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Originally Posted by EatingPie
Many, many people are left spinning in the wind if it ever came to a change of e-Readers (in terms of their purchased content). That's what Amazon wants, because that's what lock-in is all about. And this is precisely why we need a universal format, and precisely why Amazon should be taken to task for holding out.
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It is interesting to me how the Kindle readers don't seem to be the ones complaining about Amazon's "lock-in," but the Epub readers. If lock-in were really a problem, you would hear more Kindle users complaining about it, I think.
IMO, what's really going on is some epub readers feel locked out because they want to be able to buy from Amazon but can't because they bought an incompatible device. I don't think that's really Amazon's problem.
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I suspect Amazon will continue to hold out, and in that sense, I too agree that we will be very close, but for a long while. There is just too much money involved in keeping customers locked in to the Kindle ecosystem.
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We are fine, thanks.
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I suspect a payment ranking in the millions of dollars to Pottermore for mobi support would not even be out of the question.
-Pie
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Why would Rowlings even be tempted to ignore the dominant e-book format, particularly when she owns a Kindle. You should be pleased she even bothered with e-pub.
And of course all of this concern trolling about standards is completely misplaced. B&N uses Epub, but you still can't read a nookbook on a Kobo or Sony. Apple uses Epub, but you can't read an iBook on a nook or Sony or Kobo. Some standards.
And of course if Amazon did switch to Epub, they would use their own DRM (because there's no way that they are paying Adobe), and you *still* wouldn't be able to read it on other devices.
Unless the book did not have DRM...but if it doesn't have drm, converting formats if trivial now. Or if you didn't mind breaking drm...but again, you would be no better off than you are now.