MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - The fight for a reflowable e-document standard

rkfoster · 09-15-2006, 07:42 PM

This has been a very interesting discussion about DRM and eBook formatting standards. I realize that this site is primarily focused on "Mobile" eBooks but I think many discussions in this area overlook, or wander away from, the question of what is a "book", electronic or otherwise.

I am a big collector and reader of paper books. My budget shows that, unfortunately, every time I look at it. But with a paper book I know a lot of things: I know where it is in my house, I know by the cover who the author is and what the subject is, I know by the size and the book spine on my shelf what it is, I have something that is very often a work of art in itself with beautiful cover art, I can skim the entire book to get a quick idea of what's in it, and I can do whatever I want with it after I've bought it.

Both DRM and ebook format standards have yet to make much of that possible for "eBooks".

I tend to prefer Adobe PDF because it is the closest thing, visually, to a paper book. My favorite software reader used to be Glassbook Reader because it did a simple thing of providing a library showing cover images the way iTunes does for CD artwork. Of course Adobe bought them out and dumped the technology in the trash, I've never seen it since.

The idea that just taking html/xml data, putting it into some file format, displaying it on screen, and calling that an ebook leaves me unenthused. Sure if those words are by an important Author then fine that's an ebook. The problem is that people don't want to sit at their desks and read a book on screen, or on some tiny screen on a portable device. What they want is something that works for them -- the way a paper back book does. We always come back to the paper book.

I guess my main point is this, until someone/some company gets the combination of reader device, reader software, reader rights, and delivery system right then ebooks will not take off. They've all tried it and so far no one's gotten it right. And now the only solution is to go to a place like Fictionwise that allows you to get multiple formats after you've purchased the book (or manybooks.net that I didn't know about before, thanks) so that wherever you want to read you have the proper format.

The general public is never going to accept this type of run around. They will just go to the local bookstore and buy a paperback.

09-15-2006, 07:42 PM	#34
rkfoster Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Michigan, USA Device: Hipster PDA	This has been a very interesting discussion about DRM and eBook formatting standards. I realize that this site is primarily focused on "Mobile" eBooks but I think many discussions in this area overlook, or wander away from, the question of what is a "book", electronic or otherwise. I am a big collector and reader of paper books. My budget shows that, unfortunately, every time I look at it. But with a paper book I know a lot of things: I know where it is in my house, I know by the cover who the author is and what the subject is, I know by the size and the book spine on my shelf what it is, I have something that is very often a work of art in itself with beautiful cover art, I can skim the entire book to get a quick idea of what's in it, and I can do whatever I want with it after I've bought it. Both DRM and ebook format standards have yet to make much of that possible for "eBooks". I tend to prefer Adobe PDF because it is the closest thing, visually, to a paper book. My favorite software reader used to be Glassbook Reader because it did a simple thing of providing a library showing cover images the way iTunes does for CD artwork. Of course Adobe bought them out and dumped the technology in the trash, I've never seen it since. The idea that just taking html/xml data, putting it into some file format, displaying it on screen, and calling that an ebook leaves me unenthused. Sure if those words are by an important Author then fine that's an ebook. The problem is that people don't want to sit at their desks and read a book on screen, or on some tiny screen on a portable device. What they want is something that works for them -- the way a paper back book does. We always come back to the paper book. I guess my main point is this, until someone/some company gets the combination of reader device, reader software, reader rights, and delivery system right then ebooks will not take off. They've all tried it and so far no one's gotten it right. And now the only solution is to go to a place like Fictionwise that allows you to get multiple formats after you've purchased the book (or manybooks.net that I didn't know about before, thanks) so that wherever you want to read you have the proper format. The general public is never going to accept this type of run around. They will just go to the local bookstore and buy a paperback.