Quote:
Originally Posted by GreenMonkey
If it's just plaintext, then why can't I slap a .mobi onto my PC and just open it? It's got an icky layer of DRM around it, that's why. And I thought EPUB was mostly xhtml...
I know this is circumvent-able (at the moment) by us tech-saavy, but still. Not just an open standard, precisely.
Still, ebooks have plenty of variants - I ended up with a Topaz book once, and Kobo has their kepub variant (which I don't know a lot about, but fear of getting it has stopped me from buying books from them).
Something to think about also - since people continue to buy DRM, and mostly Amazon, nothing is stopping Amazon from tightening up the DRM down the road - so this easy convertibility/access could dry up.
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DRM is very different from digital obsolescence. I was merely pointing out that you don't need to worry about EPUB and AZW3 becoming so outdated nothing can read it anymore.
I can of course use openssl or PGP to encrypt my plaintext files, just like Amazon or Adobe or Barnes & Noble or Kobo can use their encryption methods,
but that has nothing whatsoever to do with the underlying format of either plaintext files or EPUB/AZW3, all three of which will be easily read.
(Since open-source projects can translate the AZW3 wrapper, support cannot be withdrawn, and there will always be a way to read it. EPUB is even easier, since it just requires an OS that comes with unzip, the most basic/universal compressed storage method out there.)
"And I thought EPUB was mostly xhtml..."
Well, XHTML unlike HTML doesn't like errors, but if you are going to quibble about
that of all things....
Whatever. Fine. You're right. It uses the XML extension to HTML, by which it requires more exact definition of tags, plus a few other minor details, about which you will never care whatsoever. Other than that, they are practically identical.
I'll even change my original post, just for you. (The
meaning, on the other hand, will not change remotely.)