Just stumbled over
http://www.irextechnologies.com/products/iliad/specs
Which says:

Content formats supported


PDF
XHTML
TXT
APABI (China only)
OEB*
MP3*
Optional: Customization to support customer specific content format

This is new, isn't it?

quite new ... i think they added it a few weeks back.
supporting as much open standards as possible can never be a bad thing.
i haven't really gotten around to look into oeb but it sounds promising.

It's surely nice to have - but would is really missing is a popular DRM-supporting format for commercial E-Books.

check out: http://www.idpf.org/specs.htm

i think the open eBook standard is quite cool.

(way better then xeb, not as proprietary as pdf, especially designed for ebooks unlike html)

It's surely nice to have - but would is really missing is a popular DRM-supporting format for commercial E-Books.

Yeah, and I was wandering around the site yesterday and they have removed all references they recently had to DRM, soon or ever. That would be a problem for me. Now considering cancelling.

Yeah, and I was wandering around the site yesterday and they have removed all references they recently had to DRM, soon or ever. That would be a problem for me. Now considering cancelling.

Thats another reason to hate DRM. You just cant read your stuff anywhere you want. I think i would prefer to have open ebooks. There is more honest people out there, than all the lobbys want us to believe.

Thats another reason to hate DRM. You just cant read your stuff anywhere you want. I think i would prefer to have open ebooks. There is more honest people out there, than all the lobbys want us to believe.
Sure - everyone wants control the content he bought. But you have to dance after their whistle - they only sell DRMed content. For Music i will never accept this. For books i do (if the price-tag fits).
But if i cant read them or at least convert them (which is not allowed), i have to stay on content sources which deliver DRM-free PDFs of all actual Bestsellers... :uhoh2:

Thats another reason to hate DRM. You just cant read your stuff anywhere you want. I think i would prefer to have open ebooks. There is more honest people out there, than all the lobbys want us to believe.

Also it delays development. I have a Toshiba/Panasonic double screen ebook, only for museum purposes, because I have never got a clear way to upload content into the SD card.

But if i cant read them or at least convert them (which is not allowed), i have to stay on content sources which deliver DRM-free PDFs of all actual Bestsellers... :uhoh2:

I know. I rather buy the pbook and read it as an ebook. Makes me feel good, because i have what i want, and author and publisher get what they want. (and looks nice in the bookshelf aswell :) )

I know. I rather buy the pbook and read it as an ebook. Makes me feel good, because i have what i want, and author and publisher get what they want. (and looks nice in the bookshelf aswell :) )
That's my main reason for e-books: My bookshelf is full...

So you think you are on the morally clear side if buy the pbook and get the ebook from another source. And even if it's morally right, what does the law say about it?

I would love a personal serial number in every pbook which allows you to download the ebook version (watermarked so they can backtrack it to your account if it shows up in the wrong places, but without DRM)

Unless the ebook market is about to explode, they might as well follow baen and enjoy the free publicity.

as someone said before buy .lit ebooks and use the convertlit app

So you think you are on the morally clear side if buy the pbook and get the ebook from another source. And even if it's morally right, what does the law say about it?
I think it falls under "fair use" -- if you're not selling it, or otherwise distributing it, you can make copies. The thing about DRM is that it tends to artificially limit that "fair use."

I'm not saying that there is a law that says "if you buy the book and convert it to an e-text, exclusively for your own use you're legally in the clear," but I'm pretty sure that it would get tossed out of court if they tried to prosecute something like that.

Judge: So they defendant purchased the text for the going market rate?
Prosecuter: Yes, Your Honor.
Judge: And he made an electronic copy?
Prosecuter: Yes, Your Honor.
Judge: Did he sell this electronic copy?
Prosecuter: No, Your Honor.
Judge: Did he give this electronic copy to anyone else?
Prosecuter: No, Your Honor.
Judge: What did he do with this electronic copy then?
Prosecuter: He read it, Your Honor.
Judge: He read it?
Prosecuter: Yes, Your Honor.
Judge: That's all?
Prosecuter: That's all, Your Honor.
Judge: So ... he bought a book, paid full price for it, and read it.
Prosecuter: Yes, Your Honor.

Just imagine what Judge Judy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judge_Judy) would would say to that?

you could use the Chewbacca_Defense (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chewbacca_Defense)

I think it'd be more of a Chewbacca Prosecution :happy2:

Oh, wait, I see what you're saying -- Yes, yes they could use the Chewbacca Defense.

It'd make better sense. :)

Judge: So they defendant purchased the text for the going market rate?
Prosecuter: Yes, Your Honor.


Are you sure? Last time I 'bought' an eBook, I found that I didn't: I merely licensed it for various purposes ... or rather a single purpose, that of reading it in the manner the publisher decided.

@ Ath

Natch is talking about buying a p-book, and then converting it to an e-book. :p

Yup. Wait ... wasn't that what we were talking about? Now I'm confused.

If i do that, i feel fine on a moral ground. But i would say, it is still illegal. Because i dont make the copy myself, but get it from the internet. This shows, we need a better ebook format and no DRM and publishers and authors, that sell for a reasonable price.

ok feeling slightly dumb here :/
what is a oeb book?, a single file or a collection of files (like the html/jpg/gif/opf when you unlit a lit file)

the iliad doesn't seem to recognise the extension .oeb or as i tried a folder with all the unlit files in it (assumed it might try to open the opf file)

maybe the software isn't capable of running it yet which is odd as i thought .xeb were in some part similar.

Btw.: You can open password protected PDF with the iLiad. You just have to activate the keyboad to make the dialog box visible.

what is a oeb book?, a single file or a collection of files (like the html/jpg/gif/opf when you unlit a lit file)

Collection of files, mainly in XML format. OEB stands for Open E-Book ... and used to be at www.openebook.org, but is now at www.idpf.org (International Digital Publishing Forum).

The document container that's based on ZIP archive structure carries the .epub extension (still only proposal). The so-called file-container seems to be an plain file structure, the 'top' file of which seems to be found by locating a META-INF/container.xml file and interpreting it ... but all examples I have seen so far use .opf as extension, so that may be a second method.

The container specification is still, I think, being drafted: it was recently posted for public comment at www.idpf.org .