Purging ePub info from iTunes application to correct meta data typo

However, when I load it back into iTunes, the old meta data does not seem to want to go away. How do I fix it?

Was the file sync'd to your iPad? If so, try deleting it from the iPad, as well as, iTunes. Then sync the iPad with iTunes so than neither has a copy. Disconnect the iPad and then reconnect it to update the "iPad back-up" file BEFORE re-adding the corrected file. Not sure, but I think this is what i did to get rid of a similar problem with modified cover art. Am assuming it is the "Back-up" file that is the culprit here and keeps restoring the unwanted data.

I have a new iPad and a newer Sony eReader. I have about 5 books that I would like to move into my iBooks before I give eReader to my sister. I googled how online and came up with Stanza/Calibre info, but am still quite foggy on how to do to this. Any help would be appreciated....
Thanks!!
Jane

I have a new iPad and a newer Sony eReader. I have about 5 books that I would like to move into my iBooks before I give eReader to my sister. I googled how online and came up with Stanza/Calibre info, but am still quite foggy on how to do to this.

Assuming the files on the Sony Reader are DRM-free, I would normally use Caibre to do this but you could also use any similar content manager or even the Mac "Finder". (I.e., Calibre already manages files for 2 Sony Readers, as well as, my Kindle on my system.) Your first step would be to open Calibre. Next you would connect the Sony Reader. Once the Sony Reader icon appears in the window next to the Calibre Library icon, select the reader icon. This should bring up a list of the files currently found on the Sony Reader. Now simply select the files your wish to transfer to your iPad and press the "Save to Disk" icon to transfer the files to your hard drive. When done making the transfers, simply select the files you wish to remove from the Sony reader and press the "Remove Books" icon to delete them from the device. Files previously save to your hard drive can then be added to iTunes for normal synchronization to the iPad. That's all there is to it.

P.S. For future reference, it is considered more courteous to open your own specific topic in these forums rather than "hi-jacking" someone else's.

Books brought through the Sony Stone are encrypted with Adobe's ADEPT DRM. You must unencrypt the books and then Calibre will be able to convert them for your own personal use in your iPad.

Also note that books you buy from Apple will also be encrypted using Apple's DRM and you will not be able to view them in your Sony reader.

http://vivaebooks.blogspot.com/2009/10/iphone-reading-adobeepub-ebooks.html

This does not seem to work.

I have been banging my head against this for hours now. iTunes insists on remembering metadata but every once in a while, it tantalizingly actually seems to "forget" old metadata and recognizes new metadata--however, I can find no pattern and cannot reproduce it on command.

Can anyone figure out where this info is being stored? I can't find it anywhere in the Music/iTunes directory structure.

Wow. The mystery is revealed, and it is a strange twist indeed. I consider this a bug in iTunes. This is what is happening:

When you drag an epub file and drop it in your iTunes library, iTunes:

1. looks in the /META-INF/container.xml file inside the epub file (a folder/file of this name is required by the epub standard);

2. reads, from the container.xml file, the the location of the "rootfile" of the epub (this ENTRY is also required by the epub standard) -- for example, it might be something like:

<rootfile media-type="application/oebps-package+xml" full-path="11231/content.opf"/>

3. reads various "metadata" from the content.opf file (in this example--this file name is arbitrary), including author name and book title;

4. creates standard iTunes directories inside your "~/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music" hierarchy -- e.g.

"/Users/trevor/Music/iTunes/iTunes Music/Herman Melville/Unknown Album"

5. COPIES the epub file into this directory, LEAVING the original epub wherever you had it saved;

6. ADDs a file called "iTunesMetadata.plist" to the COPY of the epub that it has just saved into the iTunes hierarchy;

AND -- and this is the unexpected, buggy, bizarre, part -- THEN

7. ADDs the same "iTunesMetadata.plist" file to the ORIGINAL epub file.

The iTunesMetadata.plist file contains info on author and title of the book and since it has now unexpectedly been added to your ORIGINAL epub file, without any notice to you, it gets copied back into iTunes every time you drag and drop the ORIGINAL. Even if you modify the author/title metadata in the normal epub locations (this info is stored in the rootfile), the iTunesMetadata.plist NEVER gets updated.

Real Solution: Apple must fix this bug.

Workaround:

1. open terminal;

2. navigate to wherever your ORIGINAL epub is;

3. zip -d NameOfYourePubFile.epub iTunesMetadata.plist
(substitute the real name of your epub where appropriate above)

I should have noted, just in case anyone was confused, "epub" files are actually just "zip" files with a different extension. Inside the "zip" file is at least one required directory and some required files.

So you're saying that the original file had iTunes's incorrect metadata written inside it, and no matter how you change the metadata, iTunes will still read its own metadata file inside the epub?

Yes, iTunes adds its iTunesMetadata.plist file to BOTH the original and the copy it creates. Once iTunes has put the iTunesMetadata.plist file into the original, it ONLY seems to read metadata from that file (which makes sense) and does not seem to want to change it, no matter what you put in the content.opf file (which is where metadata gets stored according to the epub standard).

This is a bug IMO, since if iTunes is making a copy of the epub for itself, then there is no reason to add files to the original epub that it leaves wherever you had stored it.

Trevor, this looks like the problem I'm encountering. Please contact me by email: david at davidneale dot eu if you would be prepared to discuss this a bit further.

Trevor, lad, you're brilliant. I've spent several days poring over my code, searching the web, posting questions, doubting my sanity. At last you have provided the answer. Apple don't get many bad marks from me, but in this case they certainly deserve some.

I've written a piece of software to generate ePub files from text, including splitting into chapters, generating all the auxiliary files required by ePub and so on. I made a mistake with the first version and, when I loaded the ePub to iTunes, I saw that the title and author place-holders had not been replaced. That was an easy correction. Or, at least, the filling of the place-holders locally was easy, but no matter what I did, iTunes continued to show the erroneous data.

I've just executed your fix, reloaded the ePub to iTunes and it's perfect.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.