Kindle Collections - utf8 invalid continuation byte

[prometheus44]

Hey all,

I just mentioned this issue in a non-related thread, so I hope it's ok to start a new thread just for that specific issue.

For some reason, a few months ago "Kindle Collections" started to give me these error messages whenever I tried to use it with my Kindle keyboard 3G.

I didn't really give it any thought, since at this point my collections were neat and I didn't have any book to add.
But now I got a Kindle for a friend, so I really need to backup all my collections to Calibre to be able to then transfer them to the new Kindle (makes sense?)

Just one thing: the plugin works fine on the new Kindle. So my guess is that the problem actually comes from my kindle? Corrupted database file?

If anyone out there has any idea of what's going on, it'd be a huge help!

calibre, version 0.8.27
ERROR: Failed to view collections: <b>Failed</b>: View Kindle Collections

'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 2: invalid continuation byte

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/device.py", line 81, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_view_co llections", line 46, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_view_co llections", line 79, in generate_existing_kindle_collections_report
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 2: invalid continuation byte

calibre, version 0.8.27
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>UnicodeDecodeError</b>:'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 7: invalid continuation byte

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.ui", line 162, in edit_kindle_collections
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_edit_co llections", line 75, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_edit_co llections", line 92, in __init__
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_edit_co llections", line 112, in init_sort_order
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_edit_co llections", line 307, in get_sorted_paths
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_boo ks", line 523, in get_sorted_paths
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_sor t", line 52, in sort_names
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_sor t", line 125, in sort_compare_kindle_names
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 7: invalid continuation byte

[prometheus44]

And now it does the same with the new kindle...
I've messed around with the kindle files (copied my collections.json to the new kindle, edited collections manually on the new kindle...)
That's what I now get when trying to manually edit collections on the new kindle:

calibre, version 0.8.27
ERROR: Unhandled exception: <b>UnicodeDecodeError</b>:'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 69: invalid continuation byte

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.ui", line 162, in edit_kindle_collections
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_edit_co llections", line 75, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_edit_co llections", line 92, in __init__
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_edit_co llections", line 112, in init_sort_order
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_edit_co llections", line 307, in get_sorted_paths
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_boo ks", line 523, in get_sorted_paths
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_sor t", line 52, in sort_names
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_sor t", line 125, in sort_compare_kindle_names
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 69: invalid continuation byte

[meme]

This is a problem with a character in a particular book title. Running in debug mode should show you the book that its failing at.

What version of the plugin are you running? The latest one should handle most of these types of errors (but there always seems to be one place more to fix...) so if you aren't on the latest version of the plugin, just upgrade and try again.

[prometheus44]

Meme, you are godsend!

Forgive my ignorance though... I restarted in debug mode, and I'm not sure at what point I should see a failing book title...
I have the most up-to-date plugin.

Here are the last lines from the log:

DeviceJob: 3 View Kindle Collections done, cal'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 2: invalid continuation byte

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/device.py", line 81, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_view_co llections", line 46, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_view_co llections", line 79, in generate_existing_kindle_collections_report
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 2: invalid continuation byte

ling callback
DeviceJob: 3 View Kindle Collections callback returned
2011/12/17 00:18:37 Job _view_collections_completed
Job: 3 View Kindle Collections finished
'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 2: invalid continuation byte

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "site-packages/calibre/gui2/device.py", line 81, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_view_co llections", line 46, in run
File "calibre_plugins.kindle_collections.kindle_view_co llections", line 79, in generate_existing_kindle_collections_report
UnicodeDecodeError: 'utf8' codec can't decode byte 0xe9 in position 2: invalid continuation byte