Apple Event - Live Blogging/Streaming Coverage

[nikkie]

Originally Posted by BWhite

Okay. I approached this from a different angle since I used to purchase eBooks in the olden days.

It *appears* that the old way, updated for the iPhone still work. The old way being "conduits".

If you go to Fictionwise you can purchase eBooks in ePub format. That is just the book. If you go check on the software Fictionwise suggests for the iPhone they reference you to eReader.com, this would be the Reader.

FAQ on eReader.com suggests you go to the iPhone App Store and download the eReader app onto your iPhone. FAQ on eReader.com suggests the book will be yours if you keep it on your PC.

So what I think I am understanding is there will be an eReader App on your PC, which will be the master library, and there will be an eReader App on your iPhone and you can read books on your phone - I think, could be wrong here - from
B&N.com
Fictionwise.com
eReader.com

Within the PC app, if you dragged a Sony ePub Book into your eReader Library - I have no idea what would happen.

The above is the olden way of doing things, and of course in 2010 it may all be broken.

Do not know if the above experiment accomplishes what you were trying to verify.

*** EDIT ***

What the above is talking about is purchasing directly onto your PC.

And that is how the new ways vary from the old. The portable devices have grown in power to where you can purchase directly onto the portable device, and once you have done that - I have no idea if you can recover.

Maybe? Maybe not?

Doesn't work. Tried it when they first started the change over at B&N and Sony. If you drag a Sony book to your B&N reader on your desktop, it does not add it to your library.

The old eReader app will do the same, AND I don't think the old eReader app supports Adobe ePub anyway.

I also looked through the app store for a file explorer that might provide a hack, but didn't find one.

My final idea would be to jailbreak your iPhone and place a sony ePub inside the B&N data folder and see if the app recognizes it. Not keen on it though since jailbreaking means you have to un-jailbreak to update the iPhone firmware at all, which is irritating.

Besides, the Sony eBooks are universally more expensive than B&N. So why buy?

[BWhite]

Originally Posted by nikkie

Doesn't work.

Besides, the Sony eBooks are universally more expensive than B&N. So why buy?

Thank you for the info - nice you tried it out.

I have no answer to "why buy". At this point in time I am more interested in answers to questions of technological feasibility.

As I said, I belong to the old way of doing things - MobiPocket. Amazon purchased MobiPocket and apparently no upgrades to software, unless it has the Amazon Kindle branding on it.

So for the iPad I am interested in technological possibilities. Each eBookStore on the Web tends to think of your eBook Library as belonging to them, but I try to keep my Master Library on my PC.

So in a brave new world with Kobobooks, B&N, FictionWise and the iPad I was hoping to register my PC and my iPad as authorized devices and keep my Master Bookshelf on my PC, transfer books to the corresponding iPad Library for a Reader I preferred.

Of course you see the problem - DRM. It is not some flavor of pure ePub for a lot of books. It is some ePub with DRM.

So what I am looking at, the reality I think, is multiple Master Libraries on my PC - one for each Web Bookstore. And each Master Library will have to have a corresponding iPad app - for that Web Bookstore.

And the idea of one eReader App on the iPad is a fantasy, reading a particular book means I will have to know which Web Bookstore I acquired it from. This is what I think I am looking at.

Or sign over my soul to iBooks, walk either path.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by nikkie

Doesn't work. Tried it when they first started the change over at B&N and Sony. If you drag a Sony book to your B&N reader on your desktop, it does not add it to your library.

I thought eReader or Fictionwise (can't remember which) at one time had a "personal bookshelf" where you could upload your own ebooks to their server and then you were able to download it to the app on the iPod/iPhone. Perhaps I was just dreaming about it.

BOb

[nikkie]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I thought eReader or Fictionwise (can't remember which) at one time had a "personal bookshelf" where you could upload your own ebooks to their server and then you were able to download it to the app on the iPod/iPhone. Perhaps I was just dreaming about it.

BOb

I didn't know about this, and no, you're not dreaming. Unfortunately, from their site:

Only eReader format or "Palm Doc" format PDB files or a ZIP file containing multiple eReader format or "Palm Doc" PDB files may be uploaded.

Otherwise that would have solved this problem handily. Well, except the other problem that their eReaderPro app only supports pdb files.

[nikkie]

Nevermind - I did finally get txtr on the iPhone to work with Sony ePubs. Note: not B&N ePubs...ONLY Sony ePubs.

However, and this is a big however, there don't seem to be any controls over the font colors or faces in the txtr app. You get black text on white background. And there are big stupid margins wasting space I could be using for words. In addition, they have only four font sizes, which vary between really frickin tiny to ridiculously huge, with no option that works for me. I might use it if I had absolutely no other option, but that is it.

Also, I wasted about an hour trying to upload my Sony ePub books to their website. Turns out it does not work with Chrome. Try IE.

Still, if you have a big library you bought from Sony that you want to read, you could use it if you had to.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by nikkie

Nevermind - I did finally get txtr on the iPhone to work with Sony ePubs. Note: not B&N ePubs...ONLY Sony ePubs.

Damn, this whole ePub DRM thing is getting confusing.

And yeah, txtr looked very faithful at rendering ePubs..but I couldn't figure out how to control much about it...plus loading stuff to it was tedious.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by BWhite

Where I am at is wondering if the iPad processor has sufficient power to run a high-quality handwriting recognition application - not electronic ink, but actual handwriting to digital character conversion.

Yes. See the existing app WritePad. I have it running on my iPod Touch.

Originally Posted by BWhite

o the iPad is not an iPhone and the new SDK (which some have looked at) is being reported on the web as treating the iPad as a "shared folder". No way of knowing if they have that correct.

This would make a lot of sense. It's probably handled through wifi. I'm not sure how PC users see Macs that are sharing content-- I've only gotten the other direction to work so far. Samba, maybe?

Originally Posted by BWhite

So what I am looking at, the reality I think, is multiple Master Libraries on my PC - one for each Web Bookstore. And each Master Library will have to have a corresponding iPad app - for that Web Bookstore.

And the idea of one eReader App on the iPad is a fantasy, reading a particular book means I will have to know which Web Bookstore I acquired it from. This is what I think I am looking at.

Or sign over my soul to iBooks, walk either path.

Your other option is to break all the DRM and keep your ebooks in Calibre and read in Stanza. It's the most user-friendly solution, especially with plug-ins being written for Calibre to incorporate DRM-stripping algorithms. Whether this is legal in your jurisdiction, I can't say.

[nekokami]

Originally Posted by Harmon

Hmm. Here's my prediction. Before the Fall 2010 term, the iPad will have one or more apps which allow notes to be taken in handwritten form, using a stylus. Such an app probably already exists, but this app will allow the student to (1) organize the notes and (2) back them up to the cloud, from whence they can be retrieved to a laptop/desktop & printed. Think Evernotes.

Already exists. See FastFinga, which includes Evernotes integration.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by nekokami

This would make a lot of sense. It's probably handled through wifi. I'm not sure how PC users see Macs that are sharing content-- I've only gotten the other direction to work so far. Samba, maybe?

Yes, it uses Samba. You have to go into the share on your Mac and turn on the SMB sharing in the file sharing options. By default it only uses AFP which is the protocol Macs use.

BOb

[nekokami]

Ah. Thanks.

[Harmon]

I see from a post on Amazon that Amazon has agreed to price Macmillan's books at 12.99 to 14.99. http://www.amazon.com/tag/kindle/for...ype=tagsDetail

Looks like the anticipated pricing on the iBook Store is beginning to have some effect.

[Krystian Galaj]

Well, Jobs said some time ago that Apple's prices will be the same as Amazon's

[guyanonymous]

I think it would have been great for Amazon to stick to their guns, just until the Apple store actually opened. A few months time may have given the publisher time to think things through. A few months without Amazon's sales.

[kilron]

Originally Posted by guyanonymous

I think it would have been great for Amazon to stick to their guns, just until the Apple store actually opened. A few months time may have given the publisher time to think things through. A few months without Amazon's sales.

wait a sec, so you're siding with amazon and their monopolistic tactics instead of authors and publishers? no, i think macmillian's stance against amazon is a very good thing and what apple has done is also a very good thing. apple is giving publishers a fair shake and a fair cut of profit from the sale of e-books which is something amazon pretty much never did. they have been undercutting everyone with the hopes of driving everyone else out of the market, at which point they would then drive back up prices. all the while they've been screwing publishers and authors. this is why i definitely won't buy a kindle. i like to save a few bucks here and there just like the next guy, but what i care about are books and books are created by authors and publishers, not amazon. so then if i buy an e-book from amazon for $10, why should amazon get $7 and the author and publisher get only $3? that's completely backwards.

at this point, the more publishers that do JUST like macmillian and turn their back on amazon, the better.

[Avarwen]

Yawn so it's just one giant iphone meh, what about writing or drawing on it. How about a voice recorder and camera. It's not worth buying it has nothing that stands out. I'm gonna wait for the Microsoft Courier to come out at least you can write on it.