JUST A NOTE about Adobe and its involvement with ebooks. Adobe has been an exemplary partner in the way it has approached its ebook strategy in recent years. I know Digital Editions cops some flak sometimes; for DRM and compatibility glitches and some missing functionality. But the company has stuck with the ebook model.
Adobe's small Digital Editions team is a brainy, enthusiastic bunch, and they have a clear development pathway which will result, ultimately, in an incredibly useful ebook format. Digital Editions is a totally new application that's being built from the ground up.
Importantly, they've managed to achieve "reflow" in old PDFs, to make them usable for devices like Sony Reader. We shouldn't underestimate the enormity of these achievements. Adobe deserves credit for making it possible for a huge amount of legacy material to be read on 21st century devices.
And they're listening to users, which is not an altogether common phenomenon. Ric Wright, Jim Lester, Bill McCoy and Bentley Wolfe -- key members of the Digital Editions team -- are listening to, digesting and responding to users' thoughts via this forum and many others. They're also listening to partners like eBooks.com and to authors and publishers alike. The demands from each of these constituencies are huge and often conflicting, and it's Adobe's challenge to try and distill all that into an development plan that will translate into a pleasing experience and a reasonable return on investment.
By all means, keep the heat on Adobe (no sense letting people rest on their laurels!) but the DE team should be congratulated for a job well done.
Stephen
CEO,
eBooks.com