Consumer Reports: Nook Beats The Kindle - Page 6

ucfgrad93 · 06-18-2011, 01:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nanopr

For the record and a direct message to Amazon. I will not buy a Kindle or an ebook at Amazon until they fully support ePub. So by default... Nook beats Kindle, no contest.

Congratulations. There are plenty of people that will and do buy Kindles and ebooks from Amazon.

HarryT · 06-18-2011, 02:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nanopr

For the record and a direct message to Amazon. I will not buy a Kindle or an ebook at Amazon until they fully support ePub. So by default... Nook beats Kindle, no contest.

You're going to have a certain amount of difficulty buying ebooks, I'm afraid. There is no reader on the market - not one - which "fully supports ePub".

OtterBooks · 06-18-2011, 02:56 PM

Would someone explain to me the functional capabilities epub has that make it more advanced? Particularly things that could be appreciated by folks using it for basic reading, novels etc. (sincere question here)

HarryT · 06-18-2011, 03:59 PM

A few things that might be useful in novels are:

Drop caps.
Embedded fonts.
Images with text flowing around them.
Scalable vector graphics (SVG) allowing you to have graphics which look good at any resolution.
Much more advanced table-drawing capabilities than Mobipocket is capable of.

Unfortunately the very flexibility of ePub is also, in a sense, its weakness. As I mentioned above, NO reader fully implements the ePub standard, and different ones implement different parts of it. This can make it difficult to produce an "advanced" ePub that renders well on all devices. ADE-based readers, for example, support different ePub features than the iBooks application does.

There are features of the ePub standard which no reader yet supports. One example is "page-based" display elements which should (if they were implemented) allow you to have proper footnotes in a book, appearing at the bottom of the page in which they are referenced, just as they do in a paper book. Unfortunately no device yet implements these.

Mobi is a decent enough standard for the typical novel, which is why I'm more than happy to read on my Kindle, but there's no doubt that ePub lets you do far more "advanced" things, and that's important when you need more complex layout, as in textbooks, for example.

pidgeon92 · 06-18-2011, 04:35 PM

I agree that .mobi is absolutely fine for reading novels. I have no complaints about the basic reading experience on my Kindle.

tubemonkey · 06-18-2011, 05:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

I agree that .mobi is absolutely fine for reading novels. I have no complaints about the basic reading experience on my Kindle.

Same here. All I need is words.

OtterBooks · 06-18-2011, 05:29 PM

Thanks for the explanation, Harry. I'm fine with mobi, but I gotta admit dropcaps and embedded fonts are nice touches I enjoy seeing in books on occasion. I never realized their absence was a format issue.

jocampo · 06-18-2011, 06:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Same here. All I need is words.

Finally some common sense!

jocampo · 06-18-2011, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

A few things that might be useful in novels are:

Drop caps.
Embedded fonts.
Images with text flowing around them.
Scalable vector graphics (SVG) allowing you to have graphics which look good at any resolution.
Much more advanced table-drawing capabilities than Mobipocket is capable of.

Unfortunately the very flexibility of ePub is also, in a sense, its weakness. As I mentioned above, NO reader fully implements the ePub standard, and different ones implement different parts of it. This can make it difficult to produce an "advanced" ePub that renders well on all devices. ADE-based readers, for example, support different ePub features than the iBooks application does.
There are features of the ePub standard which no reader yet supports. One example is "page-based" display elements which should (if they were implemented) allow you to have proper footnotes in a book, appearing at the bottom of the page in which they are referenced, just as they do in a paper book. Unfortunately no device yet implements these.
Mobi is a decent enough standard for the typical novel, which is why I'm more than happy to read on my Kindle, but there's no doubt that ePub lets you do far more "advanced" things, and that's important when you need more complex layout, as in textbooks, for example.

Hopefully your post will clarify some myths and exagerations about epub format.
Fantastic post!!!

Nanopr · 06-18-2011, 07:47 PM

Let me clarify my " fully ePub" statement. I meant for amazon to sell and support non- amazon ePub content on their store and devices. Anyhow, that was a great post by HarryT.

Namekuseijin · 06-19-2011, 12:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nanopr

Let me clarify my " fully ePub" statement. I meant for amazon to sell and support non- amazon ePub content on their store and devices.

they won't. How else are they supposed to sell "The complete Sherlock Holmes" when it's legally available for free from Gutenberg and elsewhere?

Rizla · 06-19-2011, 12:41 AM

The Kindle 'problem' is the hard keyboard. It will still have buttons, but a soft keyboard. How often do you need a keyboard anyway?

Andrew H. · 06-19-2011, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

they won't. How else are they supposed to sell "The complete Sherlock Holmes" when it's legally available for free from Gutenberg and elsewhere?

What does this have to do with epub or mobi?

OtterBooks · 06-19-2011, 03:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Namekuseijin

they won't. How else are they supposed to sell "The complete Sherlock Holmes" when it's legally available for free from Gutenberg and elsewhere?

I've never been able to find an organized single volume complete Sherlock Holmes collection for free anywhere.

HarryT · 06-19-2011, 03:28 AM

You haven't looked very hard

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12677

Obvious though it is to point this out, please don't download this if you live in the United States since, as you know, the final Holmes book, "The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes", is still under US copyright. It's all in the public domain pretty much everywhere else.

06-18-2011, 03:59 PM	#79
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,560 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	A few things that might be useful in novels are: Drop caps. Embedded fonts. Images with text flowing around them. Scalable vector graphics (SVG) allowing you to have graphics which look good at any resolution. Much more advanced table-drawing capabilities than Mobipocket is capable of. Unfortunately the very flexibility of ePub is also, in a sense, its weakness. As I mentioned above, NO reader fully implements the ePub standard, and different ones implement different parts of it. This can make it difficult to produce an "advanced" ePub that renders well on all devices. ADE-based readers, for example, support different ePub features than the iBooks application does. There are features of the ePub standard which no reader yet supports. One example is "page-based" display elements which should (if they were implemented) allow you to have proper footnotes in a book, appearing at the bottom of the page in which they are referenced, just as they do in a paper book. Unfortunately no device yet implements these. Mobi is a decent enough standard for the typical novel, which is why I'm more than happy to read on my Kindle, but there's no doubt that ePub lets you do far more "advanced" things, and that's important when you need more complex layout, as in textbooks, for example.

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06-18-2011, 02:56 PM	#78
OtterBooks Wizard Posts: 1,262 Karma: 2979086 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kindle 4, iPad Mini/Retina	Would someone explain to me the functional capabilities epub has that make it more advanced? Particularly things that could be appreciated by folks using it for basic reading, novels etc. (sincere question here)

06-18-2011, 04:35 PM	#80
pidgeon92 Wizard Posts: 3,144 Karma: 8426142 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Chicago, IL Device: Kindle PW2, Kindle Voyage, Kindle DXG, Boox M90, Kobo Aura HD	I agree that .mobi is absolutely fine for reading novels. I have no complaints about the basic reading experience on my Kindle.

06-18-2011, 05:29 PM	#82
OtterBooks Wizard Posts: 1,262 Karma: 2979086 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Kindle 4, iPad Mini/Retina	Thanks for the explanation, Harry. I'm fine with mobi, but I gotta admit dropcaps and embedded fonts are nice touches I enjoy seeing in books on occasion. I never realized their absence was a format issue.

06-18-2011, 07:47 PM	#85
Nanopr Connoisseur Posts: 50 Karma: 20028 Join Date: Feb 2011 Device: Sony PRS-600, Kobo Touch	Let me clarify my " fully ePub" statement. I meant for amazon to sell and support non- amazon ePub content on their store and devices. Anyhow, that was a great post by HarryT.

06-19-2011, 12:41 AM	#87
Rizla Member Retired Posts: 3,183 Karma: 11721895 Join Date: Nov 2010 Device: Nook STR (rooted) & Sony T2	The Kindle 'problem' is the hard keyboard. It will still have buttons, but a soft keyboard. How often do you need a keyboard anyway?

06-19-2011, 03:28 AM	#90
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,560 Karma: 93980341 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	You haven't looked very hard https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12677 Obvious though it is to point this out, please don't download this if you live in the United States since, as you know, the final Holmes book, "The Case-book of Sherlock Holmes", is still under US copyright. It's all in the public domain pretty much everywhere else.