Quote:
Originally Posted by SmokeAndMirrors
how viable those books will be in the future. That's what matters.
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As to this,
Calibre and Apprentice Alf offer protection against obsolesence. A Kindle (or Nook) user can add everything they buy to Calibre, seamlessly stripping the DRM wrapper in the process. Calibre becomes a repository of DRM-free e-books that can be format-shifted to any future device the owner chooses.
In the U.S., this is against a law known as the DMCA. Everywhere in the world, this is called fairly using what you own. You live in Australia, so DMCA isn't a concern, and you needn't worry about purchasing a library of e-books that will become obsolete.
SmokeAndMirrors is right, though. ePub is an open standard, readable by all but the Kindle. Although you can convert a Kindle's .mobi files to .epub, you might someday prefer to read pristine .epubs rather than ones converted from .mobi.
Come to think of it, you could even buy your books in .epub and read them, converted to .mobi, on your Kindle. Amazon should be sent to the stockade for using a proprietary format, but despite Amazon's effort there's actually tremendous format flexibility.
I still think GUI and physical preferences should be your guide in choosing an e-reader.