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The Random Ebooks Questions Post

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I've been having this random problem where some AO3 fics that I've downloaded as epub open just fine in calibre but then give me a page error on my ereader (Sony 650). If I delete from reader and then run it through the convert books setting (from epub to epub) and reload on my reader, it works just fine. Have you come across this issue at all?

Eventually, I'll file a bug report with AO3 but if there is more data that I could give them, it would be helpful.

Oh my goodness, I thought it was just me. I have the same ereader, and any time I try to open an epub file from AO3, it freezes the whole thing up.

The smaller fics work just fine (under about 3,000 words), but I generally want to read longer fics (upwards of 30,000 words) and those are the ones that seem to cause the trouble. For me at least.

I'll have to re-check; I've been able to read several longer fics without problems, but I know of a Sony bug that could clash with them.

Sony's epub reader can't deal with segments larger than 300kb; if the conversion isn't breaking up the HTML pieces into small enough parts, they'll freeze when it tries to read them. (Epubs are just repackaged zip files of HTML + some metadata. If you change the extension to .zip and unzip it, you can see the raw contents.)

Awww, okay, that would explain it then. I wasn't aware of the bug and figured it was something on my end. I guess that explains why re-converting it through Calibre seems to work. Thanks so much!

Sony tries to pretend the bug doesn't exist, because if you use their software for conversion, you'll never notice it. So it's not a bug, right? It's just incompatibility with ebooks built by other people!

Which, um, every other epub reader on the planet can handle.

(Sony's bug comes from the hardware limitations of the PRS-500; limiting the files to 300kb pieces was a way to keep long files from taking forever to load. We have faster processors now.)

I wonder if I should just automatically run every book through calibre's convert process before loading. If I just make it a habit, it won't take more than a few seconds to do that.

Hmmm. I'm thinking I might just do this, too.

I run all the A03 fics through an epub conversion but honestly it's just so I can add this css override code to the epubs.

body { margin: 0; }
a {text-decoration: none; color: black;}
a [href] {text-decoration: none; color: black;}
p {margin-top: 0pt; margin-bottom: 0pt; padding: 0pt; text-indent: 15pt; text-align: justify;}
h1 { text-align: center;}
h2 {text-align: center; }
h3 { text-align: center;}
h4 { text-align: center; }
h5 { text-align: center; }
h6 { text-align: center; }

Re: AO3 bug with epub files?

valiha - 2010-11-26 10:27 (UTC) - Expand

Re: AO3 bug with epub files?

amalthia - 2010-11-26 10:37 (UTC) - Expand

Re: AO3 bug with epub files?

valiha - 2010-11-26 11:06 (UTC) - Expand

Re: AO3 bug with epub files?

elf - 2010-11-26 15:34 (UTC) - Expand

Re: AO3 bug with epub files?

valiha - 2010-11-26 23:36 (UTC) - Expand

Re: AO3 bug with epub files?

amalthia - 2010-11-26 22:58 (UTC) - Expand

Re: AO3 bug with epub files?

valiha - 2010-11-26 23:29 (UTC) - Expand

Re: AO3 bug with epub files?

amalthia - 2010-11-26 23:37 (UTC) - Expand

Re: AO3 bug with epub files?

valiha - 2010-11-26 23:46 (UTC) - Expand

Re: AO3 bug with epub files?

amalthia - 2010-11-26 23:52 (UTC) - Expand

Ack. I just had my first one freeze my ereader. How do you unfreeze it? :D

Restart by pushing the tiny hidden button in the back. Or whatever the 650 uses for "hard reboot."

Or connect it to the computer, delete that ebook, and see if that fixes it.

Thanks. I had to use the reset button as plugging it into my computer (my first instinct) did nothing. I (re)converted all the AO3 files and now I don't know which one it was that caused the freeze but hopefully it is fixed now.

Ack. Well, the first time it happened, I had to do the equivalent of a force quit. I slid the power button at the top and held it until the screen went blank. I waited a bit, turned the device back on and immediately deleted the book. When I looked at the Sony forums, a few suggested resetting the device, but I hate doing that, especially since I'm always away from my computer and don't want to re-load everything.

Also, thanks for the heads up on re-converting through Calibre. That seems to be working so far.

I slid the power button at the top and held it until the screen went blank

That's a handy tip. Thanks!

I'm happy enough with calibre that I haven't even opened the Sony software that came with the device.

The Sony software is nowhere near as user-friendly & customizable as Calibre. Its sole advantage (aside from needing it to buy stuff from the Sony store, which, pff, not goin' there) is that when it loads LRF files--a now-deprecated filetype--to the reader, it auto-paginates them so they don't take the extra half-minute to open the first time.

I've run across it a couple of times.

Always happens on ebooks with pictures, presumably because the picture is a link rather than imported into the book; the Sony freezes trying to follow the link.

It might happen with other weird coding or links; I haven't found it consistent enough to figure out what files have problems.

Sony has a limit on the size of HTML it can deal with inside the epubs, but if they're using Calibre as the conversion engine, it'd automatically split them into smaller-than-300kb pieces.

I've had it happen with files that don't have pictures so that isn't the only cause. I think I might just have to convert all my AO3 fics prior to sideloading for the time being.

Note to self. Reconverted all my AO3 files. It appears to be about a 50% fail rate.

Any notes on which ones failed? I know, can play with it myself. But knowing what fandoms or pairings to look for might help; maybe it's a cluster of authors importing from other archives, and the imports have code problems.

It's been a variety of authors and either White Collar or SGA fandom.

I'd offer links to the stories I know failed except I've already forgotten which ones they were. I'll start tracking them now, though.

Would you check and see how this file behaves on your ereader?

http://archiveofourown.org/works/110660

It is epub and it causes my ereader to restart every time I try to open it.

I reconverted it from epub to epub with calibre and now it works just fine.

Haven't tried it yet (downloaded; not installed on reader; don't have the right kind of cord with me at work & will have to track one down), but I suspect the problem is the pictures--that little dragon after the notes & before the main text, and the fanart.

Does the epub-to-epub conversion keep the images?

It doesn't but the epub directly created through AO3 doesn't have the dragon in it either so if that is the cause, what we see as a reader doesn't change but something in the code originally created is broken.

Correction: It doesn't show when I view the original in ADE but it does with calibre. But the converted one doesn't have the dragons in the calibre viewer either.

Edited (More testing) 2010-12-13 19:49 (UTC)

This one failed. I don't see any pictures or links in it.
http://archiveofourown.org/works/27975

Update: I've filed a bug report with AO3 linking to this thread.

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