Open source

bradrice · 12-18-2009, 04:20 PM

Is there a way to open source of a non-drm .mobi file? I want to start looking at the source of different books to determine how they are put together. I am working on my own .mobi formatted book and would like to look at the source of some others.

wallcraft · 12-18-2009, 04:31 PM

You can use Calibre to extract an OEB version, or MobiPerl's mobi2html. However, the MOBI format isn't designed to be human readable. MobiPocket takes an OEB ebook (the best example now is an ePub, but a collection of HTML and images also works) and smashes it down to a dumb as dirt single-file HTML with custom add-ons version.

What you really want is the original OEB version, which is saved if you use MobiPocket Creator, but does not help someone trying to work backwards from the MOBI.

Unless you want to add DRM, what I suggest is to produce an ePub version and then run Calibre to convert to MOBI. Some ePub features get lost, but a surprisingly large number get through. You can look at how an ePub is constructed simply by unzipping the .epub.

bradrice · 12-21-2009, 10:30 AM

Thanks for the info. That was very helpful. So really I should be reading about creation of OEB book and then I will be covered. I'm particularly interested in creating indexes and linking inside of ebooks. Any way to create a searchable metadata tag for the kindle?

Is there any plans to release the MobiPocket Creator for Mac? I'm a mac user.

12-18-2009, 04:20 PM	#1
bradrice Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Lodi, OH Device: Kindle	Open source Is there a way to open source of a non-drm .mobi file? I want to start looking at the source of different books to determine how they are put together. I am working on my own .mobi formatted book and would like to look at the source of some others.

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12-18-2009, 04:31 PM	#2
wallcraft reader Posts: 6,977 Karma: 5183568 Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Mississippi, USA Device: Kindle 3, Kobo Glo HD	You can use Calibre to extract an OEB version, or MobiPerl's mobi2html. However, the MOBI format isn't designed to be human readable. MobiPocket takes an OEB ebook (the best example now is an ePub, but a collection of HTML and images also works) and smashes it down to a dumb as dirt single-file HTML with custom add-ons version. What you really want is the original OEB version, which is saved if you use MobiPocket Creator, but does not help someone trying to work backwards from the MOBI. Unless you want to add DRM, what I suggest is to produce an ePub version and then run Calibre to convert to MOBI. Some ePub features get lost, but a surprisingly large number get through. You can look at how an ePub is constructed simply by unzipping the .epub.

12-21-2009, 10:30 AM	#3
bradrice Junior Member Posts: 2 Karma: 10 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Lodi, OH Device: Kindle	Thanks for the info. That was very helpful. So really I should be reading about creation of OEB book and then I will be covered. I'm particularly interested in creating indexes and linking inside of ebooks. Any way to create a searchable metadata tag for the kindle? Is there any plans to release the MobiPocket Creator for Mac? I'm a mac user.

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