[QUOTE=KNI;]
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Originally Posted by Bremen Cole;
Sony is a dying in the ebook industry. Amazon has readers for PC/Mac/Android/iDevices ...etc and has had for quite a while. Sony is stuck in a "buy our hardware" and we try to lock you in our books biz model.
I disagree. Sony Readers offer the most open platform I know of. Sony reads BBeB Book (LRF), PDF, TXT, RTF, and ePub. Sony added .epub support via upgrades to earlier models. And Sony supports MS Word .doc files as well if you use htier software and have MS Word on the same computer. Most of the other reader suppliers are trying to emulate the Apple model - buy their device, then keep buying content.
We should be thanking Sony and criticizing everyone else for NOT being open - like, why does Kindle not support .epub?
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Hi KNI,
I own a Sony and I own an iPad. If I purchase an ePub doc from Sony, I'm not aware of other devices I could read that doc on, other than the Sony Reader for which it was intended. I'm sure there are others, but am just not aware of what they are. I know I can read it on my Mac, or on a PC. I'm assuming other portable Readers can read it, as well - is that right? If so, I concede that is a degree of open-ness which should be appreciated, no doubt! If not, then I don't see how Sony's tolerance for multiple file types makes it much more open than other Readers.
With my iPad, I know that Apple ePubs are not open at all. I can only read them with Apple's iBook software - and if that were the only choice available to me with an iPad, I would be sorely disappointed. The point is, it is not. I can read books purchased from Apple's bookstore with iBooks, I can read books purchased from Amazon with the Kindle app, I can read books from Barnes & Noble, Borders and Kobo, through the use of their apps. Taking advantage of what Stanza has to offer opens up still more possibilities. I can read PDFs with any number of readers (I think Good Reader is the best, but iBooks also reads PDF files).
I can read, I believe, every possible file format, from every possible store. if that is not an "open" device, I truly do not know what is. I take that back - Sony, in their infinite wisdom, has yet to see fit to make their store available to the iPad market yet. And you know what? That's their loss.
-- Rique