Thread: Most "future proof" format?
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Old 12-04-2008, 12:16 PM   #2
Hadrien
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Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: Paris, France
Device: Sony PRS-t-1/350/300/500/505/600/700, Nexus S, iPad
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiren View Post
I just ordered a Sony Reader PRS-505 and I have some questions on ebook formats.

I will download ebooks that are public domain in any format since they will always be free.

I also plan to buy recent books. The Sony library looks interesting but I'm not so certain about their future with the increasing popularity of the Kindle. If Sony decides to stop selling ebooks in 5 years, the format will be pretty much dead.

I don't mind DRM. What I do mind is an ebook format going obsolete in a few years. I'd like to still be able to read my ebooks 30 years+ from now and not have to re-buy every book I liked.
ePub is the most future proof format: it's based on XHTML+CSS+SVG which are all very common web standards.

DRM though is a different question: while you will always be able to transform an ePub file into something else, if it's DRM protected and the DRM doesn't exist anymore, you won't be able to perform this conversion.
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