Quote:
Originally Posted by pking36330
OK, no reponse means that no one here knows of any written statement by B&N indicating they will support ePub, right? To clarify:
To date, B&N has only discussed support of their proprietary eReader format (Palm reader based) for Windows, Mac, and a variety of mobile platforms (currently only the iPhone and Blackberry). B&N has not discussed ePub support as a part of their eBooks marketing plan or eBooks store implementation.
|
I'm quite certain this article is conflating the original electronic reader partnership announced with Plastic Logic–and their reader that will support ePub–and the BN store itself as meaning BN will use ePub as their format of choice. The other rumor is that BN will move to ePub eventually but use their own DRM (which, frankly, I'm fine with. All DRM sucks but if they follow the eReader model then at least my old credit card numbers can act as passwords long after any servers have gone and died.)
I don't believe there is any actual official word, however, that BN is actually going to change anything about their current store's format.
That said, they do make a big deal about their books being readable on many devices. They launch with a promotion of their support for PC, Mac, iPhone and a little later Blackberry. It isn't a huge jump in logic to suspect they would gladly move to a new format if it meant they could further bolster this claim. The only thing that stops me short of just believing the rumor is the DRM thing. Even if they switch to ePub, if they do not support ADE, they will not support any more devices than they would with their own format. In fact, if they ditched eReader they would have even fewer targets.
As it is, at least I can still use Stanza for BN purchased books. Take that Amazon!