Definitive Guide to eBook Formats?

[Rootman]

Can anyone point me to a definitive guide to eBook formats? I am particularly confused by the PDB formats. I see DOC, ztext and eReader formats? It looks like Plucker also uses the PDB file extension but yet nothing I download from Gutenberg in the PDB format will open in Calibre. I used to have a Palm Pilot and had a lot of stuff in the PDB format, luckily I kept the original TXT files and am able to convert them to anything that it supports.

Is there multiple formats in the epub file extension too? I anticipate buying a Nook in December and am confused as to whether it will open and read the epub files that I create with Calibre. Anyone know?

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Rootman

Can anyone point me to a definitive guide to eBook formats? I am particularly confused by the PDB formats. I see DOC, ztext and eReader formats? It looks like Plucker also uses the PDB file extension but yet nothing I download from Gutenberg in the PDB format will open in Calibre. I used to have a Palm Pilot and had a lot of stuff in the PDB format, luckily I kept the original TXT files and am able to convert them to anything that it supports.

This might help...
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/PDB

Is there multiple formats in the epub file extension too? I anticipate buying a Nook in December and am confused as to whether it will open and read the epub files that I create with Calibre. Anyone know?

There aren't multiple ePub formats, but when B&N starts selling ePub's there will in a sense be two DRM's for ePub. Calibre ePub's have no DRM so they'll load just fine.

More on ePub...
https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/EPUB

[Rootman]

That's EXACTLY what I was looking for! I shouldn't of been so lazy and checked out the Wiki's myself.

Thanks!

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Rootman

That's EXACTLY what I was looking for! I shouldn't of been so lazy and checked out the Wiki's myself.

Thanks!

In the wiki try https://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_formats. It is the definitive guide to all formats used in eBooks. From there you can find out about the individual formats.

Dale

[Zorba]

There aren't multiple ePub formats, but when B&N starts selling ePub's there will in a sense be two DRM's for ePub. Calibre ePub's have no DRM so they'll load just fine.

@Anemic Oak:
Two DRMs for EPUB: is Barnes & Noble using a different DRM system than the DRMed EPUB that is read on Adobe Digital Editions?

Thanks ... Zorba

[HarryT]

Yes, they will be using the eReader DRM mechanism for ePub files.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by Zorba

Two DRMs for EPUB: is Barnes & Noble using a different DRM system than the DRMed EPUB that is read on Adobe Digital Editions?

B&N is using ADE, but Adobe is adding a password based DRM scheme (e.g. based on name and credit card number) which will initially only be supported on the Nook but will be available to all mobile ADE licensees next year. Licensees might or might not implement the new DRM. The Nook still reads Adobe ebooks with the the original DRM, but these must be side-loaded via USB. The Nook ebooks from B&N will use the new DRM scheme.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

B&N is using ADE, but Adobe is adding a password based DRM scheme (e.g. based on name and credit card number) which will initially only be supported on the Nook but will be available to all mobile ADE licensees next year. Licensees might or might not implement the new DRM. The Nook still reads Adobe ebooks with the the original DRM, but these must be side-loaded via USB. The Nook ebooks from B&N will use the new DRM scheme.

Just to add that B&N currently does not sell ePUB files, they sell eReader formatted files. Similar to Sony they have only announced that they will be moving to ePUB. No concrete date.

Dale