Commercial ePubs in Germany disappoint - Page 3

Jellby · 04-02-2009, 10:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K-Thom

Not with the iPhone and the BeBook at hand and the Cybook (with hopefully soon coming epub update ...) waiting to be released in Germany.

Though I'm afraid the Cybook will use the same ADE implementation as the Sony, so it will probably have the same limitations, bugs, problems, etc.

TadW · 04-02-2009, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by K-Thom

Don't forget the iPhone with Stanza.
While per se not being an eBook reading device there are much more (a LOT more!) iPhones than Sony Readers out there! So there's no need - neither for a publisher nor for a vendor or for a customer - to rely on "Sony-only" epubs.

The last time I checked, Stanza does not support protected ePubs yet. Hence - as of right now - German publishers and vendors DO need to rely on the Sony Reader when selling book titles in protected ePub format.

Besides, if you visit either of the two German e-book vendors, you will notice that they market their e-book offerings specifically for the Sony Reader.

DaleDe · 04-02-2009, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by doctorow

Ironic, if you keep in mind one of the reasons ePub was created was to avoid compatibility issues.

ePUB is way too complicated to avoid compatibility issues. The standard requires lots of support and anything short of a full browser on a computer with a 2 GigaHertz processor and 1 Gig of RAM will not be able to support it fully. Certainly the class of devices currently being used as eBook readers are way under powered to support ePUB fully the way it is defined.

Dale

TadW · 04-02-2009, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

ePUB is way too complicated to avoid compatibility issues. The standard requires lots of support and anything short of a full browser on a computer with a 2 GigaHertz processor and 1 Gig of RAM will not be able to support it fully. Certainly the class of devices currently being used as eBook readers are way under powered to support ePUB fully the way it is defined.

Dale

If that's indeed true, it'd be pretty darn awful. The standard of e-book formats shouldn't require a powerhouse of an e-book reader.

Perhaps, then, they should introduce an extension to the standard, allowing the source content to be presented in a preformatted, binary format.

Steven Lyle Jordan · 04-02-2009, 12:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

ePUB is way too complicated to avoid compatibility issues. The standard requires lots of support and anything short of a full browser on a computer with a 2 GigaHertz processor and 1 Gig of RAM will not be able to support it fully. Certainly the class of devices currently being used as eBook readers are way under powered to support ePUB fully the way it is defined.

Dale

Though I'm a bit dubious about the level of tech needed to run a basic ePub file, given the evolution of hardware and software, that should not be an obstacle to any dedicated device producer for very long.

If a PC only needs a 500MHz processor and 128MB RAM to run DE (according to Adobe), a dedicated reader shouldn't need more than a comparable amount of power to display an ePub file.

K-Thom · 04-02-2009, 12:36 PM

Quote:

The last time I checked, Stanza does not support protected ePubs yet.

Whoops, sorry. Since I sell my own eBooks without DRM I didn't consider handicapped files.

DaleDe · 04-02-2009, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

Though I'm a bit dubious about the level of tech needed to run a basic ePub file, given the evolution of hardware and software, that should not be an obstacle to any dedicated device producer for very long.

If a PC only needs a 500MHz processor and 128MB RAM to run DE (according to Adobe), a dedicated reader shouldn't need more than a comparable amount of power to display an ePub file.

Ah, yes but then Adobe does not fully support the standard, even with the PC version and even less on the portable version. One of the problems is there is no real documentation on the limitations imposed by Adobe with their version. We have some details but there are more than we know currently.

Dale

kovidgoyal · 04-02-2009, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hadrien

I fully agree. Everyone is recommending something different and I don't think that wrapping a JPG in a SVG itself wrapped up in a XHTML flow is such a wonderful idea.

It would have been so simple to just specify an element in the guide that could point to either the first item in the spine or to a rasterized image in the manifest, so people would not have to play all these tricks to try to get a full screen cover, and instead leave it to the rendering software to do the best it can, after all the rendering software knows much more about the target device geometry than the ebook author.

tirsales · 04-11-2009, 11:41 AM

Well ... similar problems are well known to webdesigners. A standard conform website will not be displayed correctly on Internet Explorer 5,6,7 (8 is better though). This is a problem with the Internet Explorer - not with the standard or the page.
Nevertheless: The webdesigner/layouter/programmer will have to take this problems into account and code a page that will be displayed correctly on FF, IE, etc
Well ... webdesigners do this for years - and you want to let publishers get away with it? "There's buggy software that does not display ePub correctly. This is not the fault of the publisher" - it is. Because it is their job to TEST the eBook - and testing means (among other things) trying to display it on available platforms (e.g. Sony Reader) and making sure, that it displays correctly.
Not testing this is comparable to printing books, binding them - and forgetting to check (even once) whether the cover really contains the correct pages.

But I agree - ePub is not an ideal (or even good) standard by miles - still better then most alternatives though ...

JSWolf · 04-17-2009, 06:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DaleDe

ePUB is way too complicated to avoid compatibility issues. The standard requires lots of support and anything short of a full browser on a computer with a 2 GigaHertz processor and 1 Gig of RAM will not be able to support it fully. Certainly the class of devices currently being used as eBook readers are way under powered to support ePUB fully the way it is defined.

Dale

I disagree. ePub works pretty well on a 505. Granted there are some ssues here and there, but it does work.

netseeker · 04-17-2009, 06:28 PM

If HTML 4.0.1 (with CSS 2) does work on mobile devices (and no i don't mean the iPhone) then ePub (with one exclusion: SVG-support) can also work on mobile devices without problems. ADE needs much more resources than a mobile browser and has a 300k limit on the sony? Then Adobe and Sony should employ better programmers. But to be honest: As JSWolf said ePub works very well on the Sony if the content publisher takes care of the known issues.

JSWolf · 04-17-2009, 06:33 PM

Take a look at the following sample that works perfectly on the 505 and 700...

HarryT · 04-18-2009, 07:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I disagree. ePub works pretty well on a 505. Granted there are some ssues here and there, but it does work.

The main issue, Jon, at least IMHO, is the current lack of support for full justification in the Sony ADE implementation. Given, though, that it has now been added to the desktop ADE reader, I suppose that there is some hope that it will find its way onto portable devices at some point.

04-17-2009, 06:28 PM	#41
netseeker sleepless reader Posts: 4,763 Karma: 615547 Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Germany, near Stuttgart Device: Sony PRS-505, PB 360° & 302, nook wi-fi, Kindle 3	If HTML 4.0.1 (with CSS 2) does work on mobile devices (and no i don't mean the iPhone) then ePub (with one exclusion: SVG-support) can also work on mobile devices without problems. ADE needs much more resources than a mobile browser and has a 300k limit on the sony? Then Adobe and Sony should employ better programmers. But to be honest: As JSWolf said ePub works very well on the Sony if the content publisher takes care of the known issues. Last edited by netseeker; 04-17-2009 at 06:32 PM.

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04-11-2009, 11:41 AM	#39
tirsales MIA ... but returning som Posts: 1,600 Karma: 511342 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Germany Device: PRS-505 and Really not owning a PRS-700	Well ... similar problems are well known to webdesigners. A standard conform website will not be displayed correctly on Internet Explorer 5,6,7 (8 is better though). This is a problem with the Internet Explorer - not with the standard or the page. Nevertheless: The webdesigner/layouter/programmer will have to take this problems into account and code a page that will be displayed correctly on FF, IE, etc Well ... webdesigners do this for years - and you want to let publishers get away with it? "There's buggy software that does not display ePub correctly. This is not the fault of the publisher" - it is. Because it is their job to TEST the eBook - and testing means (among other things) trying to display it on available platforms (e.g. Sony Reader) and making sure, that it displays correctly. Not testing this is comparable to printing books, binding them - and forgetting to check (even once) whether the cover really contains the correct pages. But I agree - ePub is not an ideal (or even good) standard by miles - still better then most alternatives though ...