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Old 10-22-2009, 02:54 PM   #1
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future-proof Fictionwise multiformat choice ?
I own a Rocket eBook and I finally took the plunge and subscribed to all the magazines that interest me on Fictionwise.
My question is: which format should I use as backup? I usually download the .rb files (which I read on my trusty old Rocket) and the .pdf files as a second option for the future. Is there a better future-proof format than PDF ?
Thanks !
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Old 10-22-2009, 02:57 PM   #2
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I'm betting that epub will win the format wars.
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Old 10-22-2009, 02:59 PM   #3
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Can epub be converted to something else easily ?
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Old 10-22-2009, 03:38 PM   #4
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Yes! Put Calibre on your PC and you can convert to most of the major formats.
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Old 10-22-2009, 03:44 PM   #5
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I'm betting that epub will win the format wars.
Despite ePub being the best of all the bad choices, the day it "wins the format wars" is the day eBooks lose any chance of ever replacing paper books.

- Ahi
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Old 10-22-2009, 03:45 PM   #6
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Despite ePub being the best of all the bad choices, the day it "wins the format wars" is the day eBooks lose any chance of ever replacing paper books.

- Ahi
ePub has already won.
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Old 10-22-2009, 04:17 PM   #7
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Despite ePub being the best of all the bad choices, the day it "wins the format wars" is the day eBooks lose any chance of ever replacing paper books.

- Ahi
Do you mind explaining your opinion?
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Old 10-22-2009, 05:27 PM   #8
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ePub has already won.
You're as funny as ever, Jon.

A format that is incapable of professionally typesetting (a process that includes layout work, since professional typesetting is a bit of a dirty phrase around here) all (or at least the vast majority of) books is not a viable alternative to paper books.

Even reflow-enthusiasts rarely argue that reflow is viable for typographically complex books, and such books do make up a considerable percentage (if not downright the majority) of existent books.

eBooks today, with ePub and similar formats at least, are primarily novel readers... worse yet, primarily amateur fiction and romance novel readers.

Not everyone is willing to lay out hundreds of dollars for a computer whose associated commercial offerings cannot even match, never mind exceed, the quality of raggy $2.00 used paperbacks from the local used book store.

New functionality like variable font sizes, in-book links to facilitate sensible jumping about, et cetera are great... but they do not make the product viable if it fails to meet the bare minimum quality standards set by paper books for the last several centuries.

- Ahi
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Old 10-22-2009, 05:42 PM   #9
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PDF isn't even safe 'really', any proprietary technology which a private company holds can always end up in dire straights, not a really suitable format for archiving. I convert to epub and store on my mac (with time machine backups and Amazon S3 remote backups).
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Old 10-22-2009, 05:46 PM   #10
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PDF isn't even safe 'really', any proprietary technology which a private company holds can always end up in dire straights, not a really suitable format for archiving. I convert to epub and store on my mac (with time machine backups and Amazon S3 remote backups).
PDF is an open format, NOT a proprietary one.
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Old 10-22-2009, 05:52 PM   #11
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PDF is an open format, NOT a proprietary one.
Yes, but it is still a completely useless crappy ebook format.
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Old 10-22-2009, 05:55 PM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Eddie View Post
I own a Rocket eBook and I finally took the plunge and subscribed to all the magazines that interest me on Fictionwise.
My question is: which format should I use as backup? I usually download the .rb files (which I read on my trusty old Rocket) and the .pdf files as a second option for the future. Is there a better future-proof format than PDF ?
Thanks !
Any format which will let you easily convert it to something else down the road if you have to, which is most of them. The biggest concern is getting rid of the DRM, but you've already taken care of that problem with their multiformat option.
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Old 10-22-2009, 06:03 PM   #13
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Originally Posted by ahi View Post
Despite ePub being the best of all the bad choices, the day it "wins the format wars" is the day eBooks lose any chance of ever replacing paper books.
In that case, it's allready lost. I hope you'll be leaving us.

An XML based format which is entirely capeable of displaying anything a webpage does...


Anyway... Eddie, I strongly recomend non-DRM'ed ePub where avaliable. It's an open standard.
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Old 10-22-2009, 06:06 PM   #14
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eBooks today, with ePub and similar formats at least, are primarily novel readers... worse yet, primarily amateur fiction and romance novel readers.
I think tons of people read PD works (i.e. "classics") and non-fiction. The ones I've read look every bit as good as cheap paperback versions of the same books.
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Old 10-22-2009, 06:10 PM   #15
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Originally Posted by ahi View Post
A format that is incapable of professionally typesetting (a process that includes layout work, since professional typesetting is a bit of a dirty phrase around here) all (or at least the vast majority of) books is not a viable alternative to paper books.
Is professional typesetting something that the average reader cares about?
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