why the fuss over epub?

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by TimW

"I think that once we can get rid of Mobi..." Who is "we?" The only way Mobi disappears is if 1) Amazon voluntarily kills it, which would be insane or 2) people stop purchasing Amazon books. Are either of those scenarios likely? The second one could happen but there isn't any signs of that happening yet. We'll let the market decide.

Why would killing an obsolete format be insane? It would be a good thing for eBooks. Why not go with a more updated format? Only Amazon is holding onto such an outdated format.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by TimW

Perhaps the world economy will collapse and we'll revert to dtbs.

If things get really bad we'll be back to rag paper, parchment or papyrus!

Hopefully not all the way back to clay tablets. I dread to think how heavy Dan Brown's next book would be on clay tablets!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by TimW

Another possibility is that ePub and Mobi will both have vanished with something new taking their places. Perhaps the world economy will collapse and we'll revert to dtbs. Time will tell, pdurrant, time will tell.

What do you have against ePub? It seems that no matter what anyone says about ePub, you always have to defend Mobipocket. Do you have a financial stake in Mobipocket?

[murraypaul]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What do you have against ePub? It seems that no matter what anyone says about ePub, you always have to defend Mobipocket. Do you have a financial stake in Mobipocket?

Are you seriously accusing someone else of taking an entrenched position on the subject?
Mr Pot, meet Mr Kettle.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

...I dread to think how heavy Dan Brown's next book would be on clay tablets!

That thought doesn't bother me in the least because I wouldn't be lifting it!

[kjk]

Originally Posted by TimW

Another possibility is that ePub and Mobi will both have vanished with something new taking their places.

I certainly hope ePub and Mobi are only the beginning, not the end, of where digital book formats can go in the future.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

What will people who have bought Mobi dictionaries for their Kindle do? You know as well as I do that a significant issue with ePub is that the standard does not define dictionary support!

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Why would killing an obsolete format be insane? It would be a good thing for eBooks. Why not go with a more updated format? Only Amazon is holding onto such an outdated format.

Jon, what do you have to say about the dictionary issue raised by Harry? I'm addicted to my dictionaries.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by TimW

Another possibility is that ePub and Mobi will both have vanished with something new taking their places.

Not in five years.

Epub 3.0 might have supplanted ePub 2.0, but there's no way the publishing industry could change to a completely new standard that quickly. We've barely got ePub 2.0 properly adopted and that's after four years (2007-2011), and was built on the older Open eBook standard that was started in 1999!

Even Mobipocket was based on Open eBook in many ways.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What do you have against ePub? It seems that no matter what anyone says about ePub, you always have to defend Mobipocket. Do you have a financial stake in Mobipocket?

I have never spouted "Epub should go away!" I think both formats are adequate and there is no compelling need for a single book format. I think you're suffering from projection bias, Jon.

[jocampo]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Given that Amazon doesn't release sales figures, that 67% is a guess. Please stop posting numbers that mean little to nothing because they are based on a guess.

Google it. I also posted a link here with numbers (don't ask me to post again, use the search feature, lol)

Amazon sold combined, more devices than anything else in Europe alone. Pandigital was second I believe.

I don't know why you keep insisting that Amazon and Kindle is not a success in USA and most Latin and European countries.

We all know you love and like your Sony ereader, but you really look silly every time that you try to argue or dismiss Amazon's success.

People who are actually interested on reading a novel, don't really care about the file format. They will display basically the same. The main difference is for books with complex layouts and images. And still, I mostly read computer books and Kindle does a fantastic job!

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

Jon, what do you have to say about the dictionary issue raised by Harry? I'm addicted to my dictionaries.

Most new readers do have a dictionary. I know it's not part of the standard. But they've made it work. Sony, Kobo, B&N. etc. So while it's not part of the spec, it works.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by TimW

I have never spouted "Epub should go away!" I think both formats are adequate and there is no compelling need for a single book format. I think you're suffering from projection bias, Jon.

When the day comes that DRM for eBook has gone away, it would be rather nice to have one eBook format. It would mean that the only thing one has to do is choose which reader to use. It would mean that if someone with a nook wanted to switch to a Kindle, it could be done as the already owned library would still work. Vendor lock-in is why Amazon isn't in a hurry to drop Mobipocket. They know that once they get a Kindle user, they get vendor lock-in.

What is wrong with ePub being the only format as long as there is currently nothing better? It would be a lot easier on the publishers and when DRM goes away, a lot easier on the users.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Not in five years.

Epub 3.0 might have supplanted ePub 2.0, but there's no way the publishing industry could change to a completely new standard that quickly. We've barely got ePub 2.0 properly adopted and that's after four years (2007-2011), and was built on the older Open eBook standard that was started in 1999!

Even Mobipocket was based on Open eBook in many ways.

Epub 3.0...sure, we need singing, dancing books. From the earlier notes on ePub 3, it seems that just being a book was too last millennium and we need movies and tunes imbedded into books. If that's what ebooks are destined to become, I WILL go back to hardbacks. I have thousands of hardbacks (yep, they have a separate building) and I have never needed nor required them to sing to me or dance for my amusement. That may be the Achilles heel of the ebook movement. Like other technology, someone thinks they need "improvement" beyond simple readability. A lot of people who are only interested in reading won't go for that. IMHO, books don't need that sort of "improvement." Call me a Luddite but that's the way I feel.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jocampo

Google it. I also posted a link here with numbers (don't ask me to post again, use the search feature, lol)

Amazon sold combined, more devices than anything else in Europe alone. Pandigital was second I believe.

I don't know why you keep insisting that Amazon and Kindle is not a success in USA and most Latin and European countries.

We all know you love and like your Sony ereader, but you really look silly every time that you try to argue or dismiss Amazon's success.

I'm not trying to dismiss Amazon's success. I'm dismissing these numbers that are not accurate. Kindles are not as popular outside the US as you seem to think it is. ePub is the format outside the USA. And I am wondering how popular the Kindle is inside the USA. We have Sony, B&N, Kobo, and other and then the Kindle. 67% seems a bit high (IMHO). If Amazon is 67% and B&N is say 25%, that would total 92%. 8% between Sony, Kobo, and other ePub based readers? That makes little to no sense.

People who are actually interested on reading a novel, don't really care about the file format. They will display basically the same. The main difference is for books with complex layouts and images. And still, I mostly read computer books and Kindle does a fantastic job!

A blockquote is not a complex layout. yet Mobipocket won't render it properly.

[TimW]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What is wrong with ePub being the only format as long as there is currently nothing better? It would be a lot easier on the publishers and when DRM goes away, a lot easier on the users.

1) I don't get to choose, that's a problem
2) I don't want to make life easier for publishers...if they want my money, they'll give what I want. If they don't want my money, I'll keep it.
3) How is the Henry Ford "You can have any color you want as long as it's black" motto making it easier for the consumer? It was only "easy" for Henry Ford.