Quote:
Originally Posted by DNSB
As is shown by the ACCESS renderer on the Kobo ereaders being able to display an epub2 file simply by renaming it to .kepub.epub, an epub3 compliant renderer is able to display epub2 ebooks. Given that money and developer time are finite resources, Kobo is likely to feel that they are better served by concentrating on the future. The only good reason I see for Kobo keeping the Adobe RMSDK code in place is to handle Adept DRMed books either purchased or through a library loan.
Regards,
David
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I think Kobo should support epub2 because they sell them. If the ACESS renderer supports them as they were intended to be displayed by the author then that is probably good enough, still if I called Kobo and asked them how to get page numbers instead of chapter numbers, for example, and they said buy a different reader, I would not be impressed.
Another reason is to assuage the fears of the paranoid and uninformed.
As we know many won't buy a kindle because it does not support epub and limits their choice of venders. While we may know epub and kepub are much the same, many will not.
While Kobo is doing well in the marketplace right now, they may not have the resources to stick it out with the kepub thing as Amazon has done with the kindle formats. Kobo would be foolish to stop selling epubs, as many owners of other readers purchase books from them and the chances of the other ereader makers supporting kepubs is IMO nil.
Maybe if Kobo stops supplying both kepub and epub formats as a single purchase they will save the 22 cents Adobe fee, which is probably their long term goal, then there will be a great wailing and gnashing of teeth.
If I was a betting woman, which sometimes I am, I would give kepubs a fairly limited life span as a popular format even among Kobo ereader owners, but time will tell.
Helen