Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
That's not strictly true. There's no device which can read both simultaneously, but Bookeen's devices offer two firmware versions, one of which can read ePub DRM and the other Mobi DRM, and it takes only a couple of minutes to switch between them.
|
Just expanding on this observation, you can also load various firmware versions onto the Hanlin V3 family of devices (BeBook, Aztak, LBook, etc.) in the same manner - BeBook provides both 'old' (Mobi DRM) and 'new' (latest ADE supported DRM firmware) for download.
I guess with the newer generation of readers (PocketBook family, Opus, etc.) only support ADE, so you have to DeDRM any Mobi files you have or wish to buy.
To be honest, I have relented a little in my distaste for ePub - the format as a concept is fine, but I think overly-complex for about 90+ % of eBook needs - after all, an eBook is a bunch of text on a page with some chapter headings, a title, and a cover, that's about it. In principle, ePub allows links/footnotes and so on, which is nice, but so did Mobi.
But the reader implementation is still nothing less than utter crap. ADE is a disasterous piece of garbage that makes a farce of the joys of reading an eBook - the ePub format offers exceptional flexibility which ADE promptly restricts. If the ePub is created well it can bypass some of the issues - embedding a decent font and specifying good page margining, etc.
But as a user of the FB2 format I am used to almost limitless reader/display flexibility. Even the old CoolReader and FBReader versions offered variable font sizes and font faces, margin settings, hyphenation/justification settings, and so on. ADE offers almost none of these (unless, as I said, the ePub is well made and exploits the embedded format features, which is currently rare).
So in the end, users are still somewhat obliged to strip the DRM if they wish to read ePub files with another reader on their device (such as FBReader), or possibly convert to a more reader-friendly format?
I admit I am a staunch FB2 supporter - it was the first format I used on my old Acer n10 PDA with Haali Reader, and quite frankly it still stands the test of time for eBook purposes. Some improvements could be made in expanding the formatting definitions allowed (allowing 'prettier' ebooks to be made) and footnote/endnote/links should be improved. But the simple XML format has proven itself to be flexible and usable for almost all normal eBook needs, and it is still widely supported for development and as a book format of choice in Russian-language regions.
I guess because it is DRM-free it was never taken up in the English language or western regions as a viable format for commercial uses, although as I understood it DRM could be applied over any file so I guess there are other reasons for this.
EDIT: One last point I just noted, the TIRWAL Triple-Boot firmware (v2.9) for Hanlin V3 devices apparently supports Mobi & ADE DRM - I have not tested this but I'm sure there are some MR members that can give some feedback of how it is...
