Quote:
Originally Posted by Taylor514ce
Ricky, Sony recently opened the device up to EPUB. Yes, they have a proprietary format, but also accept RTF, HTML, PDF with reflow capabilities.
I'm not one in the "blame it all on Amazon" camp. I think it's good business for them to pursue exclusive content deals and to price content aggressively.
What's good business for Amazon and Kindle customers may not, though, be good for the e-book market overall.
Speaking purely as a consumer, I want Amazon's prices and content in a format that works on my preferred device. Or, I want my content providers to match Amazon's content and prices.
Yes, it was stupid for Sony to come up with yet another format and then attempt to create a retail infrastructure to serve up that format, in direct competition to Amazon. They should have cut a deal with Amazon to sell LRF books... who knows? They might have tried to, but Amazon had a "not invented here" reaction. I don't know.
It boils down to: I don't want a Kindle. I could care less, really, about formats. I want affordable e-books for my e-book reader. I think that describes every e-book enthusiast. The sooner the market adjusts to that universal reality, the better.
|
The Kindle also accepts several non-proprietary formats. They just don't happen to sell them at the Amazon store.
I agree, Taylor. I would like to see all of the manufacturers agree on one format - or barring that, at least make it easy and legal for people to change from one format to another. That way ... people could just choose the reader with the format factor (or color, or screen size) that they like the best.
I think the article referred to in this thread is a bit off the mark. Amazon is a business, just like Sony. They are in the business to make money. At this moment in time, it seem to be the popular thing to second guess Amazon. Everyone seems to know what is best for the company ... and I do mean everyone, regardless of business expertise, knowledge of the ebook industry, knowledge of copyright law .... just plain every Tom, Dick and Harry (hi, guys) is willing to chime in on what
should happen.
I'm only willing to go as far as saying what I would like to see happen, but I have no idea if that is in the Amazon plan or not. I am fairly sure, however, that licensing out the hardware is not the end all and be all the author seems to think it is. If it were, more companies would do it and those would be the really successful companies. But, it appears to me that the really successful companies are doing the opposite.
So ... I agree with you, Taylor, about what would be nice to see happen (from a consumer's perspective), I just disagree with the author of that article, who seems to be talking off the top of his head.