|
Basically, I agree with sirmaru that Amazon should be providing standalone files, whether they be in Mobi, ePub, or something else, and leaving it up to the user to plug them into whatever they use. I know that I wouldn't want to be shut out of a huge market of e-books, just because I chose not to buy a Kindle.
That said, I understand why Amazon chose not to do that: Locking the files into the Kindle solves many piracy issues that they, and the publishers, are obviously concerned with (and in fact, I expect that may have been a prerequisite for getting many publishers on-board). It also makes the process drop-dead easy for any Kindle user, and making sure Amazon can sell an easy-to-use device would be key.
We can only hope, as Alisa suggested, that time (and customer demand) will eventually cause Amazon to offer the same books as standalone files... possibly once they realize how large a market they can reach outside of Kindle. Either that, or someone supplies software that will extract the e-books from the Kindle to your hard drive, ready to be read on your PC or ported into another device.
|