Quote:
Originally Posted by adullday
I have one book, Jerry Coyne's book Why Evolution is True, that only downloads as a pdb. All of the other B&N books that I have (including the samples) download as epubs under the B&N software on XP and Vista, but as pdb from the web. It's not a bad deal for me since I get the epub books (which I prefer), but still have pdb versions I can read on my Centro without going through the trouble of converting them.
I haven't made the leap to Intel yet so I haven't been able to try the most up-to-date Mac version of the B&N software.
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Thanks, Dave, for the input. It sounds like B&N and the publishers that provide it with eBooks have a
variable policy as to whether the book can be retrieved as an epub by using the Barnes & Noble Desktop Reader for Windows.
Why the policy would vary from book to book makes little sense to me, though. To wit, we in this thread know that the epub versions can be unlocked into no-DRM eBooks that might, by those less scrupulous than we, be freely distributed, while I am not aware that the pdb versions can be (though I have yet to really investigate pdb decryption). If I were B&N, I would get rid of the epubs post haste!
Off-topic alerts:
That Jerry Coyne book is excellent! I've read it in its print version, which I bought before getting involved with the next evolutionary step: electronic books.
Also, some of my friends tell me that (rumor has it) Apple will introduce its "tablet" device in, maybe, February. I gather it will be like a big iPhone and thus be capable of running apps such as Stanza/eReader/B&N eReader/Kindle which will let us read just about any eBooks (even Adobe-DRM'ed ones, provided we decrypt them first). My friends say it will cost about $900. I have read online that the backlit, color-LCD touchscreen size will be 10.6 inches diagonally.
Cheers,
Eric