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#136 |
Reader of Books
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until accepted by a standards organization like the iso, there is no "standard" for electronics books.. amazon will never submit mobi and epub is too disorganized.
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#137 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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I think you're being entirely too pessimistic about epub though I agree about mobi.
It's the closest thing we have to a standard and is already the winner of the format wars. Drm is of course the issue, but that is what the publishers like about it. ![]() |
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#138 |
Reader of Books
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epub has been revised by too many different people resulting in some fragmentation and too many parts of it are marked "optional" that some publishers include and some don't. mostly people who made their own fork include their options and others don't. no one entity has stepped up with authority to try and consolidate into one version let alone put it forth to a standards body.
amazon certainly won't champion epub though they would have the force and money to. Sony has never cared for standards they didn't invent in house. apple is unlikely to do it. the independent publishers all squabble amongst themselves. b&n could, maybe, they are a large enough company, but it certainly isn't an area they've ever been in before. my fear is google or Microsoft will release yet another format and cause further mess. so far google seems happy with epub, but we'll know more when their bookstore opens later this year. Microsoft has their format which never really took off, but it can't be too long before they try for a bigger slice of the ebookstore pie. |
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#139 |
Grand Sorcerer
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Frankly I think HTML 4 or 5 would be just as good of a format for ebooks as epub is. Since HTML 5 can be extended only a few exentions would be needed for metadata like Title, Author, Language, Pub date, ISBN, etc.
BOb |
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#140 |
Reader of Books
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it could be. but someone would have to start publishing in it.. only problem is there isn't any easy way to get DRM into it. well problem for the publishers. not for me!
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#141 | |
Interested Bystander
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Quote:
The book itself is an (X)HTML file[1], together with extra files to give metadata, with DRM support, zipped up and renamed to .ePub. [1] Actually due to the specification it is several files, split up so that low-memory readers can handle it. |
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#142 |
Wizard
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Device: iPad
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@scottjl I too fear that someone like Google or MS will come up with yet another format. I was really surprised when I first learned that Apple would be using the ePub format. I almost assumed Apple would come up with some new format and try to lock everyone into it. But, they didn't (of course the DRM sucks, but everyone has that in one for or another) and I hope gave another push to ePub. Sony also of course went to ePub last year, and that too helped.
Amazon will eventually. As time goes on the marketplace will put pressure and they will let it go. As their sales fall (and there is no doubt the iPad has hurt their hardware sales) and people learn of other book sites other than the Kindle store, they will change. Of course, I am talking about a few years down the road.... At this point in the game I think even if a Google or MS did try a new format, it may be too late.... |
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#143 | |
Addict
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Quote:
Any standard format will need to support animation, music, video, etc. It's insane that we have to choose between devices that generally only work with books sold by a particular store. Even the advantage of a tablet with access to multiple stores has the drawback of an LCD screen (a deal breaker for some people) and multiple applications being needed by the various stores. |
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#144 | |
Wizard
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Quote:
![]() ![]() Last edited by Bremen Cole; 06-14-2010 at 12:58 PM. Reason: correct extension |
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#145 |
Guru
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You mean m4a ... that's mpeg-4-audio, Apple calls it "Apple Lossless Audio".
It's sort of compressed without throwing out stuff like MP3 (that assumes you just don't ear certain parts of the audio). Something like that. Does sound better - I used Nine Inch Nails' newest album called "The Slip" to compare: http://dl.nin.com/theslip/signup Free download. Compare mp3 and cd-quality iTunes. |
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#146 | ||
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Audio_Coding
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#147 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
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#148 | |
Addict
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Quote:
There is a great Alice in Wonderland interactive book available on the iPad. My mind boggles at how good that book would be on a colour e-ink screen. I think it's inevitable that soon we will see books with background music, animations, etc. As much as people like to read plain text, there are probably plenty of authors out there who find plain text limiting. I'm not saying I necessarily agree that this is good, but I do think it's going to happen. |
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#149 | |
Addict
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Quote:
AAC is pretty much a standard simply due to Apple having the biggest market share for digital music. My MP3 player plays iTunes music as do my computers, and I assure you I don't use any Apple hardware. |
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#150 | |
Addict
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Quote:
Does iTunes actually sell lossless music or is the lossless codec only used for ripping CDs? The compressed music iTunes sells is basically a slightly better compression format than MP3. |
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