Formats I should offer?

[Steven Lake]

Ok, well then, I've added Mobi to my format list. Now I just need to add a copy here on the site.

[Tom Wood]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

If you strip the DRM from AZW, you end up with a Mobipocket file. AZW is just Mobipocket with a different flavor of DRM. So once you convert to Mobipocket, you are good to go for the Kindle.

If you submit a clean HTML file to Amazon DTP and tell the system that you DON'T want any DRM, what format do they create then?

[BillSmithBooks]

I would suggest the following formats:

RTF (word processor), HTML, txt (plain txt), PDF, Mobi (Kindle) and Epub.

That covers about 95%+ of the ebook market and the benefit of HTML is that it is a "universal solvent" that can be easily converted to just about any other format.

Plus, it's all fairly easy to do...

Personally, I use Puppy Linux (runs off a live CD, so no install need; it just boots into Puppy when you start your PC); I've been dabbling and found the conversion process extremely easy:

I write in AbiWord and save to RTF.

From within AbiWord, I can save to HTML and plain txt and also "Print" to PDF.

For conversion to Epub and Mobi, just go to online-convert.com and upload the RTF or HTML files.

The whole process takes only a few seconds per format. Books are not flashy or fancy, but they are certainly very readable.

I downloaded the FBReader Pet for Puppy and test drive the books on that program.

-- just my 2 cents.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by BillSmithBooks

I would suggest the following formats:

RTF (word processor), HTML, txt (plain txt), PDF, Mobi (Kindle) and Epub.

I would forgo RTF. No need for it. Plain text, forget it.

Go with HTML, ePub, Mobipocket, MS Reader, eReader (do not use Calibre for the conversion as it does a really poor job) and LRF (for 500 users who have not upgraded to ePub).

From within AbiWord, I can save to HTML and plain txt and also "Print" to PDF.

But how clean is the HTML from AbiWord? To have an HTML eBook, it should be very clean. Most word processors do rather messy HTML.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I would forgo RTF. No need for it. Plain text, forget it.

Not at all: RTF files are still being used by those who prefer to convert the doc to their own formats and specifications. Yes, their numbers are dwindling fast, but they're not gone yet.

My site reboot will carry PRC (Mobi/Kindle), ePub and RTF to "roll your own," and I've decided to add PDF back to the mix.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

Not at all: RTF files are still being used by those who prefer to convert the doc to their own formats and specifications. Yes, their numbers are dwindling fast, but they're not gone yet.

My site reboot will carry PRC (Mobi/Kindle), ePub and RTF to "roll your own," and I've decided to add PDF back to the mix.

No MS Reader?

[susan_cassidy]

Originally Posted by Tom Wood

(Edit) I just noticed in that blurb for .MOBI that it supports Javascript. Does that mean that I could use Javascript to manipulate the CSS in a Kindle? That would be cool because it opens up the possibility of adding easter eggs to the text. Blocks of new text/graphics that can be opened and closed.

I sincerely doubt that the Kindle supports using JavaScript in .mobi files, so probably not worth the bother, since most readers using .mobi are probably going to be Kindles. I don't think Kindle yet fully supports tables, even.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

No MS Reader?

No MS Reader. No Sony LRF. No Palm. Those formats are being so quickly supplanted by Mobi and ePub (and MS has essentially abandoned their reader), and require so much more of my time to manage them all, that I viewed it impractical for me to support them.

The RTF, ePub and Mobi formats are all capable of being used to convert to other formats (the RTF provides for more conversion choices). It was a business decision... which I am also willing to reverse or amend, if I discover the decision was ill-advised.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Steven Lake

Ok, well, I can convert my ebooks to mobi, as that's all my version of Calibre will allow (I can't run the newest version because my distro version is too old, and I can't upgrade right now), so that's at least a start. If someone can do AZW for me, that'll help even more. Or course, if the latest calibre will do AZW, then I may need to find a way to get that running so I can make that conversion.

Steve,

Kindle ".azw" files are just Mobi files. Don't worry about it - the Kindle doesn't care whether the extension is ".prc", ".mobi", or ".azw". All work identically.

[MrPLD]

As a general rule the market doesn't like to support too many formats for too long. I see ePub and mobi (with PDF as a supplement) staying for the long run in our regions with the rest mostly dropping off. Certainly all devices should ultimately end up reading ePub (Come on Amazon!) to a satisfactory degree.

[Freeshadow]

It would be nice if the devices which already oficially support epub would do it in a satisfactory degree.

[Steven Lake]

MrPLD: Amazon has already stated that they will never support Epub unless absolutely forced to. They firmly believe that to release control of their format and allow you to view any kind on your Kindle reader would immediately free you to go elsewhere for books, and they absolutely will fight to the tooth to prevent that from happening. The thing is, in time they will either have to do that, or die. What they don't realize is that numerous other companies have done this in the past, and as soon as people realize they're a monopoly, which I think a lot of people are waking up to, their monopoly is going to implode anyways. But it's going to be a long, hard, painful road until then. Trust me, we've been fighting against similar monopolies in the tech world for the past 30 some years, a few of which refuse to die and always seem to find some unique way to remain as a monopoly, despite repeated attempts to unseat them.

Freeshadow: I agree. The problems with the way epub displays is not the fault of the format. If you look at properly displayed epub, it's equal to Mobi, or better in some ways. The problem is, just like with every other open source format out there, nobody wants to properly support them because they don't take epub seriously. You also have the problem of cheap vs expensive. The high end readers see free and open formats as a threat to their business (which is a flat out lie propagated by the proprietary format vendors!) because they feel that anyone who is allowed to use an open format will be free to move around anywhere they want, which threatens their business. So they prefer proprietary lock-in via proprietary formats, DRM and the like, and either avoid epub, or make it the lesser stepchild that's not worth your time bothering with. There's also the problem that all the low end vendors who openly embrace epub are too bloody cheap to put any kind of effort into properly displaying epub files on their readers because cheap is everything.

So in the grand picture, there's a LOT of things working against high quality output or universal and proper adoption of epub, and most of it involves money, which is something I've actually gotten quite used to having to deal with in the foss world. IE, money constantly being the driving issue behind the war of open vs proprietary.

[MrPLD]

Originally Posted by Steven Lake

Trust me, we've been fighting against similar monopolies in the tech world for the past 30 some years, a few of which refuse to die and always seem to find some unique way to remain as a monopoly, despite repeated attempts to unseat them.

Sadly, I've been along with the ride also fighting for most of that time - 25 years or so for me; I do understand. The first notable event that sticks in my mind is the DR-DOS vs MS-DOS situation along with IBM's various hardware attempts.

Paul.

[Freeshadow]

@Steven: I absolutely agree with wat you said to MrPLD and assure you that I'm absolutely aware of the fact that the display troubles ar not because of the format.

my fav. rant there is that adobe "forgot" that they actually are pros in fonts industry what I can prove by the fact that my readers description says it supports Polish which only happens if I add a better unicode equipped font to the files...
since one of the font companies didn't mind to do so altough they actually make full unicode supporting fonts...
Not taking the matter seriously as you said. Sad that.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

No MS Reader. No Sony LRF. No Palm. Those formats are being so quickly supplanted by Mobi and ePub (and MS has essentially abandoned their reader), and require so much more of my time to manage them all, that I viewed it impractical for me to support them.

The RTF, ePub and Mobi formats are all capable of being used to convert to other formats (the RTF provides for more conversion choices). It was a business decision... which I am also willing to reverse or amend, if I discover the decision was ill-advised.

I still think offering MS Reader is a good idea if Calibre can do the conversion without any hassle. There are those old Windows Mobile phones that still run MS Reader.

As for no eReader and no LRF, those choices I do agree with.