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Old 08-03-2009, 05:12 PM   #16
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FWIW, Epub remains low on the popularity ranking of file downloads from my own pages. PDF and PRC are still way out in front. I do imagine that will change over time, as more devices add support--and now that retailers like Baen and Fictionwise have added it.

I personally prefer epub to lrf on my Sony, but mainly because I prefer unjustified text to badly justified text.

Does anyone know if there's a reader that will run on older Pocket PCs (Win CE 3.0, IIRC) that'll read epub? (ADE won't run on it.)
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Old 08-03-2009, 05:16 PM   #17
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And that's a bad thing to start over and do it right?
So are you saying that all existing readers that can't meet the hardware requirements should be discarded? Are you going to pay for the replacements?
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Old 08-03-2009, 05:19 PM   #18
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FWIW, Epub remains low on the popularity ranking of file downloads from my own pages. PDF and PRC are still way out in front. I do imagine that will change over time, as more devices add support--and now that retailers like Baen and Fictionwise have added it.

I personally prefer epub to lrf on my Sony, but mainly because I prefer unjustified text to badly justified text.

Does anyone know if there's a reader that will run on older Pocket PCs (Win CE 3.0, IIRC) that'll read epub? (ADE won't run on it.)
There is one that is about half a step from working. It's called Zulu Reader. I'm happy with Mobipocket, so I haven't pushed the developer. I'll go send another email.
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Old 08-03-2009, 05:23 PM   #19
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Should ePub be the ONLY Ebook Format?
Nope. PDF should be....
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Old 08-03-2009, 07:06 PM   #20
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Nope. PDF should be....
You'd better duck and cover!
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Old 08-03-2009, 07:10 PM   #21
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EPUB sure seems to be catching hold as the defacto ebook reader format. It seems to be catching momentum for almost ALL the readers. I might have clapped my hands a few weeks ago, but now, I am not so sure.
Not if Adobe's DRM scheme will be the only one available. Leaving aside the DRM-is-worthless-no-it-isn't debate, I abhor DRM that ties my books to a particular machine (like Adobe, Microsoft LIT, Sony, Amazon...)

I don't particularly care for the Mobipocket version - which is also tethered to hardware - but so far I've been able to update PIDs as I upgrade hardware, so I can live with it for the few books I want that don't seem to be available as eReader.
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Old 08-03-2009, 08:46 PM   #22
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HTML? RTF?
I know RTF can be edited with a text edtor, but it's not all that easy to deal with. So to me RTF doesn't really count.

Most eBook readers do not handle HTML all that well if at all.
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Old 08-03-2009, 08:50 PM   #23
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Not if Adobe's DRM scheme will be the only one available. Leaving aside the DRM-is-worthless-no-it-isn't debate, I abhor DRM that ties my books to a particular machine (like Adobe, Microsoft LIT, Sony, Amazon...)

I don't particularly care for the Mobipocket version - which is also tethered to hardware - but so far I've been able to update PIDs as I upgrade hardware, so I can live with it for the few books I want that don't seem to be available as eReader.
One reason not to have another DRM for ePub is that we can strip the existing DRM. If another DRM comes along, who knows how long till someone will code for it's removal.
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Old 08-03-2009, 08:53 PM   #24
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Originally Posted by Nate the great View Post
So are you saying that all existing readers that can't meet the hardware requirements should be discarded? Are you going to pay for the replacements?
As far as eink readers go, I do see ePub becoming the dominant format. And true, that should not exclude Mobipocket and eReader from being there for devices that can handle them but not ePub.
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Old 08-03-2009, 09:03 PM   #25
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As far as eink readers go, I do see ePub becoming the dominant format. And true, that should not exclude Mobipocket and eReader from being there for devices that can handle them but not ePub.
I'm not talking about epaper based readers; I'm talking about all readers including PDAs, phones, ebookwise, Franklin ebookman, Palm Pilot, Apple Newton, HPCs (as well as just about any device with a screen and removable storage that is capable of displaying text). If you want to buy replacements for all those perfectly functional devices, go ahead.
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Old 08-04-2009, 09:46 AM   #26
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I know RTF can be edited with a text edtor, but it's not all that easy to deal with. So to me RTF doesn't really count.

Most eBook readers do not handle HTML all that well if at all.
So because the firmware doesn't handle HTML, does that mean it's not a viable alternative. (Lots of firmwares don't handle EPUB currently either.) Most e-book reader don't handle it because it would be too much competition for their DRM'ed format. HTML is far more universal than any e-book reader format. (although not necessarily as an E-book format. Still, look at Gutenberg.)

As for RTF, if you ignore the header blocks, it's not that complex. Much of it's eye readable, with commands such a PAR for paragraph, TAB for tab, and \i to start italics and \i0 to end them. Now there are some special line proportionality commands that are obscure, and pictures are not compressed, but fixing typo's with simple word processors is easy.

I find XML, enclosed by a ZIP wrapper, enclosed by another wrapper to allow DRM, to be a non-simple typo fix format without specialized processors to do the job. If half the level of effort needed to implement EPUB was placed into implementing HTML, most e-book readers would have magnificent HTML readers. I notice that the readers from companies without e-book store tie-ins are the ones that have pretty good HTML readers. So does openinkpot. It's the ones with e-book tie-ins that don't have it - SONY, Amazon, CyBook.
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Old 08-04-2009, 10:08 AM   #27
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Originally Posted by JEMelby View Post
Should ePub be the ONLY Ebook Format?
Yes.

On the same day when HTML becomes the (or even a) document preparation system for printed books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, text books, et cetera.

Until that day I shall continue to skirt heresy by reading professionally formatted PDFs on my ebook reading device.

- Ahi
Last edited by ahi; 08-04-2009 at 11:16 AM. Reason: Ps.: Just a little something for JSWolf.
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Old 08-04-2009, 10:35 AM   #28
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Yes.

On the same day when HTML becomes the (or even a) document preparation system for printed books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, text books, et cetera.

Until that day I shall continue to skirt heresy by reading professionally formatted PDFs on my eReader.

- Ahi
Actually, if you take a well made HTML file, you can use Calibre to convert it to a number of different formats. So yes, HTML can be used as the front end.
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Old 08-04-2009, 10:41 AM   #29
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Yes. I had to convert all my ebook from mobi to ePub, that was annoying enough.

And no, pdf is NOT an e-book format. It's means to fix formating for printing or rendering, never as an e-book format.
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Old 08-04-2009, 11:15 AM   #30
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Actually, if you take a well made HTML file, you can use Calibre to convert it to a number of different formats. So yes, HTML can be used as the front end.
Agreed. HTML is a perfectly suitable source format for output that will never have any expectation of professional quality placed upon it.

eBooks will, however, have such expectations once the market starts to be taken seriously.

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