trouble downloading from AO3

[dragonfly]

So, I have a shiny new Pandigital Novel eBook reader. It reads .pdf and .epub, but whenever I try to download fanfic from the AO3 it tells me it doesn't support the format. Has anyone else had trouble downloading epubs from AO3?

Comments

[samvara]

I can download epubs but I'm using an iPad - have you contacted support?

[stormcloude]

Sometimes they download as zips and you have to rename them to epub?

[teafeather]

Sometimes scripts that automatically generate .epub files end up creating files that make ebook readers cranky.

Are you comfortable using Calibre? Sometimes converting the ePub file to another format, deleting the original ePub and converting back to ePub will fix the problem.

I haven't had this issue with AO3 files but have had it with files that were initially converted to ePub from DAISY. Darn things kept crashing my Sony until I tried running them through Calibre.

[samjohnsson]

The way the epub module is set currently, the headers get set to mimetype/octet-stream instead of /epub - technically accurate, since an epub is pretty much an overspecified zip folder. Depending on what you're using to download from the site, the file gets downloaded as work.zip (especially mobile browsers and IE), which leaves most ereaders confused.

The coders are aware of the issue, and there's a fix on Github for the testers to play with, so hopefully it'll be addressed soon!

[adonnchaid]

I don't have any trouble as long as I use Calibre, I never thought to load directly to my e-reader *g* I like using Calibre, if only for the "fixing the metadata and sorting stuff around so I know what I've got" features.

[blueswan]

I have a Pandigital and download epubs from Ao3 frequently. But, my wireless network is sometimes cranky so I download to my desktop and then to Zhaan from it. I've never had any problems with epubs, but my reader doesn't like pdf files for some reason.