MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Why no discussion of HTML as a book format?

KevinH · 09-20-2020, 10:19 AM

Kindle/Mobi is really the only holdout lacking audio/video support. Sigil, calibre, all Webkit/WebEngine based readers such as Readium (and its derivatives), ADE, iBooks, and anything claiming epub3 support should have no problems with audio and video. People seem fixated on Kindle because of Amazon's market power but as an ebook format Kindle is truly not open, and worse it is evolving away from html/epub based to more semi-fixed layout (nearly pdf-like KFX).

I find it hard to believe a Readium SDK based e-reader is not available for most phones, tablets, etc.

A quick search of the ios app store shows many epub3 compatible reading apps. Gitden being one that claimed more epub3 support and listed both ios and Android versions (as one example).

So audio and video are really only an issue for older e-readers that have not updated their firmware and of-couse Kindle/mobi ones. Almost all phones and tablets have reading apps that will support it.

Does anybody still use dedicated e-readers when phones and tablets are everywhere? My old Sony e-reader has been sitting in a drawer for over 5 years since reading on a tablet was simply a better and handier solution.

09-20-2020, 10:19 AM	#55
KevinH Sigil Developer Posts: 8,884 Karma: 6120478 Join Date: Nov 2009 Device: many	Kindle/Mobi is really the only holdout lacking audio/video support. Sigil, calibre, all Webkit/WebEngine based readers such as Readium (and its derivatives), ADE, iBooks, and anything claiming epub3 support should have no problems with audio and video. People seem fixated on Kindle because of Amazon's market power but as an ebook format Kindle is truly not open, and worse it is evolving away from html/epub based to more semi-fixed layout (nearly pdf-like KFX). I find it hard to believe a Readium SDK based e-reader is not available for most phones, tablets, etc. A quick search of the ios app store shows many epub3 compatible reading apps. Gitden being one that claimed more epub3 support and listed both ios and Android versions (as one example). So audio and video are really only an issue for older e-readers that have not updated their firmware and of-couse Kindle/mobi ones. Almost all phones and tablets have reading apps that will support it. Does anybody still use dedicated e-readers when phones and tablets are everywhere? My old Sony e-reader has been sitting in a drawer for over 5 years since reading on a tablet was simply a better and handier solution. Last edited by KevinH; 09-20-2020 at 10:48 AM.