New Sony eBookstore to open 14 November 2008

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by =X=

Yes my original post was about DRM, GntlmnBndt really captured my thoughts well.

But your post, response to Harry made me realize something. With all the goodness supported by the ePUB stantard. ePUB is only as good as the ePUB viewers implementation. Right now SONY's is just okay. In my opinion its the worst of the three mojor formats LRF, PDF. ePUB supported by SONY. It's slow and page numbers don't work correctly to name a few.

When it comes to downloading books from FeedBooks I still pick PDF over ePUB because it works better and the format look better on my 505. I don't think I'm the only one here who feels that way, there are a few other here who also have mentioned he prefer FeedBooks PDF over ePUB.

I guess that is also part of the reason why I am not excited about ePUB.

=X=

yes, very true. but the epub viewers will evolve, hopefully rapidly. i consider a true standard format important enough to support it even before it's perfect (as a webdesigner, i have a strong bias in favor of standard formats...). and the current implementation should allow as attractive a presentation as most other formats (pdf being a bit of an exception).

i can understand being frustrated by current limitations of epub, which are to be expected (it's a young standard, still being defined, and viewers are young too), but i think the potential is worth getting excited over even now. and the more support epub gets, the faster the standard (and the viewers) will improve.

[Seabound]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

And perhaps the Grand Opening of the new ebookstore will have additional specials and freebies (beyond the 25% off coupon announced a few days ago.)

Don

It doesn't hurt to dream, Dr. Drib.

[tech_au]

I guess I can dream too that Sony loses its myopic North American view and sells EPUBs and LRXs to the rest of the world

[mtravellerh]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

yes, very true. but the epub viewers will evolve, hopefully rapidly. i consider a true standard format important enough to support it even before it's perfect (as a webdesigner, i have a strong bias in favor of standard formats...). and the current implementation should allow as attractive a presentation as most other formats (pdf being a bit of an exception).

i can understand being frustrated by current limitations of epub, which are to be expected (it's a young standard, still being defined, and viewers are young too), but i think the potential is worth getting excited over even now. and the more support epub gets, the faster the standard (and the viewers) will improve.

I honestly think it's not only and not even most importantly a viewer problem that keeps the epub format from taking off from the ground it hobbles along now.

The REAL problem is the fact that there is no (not a single one) application that is a real easy and handy tool to create epub books but also incorporating the powerful feature possibilities of the epub format.

And do not even begin to talk about InDesign here, because I was speaking about an "easy and handy" tool!

Ergo: Make the creation of feature laden epub books easy and affordable and off you go (cf Mobipocket creator)

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by mtravellerh

I honestly think it's not only and not even most importantly a viewer problem that keeps the epub format from taking off from the ground it hobbles along now.

The REAL problem is the fact that there is no (not a single one) application that is a real easy and handy tool to create epub books but also incorporating the powerful feature possibilities of the epub format.

And do not even begin to talk about InDesign here, because I was speaking about an "easy and handy" tool!

Ergo: Make the creation of feature laden epub books easy and affordable and off you go (cf Mobipocket creator)

mtravellerh : sad but true. however, i recommend using feedbooks.com online interface to create epub files for the moment. in my experience it is quite easy and gives a good result, with valid code. hadrien is continually improving it and adding new features. if you don't want to distribute your file through feedbooks you can get the file by asking for a preview.

but i agree, hopefully there will soon be a good application for people who prefer to work offline. this is really key.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

harry, i think you know that epub has many more advantages than simply reflowing text around illustrations (which is nonetheless a very nice feature).

Certainly I'm aware of that. It was simply one example of something that ePub can do which older formats can't.

it is the new industry standard which means that it is our best hope for a single format that will be readable cross-platform, on any device (much like W3C standardised html) ; that means the end of ebabel.

it's an open format.

Now come on, I know you're a fan of ePub, but you know as well as I do that the addition of Adobe DRM to ePub makes it no more (and no less) "open" or "standard" than any other format out there, and most certainly does not represent any end to "eBabel".

I'm not aware of any commercial eBook store selling DRM-free ePub books (please correct me if I'm wrong about that), and since the Sony Reader line is currently the only portable device which can read those, DRM-encrypted ePub books (aka "Adobe Digital Editions") are no more "portable" or "open" than any other format on the market.

Certainly as things stand at the moment, formats such as MobiPocket make an eBook readable on a vastly wider range of devices than does ADE, which is why I continue to regard it as a more "portable" format than ePub/ADE. Perhaps that will change in the future - we have no way of knowing.

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm not aware of any commercial eBook store selling DRM-free ePub books (please correct me if I'm wrong about that)

panmacmillan.com

[HarryT]

Thank you!

[igorsk]

The new site is up. Looks nicer and seems to be snappier. Alas, no EPUB, web downloads or increased catalog so far.

[HarryT]

Does the new site allow one to buy books directly from the web, or it is still necessary to use the Windows software to buy books?

[igorsk]

Nope, no web downloads, as I said.

[HarryT]

Sorry, I'd overlooked your comment about web downloads!

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Now come on, I know you're a fan of ePub, but you know as well as I do that the addition of Adobe DRM to ePub makes it no more (and no less) "open" or "standard" than any other format out there, and most certainly does not represent any end to "eBabel".

I'm not aware of any commercial eBook store selling DRM-free ePub books (please correct me if I'm wrong about that), and since the Sony Reader line is currently the only portable device which can read those, DRM-encrypted ePub books (aka "Adobe Digital Editions") are no more "portable" or "open" than any other format on the market.

oh, i completely agree with you, drm is the plague. but, Pan MacMillan *already* offers drm-free epub, as does O'Reilly, and possibly more that i am not aware of. and of course there is the huge catalogue of books available through feedbooks (PD and CC works), all of which are available in drm-free epub. i think it's important to keep the two issues (drm and epub) separate ; epub does not automatically mean drm. and "open" does not mean "no drm", it means "not proprietary" ; epub absolutely *is* an open format, and while it may be more recent than some formats it is in fact the official industry standard.

Certainly as things stand at the moment, formats such as MobiPocket make an eBook readable on a vastly wider range of devices than does ADE, which is why I continue to regard it as a more "portable" format than ePub/ADE. Perhaps that will change in the future - we have no way of knowing.

epub can be read natively by the sony already, as you say ; bookeen has also promised support for it via a firmware upgrade, and in the meantime the mobipocket reader will automatically convert it, making it readable on any device supporting mobipocket. and even though converting to mobipocket for reading is a stopgap measure as it does obviously mean you lose some of the advantages of epub, nonetheless for an archive format it is far superior.

[HarryT]

It is a useful archival format, I agree, since it's essentially just zipped-up HTML. I just have my doubts about how important it's going to become as a reading format. Only time will answer that question.

[zelda_pinwheel]

honestly, i'd say it already has the support of enough of the industry, and it's developping so quickly and has such great potential, that i think we can say it will be *quite* important as a reading format as well, in the very near future.