Thread: PDF is not an eBook format
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Old 08-30-2009, 10:57 AM   #320
Elfwreck
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Quote:
Originally Posted by frabjous View Post
The DRM system isn't going to be "handling TeX". What would that even mean? The DRM system just needs to be involved in en/decrypting the document's code, and I can't think of any reason why precisely the same system couldn't be used that works with HTML code.
There is no DRM for HTML code. There is DRM for ePub, because ePub slaps code on top of the HTML. One issue with making ebook devices straight TeX renderers is that someone would need to develop DRM for it, or the major publishers won't release TeX ebooks.

(This is assuming you can get them to release ebooks in a file format they've never heard of to begin with. The vast majority are using Windows, and doing the layout in Quark or InDesign, and converting to PDF with a button that says "convert to PDF.")

Quote:
Sony right now doesn't use its own code. The OS is a free linux system that probably use precisely because they don't pay for it. The other elements, such as the PDF renderer, they pay for from software designers like Adobe. The attraction to using TeX is that they wouldn't have to pay for it. Yes, Amazon would be free to use the same code, but Sony is really making their money on selling you the hardware and the books from the store as is, and all that would be retained.
Right now, Amazon or Aztak or CoolER or Random New E-Ink Device Maker cannot legally just grab Sony's firmware and flash it to their devices. Cannot make devices that will buy books from the Sony store, nor be registered so it can read .LRX files.

Sony wants to protect that right. (The fact that I think this is stupid, like Amazon's insistence on creating a new Mobi DRM and slapping an .AZW extension on it, is not relevant.) Sony wants to make sure you can only buy their books if you bought their hardware. So does Amazon.

If they're working with open source or "semi public domain" software, they might lose that lock-in ability. Better for consumers... but you have to come up with a reason why it's better for them, or they won't consider the idea.
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