Business Week reports that Sony/BMG throws in the towel on drm - Page 3

tompe · 01-12-2008, 06:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

No I'm saying it is fully documented.

OK. Like MobiPocket extensions so no difference in this aspect.

kovidgoyal · 01-12-2008, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kacir

You can't be serious.
LRF? Superior?
It is MUCH more easier to generate rtf file.

I have one simple requirement.
I want to have the text in the book left justified and not full justified. It looks like LRF does not support this VERY basic requirement.

I am not arguing about what kind of justification is better. I just say that such a basic formating possibility seems to be unsupported.

I was talking about parsing files not generating them. And LRF supports left justification, it's the SONY reader software that does not. In fact, with a simple hack you can turn on left justification in the PRS500. Search these forums, igorsk has described it.

kovidgoyal · 01-12-2008, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tompe

OK. Like MobiPocket extensions so no difference in this aspect.

The difference is that LRS is XML and so easier to parse.

igorsk · 01-12-2008, 09:35 PM

Actually, Kindle supports not only Mobi but also something called Topaz (see and example here). I still don't have an example in my hands (the book mentioned in the thread is gone) but it seems to have some pretty advanced features.

kovidgoyal · 01-12-2008, 10:05 PM

Interesting, perhaps the parser isn't done which is why they aren't advertising it. I certainly hope they move off mobi soon.

HarryT · 01-13-2008, 04:28 AM

In what ways is ePub better than the Open eBook (OEB) standard, Kovid? As you know, the MobiPocket book creation tools use OEB as their source, and it seems to work pretty well.

tompe · 01-13-2008, 06:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

In what ways is ePub better than the Open eBook (OEB) standard, Kovid? As you know, the MobiPocket book creation tools use OEB as their source, and it seems to work pretty well.

Well, mobigen does not require OEB. But I thought the arguments in this thread was only relevant for implementing a native reader. Otherwise I would argue that with available sotware libraries the difference in parsing xml and html does not matter.

kovidgoyal · 01-13-2008, 11:02 AM

mobigen is windows only closed source. Which means I can't extent it to do what I want with it. And I haven't really looked at mobigen in detail, but I suspect that if you do a feature comparison with html2lrf it will come up sadly lacking.

At any rate, I don't want to get into a format war here, my original point was simply that at this point in time, SONY has a format that is as good and as open (though not through their own efforts) as any other format out there, and as a bonus they seem to want to support epub, which is the most open and in my opinion technically the best format. Contrast this with for e.g., the Betamax situation where even though their product was (arguably) superior, they kept too much control over it, leading to the eventual dominance of VHS. SONY may not deserve any credit, indeed in my opinion, they are simply benefiting from first-mover advantage. None the less, for everyone that keeps bringing up Betamax, I'd just like to point out that the situation is quite analogous this time around.

HarryT · 01-13-2008, 11:12 AM

No, I wasn't trying to get into a format war, Kovid. I was just asking that, since OEB is an open standard that anyone can write tools for, what is the benefit of ePub over it? ie why do we need another open standard when we already have one?

kovidgoyal · 01-13-2008, 11:27 AM

Ah well, one major point of improvement is the container specification which is part of epub. As far as I know, oebps didn't have a container spec. This makes distributing epub based ebooks a little easier. Beyond that, I can't really give you a detailed answer, as I'm not too familiar with the details of either the oebps or the epub spec. Personally, I view epub as an evolution of oebps, not a radical new format. In fact at the moment, most of my personal collection is in oebps1-ish form

HarryT · 01-13-2008, 11:31 AM

Yes, the container aspect is a good point. OEB isn't (AFAIK) intended to be a format for the reader, but an open format for book creation tools. ie one starts with OEB source and generates a device-specific format from it.

DaleDe · 01-14-2008, 10:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

No, I wasn't trying to get into a format war, Kovid. I was just asking that, since OEB is an open standard that anyone can write tools for, what is the benefit of ePub over it? ie why do we need another open standard when we already have one?

ePUB is really just version 2 of OEB. They are basically similar with a container added to ePUB. Both are controlled by the same group.

Dale

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Unutterably Silly Towel Day! Show your Towel!	beachwanderer	Lounge	53	05-25-2012 02:54 AM
Sony Reader first hand reports	Nate the great	News	27	09-08-2009 07:44 AM
Business Week - Cell Phones take on e-Readers	=X=	News	15	01-06-2009 11:09 AM
Business Week lukewarm on e-books	VillageReader	Lounge	1	08-29-2007 05:58 AM

01-12-2008, 09:35 PM	#34
igorsk Wizard Posts: 3,442 Karma: 300001 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Belgium Device: PRS-500/505/700, Kindle, Cybook Gen3, Words Gear	Actually, Kindle supports not only Mobi but also something called Topaz (see and example here). I still don't have an example in my hands (the book mentioned in the thread is gone) but it seems to have some pretty advanced features.

01-12-2008, 10:05 PM	#35
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Interesting, perhaps the parser isn't done which is why they aren't advertising it. I certainly hope they move off mobi soon.

01-13-2008, 04:28 AM	#36
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	In what ways is ePub better than the Open eBook (OEB) standard, Kovid? As you know, the MobiPocket book creation tools use OEB as their source, and it seems to work pretty well.

01-13-2008, 11:02 AM	#38
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	mobigen is windows only closed source. Which means I can't extent it to do what I want with it. And I haven't really looked at mobigen in detail, but I suspect that if you do a feature comparison with html2lrf it will come up sadly lacking. At any rate, I don't want to get into a format war here, my original point was simply that at this point in time, SONY has a format that is as good and as open (though not through their own efforts) as any other format out there, and as a bonus they seem to want to support epub, which is the most open and in my opinion technically the best format. Contrast this with for e.g., the Betamax situation where even though their product was (arguably) superior, they kept too much control over it, leading to the eventual dominance of VHS. SONY may not deserve any credit, indeed in my opinion, they are simply benefiting from first-mover advantage. None the less, for everyone that keeps bringing up Betamax, I'd just like to point out that the situation is quite analogous this time around.

01-13-2008, 11:12 AM	#39
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	No, I wasn't trying to get into a format war, Kovid. I was just asking that, since OEB is an open standard that anyone can write tools for, what is the benefit of ePub over it? ie why do we need another open standard when we already have one?

01-13-2008, 11:27 AM	#40
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 43,844 Karma: 22666666 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	Ah well, one major point of improvement is the container specification which is part of epub. As far as I know, oebps didn't have a container spec. This makes distributing epub based ebooks a little easier. Beyond that, I can't really give you a detailed answer, as I'm not too familiar with the details of either the oebps or the epub spec. Personally, I view epub as an evolution of oebps, not a radical new format. In fact at the moment, most of my personal collection is in oebps1-ish form

01-13-2008, 11:31 AM	#41
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Yes, the container aspect is a good point. OEB isn't (AFAIK) intended to be a format for the reader, but an open format for book creation tools. ie one starts with OEB source and generates a device-specific format from it.

Advert

Advert