Quote:
Originally Posted by boswd
Grrrr, it's like the early and mid times of the iPod and iTunes all over again. Egads Amazon even the King of Walled Gardens, Apple, has epub on it's iPad.
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Its not the format but the DRM that is the issue. Apple's version of ePub has its own DRM so it might as well be its own format.
Essentially, there are now 4 serious contenders for DRM'd formats.
1. Amazon's variant of Mobi (Alas, Mobi itself seems on the way out). Forces you to buy books from Amazon (if you want new books without stripping DRM) only dedicated readers that can be used is the Kindle line, but software is available for other platforms, including tablet computers.
2. Apple's variant of ePub. As far as I know, only works on Apple devices (But I could be wrong). Again, forces you to buy books from Apple.
3. Barnes and Noble ereader ePub. We know B&N will license its DRM to other device makers (works on the Jetbook and Jetbook-Lite at least). It does seem to be limited to B&N for book purchase.
4. Adobe DRM ePub. Since Adobe doesn't sell the books, it is probably the most available to third party stores and is also supported by the Nook (as well as the Jetbooks mentioned above) and most non-Amazon dedicated Readers.
In any case, after that... format doesn't matter if DRM is not present. ePub, mobi, .lit, ereader, .fb2 and even just plain html can all be easily converted to one of the other formats (and even others I didn't bother listing). Its the DRM that ties you to a store.
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Bill