Quote:
Originally Posted by MrsJoseph
I don't care what is supported on a kindle because I do not own a kindle. I wanted Amazon to sell books that could be used on the device that I purchased that has the features that I want.
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Not so long ago, the primary ebook stores in the US sold all the available formats with all the available DRM. These stores (e.g. FictionWise and Books on Board) have been marginalized by walled-garden ebook infrastructures. Amazon perfected the walled-garden approach to ebooks, but B&N and Kobo are following the same pattern. Amazon and B&N own their DRM schemes, which is essential to lowering cost. Kobo pays a tax to Adobe, but only on ebooks that are downloaded to its dedicated Readers. These devices are loss leaders to get you to buy into their closed app-based infrastructure - which has much higher walls than B&N or Amazon. Sony started out using their own format, but switched to Adobe ePub and now has the most open widely-sold devices in the US (and even more so in Europe).
These gardens only exist because of DRM, and seem to be the logical consequence of DRM in a free market. Note that if there was no DRM, then anyone could buy from Amazon (or B&N or Kobo) because DRM-free reflowable formats are more or less interchangeable. Amazon would still crush all others, because they have the best infrastructure by a mile and this infrastructure is paid for by all Amazon sales - not just ebooks. However, in a DRM-free world Amazon would already have switched to ePub because MOBI would be at a moderate disadvantage vs ePub.
Anyone who embraces DRM-stripping tools, is already in that DRM-free world and can buy from anyone. I can buy from whoever I like, and at one time I bought most of my ebooks from FictionWise because they had the best service and support. Now I buy mostly from Amazon, because they are now the best. I wish they supported ePub, but for most fiction MOBI/AZW, or even TOPAZ, is ok as a starting point for conversion to ePub.