Good Bye MOBI

[JSWolf]

I don't think ePub is a weak offering. Outside the USA, ePub is the dominant eBook format.

[Lbooker]

Originally Posted by keng2000

AZW is really MOBI with hiddenID for Kindle, This was revealed 2 years ago, and there is a small tools to crack your MobiID from Kindle to purchase DRM-Mobibook from other stores than Amazon.

Yes, I know, but I do not think it changes anything to their strategy. They did not stop selling azw when those tools appeared. They just go ahead with their plan.

[Lbooker]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I don't think ePub is a weak offering. Outside the USA, ePub is the dominant eBook format.

Well, I tried to explain Amazon's strategy from their point of view.
Considering what we learned about their failure to sign a contract with partners in Germany, it is quite possible that Amazon's strategy fails.

[keng2000]

What is the difference?
Mobi charges the store for each transaction book selling.
Adobe also charges the store for each transaction book selling.
This is just a Dealer changing game,

[Lbooker]

But the people who have bought many DRM mobi books cannot use them on a device which supports DRM epub.
So Amazon divides and conquers. Amazon has a solid and simple offering while in the competition's ranks it is a mess.

[orwell2k]

Originally Posted by Lbooker

I believe it is a more complex strategy.
First they kill mobipocket.
Then they let epub replace it for a while.
Then they offer their own azw format to all the hardware manufacturers.
Azw being the strongest offering in front of two weaker offerings: the dying mobipocket and the new-born epub.

Interesting theory - and in the warped corporate-think of many executives based in the US it probably makes sense. But Amazon killing off other formats means monopoly and hence price-fixing opportunities for Amazon in the US, and screws every non-US reader out of a decent selection of eBooks in formats they can access. I think we non-US people are really getting in the rear end in more ways than one here.

Mobipocket is not a great format, but at least it can easily be processed into more readable versions. I prefer FB2, and LIT can also be processed in this way. And frankly so can ADEPT PDF and ePub using the "INEPT" system, but that may become unreliable as the ADEPT DRM evolves. Although, I think what we will see here if ADOBE is rammed down our unwilling gullets, is that the DRM-breakers will swing into full steam and a whole range of non-DRM processing options will appear. And quite frankly, I sincerely hope so - the sooner that happens the sooner we may find eBooks moving more toward the inevitable eMusic model of non-DRM.

And to all those apologists out there who see it as somehow wrong to unlock DRM on eBooks, perhaps you should consider how "wrong" it is to abandon loyal consumers locked into a format, or to kill of consumer choice by trying to become the sole remaining format on the market. This is a war on consumer rights, and we are entitled to defend ourselves.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by orwell2k

Although, I think what we will see here if ADOBE is rammed down our unwilling gullets, is that the DRM-breakers will swing into full steam and a whole range of non-DRM processing options will appear.

The reason Adobe-encrusted ePub has any traction at all is that the publishers are rallying behind it as a means to *raise* prices. Amazon's pricing of ebooks at US$10 and under really scares the bejezus out of their fat, dumb, and happy business model.

On a side note: if ePub actually emerges under eReader DRM things will get very very interesting.
I hope it does.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

On a side note: if ePub actually emerges under eReader DRM things will get very very interesting.
I hope it does.

If it does, it will cause chaos and confusion for ePub and a lot of eBooks available in ePub with DRM we will not be able to read on our readers as they will be supporting Adobe's DRM. Having two different DRM schemes for the same format is a way to help make sure that format dies off. Do you want to give up on ePub? if you do, go ahead and add more DRM to it.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If it does, it will cause chaos and confusion for ePub and a lot of eBooks available in ePub with DRM we will not be able to read on our readers as they will be supporting Adobe's DRM. Having two different DRM schemes for the same format is a way to help make sure that format dies off. Do you want to give up on ePub? if you do, go ahead and add more DRM to it.

Can you please explain to me, why proprietary e-book formats are better that HTML anyway? E-books, especially on E-ink readers aren't multimedia events anyway...

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Can you please explain to me, why proprietary e-book formats are better that HTML anyway? E-books, especially on E-ink readers aren't multimedia events anyway...

ePub is basically XML with other stuff added in. The problem is that a lot of portable devices are limited in what they can do. So ePub overcomes this limitation. HTML cannot really overcome these limits.

[Greg Anos]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

ePub is basically XML with other stuff added in. The problem is that a lot of portable devices are limited in what they can do. So ePub overcomes this limitation. HTML cannot really overcome these limits.

In this age of cheap (and getting cheaper) hardware, I don't see the advantage of using a proprietary format, which may not be around 10 years from now, in the name of inadequate hardware. I'd rather spend another $50 on adequate hardware.

But that's just me....

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

In this age of cheap (and getting cheaper) hardware, I don't see the advantage of using a proprietary format, which may not be around 10 years from now, in the name of inadequate hardware. I'd rather spend another $50 on adequate hardware.

But that's just me....

ePub is not a proprietary format. Without DRM, it is the most open format there is.

[Hellmark]

Yeah, epub is NOT propietary. Everything about it is based on common, and open, existing setups (XHTML, and Zip compression), and that which is new is an open standard. It also has it's roots in the Open eBook standard (it supercedes it).

It is the furtherest thing from propietary you can get. However, that doesn't mean it can't have DRM thrown on top of it, since it is a container format.

[fjtorres]

It is best to think of the ongoing Adobe-Amazon tug-of-war as a DRM war rather than a format war. The formats themselves are open and documented and generally understood and supported.
The DRM wrappers, however, are proprietary and that is what the fight is all about; controlling the customer.
Shame on us if we let them...

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by Ralph Sir Edward

Can you please explain to me, why proprietary e-book formats are better that HTML anyway? E-books, especially on E-ink readers aren't multimedia events anyway...

They're not.

Except for publishers who insist on DRM.

The "better" is "better ability to limit the customer's use of what they've bought," hyped as "better protection against unauthorized reading."

As mentioned, ePub isn't proprietary, and it's just HTML in an ebook-shaped wrapper.