Amazon's own ebook format

[jscarbo]

I was an early convert to ebooks and began purchasing them in the late 90's. Before realizing what a problem DRM would cause and learning how to remove it, I lost hundreds of dollars worth of ebooks in MS LIT, Gemstar, Franklin eBookman, and a couple of other formats that are no longer supported.

When the first Kindles came out in 2007, I switched over to Kindle and have never regretted doing so but I learned my lesson about DRM.

I now use Calibre with the Apprentice Alf plug-ins and routinely remove the DRM from all my ebooks as soon as I buy them. I don't illegally share them with anyone but I refuse to be locked into anyone's proprietary DRM scheme.

[sirmaru]

Originally Posted by PeterT

You are of course aware that Computers have NEVER run BASIC or COBOL programs; instead, the textual source code was compiled into machine code.

In fact, languages such as BASIC and COBOL came a lot later in the computing business than machine code, as a means of making programmers more productive.

Nowadays very little development is done in machine-code; it's all done in high-level languages, and we rely on the compilers and their knowledge of computer architectures to efficiently create the machine code.

Most software is now written in Source code and then compiled to Object code which happens to be Machine code. I believe C++ is one language used a lot today. eBooks, now sold in accessible Source code, could easily be converted to Object code (Machine code) before sale.

Why it has not yet happened is because no one up until now has had a decisive edge in eBook sales and had to conform to common industry standards (ePub and its derivatives). Amazon now may be moving into a decisive edge and may start conversion of their eBook inventory.

Some software like encryption modules and cookies are written directly in machine code. Thus, it would be quite easy to insert a cookie to detect alteration of an eBook and then either self destruct the file or send a message to the seller via the internet. Even if the internet was disconnected, a delayed message could be created and then sent once the internet was activated. Updates of all our software happens like that now taking place when the computer is inactive and the internet is connected.

By the way, Amazon now sells songs without any DRM. However, they insert a serial number which identifies the customer and song. If that serial number is removed, the file becomes illegal. If a customer, not being the buyer, ends up with that file with the serial number, then he as well can be identified.

Its possible that Amazon may strip all DRM from eBooks and insert serial numbers as they do now with the songs. If that happens, Calibre would still work fine but Apprentice Alf would become obsolete.

So far as I know, there was only one major crackdown on DRM stripping and that had to do with songs. Technology enabled song publishers to identify names and addresses of violators and mailed thousands of subpoenas out. That move proved very unpopular with customers and was never repeated. Thus, there is little likelihood that it will ever be repeated with eBooks.

Frankly, I believe only a small minority of eBook purchasers from Amazon even know about Calibre and Apprentice Alf. Most probably just buy the eBook to read it just as most just buy songs to listen and don't bother with metadata alterations or any other technical maneuvers.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

By the way, Amazon now sells songs without any DRM. However, they insert a serial number which identifies the customer and song.

That is a form of DRM (social DRM). Just one that more people find acceptable.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

[snip large amounts of tosh]

You are throwing around technical terms without understanding them or the concepts they represent.

There is so much wrong in your comment (& previous comments) that it would take far too long to correct your errors. I'd just like to state, for the record, my opinion that you have almost everything wrong, in case my silence might seem to be agreement.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

You are throwing around technical terms without understanding them or the concepts they represent.

There is so much wrong in your comment (& previous comments) that it would take far too long to correct your errors. I'd just like to state, for the record, my opinion that you have almost everything wrong, in case my silence might seem to be agreement.

Sigh.. I'm glad someone else is seeing this. I was thinking my growing anger was misplaced.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

Sigh.. I'm glad someone else is seeing this. I was thinking my growing anger was misplaced.

Well, you can imagine when I read the comments about software... (software engineer here, who has programmed in assembler...)

Originally Posted by pdurrant

You are throwing around technical terms without understanding them or the concepts they represent.

There is so much wrong in your comment (& previous comments) that it would take far too long to correct your errors. I'd just like to state, for the record, my opinion that you have almost everything wrong, in case my silence might seem to be agreement.

+1. And I will add that this applies to almost every post he makes in every thread.

[PeterT]

+1 to the last few comments!

[eschwartz]

Please ignore all sirmarustomers. (definition to be expanded)

@sirmaru, I've said this before and I'll say it again:

Originally Posted by eschwartz

Again, you're wrong. Now please jump in a lake. Thank you.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by sirmaru

Since most eBooks on the planet are sold by Amazon, then Amazon IS THE standard.

Amazon is the same as Windows in that regard.

Windows is the standard, but only on desktops and notebooks. Basically everything else runs some form of Unix or a Unix-like such as Linux, from the smallest microcontrollers to the biggest supercomputers. Oh, there's some Windows Embedded and Server stuff around, and some Windows High Powered Computing stuff too, but Linux/Unix outside the desktopmarket is just a lot bigger. So what's the standard now? It's not so clear-cut anymore.

Amazon AZW3 is the standard in the English speaking world, but basically everything else in the world uses EPUB, even more so if a country doesn't even have an Amazon store, such as the Netherlands. If I want to buy an book, I can buy it at... oh... 15 Dutch stores, 5-6 non-Dutch stores (of which I know) as EPUB, or as AZW3 at Amazon.com, for a MUCH higher price most of the time. So... why should I see AZW3/Amazon as the standard?

Maybe Amazon should develop some conversion program to enable all other eBooks to be converted to their standard and then charge a nominal fee for it.

It already exists. It's called Kindlegen, and it's free.

It only works on non-DRM'd files.

They could have users of other formats email their eBooks to their Amazon accounts and do an automatic conversion. They already have that facility for MS Word files and do not charge for the conversion.

It also works for some other types of files besides Word.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/custom...deId=200767340


Microsoft Word (.DOC, .DOCX)
HTML (.HTML, .HTM)
RTF (.RTF)
Text (.TXT)
JPEG (.JPEG, .JPG)
Kindle Format (.MOBI, .AZW)
GIF (.GIF)
PNG (.PNG)
BMP (.BMP)
PDF (.PDF)

Files may be converted better or worse depending on file type.

There is definitely something wrong with folks stripping copy protection on their own and not paying anything to the copyright holders.

That's bullshit. I remove copyprotection to be able to convert one book from one format to another, should I wish to reread it on a different e-reader. Buying a book from Amazon and then gaving to rebuy it from Kobo because I now have a different e-reader and I want to reread the book feels like having to rebuy a paper book because I moved from one house to another.

Amazon could even license other eBook manufacturers like Kobo to use the Amazon eBook format for a fee added to the price of Kobos.

They did. Mobi was supported by quite a lot of readers a few years back, mainly because they didn't do anything against readers that already supported Mobipocket from before the time Amazon acquired it.

Obviously it didn't bring them any advantages, so they didn't license their newer file types, AFAIK.

[Katsunami]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

You are throwing around technical terms without understanding them or the concepts they represent.

There is so much wrong in your comment (& previous comments) that it would take far too long to correct your errors. I'd just like to state, for the record, my opinion that you have almost everything wrong, in case my silence might seem to be agreement.

(Be happy that he didn't include the statement that Calibre is useless, because Amazon's cloud is so perfect that it precludes any other choice to manage books.)

[Kolenka]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Not really. A KF8 still consists of various records in a binary database. The "KF8 is just an epub in a mobi wrapper" mantra is a bit too simplistic, really. In the sense that html and css are used to present the various "flows," there may be comparisons made to epub, but by that rationale ... all ebook formats would be a modified ePub, then.

A more apt description is that all the components of an ePub can be seamlessly converted to a KF8 ebook that renders (and navigates) nearly identically to the original ePub. But an ePub it ain't.

While this is a fair point to make, the more important thing here is that KF8 modernizes Amazon's formats quite a bit, and aligns them much better with ePub in terms of valid HTML/CSS. Except in a couple edge cases, and fixed layout, ugh.

How you store that content is a much smaller issue when tools can do the work for you of packing your content into a particular container. Having to craft things to work for both ePub and Mobi is simply more painful than it had to be, and KF8 does help a ton there.

[DiapDealer]

How you store that content is a much smaller issue when tools can do the work for you of packing your content into a particular container. Having to craft things to work for both ePub and Mobi is simply more painful than it had to be, and KF8 does help a ton there.

Oh, I agree entirely.
I'm just trying to dispel the misconception that there's an ePub lurking in a KF8 that need only be yanked out.

[Canuck_in_Japan]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

You are throwing around technical terms without understanding them or the concepts they represent.

There is so much wrong in your comment (& previous comments) that it would take far too long to correct your errors. I'd just like to state, for the record, my opinion that you have almost everything wrong, in case my silence might seem to be agreement.

You say it very well. I would say that I now feel dumber after reading all of his posts in this thread. The content of his posts sound like the writings of a tinfoil hat conspiracist.

[jgsmith]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Oh, I agree entirely.
I'm just trying to dispel the misconception that there's an ePub lurking in a KF8 that need only be yanked out.

I thought that KF8 == AZW3 (can you tell I'm in IT?) and that converting from KF8/AZW3 to ePub was not so much a conversion as an unpack that removed an Amazon wrapper. Is this wrong?