iPhone & Mobipocket - How?

[deegee]

Hi there!

I am having troubles getting Mobipocket files working on my iPhone 3G (FW v.2.2).

The eBooks I used for testing are all DRM free Demo files in Mobipocket Format (*.prc), e.g.:
HEROLD - INNERE MEDIZIN (2009), ARZNEIMITTEL E-POCKET PLUS 2007 or REPETITORIUM ANÄSTHESIOLOGIE.

As eReading Software on the iPhone I have tested Stanza, eReader, BookshelfLT and textReader. The first two one won't display any of the above files. TextReader only displays "REPETITORIUM ANÄSTHESIOLOGIE" but none of the other files. Also the formating seems to be corrupt and none of the special characters (e.g. Ä, ö, ß) is displayed. The other files can't be handles be textReader, giving me the popup that those files aren't supported.

The only reader that seems to be able to handle all of these files is BookshelfLT. Sadly the text links aren't working and Bookshelf doesn't have a search function - so the usability of these ebooks is almost nill.

I also tried a DRM protected Mobipocket file i regularly purchased. I found a bunch of pythons scripts aswell as a bundle of them compiled to EXE files. For those who still need to get those, demonoid and btjinkie might provide help to find Mobipocket Conversion programs + DRM Removal. But after removing the DRM I am getting the same results as with the above above free demo files...

So, what alternatives do I have left?

Converting the files to HTML? I have tried so with mobi2html. I can get all of the included GIF and other files extracted but the output HTML file seems to be empty (with 1kB file size only).



If anyone knows how to get these (or other) Mobipocket files running with full functionality on the iPhone, please share your wisdom with the rest of the world.

Thanks a lot

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by deegee

Converting the files to HTML? I have tried so with mobi2html. I can get all of the included GIF and other files extracted but the output HTML file seems to be empty (with 1kB file size only).

These use MobiPocket's "high" compression option, which is unusual for DRM-free MOBIs but more common for DRMed MOBIs. The MobiPerl tools don't handle high compression, but Calibre does. So I suggest using mobi2oeb from Calibre to get the HTML. Or just convert to ePub using any2epub or Calibre's GUI (first change the conversion options from LRF to ePub under the hammer icon). The ePub should be readable using Stanza.

[bbusybookworm]

Originally Posted by deegee

Converting the files to HTML? I have tried so with mobi2html. I can get all of the included GIF and other files extracted but the output HTML file seems to be empty (with 1kB file size only).

Hmm, thats probably because its using the High (Huff) compression.

Using the MobiHuff.py scrip instead of the mobi2html.py script should work.

just remember the syntex is slightly different,

mobihuff.py infile.prc outfile.html

I've not use the mobi2oeb script which is part of Calibre and is supposed to provide a better result, so it might be worth trying it out.

[deegee]

Hey wallcraft & bbusybookworm.

Thanks a lot for your quick and instructional answers.

I tried mobihuff first, it gives me the following output:

MobiHuff v0.03
Copyright (c) 2008 The Dark Reverser <dark.reverser@googlemail.com>
Decompressing... done

The output is a single HTML file as wanted, including all of the written content. special characters don't get convertet for some reason and all images are missing. (not only the files itself, but they are not mentioned within the HTML source code, sadly.

Caliber worked fine to open all of the non-DRM test files (linked in my first post) for viewing. But also the files are only between 200 an 900 kB, it takes Caliber several minutes just to open them. (Using an EeePC 1000 HC, 1.6GHz, 2GB RAM, WinXP SP3).

I changed the output format to ePub, just as you suggested and started the conversion. Everything worked fine for 8 or so minutes. Then Caliber crashed. No error messages. I rebooted, gave it a second try and Caliber stopped it's work mentioning some memory problem.

I'll do some googlin'. Maybe there's a workaround. But I fear the error might lie within the code of the original files?!?

Any more ideas? I'll keep you updated if I'll find out anything new.

Thx again!

[deegee]

... still trying to convert this non-DRM mobipocket file (*.PRC) to HTML or eBub...

When trying the any2epub in the CMDline I always get the following output:

Exploding MOBI file: AMP.prc
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "from_any.py", line 171, in <module>
File "from_any.py", line 167, in main
File "from_any.py", line 142, in any2epub
File "contextlib.pyo", line 34, in __exit__
File "contextlib.pyo", line 113, in nested
File "from_any.py", line 134, in any2epub
File "from_any.py", line 34, in mobi2opf
File "C:\Programme\calibre\library.zip\calibre\ebooks\m obi\reader.py", line 13
6, in __init__
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: u'AMP.prc'

Calibre's mobi2oeb script is giving me a similar error:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "reader.py", line 471, in <module>
File "reader.py", line 455, in main
File "reader.py", line 136, in __init__
IOError: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: u'1.mobi'

Seems like for some reason at some point the script cites the filename wrong?!? Using other files name and / or location won't help.

I also tried the Calibre GUI several times but it keeps crashing all the time Tried several setting options and variation in filename aswell. Everytime I get an error message like this:

Job: **Buch konvertieren: Arzneimittel e-Pocket plus 2007** **error**: (10054, 'Eine vorhandene Verbindung wurde vom Remotehost geschlossen') **Traceback**: Traceback (most recent call last): File "C:\Programme\calibre\library.zip\calibre\parallel .py", line 752, in run File "C:\Programme\calibre\library.zip\calibre\parallel .py", line 447, in control File "C:\Programme\calibre\library.zip\calibre\parallel .py", line 408, in read File "C:\Programme\calibre\library.zip\calibre\parallel .py", line 298, in read error: [Errno 10054] Eine vorhandene Verbindung wurde vom Remotehost geschlossen **Log**: Exploding MOBI file: c:\dokume~1\deegee\lokale~1\temp\calibre_0.4.114_m rlt7q.prc Creating EPUB file... [INFO] Parsing temp\calibre_0.4.114_dlf7k0_any2epub2\APplus2007.h tml [ERROR] CSSStyleDeclaration: Unexpected token, ignoring upto u';'. [1:34: ;] [INFO] Rationalizing fonts... [DEBUG] Done rationalizing [DEBUG] Saving stylesheets... [INFO] Splitting calibre_title_page.html (0 KB) [INFO] Splitting on page breaks... [INFO] Looking for large trees... [INFO] No large trees found [INFO] Splitting APplus2007.html (1262 KB) [INFO] Splitting on page breaks... [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Splitting on page-break [INFO] Looking for large trees... [DEBUG] Splitting... [DEBUG] Splitting... [DEBUG] Splitting...

Maybe tomorrow will be a better day...

[ny10522]

xxxxx

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by bbusybookworm

Hmm, thats probably because its using the High (Huff) compression.

Using the MobiHuff.py scrip instead of the mobi2html.py script should work.

just remember the syntex is slightly different,

mobihuff.py infile.prc outfile.html

I've not use the mobi2oeb script which is part of Calibre and is supposed to provide a better result, so it might be worth trying it out.

Mobi2oeb is way better then mobihuff. So give mobi2oeb a go.

[JSWolf]

IS there DRM with this Mobipocket eBook?

[deegee]

Update:
For some strange reason today it worked with mobi2oeb, while yesterday it was giving me the error described in this post #5. But the small progress of having an HTML now is at least something. (Calbibre and any2epub still giving me errors). No changes where made on the system since yesterday. Odd stuff...

I'll keep on trying with converting the non-DRM-prc to epub. Since the conversion to HTML worked by now, I will now give it a shot with a DRM-protected file I purchased from the same store: first mobidedrm (v.0.1 & 0.2), then mobi2oeb.

Today I am still carrying the iPhone and PDA (palmOS) in the hospital. Since my iPhone is faster, smaller and much more versatile, getting my purchased DRM-mobipocket files working in my Apple handheld would be a great thing.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Mobi2oeb is way better then mobihuff. So give mobi2oeb a go.

Already tried mobi2oeb. Read above. Thanks for your hint.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

IS there DRM with this Mobipocket eBook?

No, it is DRM free. But compressed. Since other files from the same provide didn't make those problems, I asume it might be some problem with just the file itself. Maybe you want to give it a try? URL in post #1.

Originally Posted by ny10522

Is there any way to achieve "instant look-up" of a word in a dictionary using an ereader app on the iphone? [...] Since the iphone/ipod touch has a touch screen, why hasn't one app provided this feature yet? I would gladly pay a premium price.

DITO! AFAIK there is no app with such a feature on the iPhone/iTouch yet. This feature would be worth a lot to me and I would gladly pay for it. qtl is one of my most-used and favourite firefox addons.

[JSWolf]

I just converted the demo of Herold - Innere Medizin (2009) and mobi2oeb from version 0.4.114 worked perfectly. I am using Windows XP Pro.

[deegee]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I just converted the demo of Herold - Innere Medizin (2009) and mobi2oeb from version 0.4.114 worked perfectly. I am using Windows XP Pro.

Hello JSWolf

Thanks a lot for trying this and for the answer.

I don't know what exactly was the problem over here, but somehow deinstalling Calibre, deinstalling .NET 3.5, , deinstalling python, then cleaning up my system, reinstalling etc did the job: mobi2oeb is now working.

Even on this file:

http://www.mobipocket.com/temp/demo/..._vE8581CC7.prc


By now there is another problem:
This file (aswell as the Herold, the one you already converted successfully) are displayed quite messed up after mobi2oeb. I guess the formatting gets lost by converting?!

What makes me really wonder is that the mobi-file is NOT correctly displayed in Calibre aswell. Not correctly means: formatting messed up, internal links get lost, functions like the internal search field won't work. So maybe the problem is within the calibre source code interpreting this file?

If you don't know what I mean, take a look at the file above in the mobipocket reader and in calbire. Both display them quite differently.

Sunny greetings from Hamburg.

[IDtheTarget]

On the iphone bookshelf forums, the author of the software (pendor) said that most non-mobipocket formats are converted to another format, but I can't remember which one (plucker?), so there's another layer of conversion at work here.

To solve some of your character issues, it may help to convert the characters to UTF-8 before putting them on the server:
http://www.iphonebookshelf.com/forum...t=convert#p165

Unfortunately, I don't know how to do that...

[soalla]

Originally Posted by deegee

DITO! AFAIK there is no app with such a feature on the iPhone/iTouch yet. This feature would be worth a lot to me and I would gladly pay for it.

Hi

I own an iPod Touch and I'm using eReader and stanza to read ebooks and I found eReader way better than Stanza for several reasons, and one of them is their Dictionary support (you must buy one yourself; I already owned one Oxford dictionary in pdb format, btw) - you tap a word and you get a menu where the first choice is "Look up in Dictionary" and only have to tap again on that option - easy enough for me

EDIT: I reckon this may be an upgrade to the eReader software made after your post...

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

I've created my Mobi formatted novels using Mobipocket Creator. I'd be interested to know if anyone has problems opening or displaying those files on iPod Touches or iPhones, in case I need to look into new conversion methods or SW updates.

Example: The Onuissance Cells Mobipocket file

Feel free to test out any other formatted files.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

I've created my Mobi formatted novels using Mobipocket Creator. I'd be interested to know if anyone has problems opening or displaying those files on iPod Touches or iPhones, in case I need to look into new conversion methods or SW updates.

Example: The Onuissance Cells Mobipocket file

Feel free to test out any other formatted files.

I don't think any of the current iPhone/iPod reader software supports mobipocket. It needs to be eReader or ePub (Stanza).

BOb