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taosaur · 05-13-2009, 06:39 PM

...and it's ridiculously frustrating. I'm looking for Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter's Sunstorm in a format I can read in portrait orientation on my netbook, formatted like an actual book (proper spacing and indents), ideally in FBReader.

First off, most places want $7.99, which I wouldn't spend on a paperback, much less a file of unknown quality with an uncertain future. Diesel-ebooks.com has a .prc for $6.19, which is still a buck above reasonable but I could deal with it--except it appears to be DRMed to the mobipocket device only. The remaining formats on Diesel and Fictionwise are Palm/eReader and MS Lit--I've downloaded the official software for both, and neither supports a portrait orientation, nor does Stanza for PC, and I highly suspect one or all of these programs would present me with spaced blobs of text. I'm not spending $6-8 to read the formatting equivalent of a webpage circa 1992.

I'm appalled all over again at the state of this "industry." Is there any software that will allow me to read the available file formats in portrait with proper formatting? Is there a store I've missed that offers a format FBReader can read?

Or shall I just give up on legitimately purchasing ebooks and check back in ten years to see if these publishers have their act together yet?

05-13-2009, 06:39 PM	#1
taosaur intelligent posterior Posts: 1,562 Karma: 21295618 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Ohiopolis Device: Kindle Paperwhite 2, Samsung S8, Lenovo Tab 3 Pro	So I want to buy my first ebook... ...and it's ridiculously frustrating. I'm looking for Arthur C. Clarke and Stephen Baxter's Sunstorm in a format I can read in portrait orientation on my netbook, formatted like an actual book (proper spacing and indents), ideally in FBReader. First off, most places want $7.99, which I wouldn't spend on a paperback, much less a file of unknown quality with an uncertain future. Diesel-ebooks.com has a .prc for $6.19, which is still a buck above reasonable but I could deal with it--except it appears to be DRMed to the mobipocket device only. The remaining formats on Diesel and Fictionwise are Palm/eReader and MS Lit--I've downloaded the official software for both, and neither supports a portrait orientation, nor does Stanza for PC, and I highly suspect one or all of these programs would present me with spaced blobs of text. I'm not spending $6-8 to read the formatting equivalent of a webpage circa 1992. I'm appalled all over again at the state of this "industry." Is there any software that will allow me to read the available file formats in portrait with proper formatting? Is there a store I've missed that offers a format FBReader can read? Or shall I just give up on legitimately purchasing ebooks and check back in ten years to see if these publishers have their act together yet?