# [PROBLEM SOLVED] Changing metadata on PRC files w/ Mobipocket? Mobi2Mobi help



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

I know you can change the metadata as you're converting a file from Doc/PDF etc. to PRC format, but is there any way to change the metadata on a native PRC file?

For example, one of the books transfers to my Kindle as "Chapter 1" instead of the actual title, and no author is listed (an annoyance with many of the books, BTW).

*UPDATE:* Mobi2Mobi was suggested to me. I need some help with it.

I downloaded and installed .NET Framework. No issues there.

The other files wouldn't extract, so I had to manually copy them to a folder.

After that, I open up the program - but as soon as I try to add an e-book, I get the following error.










(If the pic doesn't show up, CLICK HERE.)

Any idea what could be causing this?

Thanks.

*ANOTHER UPDATE - PROBLEM SOLVED!* From a PM:



Shizu said:


> Here is the link to video. Deb uses Vista too so...
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y74R1sbk_-8&fmt=18


That worked!!!

Thank you so much.

I think the trick is saving everything to the desktop. That's the only thing I didn't do before.

*A BIG THANK YOU to everyone, especially Shizu and Susan!*


----------



## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

Have you tried opening the file in Mobipocket Creator and fixing it there?

L


----------



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

Leslie said:


> Have you tried opening the file in Mobipocket Creator and fixing it there?
> 
> L


Yep, was the first thing I tried. Nothing happens when I try to open a native PRC file through Creator (Reader reads it, but I can't edit any metadata through there - as far as I can tell anyway). Creator only seems to be able to access Word, PDF, txt, and HTML files, but strangely enough, not native PRC.


----------



## Leslie (Apr 7, 2008)

CS said:


> Yep, was the first thing I tried. Nothing happens when I try to open a native PRC file through Creator (Reader reads it, but I can't edit any metadata through there - as far as I can tell anyway). Creator only seems to be able to access Word, PDF, txt, and HTML files, but strangely enough, not native PRC.


Yes, I see what you mean. Hmmm....

L


----------



## Michael R. Hicks (Oct 29, 2008)

Yeah, that's odd - you'd think you'd be able to do that through Creator.

Not sure if this is any help (looks like info-glut at first glance), but this URL may help: http://www.mobipocket.com/dev/article.asp?BaseFolder=prcgen&File=building.htm

Cheers,
Mike


----------



## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

An original PRC file is compiled by Mobipocket Creator from various source files. To edit the metadata of an existing PRC file, one would need the source project file (*.OPF). If you have the actual book in another format such as RTF, TXT, PDF or HTML one can create a new PRC file and add one’s own metadata to that.


----------



## tlrowley (Oct 29, 2008)

There is a series of perl scripts called mobi2mobi that will do exactly what you want.  You can also find pre-compiled windows versions. 


Tracey


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

As far as I know you can’t edit metadata on a compiled ebook with Mobicreator.

This is a function promised with a future version of Stanza, however.

Mike


----------



## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

jmiked said:


> As far as I know you can't edit metadata on a compiled ebook with Mobicreator.


Unless you crack it and defeat the DRM protection as tlrowley has suggested.


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

Jeff said:


> Unless you crack it and defeat the DRM protection as tlrowley has suggested.


Where's a hat when I need one? 

No discussions permitted on the forum about how to crack DRM. Just a friendly reminder. I don't think that's _really _what tlrowley is suggesting -- the OP just wanted to fix the author info -- but let's be aware, o.k.

Ann


----------



## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

Ann Von Hagel said:


> Where's a hat when I need one?


Hmm.


----------



## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

They said it was a .prc file, not .azw, anyway, so no DRM.  Mobi2mobi does not change DRM, anyway, just metadata.


----------



## tlrowley (Oct 29, 2008)

Jeff said:


> Unless you crack it and defeat the DRM protection as tlrowley has suggested.


I did *NOT* suggest removing/cracking the DRM. mobi2mobi edits the metadata, not the encryption of the file. I would appreciate it if you removed your post, or apologized.


----------



## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

SusanCassidy said:


> They said it was a .prc file, not .azw, anyway, so no DRM. Mobi2mobi does not change DRM, anyway, just metadata.


Of course I can't speak to every book sold by Mobipocket, but my books, in PRC format, are DRM protected.


----------



## tlrowley (Oct 29, 2008)

I have prc books, not DMR'd, from Baen.com.  Some of them do not have proper metadata for sorting correctly on my Kindle, and I'm a little anal about that.  That's how I discovered mobi2mobi.  Now, those books sort correctly (and no titles in ALL CAPS, another pet peeve of mine.)

Still waiting for a retraction....


----------



## Ann in Arlington (Oct 27, 2008)

tlrowley, I called him on it:



Ann Von Hagel said:


> Where's a hat when I need one?
> 
> No discussions permitted on the forum about how to crack DRM. Just a friendly reminder. I don't think that's _really _what tlrowley is suggesting -- the OP just wanted to fix the author info -- but let's be aware, o.k.
> 
> Ann


let's let it be, eh?

Ann - - > TTT Moderator


----------



## Jeff (Oct 28, 2008)

tlrowley said:


> I did *NOT* suggest removing/cracking the DRM. mobi2mobi edits the metadata, not the encryption of the file. I would appreciate it if you removed your post, or apologized.


I apologize if you took my comment as a personal attack. That was not my intention.

I've referred your complaint to a mod. If she feels my post should be removed she can do it with a click.


----------



## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

I didn't think you could get books from Mobipocket.com to work on the Kindle.  I had heard that they didn't accept the characters in the PID like asterisk.  Can you get them to work on Kindle?


----------



## Shizu (Oct 27, 2008)

CS said:


> I know you can change the metadata as you're converting a file from Doc/PDF etc. to PRC format, but is there any way to change the metadata on a native PRC file?
> 
> For example, one of the books transfers to my Kindle as "Chapter 1" instead of the actual title, and no author is listed (an annoyance with many of the books, BTW).


You can use Mobi2Mobi to manipulate the metadate of the books. It works directly with .azw, .prc, and mobi files in Windows XP and Vista. Here is the thread from the Amazon board. This will work on Amazon DRM books too. This only changes the metadata so you can sort books more easily on your kindle.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/forum/cd/discussion.html/ref=cm_cd_notf_thread?ie=UTF8&cdForum=FxBVKST06PWP9B&cdPage=1&asin=B000FI73MA&cdThread=Tx3PSVDF9134HIO#


----------



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

Thanks, everyone. I will check out Mobi2Mobi.

As for this DRM argument, I can safely confirm that tlrowley's intention wasn't to bypass DRM restrictions, because all of the PRCs I have are unencrypted files from various legal free book websites.


----------



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

I need some help for Mobi2Mobi.

I downloaded and installed .NET Framework. No issues there.

The other files wouldn't extract, so I had to manually copy them to a folder.

After that, I open up the program - but as soon as I try to add an e-book, I get the following error.










Any idea what could be causing this?

Thanks.


----------



## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

CS: You must be using the GUI version, instead of the Perl programs.  I'm afraid I haven't used the GUI.  I have a vague memory of some people having a problem with the GUI version.  The Perl stuff works fine, but you do have to install Perl.

But, the main problem is that you did not put an error message, so we can't guess where the problem lies.  At least, I cannot see any error message in your post.


----------



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

SusanCassidy said:


> CS: You must be using the GUI version, instead of the Perl programs. I'm afraid I haven't used the GUI. I have a vague memory of some people having a problem with the GUI version. The Perl stuff works fine, but you do have to install Perl.
> 
> But, the main problem is that you did not put an error message, so we can't guess where the problem lies. At least, I cannot see any error message in your post.


Strange that the error msg pic didn't show up for you. Try this LINK


----------



## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

It looks like it is the internet filtering software that the company I work for uses.  I'll have to wait til I get home to see the message.

Have you tried the Perl version of Mobi2mobi?


----------



## Mike D. aka jmiked (Oct 28, 2008)

Jeff said:


> Unless you crack it and defeat the DRM protection as tlrowley has suggested.


It's got nothing to do with DRM. As far as I know, you can't open any .prc file with MobiCreator.


----------



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

SusanCassidy said:


> It looks like it is the internet filtering software that the company I work for uses. I'll have to wait til I get home to see the message.
> 
> Have you tried the Perl version of Mobi2mobi?


Any help you could give me would be much appreciated.

I _think_ I have the Perl version as well, but I have no clue how to run it.


----------



## SusanCassidy (Nov 9, 2008)

OK, I finally got the GUI to execute, after installing the .NET framework, SP1 (what a pain - stupid Microsoft). Make sure that you get Service Pack 1 (http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=ab99342f-5d1a-413d-8319-81da479ab0d7&displaylang=en).

However, it gives error messages that seem to be ignorable. I didn't go ahead and put the file on my Kindle, though. From looking at the file with Mobipocket Reader, it doesn't look like it worked, with the errors. However, some people apparently have luck with the GUI. I have Windows XP.

I have been using the original Perl versions of the scripts, and they work just fine. See http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/Kindle_Mobi2Mobi_Vista/XP for more info. Sorry I'm not more help with the GUI version.


----------



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

I just tried the Perl version, but I get this error message after I type in a command.

_'mobi2mobi' is not recognized as an internal or external command, operable program or batch file._

Does the Mobi Perl software need to be in the same directory as the e-books?


----------



## Shizu (Oct 27, 2008)

No you just need to set link the directory where pearl is to mobi2mobi.


----------



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

Shizu said:


> No you just need to set link the directory where pearl is to mobi2mobi.


Hmmmm... How do I do that?

Sorry for all of these questions, and thank you to everyone for their help so far.


----------



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

Okay, problem solved!!!

From a PM:



Shizu said:


> Here is the link to video. Deb uses Vista too so...
> 
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y74R1sbk_-8&fmt=18


That worked!!!

Thank you so much.

I think the trick is saving everything to the desktop. That's the only thing I didn't do before.


----------



## CS (Nov 3, 2008)

A BIG THANK YOU to everyone, especially Shizu and Susan!


----------



## Shizu (Oct 27, 2008)

CS, glad it workd. 

Deb on the Amazon board made nice video. Here are the link.

For Vista user: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y74R1sbk_-8&fmt=18

For XP user: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5Ph4ccc4W8&fmt=18


----------

