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6charlong · 05-02-2009, 05:53 PM

I didn't know where else to post this. I apologize if this is the wrong spot.

I’m writing to ask for help understanding eBook DRM. I’ve been looking for a nice, inexpensive 5-inch eInk reader. The offerings seem only to support Mobipocket. I like to read recently published commercial eBooks which all seem to come with DRM. I have several reasons not to want to strip the DRM from commercial books*.

As I understand it, Mobi DRM comes in two types: the original version and a new version used on the Kindle. If I buy a new 5-inch reader (like the BeBook for example) which is only available with support for Mobi formatted books with DRM, will the BeBook be able to read the newer Mobi format? If not, does Amazon sell new books in both formats?

I should mention that I already have some books in eReader DRM format, but not so many that I couldn’t change to Mobi if it is strongly supported by Amazon.

*For me, there are some beautiful editions of paper books but I’ve run out of shelf space so I have to pass them up. I’ve found that there are sometimes attractive editions of eBooks achieved through the aesthetic use of fonts, layout, formatting, graphics and images. The process of stripping a file of its DRM and converting the result to another format entirely seems to rob the edition of the beauty and readability the publisher added in. When I pay for an eBook I look for the book’s content, of course, but I also pay attention to the efforts of some anonymous editor to create an attractive edition that’s easy to read and clarifies the author's intent. Conversely, I can’t help but notice editions that are poorly prepared. eBooks like that seem to me to demonstrate a publisher’s contempt for me, their customer, and the book they are selling.

Despite the understandably primitive formatting support Mobipocket and eReader offer they can just be made to do an adequate job in the hands of someone who cares enough to format an attractive edition. The ePub books I’ve bought have proven very disappointing on my PRS 505. They are readable but they’re also uniformly ugly, so getting books in ePub even without DRM is not something I want to do until Sony cleans up.

Speaking of Sony, if someone would manufacture a 5-inch reader that can render BBeB I’d buy it in a minute, but I suppose Sony DRM is inviolable.

05-02-2009, 05:53 PM	#1
6charlong friendly lurker Posts: 896 Karma: 2436026 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: US Device: Kindle, nook, Apple and Kobo	DRM and eBook Formats I didn't know where else to post this. I apologize if this is the wrong spot. I’m writing to ask for help understanding eBook DRM. I’ve been looking for a nice, inexpensive 5-inch eInk reader. The offerings seem only to support Mobipocket. I like to read recently published commercial eBooks which all seem to come with DRM. I have several reasons not to want to strip the DRM from commercial books. As I understand it, Mobi DRM comes in two types: the original version and a new version used on the Kindle. If I buy a new 5-inch reader (like the BeBook for example) which is only available with support for Mobi formatted books with DRM, will the BeBook be able to read the newer Mobi format? If not, does Amazon sell new books in both formats? I should mention that I already have some books in eReader DRM format, but not so many that I couldn’t change to Mobi if it is strongly supported by Amazon. For me, there are some beautiful editions of paper books but I’ve run out of shelf space so I have to pass them up. I’ve found that there are sometimes attractive editions of eBooks achieved through the aesthetic use of fonts, layout, formatting, graphics and images. The process of stripping a file of its DRM and converting the result to another format entirely seems to rob the edition of the beauty and readability the publisher added in. When I pay for an eBook I look for the book’s content, of course, but I also pay attention to the efforts of some anonymous editor to create an attractive edition that’s easy to read and clarifies the author's intent. Conversely, I can’t help but notice editions that are poorly prepared. eBooks like that seem to me to demonstrate a publisher’s contempt for me, their customer, and the book they are selling. Despite the understandably primitive formatting support Mobipocket and eReader offer they can just be made to do an adequate job in the hands of someone who cares enough to format an attractive edition. The ePub books I’ve bought have proven very disappointing on my PRS 505. They are readable but they’re also uniformly ugly, so getting books in ePub even without DRM is not something I want to do until Sony cleans up. Speaking of Sony, if someone would manufacture a 5-inch reader that can render BBeB I’d buy it in a minute, but I suppose Sony DRM is inviolable.