'I should be the Nook's ideal customer. But I'm not...I am locked in.'

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by jessicalynn

Just curious but can you point me in the right direction for k4pc 1.4.1? My calibre plugins don't work anymore!

That latest ones in the Tools 4.0 package do work with Kindle for PC 1.5.0

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Most ebooks that are now being submitted to Amazon have their source files (which is increasingly becoming is an ePub file—by Amazon's own encouragement) embedded in the resulting mobi. Kindlegen does this by default. It would be trivial to modify the reader software to actually read/display the epub that's embedded in the mobi. The ePub is just another record in the mobi binary, after all.

You could take everything a step farther and say that the Kindle would have no need to support DRM'd epubs (specifically ADE) because the epubs will already protected by Amazon's own DRM—on the mobi that they're a part of.

Amazon will be selling DRM'ed mobiePubs... and the "mobi" could eventually be relegated to simply being a DRM container that holds the ePub.
I don't ever expect them to support DRM'ed ePubs from other retailers on their devices.

I don't think the embedded source files make it to the customer. It definitely gets embedded in what you submit to Amazon if you use kindlegen, but I am pretty sure it gets stripped off in the workflow that adds it to the store. Otherwise publishers would be complaining loudly about delivery charges due to the larger files, and I don't see that.

Also I compared file size of a book I got from Oreilly with the size of the same book on Amazon. The latter was the same edition and everything but much smaller. I ran a strip script on the Oreilly book and it became about the same size as Amazon's and still contained all the content of the original book. OReilly is probably using Kindlegen, but isn't stripping the content (the script I have is supposed to generate a zip file with the content in it, but I couldn't unzip what it created in this case).

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I disagree. Amazon already support two file formats without really telling customers about it. Adding a third will be relatively simple.

I predict that they will start to support ePub ebooks, but not DRMed ePubs from Adobe, B&N or Apple. They will add DRM-free ePub support while retaining their current DRM-free Mobipocket rendering ability, and also start to transition new titles over to a combined Mobipocket/ePub format (DRMed and DRM-free), while still selling and supporting Mobipocket and Topaz format ebooks.

Unlike the Sony transition from LRX to ePub, I think Amazon's transition to ePub will be gradual and invisible to consumers.

I agree that Amazon would make sure the transition is transparent. They'll continue to make mobi available for older devices (or apps) that aren't updated (even for new titles, via automated conversion), and at least one or two generations of Kindles will support the older formats.

They do not have to deal with Adobe DRM as long as the book is delivered within the Kindle system. They can use their own DRM (when you download directly to a Kobo/B&N device/app, no Adobe DRM is involved. Kobo uses their own DRM scheme, and the latest Nooks put the books in a hidden partition.)

But they would be smart to add the ability for Kindle to consume Adobe DRM and also so that Amazon epubs can be downloaded with Adobe DRM. This would let people move to Kindle platform without losing investment in Adobe DRM ebooks, and neutralize the fears that Amazon purchases will vanish if Amazon goes out of the business or something, and so more people would consider becoming Kindle customers.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by tomsem

I don't think the embedded source files make it to the customer. It definitely gets embedded in what you submit to Amazon if you use kindlegen, but I am pretty sure it gets stripped off in the workflow that adds it to the store.

I assume that's what's happening now, as well. But there's no reason why they can't change that workflow (to leave the epub or use the epub in some other way) after they have publishers all on board and submitting their ebooks in epub format. I'm just guessing, of course, but there has to be a reason that Amazon is strongly encouraging epub source files and embedding those source files in the first place. Regardless of whether it's currently finding its way to the consumer or not.

How big would a primarily empty mobi "container"—with their standard DRM and exactly one record (which consists of an epub)—be?

The point is they have options available... quite a few of them, actually.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by khalleron

Not mention (or rather to mention once again) that Amazon already dropped and deleted everyone's purchased books once before.

Why would you trust them not to do the very thing they've already done?

Because of the horrible negative publicity they got when they did so. And because they swore to never do it again.

I mean, any company can do anything at any time. Maybe you just shouldn't use an e-reader at all.

[OtterBooks]

I once got locked in my car. It was winter and the door mechanism froze.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

Because of the horrible negative publicity they got when they did so. And because they swore to never do it again.

I mean, any company can do anything at any time. Maybe you just shouldn't use an e-reader at all.

No, they promised not to delete purchased books from people's Kindles, after the '1984' debacle.

They did not promise to stay in the ebook business forever.

You're apparently talking about an entirely different incident than I am. Since ebooks were not common when Amazon ditched ebooks the first time, I don't recall them getting any publicity at all.

There's no guarantee that the same thing won't happen to Amazon's ebook business in say, five years, that's happening to Fictionwise right now. Putting all your eggs in one basket in the belief that a corporation 'cares' about you is what I'm calling naive.

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by OtterBooks

I once got locked in my car. It was winter and the door mechanism froze.

That's why I've always refused to buy cars with door mechanisms. I prefer to punch out the windows and slide my way in.

I try to avoid buying homes with windows, too. Windows are nothing but a way of allowing big corporations to hover overhead and keep tabs on the occupants.

[5thWiggle]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

I try to avoid buying homes with windows, too. Windows are nothing but a way of allowing big corporations to hover overhead and keep tabs on the occupants.

Windows are actually OK, it's skylights that are the BIG problem. I cover the ceilings of my houses with 4 layers of foil so I don't have my TFAMCB (tin foil anti-mind control beanie) indoors. Stepped under a skylight (sans TFAMCB) once, and POOF - the Big Corporation's Mind ConTrol satellites got me. Board up the skylights!

[EowynCarter]

Kobo uses their own DRM scheme

Nope. It's good old adept. I have no problem buying books from kobo

Amazon selling ePub with theirs own DRM, whats the point if the books can still only be read on the kindle ?