Touch Cover art issues on Nook STR

[Verne Bunsen]

Hi all,

I'm a recent convert from a Sony Reader to the Nook, recent like I just picked up my Nook STR today. I side loaded the ePub files from my old library to the Nook, and while the books are now present and readable in my Nook library, none of them are showing their cover art. For the record, all of them showed cover art on my Reader. They are downloaded from the Sony eBook store, and are DRM protected. I've scoured these and other forums and come across many techniques that have worked for others, but none of them have panned out for me. I'm using a Mac running Mac OS X Lion. Here's what I've tried:

1) Copy a .PNG image file with the same name as the ePub file into the directory - no dice.

2) Copy a .JPG image file with the same name as the ePub file into the directory - no dice.

3) Sideload using Calibre. I downloaded Calibre and found that, in Calibre, none of my books had cover art. With Calibre I was able to add art and thought I was on to something. However when I loaded the files onto my Nook, still no dice.

4) Using Calibre, convert each file from ePub -> ePub. When I attempt this, I simply get an error dialogue stating that the conversion cannot be performed due to the DRM. So, no dice.

5) Using Sigil, open each ePub and immediately save it. Then, using Calibre, convert from ePub -> ePub. When I try to open the files in Sigil, i get an error saying it can't work with DRM protected files. And, as mentioned above, Calibre won't run the conversion for the same reason. Again, no dice.

So I figure I can't be the only person out there who is meeting these road blocks. Has anyone figured out a way to get art to show for side loaded DRM protected ePubs? I know it sounds pretty minor, "Oh wow, no cover art," but my readers and library represent a pretty significant investment of time and money for me, and I kind of like having them "just so".

Thanks in advance for any input you have to contribute!

[afv011]

The simplest way I found to fix this issue is with Sigil, following the steps described in this blog (by one of the Sigil devs).

First open the EPUB with Sigil and make sure the cover is properly set. Right click on the image in the Book Browser and under Add Semantics choose Cover Image if it is not already checked. This will add the meta element defining the cover to the OPF. Save and quit Sigil. That’s it, your done. However, be sure you’re not using Sigil version 0.4.0. You need to be using 0.4.1 or greater.

Note that this will only work with DRM free books. There are plenty of other threads dealing on how to remove DRM, if you're interested.

[6charlong]

I started from a PRS500 through various versions of LRX and ePub to the Nook. I have more books from those years than I've acquired in the last few months using the Nook. Here's how I found to manage the issue you raise.

I've found that books with cover art that I've downloaded from Mobileread show the covers fine; Multiformat books from Fictionwise (they don't have DRM either) also show the covers fine while none of my DRM secured books from sources other than BN display their covers.

People have reported being able to see the covers on Nook after using Calibre to load and export books but as you report above you have to find a way to remove DRM first for this to work. Personally, I don't want to remove the DRM from my books. Without getting into the whole DRM issue let's just say I don't want to do it. But Nook has an option.

In your Library, at the top right side of the screen just below the line under the word "Library," there are two squares. The one on the left is made up of nine smaller squares. To the right of that is a second cube made up of five lines. The default is the one on the left which displays the little pictures. The one on the right displays the books in a list by title and author.

I use the "Title and Author" display. Unlike the thumbnail view, the list tells you the full title plus the author of all your books. I actually dislike the way the thumbnail view truncates titles displaying only the first seventeen or eighteen characters in the title and the author's name. When you have lots of books this is aggravated by the way the Nook lists every title starting with the word "the" together. With the full title or the author's full name displayed I think it's easier to find the one I want.

[Verne Bunsen]

Thanks for the replys, guys! I went ahead and got some info on stripping the DRM, and then was able to convert in Calibre, then it showed up just great! I'm not pirating books or anything, I just want my cover art, haha! Thanks again!

[Dr. Drib]

I just run it through calibre and the art magically appears on my nook STR.


Don