Mobipocket released its last software one year ago

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rcuadro

I buy it since I have the Kindle and it is so much easier for me

Actually, you could do the conversion with Calibre and one simple batch file. So it's not more difficult then just stripped the DRM from Mobipocket.

[krischik]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you purchase ePub, it's very easy to strip the DRM and then using Calibre, it's also very easy to convert to Mobipocket.

Sure, but it does not answer the question "Is Finctionwise moving away from the Mobipocket-Format?" .

Martin

[thinkpad]

Originally Posted by foxpaw

Is it just me, or does it seem Fictionwise is abandoning the Mobipocket format in recent months? Very few releases in Mobipocket format on FW recently. Seems they are pushing Barnes & Noble's eReader format, instead. (Of course, B&N owns FW.)

I second that. Last time I checked there were no .mobi pocket format for the book I wanted. Instead they push "secure ereader", a format I wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by krischik

Sure, but it does not answer the question "Is Finctionwise moving away from the Mobipocket-Format?" .

Martin

Looks like it. If you look at the new release list, there's only a few mobipocket books in there.

But then, I'm moving away from Fictionwise as well... There are more and more books I can't buy there.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by krischik

Sure, but it does not answer the question "Is Finctionwise moving away from the Mobipocket-Format?" .

Martin

The real question is FW moving towards their format.

[fugazied]

I am one of those conversion crazy people who has multiple formats of most books. I have mobi and epubs of everything and honestly the differences between them aren't that major imo.

I can read on either format so I suppose I am format agnostic!

[Sweetpea]

Originally Posted by fugazied

I am one of those conversion crazy people who has multiple formats of most books. I have mobi and epubs of everything and honestly the differences between them aren't that major imo.

I can read on either format so I suppose I am format agnostic!

I have epub and mobi and recently, I added PDF to the mix (hand generated from the same source as my epub and mobi, using LaTeX and made up for my Mini). I prefer Mobi on my WinMobile and WinCE devices as I still like the Mobipocket reader but PDF on my Mini as I have some gripes with both mobipocket (not remembering my font and size used) and epub (who cares about that silly "page number" and I really want a progress bar visible) on it.

[Clytie]

Mobipocket was my favourite format and e-reader on my Palm devices. I upgraded to an iPhone, and suddenly my hundreds of purchased Secure Mobipocket ebooks were inaccessible (I also use Mac OSX). So I'm seriously p*ssed off with Amazon.

I am aware that it is possible to strip the DRM out of Secure Mobipocket files. I think it's a comment on Amazon's policies that so many honest purchasers have had to go to these lengths to access the books they've already bought.

I'd love to have the Mobipocket Desktop app. on my Mac, and I'd love to have the Mobipocket Reader on my iPhone. If even only the latter were possible, I'd go on buying lots of Mobipocket ebooks. However, Amazon (having bought Mobipocket) have decided to cheat me out of the books I already bought.

So I won't buy any more Mobipocket books. I will also boycott Amazon itself.

Hell hath no fury like a bookworm scorned.

[walter822]

Originally Posted by krischik

Very true indeed, I too read Mobipocket on my P990i.

But then: the problem is not how old the software gets but how old the hardware gets. When I next change my mobile phone it will be good bye Mobipocket. None of the phone I am interested in run the Mobipocket-Reader.

Martin

You should try Nokia. My mobipocket account 'works' with Nokia and I can buy books and download them on the phone and then on my e-book reader if I wish, which I usually do if I am on holiday or in hospital.

[Logseman]

Mobipocket format support seems to be loved everywhere. Yet the company who makes it has discontinued it. Calibre is loved everywhere. And it's still in development improvement. And they fill our heads with fuzz about computer software needing copyright?

[Clytie]

Originally Posted by =X=

The real question is FW moving towards their format.

I've started cataloguing my ebooks with Calibre, as with the Mobipocket inaccessiblity on my iPhone and the geographic limitations, I'm really confused about which books are published, which I can access, and in which formats I have the ones I've purchased. I've ended up buying titles from many different retailers, in different formats, for the same series.

Calibre rocks, BTW.

Anyway, this cataloguing means I've been referring frequently to Fictionwise (among others), to grab details about books I've purchased previously. I've noticed some odd things.

1. Yes, there are less books in Mobipocket format. Even books I've previously purchased in Secure Mobipocket format have had that format removed. Multiformat books still seem to have the non-DRM Mobipocket format.

2. For some titles in my Bookshelf, I can't redownload them due to "geographic limitations", even though I obviously bought them before those limitations were imposed.

3. Many very popular titles are now missing from Fictionwise. Most of the titles I looked up were marked "No longer on sale", even when I'd only bought them recently and they were by bestselling authors. Even more oddly, a Search for current titles by some bestselling authors brought up zero or only a couple of odd titles. I'm starting to wonder if the shopfront has been amended so as to show only the titles which you are "geographically allowed" to buy.

So: is Fictionwise seriously reducing its current title list, enforcing Secure eReader and/or refusing to show "geographically limited" titles?

[calvin-c]

Originally Posted by Logseman

Mobipocket format support seems to be loved everywhere. Yet the company who makes it has discontinued it. Calibre is loved everywhere. And it's still in development improvement. And they fill our heads with fuzz about computer software needing copyright?

Are you saying that Calibre isn't copyrighted? As I understand it, copyright is automatic, i.e. it's a right, not something that you apply for or are granted. But, I haven't looked-possibly the author explicitly surrendered his copyright. (Note: Making something free or even open-source doesn't remove the copyright. When you remove the copyright from something that means you remove all control over it. If somebody wants to sell it, you can't prevent that-so very little 'public' software is free of copyright. The authors generally want enough control to prevent somebody taking it & selling it as their own.)

[Logseman]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

Are you saying that Calibre isn't copyrighted? As I understand it, copyright is automatic, i.e. it's a right, not something that you apply for or are granted. But, I haven't looked-possibly the author explicitly surrendered his copyright. (Note: Making something free or even open-source doesn't remove the copyright. When you remove the copyright from something that means you remove all control over it. If somebody wants to sell it, you can't prevent that-so very little 'public' software is free of copyright. The authors generally want enough control to prevent somebody taking it & selling it as their own.)

I know what you mean, copyright is automatic as a means of defense so that noone can copyright it instead of the author. But I mean the whole fuzz about people saying that copyright is necessary.

[krischik]

Originally Posted by calvin-c

The authors generally want enough control to prevent somebody taking it & selling it as their own.)

The most common licence, the GPL actually allows just that - as long as the derived work is also incensed under the GPL. I guess it is often overlooked that the GPL is a very commercial licence.

I for once have two programs for mobile phones which I sell under the GPL and which contain GPL software from other authors.

Originally Posted by Logseman

But I mean the whole fuzz about people saying that copyright is necessary.

Sure it is. Copyright protects my work from being turned into closed source.

Martin

[GeoffC]

mobi = dictionary support ....... say no more.