Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
... I think many people are under the mistaken impression that epub3 automatically means it won't work on their reader. I know I have no trouble with any of the text-based (novels) EPUB3s I've gotten from B&N and Google using either ADE Desktop 2.0 or the RMSDK based epub app on my Nexus 7. I'm assuming your Sony T2 is RMSDK-based as well?
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Yup, Sony Readers are RMSDK-based, and I can read EPUB3s on my RMSDK Sony as well as the really old ADE 1.72. Granted, all I read are straight-text novels, so my Sony may balk if I ask it to handle an EPUB3 with multi-media features or advanced formatting, but so far so good.
As you wrote in two earlier posts:
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Most decent EPUB2 reading system (including RMSDK-based ones) won't blow up when encountering [an EPUB3]
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AGREE!
Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
EPUB3 doesn't automatically mean "incompatible with EPUB2 renderers."
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AGREE!
Also,
from the IDPF: "Although EPUB 3 is not perfectly backwards compatible with EPUB 2, a goal of the recent revision was to ensure, as much as possible, a basic level of rendering when features overlap." So even IDPF guidelines are geared toward enabling EPUB2 ereaders to manage "a basic level of rendering" of properly formed EPUB3.
If Kobo is serious about keeping an open garden, they should provide EPUB3 files and indicate that the format is EPUB3 on the product page so customers know exactly what they're getting. I don't see what's so tricky about this. It's just a file. It even has the same extension (.epub) as EPUB2, which they already provide. Plus Google and B&N seem to have no issue providing straight EPUB3 to their customers. As for compatibility concerns, companies have been listing system requirements and formats for years: this software is for Windows, this is for Mac, this requires Windows 7+, this requires OSX 10.8+; this is a DVD, this is a VHS videocassette, this is an audio CD, this is a cassette tape. If customers are expected to deal with all this, certainly they can be expected to deal with ebook format (EPUB2, EPUB3) and DRM status (Adobe DRM, DRM-Free).
On the other hand, if Kobo is transitioning to a walled kepub-only garden, then keep saying, "Sorry, that ebook is so special that it's only available as kepub. You'll have to buy a Kobo reader or download the Kobo app if you want to read it."
If Kobo wants to take the walled-garden path, that's fine. It's their choice. But as far as I can tell, this is a business decision, a company policy, not a technical difficulty.