Epub is Not Universal So Stop the BS

[AGB]

Originally Posted by rblover

I don't mind being locked into a store with a selection of more than 2.43 million books....1.8 million public domain, and 630,000 non public domain. Hell will freeze over before I can finish reading all of them. So...what do I need other books from other sources for...espcially when most of the books from the other sources will be the same books available from Amazon, anyway? Once every few years there may be a new, hot, Harry Potter type best seller from only one publishing house, which won't be available from Amazon. So what? I can either: not read it-as I read few new best sellers, anyway-or I can buy a paper version, and read that, or I can borrow a paper version, or other ereader, from a friend who has it, or I can wait a couple of years until Amazon does have a copy of it available. Why should I base my entire purchasing/reading habits upon what might happen with regards to one book which may be available once in a blue moon? Neither e-pub capability, or touch screens, holds any fascination for me.

All that won't work the moment you step outside the US, be it because of language or the simple joys of borrowing a book from a library.

Edit:
A general problem with a closed ecosystem is that you'll soon have to march by the company's drum. Look at what Apple has done - especially in the last five or six years: They have closed the system so much that anyone with a tad more productivity demands than connecting an iPhone and iPod are forgotten, giving less choice in the long run.

It's fine buying into a closed system, but by doing that, you're giving yourself less choice in the long run. Further down the line, you will have so much invested in propriety soft- and hardware that it will be expensive to break free from the vice grip of the company, taking lots of effort on top of it.

[Dark123]

Originally Posted by rblover

I don't mind being locked into a store with a selection of more than 2.43 million books....1.8 million public domain, and 630,000 non public domain. Hell will freeze over before I can finish reading all of them. So...what do I need other books from other sources for...espcially when most of the books from the other sources will be the same books available from Amazon, anyway? Once every few years there may be a new, hot, Harry Potter type best seller from only one publishing house, which won't be available from Amazon. So what? I can either: not read it-as I read few new best sellers, anyway-or I can buy a paper version, and read that, or I can borrow a paper version, or other ereader, from a friend who has it, or I can wait a couple of years until Amazon does have a copy of it available. Why should I base my entire purchasing/reading habits upon what might happen with regards to one book which may be available once in a blue moon? Neither e-pub capability, or touch screens, holds any fascination for me.

You will mind when they charge £15 for a eBook, when the paperback is only £5. And because you locked in with them you cannot buy it from somewhere else.

All companies who have a monopoly on something, will sooner or later do this. If you don't believe me check up on BT. They own the entire phone line in this country, and before the government stepped in and let OFCOM start to regulate. BT were charging a fortune for 512kbs broadband speed. When OFCOM made them share the line and actually sell it at a decent price to other companies, we now have very cheap broadband.
If you're stuck with Amazon, sooner or later they will increase the price on eBooks and you can do nothing to stop them.
With ePub, I can use http://ebooks.addall.com and find cheap prices.
Look for Terry Pratchett and you will see the price difference. It's up to $2 (The website is American)

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

While you can probably transfer your books from your Sony to the Nook, You CANNOT transfers B&N bought books over to your Sony.

This is true. But if you want to be compatible, don't buy from B&N. There are other sources for ePub.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by rblover

I don't mind being locked into a store with a selection of more than 2.43 million books....1.8 million public domain, and 630,000 non public domain. Hell will freeze over before I can finish reading all of them. So...what do I need other books from other sources for...espcially when most of the books from the other sources will be the same books available from Amazon, anyway? Once every few years there may be a new, hot, Harry Potter type best seller from only one publishing house, which won't be available from Amazon. So what? I can either: not read it-as I read few new best sellers, anyway-or I can buy a paper version, and read that, or I can borrow a paper version, or other ereader, from a friend who has it, or I can wait a couple of years until Amazon does have a copy of it available. Why should I base my entire purchasing/reading habits upon what might happen with regards to one book which may be available once in a blue moon? Neither e-pub capability, or touch screens, holds any fascination for me.

This is a case of your Amazon eBooks won't work if you later on decided you wanted a different reader that wasn't from Amazon. That's the problem. Once you buy from Amazon, you are locked in. And when you break the lock, you have eBooks that you cannot use on someone else's eink reader. ePub at least gives me choices.

[BexBits]

Originally Posted by cfrizz

While you can probably transfer your books from your Sony to the Nook, You CANNOT transfers B&N bought books over to your Sony.

But apparently you can now transfer them (the B&N books I mean) to your JBL.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95476

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BexBits

But apparently you can now transfer them (the B&N books I mean) to your JBL.

https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=95476

But to be honest, it's not much of a choice going from a 6" screen (nook) to a 5" screen (JBL).

[BexBits]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

But to be honest, it's not much of a choice going from a 6" screen (nook) to a 5" screen (JBL).

The actual device is not as important as the fact that someone else is offering support for B&N DRM. Assuming this is something B&N allowed (which seems more probable than Ectaco trying to pull a fast one somehow) then the potential is there for other devices to follow suit. In that case B&N and the Nook will not be the same kind of closed system that Amazon and the Kindle are.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BexBits

The actual device is not as important as the fact that someone else is offering support for B&N DRM. Assuming this is something B&N allowed (which seems more probable than Ectaco trying to pull a fast one somehow) then the potential is there for other devices to follow suit. In that case B&N and the Nook will not be the same kind of closed system that Amazon and the Kindle are.

But for now if you want eink, it is a closed system. But the nook is not a closed device. Just the B&N eBook store is closed.

[thinkpad]

I'll shop where they offer me the best price. Whether it be Amazon, WHSmith or any other book store. So far it's very rare to find a book cheaper than on Amazon. I don't see the other book stores following Amazon to try to keep the books at $9.95.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by BexBits

The actual device is not as important as the fact that someone else is offering support for B&N DRM. Assuming this is something B&N allowed (which seems more probable than Ectaco trying to pull a fast one somehow) then the potential is there for other devices to follow suit. In that case B&N and the Nook will not be the same kind of closed system that Amazon and the Kindle are.

B&N's cc-number-based DRM mechanism is now a part of the ADE standard, and can be implemented by any reader manufacturer who wishes to do so.

[weatherwax]

You might be interested in these figures from manybooks.net.

1. PDF 3,007,645
2. ePub 2,042,614
...
7. Kindle 743,860
...
12. Sony (Librie, Reader) 369,024
13. Mobipocket-mobi 280,212
14. Mobipocket 235,800

Total: 14,263,997 downloads since June 1, 2009, or thereabouts.

[HarryT]

Why three separate entries for Mobipocket (Kindle, Mobipocket-Mobi, and Mobipocket)? It's all the same format, and distorts the stats.

Interesting that PDF is on top. I suspect that's people reading on PCs.

[hrickh]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why three separate entries for Mobipocket (Kindle, Mobipocket-Mobi, and Mobipocket)? It's all the same format, and distorts the stats.

Interesting that PDF is on top. I suspect that's people reading on PCs.

I would guess it's more of what's available for conversion. PDF was the only thing that you could trivially convert to for the longest time.

And converting from it is another matter, which isn't nearly as easy.

R.
==

[JaneFancher]

Originally Posted by thinkpadx

I'll shop where they offer me the best price. Whether it be Amazon, WHSmith or any other book store. So far it's very rare to find a book cheaper than on Amazon. I don't see the other book stores following Amazon to try to keep the books at $9.95.

Closed Circle is! And our backlist is $5!!!!! And we're DRM free!

[JaneFancher]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Why three separate entries for Mobipocket (Kindle, Mobipocket-Mobi, and Mobipocket)? It's all the same format, and distorts the stats.

Interesting that PDF is on top. I suspect that's people reading on PCs.

If you look at the site, they differentiate in their download options between mobi, azw, and prc. I have this feeling they're doing their conversions with Calibre and just going down the list. Then they're making a prc with MPC.

What we're discovering is that John Q Public is still having a hard time understanding that a prc will read on a kindle, or that mobi pocket reader doesn't need a .mobi file. (We're in the process of converting a lot of newbies into the ebook realm with original ebooks in series that began as dead trees.)

OTOH, for the purposes here, you could certainly combine those as a format, which would indicate prc/mobi format is the most commonly used, however it might also imply something about what readers are most common.

PDF has the advantage of "looking" like a book, i.e. fonts, headers, page numbers...and many readers will read pdfs. Also, if you're printing out, pdf gives the most reliable product for JQP. We're still dealing primarily with people who began as dead tree readers, and who might find a pdf the most...comforting? Just a thought.