Format wars- mobi winning?

[sassanik]

So I noticed that of the 5 books that are coming out this week that I want to buy in ebook format, 4 of them are being offered only in .mobi format. They are primarily from the Penguin group.

Does this mean that mobi is starting to win the format wars?

In the past couple of months there have been 2 ebooks that I wanted that were only offered in .mobi format. I normally buy secure books in .lit then convert them over to .imp

Anyway, just something that I noted.

Amy

[NatCh]

It's any interesting datum, sassanik, but if most of the books you're looking at are from a single publisher, I wouldn't think it was a comment on anything broader than that particular publisher. It's hard to draw any broad conclusion from so narrow a data set.

[shighfield]

Thanks to the great bunch of people on Mobileread I don't care about format's anymore. I mainly stick with ereader format as I can read those on my Palm and with a script convert them to HTML and in another few clicks have an IMP book for my 1150.

[JSWolf]

I can strip the DRM from eReader, Mobipocket, and MS Reader. Then converting to LRF is not too difficult. So basically, I win because I can then use these same eBooks on other devices should I get one in the future that doesn't support lRF.

[sassanik]

True Penguin is only one publisher, but it is a major publisher. But I thought that it was weird that that books were only being released in one format, since there are currently the three major ones.

I suppose it would be good if the format makers would learn from the whole mircosoft vs. mac thing. Allowing liscencing makes more sense than trying to keep all of the pie to yourself.

[MickeyC]

Do you all think that Sony's recent firmware update that allows the 505 to read ePub and ADE books is a signal Sony is edging out of the eBook selling business and focusing more on eBook devices?

[vivaldirules]

Originally Posted by cassidym

Do you all think that Sony's recent firmware update that allows the 505 to read ePub and ADE books is a signal Sony is edging out of the eBook selling business and focusing more on eBook devices?

Sony certainly hasn't been aggressively adding new titles to their store and, in fact, they slowed to a rather modest trot six months ago and appear content at that pace. Meanwhile, Amazon has been very aggressive at adding new titles. I think that if Sony doesn't get out of the ebook selling business and pass it on to someone who really wants to sell ebooks, then Sony will become irrelevant - another device in someone's collection of antique electronic hardware in the basement.

[MickeyC]

Originally Posted by vivaldirules

Sony certainly hasn't been aggressively adding new titles to their store and, in fact, they slowed to a rather modest trot six months ago and appear content at that pace. Meanwhile, Amazon has been very aggressive at adding new titles. I think that if Sony doesn't get out of the ebook selling business and pass it on to someone who really wants to sell ebooks, then Sony will become irrelevant - another device in someone's collection of antique electronic hardware in the basement.

I'll store it next to my Betamax!

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by cassidym

Do you all think that Sony's recent firmware update that allows the 505 to read ePub and ADE books is a signal Sony is edging out of the eBook selling business and focusing more on eBook devices?

I think Sony only got into the ebook selling business because they wanted to sell devices. They're a hardware vendor, not a content provider. They had to build an infrastructure to provide content, and acquire content to provide, in order to have things people could read on their devices.

Supporting ePub and ADE is a smart move longer term, as it broadens the content the Reader can display. You are no longer limited to what is available through Sony Connect, or through conversions you can find in places like MobileReaded. The question is timing. How soon will significant amounts of content in ePub and ADE format become available through third-party vendors, and will Sony stay in the business long enough for it to happen, or decide the experiment was a failure and pull the plug.
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Dennis

[nekokami]

At least one other hardware vendor needs to offer support for ADE and ePub, or the volume of books available in those formats is unlikely to grow.

And much as I wish iRex would support these formats on the iLiad, they wouldn't be enough. Here's hoping Bookeen or the iPhone pick up support for these two formats.

[JeffElkins]

Originally Posted by DMcCunney

I think Sony only got into the ebook selling business because they wanted to sell devices. They're a hardware vendor, not a content provider.

Sony is one of the largest content providers around - think movies and music. Books? Not so much.

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by nekokami

At least one other hardware vendor needs to offer support for ADE and ePub, or the volume of books available in those formats is unlikely to grow.

ePub is a format that can be output by Adobe InDEsign, which many publishers currently use to do markup and typesetting, and generate the files sent to printers to make plates. Given that, it's not hard for a publisher to produce an ePub volume, as part of the same operation that prepares the output for paper books.

And much as I wish iRex would support these formats on the iLiad, they wouldn't be enough. Here's hoping Bookeen or the iPhone pick up support for these two formats.

I don't think Bookeen is a big enough player to have a huge effect. The iPhone might be.

But lots of hardware exists that can display ebooks in one format or another. The bigger problem is publishers recognizing there is a market and producing them.
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Dennis

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by JeffElkins

Sony is one of the largest content providers around - think movies and music. Books? Not so much.

Argh!

Quite so, and I managed to forget that. But the part of Sony that produces the Reader is a very different one than the parts that are involved in films and music.

For the part that produces the Reader, I think the desire is to sell hardware, and the decision to add ePub and ADE support is based on the recognition that more content is needed than they can realistically supply.
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Dennis

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Here's hoping Bookeen or the iPhone pick up support for these two formats.

I am able to upload ePub books to my iPod Touch using Stanza. It loses the title and author info, so I have to input that by hand after the upload. I've only tried non-DRM books so far.

[Dylrob]

Originally Posted by nekokami

And much as I wish iRex would support these formats on the iLiad, they wouldn't be enough. Here's hoping Bookeen or the iPhone pick up support for these two formats.

Unfortunately devices that support the Mobi DRM are restricted to such. Neither Bookeen nor iRex would be allowed to support ePub on their existing devices.