To be honest: I'm so tired of it

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Turtle91

I haven't tried converting AZW3 to ePub. If I use Calibre will it go in and "calibrefy" all the css/tags or does it just "unwrap" it back to an ePub. Or better yet, is there a way to be able to directly access the files without "converting" - like changing the extension to '.zip' on an epub??

The KindleUnpack plugin will unwrap the KF8 and build and ePub from the files.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Incorrect. More people read ePub world wide then Kindle eBooks. There are more Readers sold world wide that are ePub capable. There are all the apps for phones/tablets that handle ePub. Face it, Kindle is #2.

I suspect you're wrong, Jon. Amazon have a clear majority of the ebook market in both the US and UK markets, and (according to the last figures I saw) these two markets account for about 85-90% of world-wide ebook sales.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by CazMar

I totally agree about the poor presentation and formatting. If I bought a cake from a very expensive patisserie I would expect it to come in a nice box and be made correctly, if I buy home-made scones from a church fete I don't mind them being on a paper plate covered in cling wrap. It's not that I need perfect formatting and pretty covers, but that is what I paid for!

Authors should insist on this when they get their books sold as ebooks - write it into your publishing contract.

Exactly, i'm feeling ripped off when i see bad formating, or bad code.

Originally Posted by cfrizz

I feel sorry for all of you obsessive compulsive people. Me I'm focused on the story not the formatting, and so long as not every other word is misspelled, I don't pay any attention to that either.

I went for too many years not reading books because it simply became too uncomfortable, so I'm not going to let things like formatting and spelling stop me from reading a story I know that I will like.

Trouble is, bad code or bad formating will affect reading. Way too large margins, and others stuff.
Worse case i saw was a book so full of extra line jumps you couldn't make sense of the text.
And one where the css caused the cybook to be horribly slow.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I suspect you're wrong, Jon. Amazon have a clear majority of the ebook market in both the US and UK markets, and (according to the last figures I saw) these two markets account for about 85-90% of world-wide ebook sales.

I still don't agree. When you add in all the non-Kindle reading done, it's ePub out in front.

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Firmware updates and it's a done deal.

But it's not a simple as that, surely - they would have to re-generate all the books they've 'sold' in .azw/.mobi formats; wouldn't they ?

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I still don't agree. When you add in all the non-Kindle reading done, it's ePub out in front.

My non-kindle reading is in .mobi ....

[latepaul]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

But it's not a simple as that, surely - they would have to re-generate all the books they've 'sold' in .azw/.mobi formats; wouldn't they ?

Only if they removed the ability to read those formats, but more likely the new firmware would read epub in addition to azw and mobi.

But there's still no compelling reason for them to switch. They'd lose more to people selling to kindle owners than they'd gain from selling epubs to other device owners.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by latepaul

But there's still no compelling reason for them to switch. They'd lose more to people selling to kindle owners than they'd gain from selling epubs to other device owners.

Yes - precisely the point I made earlier in the thread. There would be no commercial benefit whatsoever to Amazon to support ePub.

[Katsunami]

In the end, the closed system always dies or ends with the smaller market share, even when starting as the biggest or even only one. History proves that, at least in IT.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

In the end, the closed system always dies or ends with the smaller market share, even when starting as the biggest or even only one. History proves that, at least in IT.

Failures such as Windows, for example, against the rampant success of Linux?

[exaltedwombat]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Sometimes I have a feeling that publishers run their text through an automatic eBookifization-program, stick a cover on the front and put it into stores for anywhere between €2 and €20.

Yup. Or send it to India where partially-trained workers add a modicum of manual intervention, then don't proof-read it when it comes back. It takes quite a lot of work to do a quality conversion. More than is economically practical.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Failures such as Windows, for example, against the rampant success of Linux?

Windows is not a closed system. Only the source code is, but you can use it with software from many sources. I mean walled garden systems such as iOS. It became very big because at the time it was the only one of it's kind, but it's sagging under the sheer weight of the choice of Android. Eventually, this will happen with Kindle too. In the end, there will be just too much epub.

Unix was there, long before Windows. And yes, Unix, or it's cousin Linux will be here after Windows is utterly gone. You may not know, but Windows is big only on desktops and laptops. *Everything else*, from embedded systems to phones to supercomputers, basically runs a Unix-like system such as Linux, a free Unix descendant such as FreeBSD, or a paid version of Unix such as AIX. All the rest (Windows servers) are just exceptions by comparison.

Heck, even OSX is Unix-based, but if they make it closed like the iPhone, it will eventually die. They tried it before, and almost died in 1997.

[latepaul]

Let's say you're right - that closed systems eventually die - the question is how long is 'eventually'? and when do you act? There has to be a kind of tipping point where your "walled garden" market is declining to the point where it makes it worth opening up and competing on other devices. Now given that KF8 is basically epub with some special Amazon sauce on top you can bet Amazon could release an epub-capable firmware very quickly. Heck, I'd bet they maybe even have one internally. So as soon as they identify that tipping point - and I think we're some way off - they can act very quickly indeed.

One consequence of that might be though, that they decide to stop subsidizing the hardware to sell ebooks. If you're selling a platform anyone can sell to then better make sure you make a profit on that item itself.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

Windows is not a closed system. Only the source code is, but you can use it with software from many sources. I mean walled garden systems such as iOS. It became very big because at the time it was the only one of it's kind, but it's sagging under the sheer weight of the choice of Android. Eventually, this will happen with Kindle too. In the end, there will be just too much epub.

I must respectfully disagree. Amazon dominates the English-language eBook market; many authors report over 90% of their sales occur at Amazon. There are certainly a lot of different ePub devices, but their actual market share, combined, is less than that of Amazon. Given the self-destruction of B&N (Amazon's only serious rival in the US market), I can see nothing but an increase of market share for Amazon in the foreseeable
future.

Unix was there, long before Windows. And yes, Unix, or it's cousin Linux will be here after Windows is utterly gone. You may not know, but Windows is big only on desktops and laptops. *Everything else*, from embedded systems to phones to supercomputers, basically runs a Unix-like system such as Linux, a free Unix descendant such as FreeBSD, or a paid version of Unix such as AIX. All the rest (Windows servers) are just exceptions by comparison.

I've been in the IT business for close to 30 years, so yes, I am familiar with the marketplace. About 35% of web servers run Windows Server, while almost 50% of server sales revenue is Windows Server (Source). Windows Server is not quite so insignificant as you suggest .

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

I mean walled garden systems such as iOS. It became very big because at the time it was the only one of it's kind, but it's sagging under the sheer weight of the choice of Android.

This would be a better point if Apple App store sales weren't dwarfing Android app sales (by a factor of something like 3-1, despite Android's larger marketshare, or if data didn't show that mobile web browsing was 67% ios, 33% android.

There are a variety of Android phones, but it seems like a lot of Android sales are to people who are basically interested in having a phone for calling, e-mailing, and texting...and little else. Which suggests that, for people interesting in buying apps, the "walled garden" is not much of a deterrent.

Unix was there, long before Windows. And yes, Unix, or it's cousin Linux will be here after Windows is utterly gone. You may not know, but Windows is big only on desktops and laptops. *Everything else*, from embedded systems to phones to supercomputers, basically runs a Unix-like system such as Linux, a free Unix descendant such as FreeBSD, or a paid version of Unix such as AIX. All the rest (Windows servers) are just exceptions by comparison.

Heck, even OSX is Unix-based, but if they make it closed like the iPhone, it will eventually die. They tried it before, and almost died in 1997.

I don't see these areas in which Windows doesn't compete as being very relevant to closed vs. open systems. Windows makes a desktop OS and is dominant in that market. Windows doesn't make embedded, say, airplane controllers, so I don't see that the fact that other companies do is very relevant to Windows success.