gbloom182 · 01-06-2011, 07:29 AM

THanks Seabook I'll try that out! and most of my books do have DRM protection, I tried the metadata update in calibre last night with no luck, but I'll try the file swap today. Thanks again.

PS.... first two chapters of Choke... awful. Can anyone suggest a good book they recently read? No dragon tattoos or sparkly vampire books please!

Bookworm_Girl · 01-06-2011, 09:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gbloom182

PS.... first two chapters of Choke... awful. Can anyone suggest a good book they recently read? No dragon tattoos or sparkly vampire books please!

I like whatshouldireadnext.com. You just type in an author or title and see what it recommends. You can also get some excellent ideas on the Reading Recommendations forum here on MobileRead.
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=24

SeaBookGuy · 01-06-2011, 12:09 PM

I read mostly nonfiction, so can't help you there. You might look at the non-device-specific forums ("General Discussion") near the top of the page, where folks talk about what they're reading, or would like to be reading.

Bookworm_Girl · 01-08-2011, 02:52 AM

This is a great tip to replace main_thumbnail.jpg with the cover image that you want. Is there a limitation on the image size? Just curious.

On my first attempt at this trick, some of my thumbnails ended up as blank. I found another post where someone suggested to use 217 pixels as the maximum height, probably because the thumbnails auto-generated by Sony are 168 X 217 @ 72 DPI. However, some of my image files are roughly 300 X 500, and those thumbnails display ok on my ereader. The ones that I tried that were blank were over 100kb in size.

SeaBookGuy · 01-08-2011, 12:18 PM

I try to keep them under 217, based on that same post. I have one PDF book where the cover thumbnail won't associate with the book, no matter what I've tried - I call it my "haunted" book. I had another recently where I didn't downsize the PDF's jpg; interesting phenomenon where the reader appeared to load the pic correctly on the homepage as one of the three newest books, but that failed to fully "take"; I left the pic associated with the book, reduced it, and it now it works just fine.

jackie_w · 01-08-2011, 02:19 PM

You might like to know that, as of Calibre v7.38, there is an option to update the cover thumbnail of the books on your Sony PRS350/650 to match the one you keep in Calibre (which may be different to the one inside the book). This should be helpful for DRM'd books which you can't convert. It should also work for books in a format which doesn't have a cover e.g. TXT.

The book thumbnail seems to get updated when you re-send the book to the reader (not each time you connect, as I originally thought), but you don't need to re-convert.

[Edit: Since posting originally, I've had a chance to try this and have edited accordingly.

SeaBookGuy · 01-08-2011, 02:22 PM

How does one activate this option?

jackie_w · 01-08-2011, 02:33 PM

I haven't been able to try it yet because the download from Calibre is so slow I had to cancel. Another user has confirmed it works.

Assuming you've been luckier, it should be found in
Preferences - Plugins - Device Interface plugins - Sony - Customise plugin

There should be an option in there you can switch on - the default is off.

01-05-2011, 09:30 PM	#1
gbloom182 Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 646 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: kobo	How to change up book covers on prs650? Okay, I'm sure this has been asked before but google search is getting me nowhere. I'm a graphic designer so the visual element of my ereader means a lot to me. I just got my sony PRS-650 last week. I tried to upload some books and a few of them have generic cover art on the device. One book in question is Choke by Chuck Palahniuk. I bought the book tonight and it has a generic cover in the epub file rather than the original artwork that the paperbacks have. Any clue why some books come this way? and how can I change it so my PRS-650 shows the original artwork? Seems strange that you buy the book but apparently that money doesn't get you a decent cover.

01-08-2011, 02:19 PM	#11
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,247 Karma: 16539642 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	You might like to know that, as of Calibre v7.38, there is an option to update the cover thumbnail of the books on your Sony PRS350/650 to match the one you keep in Calibre (which may be different to the one inside the book). This should be helpful for DRM'd books which you can't convert. It should also work for books in a format which doesn't have a cover e.g. TXT. The book thumbnail seems to get updated when you re-send the book to the reader (not each time you connect, as I originally thought), but you don't need to re-convert. [Edit: Since posting originally, I've had a chance to try this and have edited accordingly. Last edited by jackie_w; 01-08-2011 at 05:49 PM. Reason: Updated after testing

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01-05-2011, 09:38 PM	#2
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 2,029 Karma: 2487799 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Naples, FL Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650	(Rights to) the artwork is a separate "expense" that some publishers don't spring for, so the book arrives with their generic cover. Try replacing the "main_thumbnail" generic cover associated with the book on the device with one of the actual cover art. That one will also need to be called "main_thumbnail" so you're best bet is deleting the old (bad) one first, and then dropping in the new (good) one.

01-05-2011, 10:34 PM	#3
baronrus Addict Posts: 217 Karma: 2975 Join Date: Jun 2010 Device: KO, KW, and KT	IF you use Calibre you can download the metadata and bookcover then load the new book onto your reader. The catch is the book has to be drm free to do this.

01-05-2011, 11:05 PM	#5
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 2,029 Karma: 2487799 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Naples, FL Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650	Yes, you do have to convert them. I didn't mention that option as I was assuming gbloom's books were (still) DRM protected.

01-06-2011, 07:29 AM	#6
gbloom182 Junior Member Posts: 5 Karma: 646 Join Date: Dec 2010 Device: kobo	THanks Seabook I'll try that out! and most of my books do have DRM protection, I tried the metadata update in calibre last night with no luck, but I'll try the file swap today. Thanks again. PS.... first two chapters of Choke... awful. Can anyone suggest a good book they recently read? No dragon tattoos or sparkly vampire books please!

01-06-2011, 12:09 PM	#8
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 2,029 Karma: 2487799 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Naples, FL Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650	I read mostly nonfiction, so can't help you there. You might look at the non-device-specific forums ("General Discussion") near the top of the page, where folks talk about what they're reading, or would like to be reading.

01-08-2011, 02:52 AM	#9
Bookworm_Girl E-reader Enthusiast Posts: 4,873 Karma: 36536965 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Southwest, USA Device: Kindle Oasis 3; Kobo Aura One; iPad Mini 5	This is a great tip to replace main_thumbnail.jpg with the cover image that you want. Is there a limitation on the image size? Just curious. On my first attempt at this trick, some of my thumbnails ended up as blank. I found another post where someone suggested to use 217 pixels as the maximum height, probably because the thumbnails auto-generated by Sony are 168 X 217 @ 72 DPI. However, some of my image files are roughly 300 X 500, and those thumbnails display ok on my ereader. The ones that I tried that were blank were over 100kb in size.

01-08-2011, 12:18 PM	#10
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 2,029 Karma: 2487799 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Naples, FL Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650	I try to keep them under 217, based on that same post. I have one PDF book where the cover thumbnail won't associate with the book, no matter what I've tried - I call it my "haunted" book. I had another recently where I didn't downsize the PDF's jpg; interesting phenomenon where the reader appeared to load the pic correctly on the homepage as one of the three newest books, but that failed to fully "take"; I left the pic associated with the book, reduced it, and it now it works just fine.

01-08-2011, 02:22 PM	#12
SeaBookGuy Can one read too much? Posts: 2,029 Karma: 2487799 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Naples, FL Device: Kindle PW 3, Sony 350 and 650	How does one activate this option?

01-08-2011, 02:33 PM	#13
jackie_w Grand Sorcerer Posts: 6,247 Karma: 16539642 Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: UK Device: ClaraHD, Forma, Libra2, Clara2E, LibraCol, PBTouchHD3	I haven't been able to try it yet because the download from Calibre is so slow I had to cancel. Another user has confirmed it works. Assuming you've been luckier, it should be found in Preferences - Plugins - Device Interface plugins - Sony - Customise plugin There should be an option in there you can switch on - the default is off.

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