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Old 05-18-2008, 01:14 PM   #11
HarryT
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pilotbob View Post
Agreed, but knowing that, and "your" insistance that kindle and mobi are the same format (see other thread)... you could buy mobi books for it, just as easily as for a CyBook from the exact same places for the exact same prices and read them quite happily.

BOb
Unfortunately this is not so.

As you know, Mobi DRM works using a device indentifier called a "PID" ("Personal ID").While the Kindle does indeed use the Mobi file format, and the Mobi DRM system, unfortunately most (perhaps all) of the bookstores which sell books using the MobiPocket DRM server have now prevented a Kindle's PID from being used in their bookstores, so the only way now to read such books on the Kindle is to remove the DRM, which is illegal in many countries. This may or may not bother people, of course; again it's a personal choice.

Although you are quite right in saying that the Kindle's files use MobiPocket DRM, the Kindle DRM server is quite separate from the MobiPocket DRM server, so although the file format is the same, you can't get a book from these stores that's encoded for the Kindle. I think (but I'm not 100% certain - do you know?) that bookstores which use the "Overdrive" DRM server (such as some of those sold by "Booksonboard") will accept a Kindle's PID.

DRM-free Mobi books will of course work on the Kindle, but that does rather restrict the selection for someone who's interested in current commercial fiction.

Regretably, "using the same file format" does not always equate to "being able to buy the same books".
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