Thread: Trying to Grok eBooks
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Old 11-21-2009, 06:36 AM   #3
pdurrant
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
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Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Oasis
Quote:
Originally Posted by FatDog View Post
Then ... I discovered Sony has one format, Kindle has another, Many books are PDF, HTML, TXT, etc. Some of the readers can handle multiple formats, others not so much. The idea of the Android-backed "Nook" gives me hope that it will be more compatible, but .. well time will tell.

Anyway - I am looking forward to discussing the hardware, software, authors, state of the publishing industry, etc.
Welcome to Mobileread! You'll find lots of good discussions, both about the contents and the containers.

Formats: Yes, lots of formats at the moment. Three look likely to be important in the near future:

PDF: Not reflowable, great for compex fixed formats if you have a large screen.
ePub: The newcomer. Open format. XHTML+CSS2+SVG. Probably most future-proof, but not completely mature.
Mobipocket/Kindle: proprietary wrapping of HTML 3.2. No proper spec of the format, only reverse-engineering. Not as capable as ePub, but the reading software is more mature.
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