What's happening to Mobi format? - Page 2

Lbooker · 06-09-2009, 02:55 PM

I am very unhappy about two things: they sold themselves to Amazon, thus losing their independence. And they did not help Frank Burkhardt, author of mobipocket ports of Wikipedia in several languages, available freely on his site:
http://pinguinburg.de/wpmp
Some older files are also available here:
http://www.axelschaefermdb.de/service/wikipedia.html
(I can use the March 2005 version 1.6 in German in my Lbook thanks to the latest Lbook firmware).
Here is the little thing he asked them on their forum:
http://www.mobipocket.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=32971
Because they refused to fix this, all the recent versions of Wikipedia split into several files cannot work on my reader.
My only hope now is Fbreader. There are discussions on their list:
http://groups.google.com/group/fbrea...nk=gst&q=mobi#
So I gave up on the company, but not on the format and an open source version of the reader.

=X= · 06-09-2009, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wallcraft

PDFs are good on large screens. It would be very interesting to compare the PDF and MOBI versions of The Hobbit (say) on a Kindle DX or a DR1000S. Note that to do so you would have to strip the DRM from the Adobe PDF.

I think this a is a common misconception that all PDFs are Letter/A4.

A PDF can be made to any size device including made for an 6" screen. And when done so, they can look far better than any ePUB/MOBI/LIT.

Take a look at Ahi's Art of War or even the sony PRS-505 user manual.

I just don't see ePUB/LIT close to that level of quality a PDF can render.

=X=

wallcraft · 06-09-2009, 03:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by =X=

A PDF can be made to any size device including made for an 6" screen. And when done so, they can look far better than any ePUB/MOBI/LIT.

They can if DRM-free and if the source format is not PDF (which is the hardest to change to a new page size). Feedbooks takes this approach for example. I don't know how far Calibre 0.6.0, and its successors, will push PDF as an output format but it certainly has advantages if you want exact control over what appears on the screen.

What has killed PDF as an ebook format is DRM, which prevents customization. Amazon has half of a good idea with TOPAZ, which contains exactly six font sizes. It would be perfectly possible today to bundle a few (3, say) PDFs with different font sizes into one ebook, either implicitly (define a wrapper format) or explicitly by providing multiple PDF files. This might fit in with many publisher's workflow better than reflowable ebooks.

Sweetpea · 06-10-2009, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by donbrubaker

Thanks for the input! I think HarryT mentioned that some of the new readers will be supporting non-drm Mobi... do you know which ones?

If you were to purchase an ereader device that was either ePub DRM or Mobi DRM which would you buy?

The BeBook mini and 2 will support non-DRM mobi. And the only difference between the readers was either epub DRM or mobi DRM, I'd go for the mobi. Mainly because about 99% of my DRM'd files are mobi (I also got a few lit files).

But then, de-DRM'ing my books takes about... what... 10 seconds (depending on the size of the book....)?

HarryT · 06-10-2009, 05:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

But then, de-DRM'ing my books takes about... what... 10 seconds (depending on the size of the book....)?

... but doesn't (apparently) work for dictionaries. That's a big deal for me, personally.

Jellby · 06-10-2009, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

... but doesn't (apparently) work for dictionaries. That's a big deal for me, personally.

I've done that to a dictionary (Chambers), and it seemed to work...

HarryT · 06-10-2009, 06:28 AM

Interesting. Other people have reported a lack of success. Good to know that it works for some, at least.

Sweetpea · 06-10-2009, 06:56 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jellby

I've done that to a dictionary (Chambers), and it seemed to work...

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Interesting. Other people have reported a lack of success. Good to know that it works for some, at least.

I've tried and didn't succeed (not with the "default" script anyway...)

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

... but doesn't (apparently) work for dictionaries. That's a big deal for me, personally.

Yes, after reading another thread, that came home to me too...

montsnmags · 06-10-2009, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Interesting. Other people have reported a lack of success. Good to know that it works for some, at least.

I'm on the "some" side, thankfully. I do know that it took a hell of a long time on the Chambers, such that after a while I took the dogs down to the woods for a walk - when I got home, it was done. This was similar with the Harraps French-English.

Cheers,
Marc

Sweetpea · 06-10-2009, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montsnmags

I'm on the "some" side, thankfully. I do know that it took a hell of a long time on the Chambers, such that after a while I took the dogs down to the woods for a walk - when I got home, it was done. This was similar with the Harraps French-English.

Cheers,
Marc

Did you use mobidedrm or another tool?

Jellby · 06-10-2009, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Did you use mobidedrm or another tool?

I used mobidedrm, version 0.05.

montsnmags · 06-10-2009, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

Did you use mobidedrm or another tool?

mobidedrm

Cheers,
Marc

Sweetpea · 06-10-2009, 08:04 AM

No chance for me then... as mobidedrm won't de-derm my dictionary...

montsnmags · 06-10-2009, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sweetpea

No chance for me then... as mobidedrm won't de-derm my dictionary...

I don't know if it makes any difference, but I think I was using 0.01 or 0.02, and doing so under WinXP. I've moved to Ubuntu since, but still have the scripts 'round here somewhere, as well as the DRM'd files. I should try again, just for the hell of it.

Cheers,
Marc

ahi · 06-10-2009, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by =X=

Really the superior format is PDF. The rest look all the same to me. You've even proved it with your study of the Hobbit, which is one of the better formatted eBooks out there.

You courageous heretic, you!

Could I get a link to that thread?

- Ahi

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06-09-2009, 02:55 PM	#16
Lbooker Addict Posts: 316 Karma: 1021312 Join Date: Jun 2009 Device: Sony PRS-T1	I am very unhappy about two things: they sold themselves to Amazon, thus losing their independence. And they did not help Frank Burkhardt, author of mobipocket ports of Wikipedia in several languages, available freely on his site: http://pinguinburg.de/wpmp Some older files are also available here: http://www.axelschaefermdb.de/service/wikipedia.html (I can use the March 2005 version 1.6 in German in my Lbook thanks to the latest Lbook firmware). Here is the little thing he asked them on their forum: http://www.mobipocket.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=32971 Because they refused to fix this, all the recent versions of Wikipedia split into several files cannot work on my reader. My only hope now is Fbreader. There are discussions on their list: http://groups.google.com/group/fbrea...nk=gst&q=mobi# So I gave up on the company, but not on the format and an open source version of the reader.

06-10-2009, 06:28 AM	#22
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Interesting. Other people have reported a lack of success. Good to know that it works for some, at least.

06-10-2009, 08:04 AM	#28
Sweetpea Grand Sorcerer Posts: 9,707 Karma: 32763414 Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Krewerd Device: Pocketbook Inkpad 4 Color; Samsung Galaxy Tab S6	No chance for me then... as mobidedrm won't de-derm my dictionary...

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