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Originally Posted by charleski
Modern electronic devices are perfectly capable of reproducing all the typographical nuances of print.
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It doesn't matter if they can. They question is do we really need it? While mobi is indeed seriously limited and epub is only slightly better, there are certain print features that are less relevant on e-readers.
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People make a big deal about being able to change the fonts. If the person who designed the book doesn't care what font you use, then fine, change it to suit your taste. I certainly would have difficulty reading everything in Caecilia. But if the designer carefully picked a specific font in order to lend a specific character to the work, then you're corrupting the experience by using something else.
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I am not against font embedding but it should be used sparingly. It is rarely that a specific font is a part of author's intended message or even part of reasons why we read the story. It was fine with pbooks because that's the feature of the medium and there was no other choice. Publishers often designed their own fonts to send a message but often it was a message from a publisher, not from an author. On e-readers more often than not a different font will be a nuisance, not an improvement.
If you want to highlight a certain character one must look for other ways to do it. Text blocks with borders made from image could be one suggestion.
So, maybe it is a blessing in disguise that mobi does not support font embedding. It gives more power to author with their written word and makes publishers less visible. There is some loss but the gain is much bigger.