Which format is best for long-term storage?

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I agree that the loss of italics is a problem in some novels. You could fix that by using an asterisk on each side of the italicized words. That's what they did before RTF was available.

Surely you realize that italics was just an example. The point is that formatting and typography is often important to the work, and should be preserved.

And, sure, you could mark italics with an asterisk, and mark bold with hashmarks, or use some other symbols that everyone agrees on, and is easier to interpret, like <i> and <b>...oh wait...that's called mark-up....as in the "M" in HTML....

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I agree that the loss of italics is a problem in some novels. You could fix that by using an asterisk on each side of the italicized words. That's what they did before RTF was available.

In which case you no longer have a plain text file: you now have a file in "markup language". And that's the whole point of what's being said here, that plain text is not a good choice - you need a "richer" format. Markup language provides such a richer format.

[Tarana]

Surely you realize that italics was just an example. The point is that formatting and typography is often important to the work, and should be preserved.

I don't want to get into argument over this. I think you are trying to make it more complicated than it needs to be. I believe we were talking of novels and the average novel, even a scifi, does not have a need for special formatting or typography beyond italics and capitalization for emphasis. In fact, I can't think of any novel that needs more than that. Perhaps my experience is limited. I'm simply trying to help the OP with preservation goals. I don't know if RTF will be available 15 years down the road, but I know text format will be.

My own goals are different.

[ApK]

Originally Posted by Tarana

In fact, I can't think of any novel that needs more than that.

You preserve what you like for your self.
I'm aware of novels that use different fonts, made up characters, images, formulae, stylistic indentation, Elfish glyphs and runes, etc. I think it's more up to the authors what a novel "needs" and once they've decided, most of would prefer to preserve it that way.

As for arguing about it: Meh. All Harry and I are trying to tell you is that if you are coding ANY formatting, like italics, in a text file, then you are describing a markup language, like HTML. It's already text-based, very rich, and many of the formats we are discussing are based on it.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Tarana

I believe we were talking of novels and the average novel, even a scifi, does not have a need for special formatting or typography beyond italics and capitalization for emphasis. In fact, I can't think of any novel that needs more than that.

Have you never read "The Lord of the Rings"? That's one example of a book that needs a lot more.

[Kirtai]

Doesn't The Neverending Story use coloured text?

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by Katsunami

First: If you just keep an eye out and move your library to the next relevant open format as soon as EPUB2 is in danger of becoming obsolete, your grandchildren won't have a problem. You might need to do this 1-3 times in the time span of 40-60 years.

I understand the logic, and the ever-evolving format games. And I favour ePub, too.

What is unclear to me is why people find it necessary to play the prediction game now, well in advance, and chose one format over the other?

Keeping the original formats (sans DRM, of course) until such a time that they are about to become obsolete seems like a better choice. The conversion software can only improve with the time (bug fixes, at least), and who knows, maybe there will be a better format to chose when mass conversion is needed.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Kirtai

Doesn't The Neverending Story use coloured text?

Yes. It's a recursive book: you're actually reading the book described in the book, and that one has red and green text, iirc.

The print version is black, except for the special edition, and the ebook stopped selling within half a year after release. I did manage to get it in time though.

On an ereader, the colored ebook is eminently unreadable, so I removed the color.

[Barty]

You are better off worrying about whether the media you save your books on will survive and be readable in x years rather than the ability of whatever system that exists then to deal with an epub file.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by Barty

You are better off worrying about whether the media you save your books on will survive and be readable in x years rather than the ability of whatever system that exists then to deal with an epub file.

Media are not a problem. If you just keep moving along with technology, you'll always have your files on a supported media. The one thing you should not do is save files to a hard drive in 2014, and expect it to be connectable/readable in 2040. Some people did that with hard drives and floppies back in the 80's and then left them until the early 2000's...

[HarryT]

Absolutely. Migrate your library from medium to medium, as media evolve. I started my ebook library back in the mid 1980s, and I've lost count of the number of different media it's been moved to in the 30 years I've had it.