Kindle Reader for Windows just announced

[Xenophon]

Originally Posted by Elsi

Now *that* would be progress. From your lips to Howard Stringer's ears.

They've already announced that you'll be able to download the ePub versions of your lrx formatted books. It was part of the original announcement of the switch to ePub.

Xenophon

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Huh? What other readers can display AZW and TPZ files?

ePub files, on the other hand, can be displayed on many readers - many support Adobe's DRM, and most of those will take advantage of the Q1 2010 update to add B&N DRM support as well.

Amazon are very much standing alone with their file formats!

If the content is DRM'd, it doesn't make much of a difference which format it's in. If it's not DRM'd, it also doesn't matter what the format is, since it can always be converted. The DRM is the issue, not the format.

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

So why have they waited so long?

That's a tougher question to answer. As I stated in a previous post, it might have been a matter of adding touchscreen and Whispernet capability to the reader. Obviously, I can't answer definitively, but it's been fairly obvious ever since they released the reader for the iPhone that their business model wasn't based on selling Kindles. The Kindle is about empowering users to buy books any time, anywhere. It's all about the books. That's what makes the move to other devices inevitable: Amazon doesn't want you to spend one second of the day unable to buy a book for them.

I don't really see how it could be a matter of changing the DRM. They've got to maintain compatibility with the Kindles, so I don't see how an improved (from the publisher's point of view) DRM would work.

[Ankh]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

What you call "late" is what the market still calls "early adopter". Yes, ebooks, ereader (devices and software) is still a very nascent market.

E-book reading application running on Microsoft Windows PC is a "nascent" market?

The first version of Microsoft Reader for Windows PC was released in 2000. Surely, MS Reader qualifies as a mainstream ebook reading software?

[Patricia]

Originally Posted by Elsi

And so has Sony. Do you think Sony is going to allow me to replace all the .lrx books I've purchased from them with ePub versions?

Although the Topaz format hasn't been cracked -- or at least no one has bragged about it yet -- there's not even a format shifter for the non-DRM Sony (.lrf) format and it's been out there for YEARS and YEARS. Ever since I joined MobileRead, I've wished for a way to make a *nice* conversion of .lrf files to Mobipocket or ePub. Calibre doesn't support it. The ABC Amber product barely hangs on to the text; forget about the formatting.

LRF tools?
https://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?t=28707

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Ankh

E-book reading application running on Microsoft Windows PC is a "nascent" market?

The first version of Microsoft Reader for Windows PC was released in 2000. Surely, MS Reader qualifies as a mainstream ebook reading software?

Yes, just cause you could do it a long time ago doesn't mean anything. Considering nascent means "beginning to display signs of future potential: in 2009 ebooks were no where.

BOb

[Damætas]

I predict the next wave of tablets with those new Pixel Qi screens will become the most popular e-readers of 2010. It could run the free Kindle app, the free B & N reader app, Adobe, Word, web browsers, etc. Users could read almost any e-book format (.azw, .tpz, .epub, .mobi, .pdf, etc.) and purchase from a variety of e-book sellers, all on the same device. Students could read their textbooks without eye-strain, record lectures, take notes, write papers, watch videos, play games, and send e-mail all on the same device. With the wi-fi and back-light turned off, it could probably run on battery for a whole day. It would be nice to turn pages with a touch or a swipe and not have the annoying black screen refresh with every page turn. Page turns would also be much, much faster. The reader applications will only improve over time. At the right price with the right design, I might get one of those Pixel Qi screen tablets whenever they get released.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Elsi

And so has Sony. Do you think Sony is going to allow me to replace all the .lrx books I've purchased from them with ePub versions?

Although the Topaz format hasn't been cracked -- or at least no one has bragged about it yet -- there's not even a format shifter for the non-DRM Sony (.lrf) format and it's been out there for YEARS and YEARS. Ever since I joined MobileRead, I've wished for a way to make a *nice* conversion of .lrf files to Mobipocket or ePub. Calibre doesn't support it. The ABC Amber product barely hangs on to the text; forget about the formatting.

I'm sure hoping that I can re-download in epub. That seemed to be the direction they stated.

As far as non-drm lrf to epub, calibre does that because I just did exactly that earlier today with an lrf file from the MR library.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Mobipocket stops accepting new publishers;
the Kindle goes international;
and now there is finally a Kindle Reader on my PC.

I guess Amazon really is going to kill off Mobipocet.

Well they will likely use the Mobipocket reader for the PC anyway. It is something they are being forced into with all their competition having PC readers.

Dale

[igorsk]

Originally Posted by Elsi

Although the Topaz format hasn't been cracked -- or at least no one has bragged about it yet -- there's not even a format shifter for the non-DRM Sony (.lrf) format and it's been out there for YEARS and YEARS.

LRFTools has been around for quite a while.

[DaleDe]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

From my observations of how TOPAZ ebooks display on a Kindle's screen, they seem to contain an embedded font as bitmaps in six fixed sizes and the "font" is based on scans of the actual document (so some letters could appear twice if it does not scan well and the OCR software ends up with two canonical glyphs). This embedded font is then used for more or less conventional OCR transcription into "text". However, this could be completely wrong. So far as I know, Amazon has never discussed TOPAZ in public.

Is the iPhone font anti-aliased? It isn't on the Kindle, which is one reason I think there are actual bitmaps in the ebook.

That actually sounds like a good description of Dejavu.

Dale

[DMcCunney]

Originally Posted by Ankh

E-book reading application running on Microsoft Windows PC is a "nascent" market?

The first version of Microsoft Reader for Windows PC was released in 2000. Surely, MS Reader qualifies as a mainstream ebook reading software?

I'll posit that it's only mainstream if a significant number of people do it.

Yes, Microsoft Reader has been around for almost ten years. But who actually uses it to read ebooks? The main reason most folks I know of get ebooks in MS Reader format is because it's dead easy to strip the DRM and put them into the format they want to read them in.

A lot of folks simply aren't comfortable reading extensively on a PC screen. One reason dedicated readers are popular is the eInk screen.

While I think a PC reader for Kindle books is a good idea, I don't see it being many people's primary reader.

For instance, my primary reader is a Palm OS PDA, with eBooks in Plucker, MobiPocker, PDF, eReader, and a couple of other formats. Because FBReader handles Plucker and Mobipocket files (and ePub), most of my ebook library is also on my notebook which triple boots Wion2K and two flavors of Linux. My master repository is on my desktop PC, with software that will let me read any ebook I possess, but I almost never use it for that.

I see a similar acse for the PC Kindle app: an additional option for folks who are more likely to use a Kindle or an iPhone for daily reading.
______
Dennis

[TomK]

Originally Posted by DawnFalcon

Why should I go with a company who are only doing the minimum after being forced into it by their competition outplaying them?

Agree completely. Kindle books are still in a proprietary format that you need their software to open. I will not pay Amazon to tell me under what conditions I can read my own books.

[Sweetpea]

"Kindle for PC is also a great way for people around the world to read the most popular books of today even if they don’t yet have a Kindle."

I like that part! If I read it correctly, it means I can buy Kindle books without getting that ugly device

[BeccaAnn]

Quote:
"Kindle for PC is also a great way for people around the world to read the most popular books of today even if they don’t yet have a Kindle."

I like that part! If I read it correctly, it means I can buy Kindle books without getting that ugly device
__________________

I agree with the ugly the part and if the statement is true then I can finally get over a dozen books that I want but only available for Kindles. Please, please, with a cherry on top be true. And that it happens before the end of the year. I've already put my email addy in to be notified when it becomes available.
Now I have to hope that stripping the DRM (since I have a 505) will be easy for a non-techie person to do.

[Terisa de morgan]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

They are? Even with the $2 added I'd think most books would still be cheaper.

I've found books in BoB, with no geographical restrictions, that aren't available for international customers in Amazon (and not much more expensive that American prize).