Quote:
Originally Posted by Liviu_5
So is epub intended to be used like oeb
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EPub is the next generation OEB. The .epub "container" is just a ZIP of all the files making up the ebook and like the original OEB it has an .opf metafile.
There were multiple goals for ePub. Publishers wanted a single master format to target (somewhat like using OEB as the master to LIT and MOBI). Readers wanted to use the format directly on their devices. One issue with "ePub direct to Reader" is that it is relatively resource heavy to render ePub to a screen. So the first crack in ePub standards are the limitations on file sizes imposed by Adobe Digital Editions for rendering on handheld devices (like the PRS 505). The alternative is to add an off-line ePub to device format step. MobiPocket appears to be following this route (which is allowed by the ePub standard). The problem that MobiPocket has is that MOBI is now seriously out of date, and isn't powerful enough to even come close to fully supporting ePub. The new oeb2mobi (really epub2mobi) capability in Calibre will be exploring how close MOBI can come to displaying ePub. A limitation that Calibre faces, though, is that the MOBI format needs to be updated to better support ePub and only MobiPocket can do this. Even MobiPocket will find this difficult, because they have to update multiple reader software packages for multiple device types.
EPub includes a specification of how to apply DRM to the ebook, but it does not standardize the DRM itself. So far only Adobe is adding DRM to ePub, but there is already talk of eReader DRM on ePub. For publishers this is ok, since it is the same ePub with multiple incompatible DRM schemes (provided downstream, for a charge, by a 3rd party). It is a nightmare for consumers though.