[taustin]

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Apparently you have never dealt with someone who just wants to read their books, and has zero interest in learning Yet Another Program so they can do so.

Those people aren't going to buy an ebook reader in the first place. And aren't going to be interested in rereading anything in the future, either. Which is to say, people completley unconnected to the issue at hand.

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Either clean your screen or learn to read. I said this is how the file came to me, and that I didn't do anything to it.

We were talking about converting formats, and you injected that in the middle, with no transition, no indication you were changing the subject. I'll clean my screen if you take a remedial course in english composition.

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Are you seriously claiming that that file wasn't run through Calibre, and that all the class="calibreXX" attributes are just coincidence? I seriously doubt that...

I have no idea. I've seen some bad automated formatting on files from B&N. They're trivial to fix, and I could write a script in about half an hour to detect such automatically - and 25 minutes of that would be googling for instructions.

That is in no way whatsoever a limitation of ebook formats, and certainly isn't going to have any effect on preserving ebook libraries (remember what the thread was about?). That was incompetence on the publisher's part, same as typos, misspelling, bad grammar, missing pages, or crappy paper on a paper book.

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

Like I said, this isn't a problem for those of us geeky enough to feel comfortable tinkering. However, we're the minority, not the majority - and you just admitted that compatibility and support are valid issues. Welcome to my world; I work here.

So do I, more or less. People who can't be troubled to learn the software will complain to where they bought it, and eventually the publishers will learn how to use their software, or they'll just stop buying books there.

None of this has anything to do with the preservation of ebook libraries. You know, the subject of the thread?

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

For the average reader, the hard part about maintaining a dead-tree library is finding room on the shelf. They don't have to worry about whether the new book is only available at Store X,

In fact, yes, actually, they do, since not all book stores carry all new books.

And where they have to go to buy new books isn't an issue for maintaining a paper book library. Try to stay on one subject at a time.

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

or whether it'll work with their glasses.

People who have vision problems are about 100000% more likely to prefer ebook readers because they can adjust the font size easily. Something they can't do on a paper book.

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

You buy it, you read it, you put it on a shelf - or a pile, or in a bag to resell, or in a fireplace if you want to. There's no configuration to deal with, though, and no concerns about whether you'll still be able to access and read it in twenty years.

And about 99% of the time, the average person will buy an ebook, read it, and forget about it for the rest of the lives. The other 1% will figure out how to keep a copy of it.

Originally Posted by Rev. Bob

With ebooks, you have to worry about that sort of thing. You may consider it a negligible hassle, but it is a hassle.

Which "it" are you talking about here? Buying books, or maintaining a library? Because you keep switching back and forth like you don't know the difference.

The hassle of buying a book on an ebook reader generally consists of using the search function to find what you want, and buying it. A minute or two later, it's downloaded and ready to go. Most people buy all their books through the reader (and Kindle and Amazon have, what, 75% of the market outright?). That's a lot less trouble than putting your shoes (or pants) on, finding the car keys, fighting traffic, finding the right section of the books store, hoping they have it in stock, waiting at the cash register, fighting traffic home, finding a parking spot, and then, finally, heading off to bed because you're tired. Maybe you'll read tomorrow.

There are hassles in buying ebooks. They are considerably less, overall, than they hassles of buying paper books, which you can't do while sitting on the toilet.

The hassles of maintaining your ebook library are orders of magnitude less than maintaining a paper book library of the same size, as I have discussed, and you have not disputed.