View Single Post
Old 01-22-2011, 12:17 PM   #18
orwell2k
Addict
orwell2k can extract oil from cheeseorwell2k can extract oil from cheeseorwell2k can extract oil from cheeseorwell2k can extract oil from cheeseorwell2k can extract oil from cheeseorwell2k can extract oil from cheeseorwell2k can extract oil from cheeseorwell2k can extract oil from cheeseorwell2k can extract oil from cheese
 
orwell2k's Avatar
 
Posts: 357
Karma: 1112
Join Date: Oct 2008
Location: Euroland
Device: PocketBook 360°, BeBook (Hanlin V3), iRex DR1000S, iPad
I agree, no format wars. Although the 'best' format in anything is often not the one chosen by the commercial providers (Beta vs VHS, NTSC vs PAL, GSM vs whatever).

I can't find fault with any of your statements, and it really comes down to personal situation and preferences.

Quote:
Originally Posted by jocampo View Post
...The main problem with FB2 is that is an old format and the best ereaders on the market do not support it natively; you depend of Calibre to convert, that's an extra step and not an advantage in my opinion. Most commercial online bookstore do not sell books on that format either (commercial, not free stores)
But for me, the 'best readers on the market' were the ones that did supported FB2 natively (Hanlin clones such as BeBook, PocketBook variants, etc.). These handled FB2 out of the box, as they came with an FBReader integrated into their firmware (usu. FBReader or CoolReader).

I specifically stayed away from Kindle and Sony as they did not handle FB2, and in fact handled primarily their own format (Mobi = Kindle; LRF = Sony), wlthough Sony have since adopted ePub as their format of choice.

I also stayed away from these 'big' names as they were too Ameri-centric for me. That is to say, they limited sale of their hardware to the US, and even if you got around the system and imported one elsewhere, their bookstores refused to sell you the books! I believe the Sony store is still extremely geo-restricted, and officially Amazon is, but there are reasonably easy ways around it. B&N, the newcomer, is also heavily restricted and difficult to circumvent.

So even when Sony and Kindle opened their reader market to sell the hardware to other regions, I was already so p***ed off with their earlier sales policies that I took a voluntary boycott on all their products. I no longer will even consider Kindle or Sony, or their respective stores, for any eBook-related purchase.

I think you'll find some non-English language bookstores offer material in FB2 - primarily Russian, as the format began there. In fact, I first got into FB2 when I improvised an eBook solution back in 2004, using an Acer n10 PDA running Haali Reader. The fact that FB2 provided a great solution when Sony and later Kindle refused to sell me an eInk device has coloured my view and left me with a (perhaps irrational) love of FB2 and an irrational hatred of Mobi/ePub.

Your points on large books and books with graphics are well taken - FB2 is ideal for novels, but text/technical books, or books with lots of images and/or formatting are not as well suited. FB2 files tend to be larger in size because they are uncompressed, although any reader that can handle FB2 usually also handles FB2.zip files, allowing them to be compressed. And as for text books, even in ePub I find 5" or 6" eInk devices inadequate as you usually need a larger display to make use of the info. Again, iPad provides this (as does DR1000 and now other larger-screen devices). Also, PDF is often the format in these cases, again supporting the need for a larger display.

As for conversion, Calibre is one option, but to be frank it is not the best. It produces an output (usually) but it is often too simplistically formatted. I prefer BookDesigner, and there is also the FBTools plug-in for Open Office. But if you know XML you could also produce an FB2 book with any XML editor, as the schema is relatively simple and available online (FB2 Wiki pages, etc.).

Unfortunately, FB2 will probably die off, although there still seems to be plenty of non-US/non-English support and ongoing development for readers, conversion tools, etc. The fact that it is XML, and well-established in the Russian language eBook world, where so much of the cutting edge eReader and firmware development (non-Kindle, non-Sony, non-Apple) seems to be happening. As I said, just check out things like PocketBook and BeBook to see the firmware options, and the fact that FB2 is supported 'out of the box'.

Again, just my €0.02 worth...
orwell2k is offline   Reply With Quote