Overdrive CEO hints Kindle Library launching this Sept

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by murraypaul

They don't matter to most users when comparing the current two (popular) formats, on the books that are selling now. Or, as was my point, Amazon don't seem to be losing marketshare by not supporting these features. I agree that neither format is well suited to modelling complex texts.

I think it might matter if people actually knew what they were missing with Mobi. Amazon has a good system going and they need it to keep people from truly takign a look at the underlying flaws of Mobi. I know ePub is not perfect. But it can be a lot nicer then Mobi when done right.

I have an ePub that has a graphic at the top of every chapter and it looks good when the graphic is over to the right and the left flows to the left of the graphic. But when you see this same thing in Mobi, it just looks stale since the text cannot flow. Even a blockquote in Mobi is ugly as you only get a margin on the left side and the right goes out to the main margin. Not pretty at all.

Sometimes it's the little things that matter and when you notice what's wrong, it can take you out of the story to look at the formatting. That's what Mobi can do, take the reader out of the story because some of the formatting isn't there properly.

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

In seventeenth century metaphysical poetry, for example, stanzas are sometimes written in the shape of what they describe. That can't be done reliably in mobi or epub.

Uhm, that would be like a (mouse) tail shape in Adobe epub version of "Alice in Wonderland" (chapter III)?

[montsnmags]

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[JSWolf]

Given the policy of not modifying quotes, I request that RockdaMan go back and put right all of the quotes he has changed in this thread.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Given the policy of not modifying quotes, I request that RockdaMan go back and put right all of the quotes he has changed in this thread.

I haven't changed any quotes. I made a few jokes, but given that that apparatus is apparently poorly understood by some I will no longer employ it.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I think it might matter if people actually knew what they were missing with Mobi.

Only us geeks care. People are more interested in the content of the file than its format.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

I haven't changed any quotes. I made a few jokes, but given that that apparatus is apparently poorly understood by some I will no longer employ it.

Shall I post links to all the messages in this thread where you edited the quotes?

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Shall I post links to all the messages in this thread where you edited the quotes?

You mean where I "joked".

And no need, lets move forward, not backwards.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by RockdaMan

lets move forward, not backwards.

Deal. But in order to move forward, you'll need to drop AZW/Mobipocket and take up ePub.

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Deal.

[vaughnmr]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Deal. But in order to move forward, you'll need to drop AZW/Mobipocket and take up ePub.

Actually, I wish you'd drop it, Wolf. I'm happy with my Kindle, and suspect a lot of others are too. Getting tired of your rants.

[vaughnmr]

I can't believe I agree with Rockdaman... What's the world coming to...

[RockdaMan]

Originally Posted by vaughnmr

I can't believe I agree with Rockdaman...

Why is that?

[tomsem]

Adobe is probably not making tons of money on DRM licensing fees. None of their recent financial statements so much as mention the related products and services (RMSDK, ACS). Given the explosive growth in the ebook sector, you'd think they would want or need to let their investors know about it if it were significant.

They only get a transaction fee when a portable, Adobe DRM file (epub/PDF) is created. In today's wireless ecosystems (B&N, Google, Kobo) that doesn't usually happen: content is downloaded directly to the vendor associated device or application. The content is locked to that instance with proprietary DRM, and is not portable. Only when you want to take your content out of the ecosystem is Adobe DRM applied.

Given the insistance of publishers on DRM, without Adobe DRM, everyone would be just as locked in as Kindle and iBooks customers. It is a 'lingua franca' of DRM, and allows you to continue reading your books if the vendor who sold them to you goes out of business. We may not like DRM as users, but without Adobe, we'd have bigger problems and concerns.

That said, Amazon would do well to begin supporting ePub at some point (including Adobe DRM). It's a better format in most ways, and would remove a number of objections to investing in the Kindle platform (such as: what happens if they go out of business or decide it is not profitable enough? or how do I read my collection of Adobe DRM ebooks with a Kindle?).

And ebook production people everywhere would rejoice (isn't that all that matters, in the end?).

[TimW]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Adobe is probably not making tons of money on DRM licensing fees.

It depends on how you define "tons." This is taken from the ALA's EQUAAC BLOG:

"So we bought the software. It cost $10,000 (one time fee), and a $1,500 annual maintenance fee. In addition, Adobe charges an eight cent fee per transaction — where “transaction” equals a checkout. Public library records are considered “temporary.” “Permanent” records have a higher fee of twenty-three cents. Interestingly, that transaction fee works out to about a third of the Overdrive storage fee."

http://www.equacc.ala.org/2011/04/25...ontent-server/

The fees are for one particular library's use of Adobe Content Server. Anyone using Adobe Content Server must pay these fees. Yes, Adobe makes lots of money on ADE. They have a virtual monopoly on library content. Any time someone uses the "free" Adobe Digital Editions to download a book, someone has to pay Adobe their vig. The only company that has attempted to break the library monopoly is Amazon...when Kindle library lending begins, Adobe won't be getting the automatic kickback on Kindle lended books. Whether or not you like/dislike Amazon, monopoly busting is a good thing.