MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Future-proofing my ebook collection given the churn in ebook formats

maximus83 · 11-01-2015, 01:52 PM

Thanks all for the discussion, very useful insights.

Some responses in no particular order:

* Somebody well known here on Mobileread pointed out in a PM that while Amazon may not be an actual monopoly, they could sure use some competition to be more open in their formats. IMO, competition is good for everybody, including consumers and Azon itself. So for me, it makes sense to continue my plan to buy from sellers that are trying to use a format based on an open spec, like Epub. Hoping to eventually nudge Azon in a more "open" direction.

* That said, it's ALSO true what others noted here: you can still convert most if not all Amazon ebooks today if you can obtain the AZW3 file. So for now, there's no harm in getting Azon ebooks provided that you can still convert them into a usable "open" file format.

* While there's not a total consensus on the formats issue, even here at Mobileread as evidenced in the older "format future proofing" threads that somebody linked to, it does seem that of all the imperfect file specs and formats available today, epub probably has the broadest industry and library support, and the most going for it. Being in epub doesn't solve all problems (since everybody implements it differently and then devices also render it differently). But since epub3 is directly based on HTML5 and CSS3, it's at least based on universal W3 web standards and moving in the right direction, basically "converging on a standard." Storing your ebook files in epub today seems to make it most likely that you'll be able to use open source tools in the future to get your files converted to whatever format you need.

11-01-2015, 01:52 PM	#27
maximus83 Nameless Being	Thanks all for the discussion, very useful insights. Some responses in no particular order: * Somebody well known here on Mobileread pointed out in a PM that while Amazon may not be an actual monopoly, they could sure use some competition to be more open in their formats. IMO, competition is good for everybody, including consumers and Azon itself. So for me, it makes sense to continue my plan to buy from sellers that are trying to use a format based on an open spec, like Epub. Hoping to eventually nudge Azon in a more "open" direction. * That said, it's ALSO true what others noted here: you can still convert most if not all Amazon ebooks today if you can obtain the AZW3 file. So for now, there's no harm in getting Azon ebooks provided that you can still convert them into a usable "open" file format. * While there's not a total consensus on the formats issue, even here at Mobileread as evidenced in the older "format future proofing" threads that somebody linked to, it does seem that of all the imperfect file specs and formats available today, epub probably has the broadest industry and library support, and the most going for it. Being in epub doesn't solve all problems (since everybody implements it differently and then devices also render it differently). But since epub3 is directly based on HTML5 and CSS3, it's at least based on universal W3 web standards and moving in the right direction, basically "converging on a standard." Storing your ebook files in epub today seems to make it most likely that you'll be able to use open source tools in the future to get your files converted to whatever format you need.