Amazon Translator Inconsistencies: Title and Author Fields
Hi-
I'm working with a group library that primarily uses Zotero to import Amazon books (in preparation for purchasing them).
In the past 2-3 days, working on three different computers (Windows 7), and working through Zotero for Firefox (Firefox 27, Zotero v. 4.0.17.1) we've had trouble getting "complete" imports for the items. It will import the link/date/publisher, but many times will not import the title, and often not import the title *or* author. As far as we can tell, this is only happening with the Amazon translator.
I've sent a error report just now, ID 2121202442. I have also sent my debug output to the Zotero server, ID D1536066719.
Any troubleshooting advice you have would be much appreciated.
I'm working with a group library that primarily uses Zotero to import Amazon books (in preparation for purchasing them).
In the past 2-3 days, working on three different computers (Windows 7), and working through Zotero for Firefox (Firefox 27, Zotero v. 4.0.17.1) we've had trouble getting "complete" imports for the items. It will import the link/date/publisher, but many times will not import the title, and often not import the title *or* author. As far as we can tell, this is only happening with the Amazon translator.
I've sent a error report just now, ID 2121202442. I have also sent my debug output to the Zotero server, ID D1536066719.
Any troubleshooting advice you have would be much appreciated.
For instance, this URL:
http://www.amazon.com/Madame-Bovary-Gustave-Flaubert/dp/1495356450/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393009102&sr=8-1&keywords=Madame+Bovary
draws everything except the title.
This URL was not working yesterday, but works now:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Fault-Stars-John-Green/dp/0525478817/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1393010562&sr=8-1&keywords=John+Green
This URL:
http://www.amazon.com/The-Science-Running-maximize-performance/dp/0615942946/ref=zg_bsnr_books_16
produces an item with no title, and (last), (first) in the author field.
(Both on Wednesday and this afternoon.
I'd be happy to provide further examples as I find them.
Zotero doesn't really have a working Amazon translator anymore, for somewhat complicated technical/legal reasons having to do with Amazon's API. Instead, Zotero just searches WorldCat for the ISBN. For most books that works just fine, but not for books just published (the two that aren't working were both published this month).
Zotero than falls back to scraping the information of the amazon page, which isn't a terribly precise task, hence the missing fields.
Your version of Zotero will automatically update within 24hs, or you can update manually using the "Update Now" button in the "General" tab of the Zotero preferences. If using Standalone, restart Zotero and your browser.
Amazon seems to be changing the format of some item pages:
Here is a page that imports correctly: http://www.amazon.com/Four-Gospels-One-Jesus-Symbolic/dp/0802871011/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404845975&sr=1-1&keywords=9780802871015
And here is one that results in 2014 as the author's last name: http://www.amazon.com/Sacred-Secular-Society-Jonathan-Arnold/dp/1409451712/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1404845914&sr=1-1&keywords=Sacred+Music+in+Secular+Society
I've recently noticed it happening with many older pages as well, so I wonder if Amazon is converting their catalog to the new format retroactively.
Thanks for reporting!
i ran into the same issue. when trying to import from amazon i get the year in the author field instead of the author (also with the above example). one of my examples: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0816679002?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00
furthermore when trying to do a Preferences -> General -> Update the "Update now" button turns into a button which says "Error".
any idea what's going wrong?
thank you...
Edit: Also, please start a new thread for this issue (and include a link to that thread in the email)