Quote:
Originally Posted by AMacD
I was under the impression that it is the reader that has the dictionary, not the format.
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It can be either or both. The MobiPocket Reader supports dictionaries, and it can even act as the dictionary function for other formats. The Kindle has a variant of the MOBI Reader, but it does not seem to include a complete implementation of the MOBI dictionary capability (e.g. only one dictionary at a time, probably no support for the dictionary in PDFs on the KDX). The big advantage of the MOBI Reader is that there are many DRMed MOBI dictionaries available.
The problem for Adobe is that there is no ePub dictionary format, so no DRMed ePub dictionaries. It would be possible for Adobe to add dictionary support without using the ePub format for the dictionary, but they have not done so. This seems to be the approach that Stanza is using - taking advantage of an Internet dictionary.
If MobiPocket was an independent company, it would likely be pushing hard to remain on EInk Reading devices by providing integrated dictionary support. This would at least keep them in the game in Europe. However, Amazon seems to have given up on the MOBI format.