# Which Format? Mobi vs PRC and K1/K2 (was part of Free Books)



## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

CS said:


> Aren't Mobi and PRC the same thing?


Yes. The current Windows version of Mobipocket Creator builds files with the PRC extension.


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## vlapinta (Jan 11, 2009)

Steph H which format for K2?
Vicki


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## Steph H (Oct 28, 2008)

Um, sorry Vicki, I have no idea.  I only have K1's.  As a general rule, if mobi/prc is available, it's always best to get that version over pdf that has to be converted.  Unless the mobi is a secure format, in which case it usually won't work on the Kindle.


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## r0b0d0c (Feb 16, 2009)

Jammie said:


> Free book at http://www.gwellstaylor.com/books/whengraveyardsyawn/free_book/free_ebook.html
> 
> --------------------
> *When Graveyards Yawn* by G. Wells Taylor
> ...


They have 2 choices to download for the Kindle: .azw and .prc - is one or the other "better" for reading on Kindle? (better formatting?) Either can be simply moved onto the Kindle for reading via USB cable from computer, right?

TIA!


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## Seamonkey (Dec 2, 2008)

I chose the .azw file to D/L, since that is Amazon's default for kindle files, I think..  Anyway it looks ok on my Kindle.  But I've also D/L .prc format files as well.


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## Betsy the Quilter (Oct 27, 2008)

I'm going to split out most of the discussion about book conversion of the free PDF to its own thread, however I'll leave the last couple comments here for information about the free book.

Reminder, posts about free books only here, please! We try to keep this pretty lean and mean so it's useful to the new folks coming in. If you have a technical question, Tips & Tricks is a good place. (Of course, if there's a problem about one of the books offered, we need that info here so people can make informed choices.) I do prune occasionally, try to do it without impacting folks' post counts too badly.

Thanks!

Betsy








<==easter bunny mod hat in honor of KBoards' Easter Egg Hunt contest!


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## koland (Nov 24, 2008)

CS said:


> Aren't Mobi and PRC the same thing?


Not quite, although MOBI readers can read PRC. Just as Kindle's AZW format is more "evolved" (ie, has been modified a bit) and can still read the older two formats.

MOBI has more formatting options and can produce a better looking book than PRC. Of course, since many people swap these extensions around, the lines get blurred, but if both formats are available (say, at Fictionwise), choose MOBI over PRC.


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## koland (Nov 24, 2008)

vlapinta said:


> Steph H which format for K2?


The K2 and the K1 are identical in their book formatting. Choose the AZW format for Kindle, as it is more likely to know about the margins and screen size for Kindle (although all MOBI/PRC formats are reflowable, margins can be set and reduce what is on the screen of a reader).

As far as what will work on Kindle - MOBI, PRC and AZW from this site (TXT would work, but may not look nearly as good, although there don't seem to be graphics to worry about).


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## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

koland said:


> Not quite, although MOBI readers can read PRC. Just as Kindle's AZW format is more "evolved" (ie, has been modified a bit) and can still read the older two formats.
> 
> MOBI has more formatting options and can produce a better looking book than PRC. Of course, since many people swap these extensions around, the lines get blurred, but if both formats are available (say, at Fictionwise), choose MOBI over PRC.


Not to make the already blurred line blurrier, but there are numerous conversion engines out there that create MOBI and PRC files. For example, Smashwords distributes files with the MOBI file extension as the "Kindle version." On my Kindle, the Smashwords *.MOBI versions of my books are slightly different than the Amazon *.AZW and the Mobipocket *.PRC files although all three were created using the same Word file as their source. The differences are small and mostly cosmetic with the exception of locations. People often send me notes that they found a typo at a particular location that I sometimes can't find.


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## koland (Nov 24, 2008)

Jeff said:


> On my Kindle, the Smashwords *.MOBI versions of my books are slightly different than the Amazon *.AZW and the Mobipocket *.PRC files although all three were created using the same Word file as their source. The differences are small and mostly cosmetic with the exception of locations. People often send me notes that they found a typo at a particular location that I sometimes can't find.


I've seen similar problems with locations when an author gets uploaded both by Amazon DTP and Mobipocket - one file can be larger and have double the locations (each location mark takes up space in the file), yet the text be identical. But the formats do vary some in their specifications, with Mobi being the "newer" format, which makes MobiCreator's creation of PRC even more confusing, while AZW has a few amazon specific wrinkles. Mobi does display a bit better, often (and you can create MOBI easily from PRC, using something like Calibre).


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