Kindle Edition != Mobipocket?

[Adam B.]

So I'm looking through Amazon's store at their Kindle Edition books. I like the pricing on them (I'm a cheap bastard ). But I have to register my "Kindle" to buy it or even view the free sample. I thought I had read that the Kindle uses the Mobipocket format.

Why would Amazon create yet another incompatible DRM format? Has anyone been able to get a Kindle edition book to test with?

[tirsales]

Well, hope is still somewhere. I see two (rather unlikely but optimistic) good versions and one pessimistic, but propable version:

1. They continue selling via Mobipocket and sell their Kindle-Books there too
2. They start selling Kindle-Books to "normal eReaders"
3. They will sell Kindle-Books only to Kindle-Users (and only in the US for the next two years).
I like Amazon - but that would seriously piss me off.

[tirsales]

From the manul:
Supported filetypes:

• Kindle (.AZW)
• Text (.TXT)
• Unprotected Mobipocket (.MOBI, .PRC)
• Audible (.AA)
• MP3 (.MP3)
Tip: Mobipocket files must have no Digital Rights Management (DRM) protection
applied to be readable on your Kindle. If you purchased a Mobipocket file from a
Mobipocket retailer, you will not be able to open the file on your Kindle.

--

That answears this question ...

[igorsk]

Kindle's User Guide in ".AZW Kindle Format". The file IS Mobipocket format (rename it to .mobi).

[Adam B.]

Originally Posted by igorsk

Kindle's User Guide in ".AZW Kindle Format". The file IS Mobipocket format (rename it to .mobi).

Just tested this on my Iliad. Renaming to prc worked without a problem.

I wonder if you used your Kindle's serial as your Mobipocket PID, if it'd allow you to buy books from the Mobipocket store.

I've tried entering my iLiad's PID as my Kindle serial, and it doesn't allow it.

[tirsales]

@Adam: Is this for sure? A kindle-file IS a normal Mobipocket-file that just needs to be renamed?
Oh well, then I will stop ranting - or wait, there is still no europe-support and it is not sure, wether this is true for every file and wether they will change it in the future. AND I would need an kindle to buy those, so .. I probably will go on.

@AMAZON: Please, just sell those kindle-files to everyone. In both - kindle and mobipocket format.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by tirsales

@Adam: Is this for sure? A kindle-file IS a normal Mobipocket-file that just needs to be renamed?
Oh well, then I will stop ranting - or wait, there is still no europe-support and it is not sure, wether this is true for every file and wether they will change it in the future. AND I would need an kindle to buy those, so .. I probably will go on.

@AMAZON: Please, just sell those kindle-files to everyone. In both - kindle and mobipocket format.

Pardon me for butting in, but I think a DRM-free .AZW is just a Mobipocket file that you can just rename to read. You can change the name of a DRM-ed .AZW file but that doesn't get you past the DRM. You still will only be licensed to view it with a Kindle.

Hopefully the publishers will start selling their ebooks through multiple sources. I wouldn't be surprised if Amazon gets a little better price, though.

[NatCh]

Originally Posted by tirsales

@AMAZON: Please, just sell those kindle-files to everyone. In both - kindle and mobipocket format.

Kindle doesn't own them, per se, any more than they own the rights to say, The Hobbit, they just have distribution rights to them.

The folks who own the files are the copyright holders or publishers, depending on contractual nuances. I think I'll go out on a limb here and guess that they might have some interest in distribution deals with other sellers in other formats.

Assuming that Amazon's distribution privileges are non-exclusive (and they evidently are not), then there's nothing stopping other arrangements from being made with other sellers. "Rising tide" and all that.

[CommanderROR]

does not sound too promising...but if .azw is .mobi...

[da_jane]

Sounds like the super proprietary Amazon mobipocket we all feared.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by da_jane

Sounds like the super proprietary Amazon mobipocket we all feared.

It sounds like they also won't be selling them directly to anyone who doesn't own a Kindle, either. I'm hoping at least the titles make it to Mobipocket sellers even if the price is a little higher.

[tribble]

This really, really sucks. Amazon is locking buyers in. Thats what i hate about Apple. Well, time to buy books anywhere but amazon.

[HarryT]

Oh well - should make our Mobi downloads more popular, at least .

I would GUESS (and a guess is all it is) that the Kindle is a standard DRM-encoded Mobi file, and that the sales mechanism will encode it for the user's registered device automatically. IF that's the case, and IF the Mobi PID is accessible somehow, that would let Kindle owners buy other Mobi books. What it will NOT do, of course, is allow non-Kindle-owners to buy Kindle books.

[silvania]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Oh well - should make our Mobi downloads more popular, at least .

I would GUESS (and a guess is all it is) that the Kindle is a standard DRM-encoded Mobi file, and that the sales mechanism will encode it for the user's registered device automatically. IF that's the case, and IF the Mobi PID is accessible somehow, that would let Kindle owners buy other Mobi books. What it will NOT do, of course, is allow non-Kindle-owners to buy Kindle books.

The kindle manually explicitly says there is no way to put a drm mobi book "from another retailer" on the kindle. Looks like they torqued it to lock out other retailers.

[da_jane]

Do you read it to say that you can only buy the Kindle book from the Kindle device itself?