No Adobe ePub for Kindle? Really?!?!?!?

[montalex]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Given the thread you quoted from, I'd have to say that maybe the OP is right in some way. Amazon is trying to stop books from getting into the hands of people who are not Amazon eBook customers. Amazon does not care about creativity. They want the locks and the keys and they don't want anyone else to have them. Exclusivity is why I am glad I do not have a Kindle. I don't want anyone to take books and lock them up so only some people have access. Books are to be accessible by anyone who wants to read.

That seems kind of silly. Why blame Amazon? It is publishers who insist on protecting their rights and the rights of authors. If you buy a paper book, you can't share it with 5,000 people. It is easy to do this with a non-DRMed ebook, completely undermining the livelihoods of both writer and publisher. Yes, of course it would be better if Amazon offered multiple formats. But it is incredibly naive to imagine anyone whose business it is to write, publish or sell books would give them out for free (which is exactly what happens with non-DRMed books).

That said, my whole library is deDRMed, but only so that I can read my books on any ereader, not so that I can share them on the internet. I like writers, and I want to support them.

[GoSharks]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Given the thread you quoted from, I'd have to say that maybe the OP is right in some way. Amazon is trying to stop books from getting into the hands of people who are not Amazon eBook customers. Amazon does not care about creativity. They want the locks and the keys and they don't want anyone else to have them. Exclusivity is why I am glad I do not have a Kindle. I don't want anyone to take books and lock them up so only some people have access. Books are to be accessible by anyone who wants to read.

And speaking of people that dislike all things Amazon.....

[Lemurion]

I have a rooted Nook Color which lets me read Kindle books as well as ADE ePub. If I get a new EInk device any time soon (I have a Sony 505), it's going to be a Kindle.

It's not a major issue, and you can't blame Amazon for making it a better and easier experience if you read their content on their device than if you read someone else's.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by dwig

Amazon distributes there own tool, the Kindle Previewer, which can convert ePubs for use on a Kindle in addition to being an excellent test app for converted files.

You must mean Kindlegen. That's the only tool that Amazon distributes that will build a mobi from epub content (or html).

Kindle Previewer is just that--a tool to show you what your mobi would look like on a Kindle device.

Otherwise, yeah... mickeyfinn is taking a troll-stroll through the forums.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

You must mean Kindlegen. That's the only tool that Amazon distributes that will build a mobi from epub content (or html).

Actually, as of 1.5, Kindle Previewer does auto-convert ePubs that are drag-and-dropped onto it. But it does so using an internal version of KindleGen, which incidentally, is now up to 1.2 and can do page numbers if the mapping info is included in the NCX.

[abookreader]

I vote the OP goes and posts this over at the Amazon.com Kindle boards.

They probably haven't heard about the ePub/Library issue either.

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Actually, as of 1.5, Kindle Previewer does auto-convert ePubs that are drag-and-dropped onto it. But it does so using an internal version of KindleGen, which incidentally, is now up to 1.2 and can do page numbers if the mapping info is included in the NCX.

Ah, I didn't realize that. Thanks for the info. I use Kindlegen all the time, but since I have a Kindle... I don't use the Previewer.

I guess technically speaking, we were both right.

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by abookreader

I vote the OP goes and posts this over at the Amazon.com Kindle boards.

They probably haven't heard about the ePub/Library issue either.

You just want to dump high-octane fuel on one of their perpetual flamewars, don't you?

[GoSharks]

Originally Posted by abookreader

I vote the OP goes and posts this over at the Amazon.com Kindle boards.

They probably haven't heard about the ePub/Library issue either.

[reech]

I moved from a Sony eReader to a Kindle for the following reasons:

- Awful formatting and layout of the majority of ePub books I read (true, this could have been down to the publisher, but I was sick and tired of it)

- Online shops I bought from would not refund badly laid out books (BooksOnBoard, Waterstones)

- Getting ADE to recognise and allow reading on my eReader was hit and miss - also, the Sony eReader Library software would regularaly puke up on Windows 7

- The cost of ebooks for the Sony Device were in many cases equal to, or higher than the paperback version; that was even if I could find the book I wanted.

- Library support was the only thing going for it - but the UK Library system is so backwards, my local library didn't have access to it, and the one national library I could use thought science fiction stories stopped being published in 1962.

When I'd had enough, I did some research, checked prices, features and behaviours (for the devices AND the books I was interested in) and settled on Kindle.

I've not yet found a book I can't get directly from Amazon (I'm a crap-literature-mainstream reader!) and in most cases, the price is equal to, or less than the paperback. I can also get a load of free books from Amazon's store, or from the websites listed above (as well as Feedbooks, etc.)

Sadly, in the UK, we can't lend books using the Amazon Lending feature, but hopefully that's on its way. In any case, at least now my other friends can easily find books they want to get from Amazon on their Kindle, rather than me having to do some arcane trickery to buy and then transfer the book to their Sony device. Blargh, complete nightmare.

Adobe's format is, to me, the far more 'controlled' one; the UK pricing structure for it is abysmal, and I'm pretty pleased that Amazon doesn't use it.

Horses for courses; if Library Lending is what you want, go for an ePub related device, it'll serve you well. But if you want a light, cheap, easy to use eBook reader with an excellent online store interface and reasonable book prices, go Kindle.

[EowynCarter]

Originally Posted by montalex

That seems kind of silly. Why blame Amazon? It is publishers who insist on protecting their rights and the rights of authors. If you buy a paper book, you can't share it with 5,000 people. It is easy to do this with a non-DRMed ebook, completely undermining the livelihoods of both writer and publisher. Yes, of course it would be better if Amazon offered multiple formats. But it is incredibly naive to imagine anyone whose business it is to write, publish or sell books would give them out for free (which is exactly what happens with non-DRMed books).

That said, my whole library is deDRMed, but only so that I can read my books on any ereader, not so that I can share them on the internet. I like writers, and I want to support them.

What John was speaking about are the exclusivity deals made by amazon.
Mobi, even without drm, mobi are still mobi, and still can't be read on my e-reader.
Yeah, you can convert, but it works badly. I went looking at an epub, and though it was badly made, before seeing the "calibre", hinting at a converted book. "Oh, that why".
Don't get me wrong, calibre was a life savior on that one, but i will not convert unless forced onto it.

[mickeyfinn]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

And yet you knew that libraries mostly lend ePubs that use Adobe DRM. Sounds like someone just needed a good rant. All better now?

No, not at all. A librarian asked me if I had a desktop pc, laptop or ereader. I told her I had a laptop and desktop and she gave me some literature on how to "borrow" ebooks from the public library.

So I downloaded the Adobe software to my desktop and laptop.

I guess I know what ePub books are and that Adobe software lets you read ePub books.

That is the extent of my knowledge on the subject.

I despise people who think they know it all and you sound like one.

You don't know me or anything about me.

Jerk.

<<This user has been banned... MR Moderation Team>>

[DiapDealer]

I despise people who think they know it all and you sound like one.

You don't know me or anything about me.

Jerk.

Nice. Now you've gone and hurt my feeling.

[TenaciousBadger]

Originally Posted by mickeyfinn

I'm new to "ereader world," so I have to check into this further.

Can you only get things to read on a Kindle from Amazon? That's it?

If I own a Kindle I won't be able to electronically borrow and return books from my local library using ePub?

No free ePub books from ANYWHERE?

I hope this isn't true about the Kindle, but greed is wiping this country outand I wouldn't be surprised.

Can you find free books to read anywhere using the Kindle?

I've read this thread forwards and backwards, everybody chooses their e-reader based on their own specs. So, I get it, you want free ePub books. A little research finally yielded the much debated relationship (or lack thereof) between amazon, Kindle and ePub. This is what I don't get: why come and complain about this in a Kindle forum, where you will end up riling up Kindle users and getting all sorts of over the top reactions?

Why make such a big fuss with exclamation points and question marks if you dislike amazon? Why not just choose a different e-reader that suits your needs better, and one that evidently supports the ePub format? There are tons out there and even greater in number than those supporting .mobi (as far as I know). Chill, think it over and go with anything that matches your criteria. Amazon isn't the be-all and end-all of ebooks.

I would also like to point out that eventually, most e-reader users (be they Sony, Nook, Kobo or Kindle fans) will learn to tinker with their books and finally convert a book or two that they can't find in ePub (or mobi) or that is badly formatted. And from what I've read from fellow mobilereaders ePubs covert into nice mobi's.

[GoSharks]

Originally Posted by mickeyfinn

I despise people who think they know it all and you sound like one.

You don't know me or anything about me.

Jerk.

May I suggest decaf, prozac, or maybe an I-Pad?