Quote:
Originally Posted by exachillus
@Helen
The only reason I gave Kobo slightly positive support because of their support of epub(which supports non drm and it is open format) and its variants in their devices. I personally feel like epub support should be considered when buying ereaders.
Other than that reason I doubt that Kobo is any better or worse than the competitors.
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EPUB support should not be considered; rather, support of non-DRMed and sideloaded known formats should be considered, the important thing being that as long as you have a non-DRMed ebook (of whatever format) and want to read it on an ereader, you can with a minimum of fuss.
By a shocking coincidence, Kindles do not require DRM in order to function. And the tools necessary to transform an EPUB into an AZW3 are free, readily available, and even open source!
What difference does it make that AZW3 uses a proprietary wrapper, unless you are going the Richard Stallman route... the wrapper is understood by open source tools, which should be the same thing surely.
The openness of the so-called EPUB standard is a myth (because of DRM) and it wouldn't mean anything even if it
was true... because AZW3 is just as open.
EDIT: Obviously, this does not take into account library loans outside the US, where only DRMed EPUBs are available.
This has nothing to do with the openness of EPUB, though -- it is merely two different restricted ebook ecosystems, one of which has more penetration in the library department.
Normally, we'd get around that with Alf, and happily enjoy our books on whatever device we want, regardless of what Richard Stallman thinks about the morality of a walled garden (with oddly low walls), but... library books...