'I should be the Nook's ideal customer. But I'm not...I am locked in.'

[tomsem]

That's an interesting thought. Isn't the whole point of the Agency Model that the distributer is just an agent for the Publisher? In that case, the Publisher should be required to honor a different format of the same book, provided that you can provide proof that you purchased it, and that you deleted it from your Kindle Library...

There is precedent for this. B&N will deliver ePub or pdb files, depending on what the reading system supports. And when Overdrive & Amazon add azw support, libraries will not have to pay for making the additional format available.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by rolof

the kindle has a browser. the new nook has remnants of a browser. the new nook has ghosting issues. the kindle does not.

can't be better than the kindle. perhaps features-wise, but i don't see it with the problems the nook has.

The ghosting issues come from choosing to do a complete page refresh only on the 6th page. If you choose to do it on every page, it will be the same as the kindle. On my device I can choose to never do that, and it is great. I don't get the annoying screen-turns-black thing, and the ghosting is actually the white part becoming whiter. The effect is improved contrast.

You are right about the browser, but isn't it annoying to navigate without touch?

And can you explain to me how is the kindle better if it has worse features?

[carld]

Originally Posted by Sil_liS

I guess that there are more amazon customers than there are chess players, and I'm also guessing that on average there are more books being bought per person than there are games played per person.

How long has Amazon been around for anyway?

True about the number of customers, but Amazon is also far larger and has enormous resources and expertise in handling and saving customer data. It really isn't something I'm concerned about.

Amazon was founded in 1994 and went online in 1995. They already have records for me going back 11 years that I can see and probably further back that I can't.

[Sil_liS]

Originally Posted by carld

Amazon was founded in 1994 and went online in 1995. They already have records for me going back 11 years that I can see and probably further back that I can't.

Can you still download the first ebook you bought from Amazon?

[Elfwreck]

I expect problems when/if Amazon switches to ePub, similar to those Sony had when they switched from LRX. They'll announce that their books are all going to be available in ePub--except the ones that have been pulled off the digital shelves (perhaps because the title has switched publishers); those books will only be available in mobi format to people who've already bought them.

If they issue a new Kindle that only reads ePub, or a new firmware update that does the same, people won't be able to switch their full libraries to the new version.

And while ebooks are very, very profitable for Amazon right now, as soon as they're not, they'll pull the plug on the whole project. Amazon sold PDF ebooks from 2005 to 2007, with DRM and extensive restrictions, and ended the whole line while they were getting ready for their Kindle sales. Otherwise, they may remove all self-published titles if they get hit with a lawsuit for infringement for not checking the content before selling it--the Safe Harbor exemptions get a lot shakier when you're making a profit off what you're allowing to pass through your servers.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I expect problems when/if Amazon switches to ePub, similar to those Sony had when they switched from LRX. They'll announce that their books are all going to be available in ePub--except the ones that have been pulled off the digital shelves (perhaps because the title has switched publishers); those books will only be available in mobi format to people who've already bought them.

I disagree. Amazon already support two file formats without really telling customers about it. Adding a third will be relatively simple.

I predict that they will start to support ePub ebooks, but not DRMed ePubs from Adobe, B&N or Apple. They will add DRM-free ePub support while retaining their current DRM-free Mobipocket rendering ability, and also start to transition new titles over to a combined Mobipocket/ePub format (DRMed and DRM-free), while still selling and supporting Mobipocket and Topaz format ebooks.

Unlike the Sony transition from LRX to ePub, I think Amazon's transition to ePub will be gradual and invisible to consumers.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

I disagree. Amazon already support two file formats without really telling customers about it. Adding a third will be relatively simple.

I predict that they will start to support ePub ebooks, but not DRMed ePubs from Adobe, B&N or Apple. They will add DRM-free ePub support while retaining their current DRM-free Mobipocket rendering ability, and also start to transition new titles over to a combined Mobipocket/ePub format (DRMed and DRM-free), while still selling and supporting Mobipocket and Topaz format ebooks.

Unlike the Sony transition from LRX to ePub, I think Amazon's transition to ePub will be gradual and invisible to consumers.

I agree that if it's done like this, it'll be a lot less stressful. What I worry about is whether they'll stop supporting mobi at some point. They might want to allow ADE, so people can read their B&N purchases on a Kindle, and the licensing doesn't allow for DRM mobi & epub on the same device. (The fact that they own the license and could presumably make an exception for themselves hasn't seemed to matter so far.) Yes, it could be done almost invisibly, and fairly smoothly. The problems come if they decide to transition entirely, and have to remove titles that they no longer have permissions for and can't translate to the new format.

You lost me. "Combined Mobi/ePub format?"

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

You lost me. "Combined Mobi/ePub format?"

Most ebooks that are now being submitted to Amazon have their source files (which is increasingly becoming is an ePub file—by Amazon's own encouragement) embedded in the resulting mobi. Kindlegen does this by default. It would be trivial to modify the reader software to actually read/display the epub that's embedded in the mobi. The ePub is just another record in the mobi binary, after all.

You could take everything a step farther and say that the Kindle would have no need to support DRM'd epubs (specifically ADE) because the epubs will already protected by Amazon's own DRM—on the mobi that they're a part of.

Amazon will be selling DRM'ed mobiePubs... and the "mobi" could eventually be relegated to simply being a DRM container that holds the ePub.
I don't ever expect them to support DRM'ed ePubs from other retailers on their devices.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

What I worry about is whether they'll stop supporting mobi at some point. They might want to allow ADE, so people can read their B&N purchases on a Kindle

There's no possibility at all of Amazon using Adobe's current DRM.

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

You lost me. "Combined Mobi/ePub format?"

It's a mobipocket format file, so mobipocket-capable readers (like all current Kindles) can display the book. But added to the end of the file (in one of the records), is the ePub file. For new software that understands this format, the ePub can be displayed instead of the Mobipocket data. Mobipocket rendering software (current Kindles) ignores this extra record completely. It just makes the file about twice as big as otherwise.

Amazon's Kindlegen program already generates exactly this kind of file when the source is an ePub. The source data is added as the penultimate record.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by carld

True about the number of customers, but Amazon is also far larger and has enormous resources and expertise in handling and saving customer data. It really isn't something I'm concerned about.

Amazon was founded in 1994 and went online in 1995. They already have records for me going back 11 years that I can see and probably further back that I can't.

There is no way that I'm going to trust that someone else has my best interests at heart. Amazon could have a record of every book purchase known to man - but that's no reason that my own self preservation shouldn't say "back up your files." I have my books backed up in several places.

Microsoft is nowhere near bankrupt but they still stopped supporting MS Reader and it's .LIT format.

[DiapDealer]

Microsoft is nowhere near bankrupt but they still stopped supporting MS Reader and it's .LIT format.

Hear, Hear!

[anamardoll]

With B&N's pdb issues, there is very recent precedent of a major eBook supplier dropping one of their own formats from their devices -- the N2 does not support pdb books.

B&N reuploaded the books on the B&N site with epub versions. The B&N subsidiaries were apparently not so fortunate.

[khalleron]

Originally Posted by MrsJoseph

There is no way that I'm going to trust that someone else has my best interests at heart. Amazon could have a record of every book purchase known to man - but that's no reason that my own self preservation shouldn't say "back up your files." I have my books backed up in several places.

Microsoft is nowhere near bankrupt but they still stopped supporting MS Reader and it's .LIT format.

Not mention (or rather to mention once again) that Amazon already dropped and deleted everyone's purchased books once before.

Why would you trust them not to do the very thing they've already done?

[jessicalynn]

Originally Posted by Pookeysgirl

I have K4PC 1.4.1 thanks to GeoffC I will re-download 0.8.5 of Calibre again...

...................

[Pookeysgirl]

Originally Posted by jessicalynn

Just curious but can you point me in the right direction for k4pc 1.4.1? My calibre plugins don't work anymore!

I just sent you a PM...