My Run-In With Topaz

[InlawBiker]

Originally Posted by Boston

For me, a big feature of the Kindle is that the experience is ubiquitous in terms of ease of reading (font/spacing) and convenience (no carrying hefty books). The occasional appearance of a Topaz book negates this.

I find Topaz books harder to adapt to and takes away from my ereading experience. If Topaz were more prevalent, I would likely switch to a reader that supported another format.

Hmmm I would agree with you here, that's a different point. If Topaz doesn't look as good as other formats then there's a good reason to demand a refund or just avoid it.

[SpiderMatt]

Originally Posted by InlawBiker

While I'm as anti-DRM as anybody (probably more than most), I feel that if you own a Kindle there is no point in complaining. Its limitations are well known. Just because you cannot skirt the rules any longer because of Topaz is besides the point.

I know all this, I'm a Kindle owner. I bought it used knowing the limitations so I'm not going to complain, it's my own fault for supporting them I suppose. The real answer here is to not buy a Kindle or ANY DRMed book if you disagree with their licensing scheme. Personally I have never bought an ebook from Amazon for more than $2 and I doubt I ever will. But if I do I won't complain about their DRM policy because I will have implicitly agreed to it by purchasing from them.

I'm not complaining. Actually, I was happy Amazon has such a great, easy return policy. No hassle. Like I said, I usually don't buy Topaz books. And should Topaz format increase in use, then I will probably stop buying from Amazon, as well. That's not a complaint but a reality based on my likes and dislikes about ebook formats.

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by InlawBiker

Hmmm I would agree with you here, that's a different point. If Topaz doesn't look as good as other formats then there's a good reason to demand a refund or just avoid it.

It definitely doesn't look/read as good. Also in my one Topaz experience (Whisper to the Blood by Dana Stabenow) there were a lot of visual errors (words run together, line spacing all funky).

[All4Fun]

So that I'm clear, is the only way to identify a Topaz formatted ebook is if the file size is not listed as part of the "Product Details" for the ebook?

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by All4Fun

is the only way to identify a Topaz formatted ebook is if the file size is not listed as part of the "Product Details" for the ebook?

This is the only way from the web page. If you download a sample or the actual ebook it will have filename extension .azw1 (vs .azw for a AZW ebook), I have also seem mention of filename extensions .tpz and .azw2 but I always get an .azw1.

[InlawBiker]

I don't have my Kindle with me right now so I can't try... so I have no idea if this will work. Perhaps you can download a sample of the book, then plug you Kindle into your computer via USB cable. In the /Documents folder your sample should be there. Topaz files have the .AWZ1 file extension, Mobipocket DRM has just .AZW.

If the samples are not in Topaz but the books are, then this obviously wouldn't work.

Greg.

[tlrowley]

Downloading the sample is the only way to really tell, I think - I've seen books that don't show a file size actually turn out to be AZW instead of the expected Topaz. I've not seen books be a different format than their sample. Topaz samples seem to be DRM'd, too, but AZW/mobi samples are not.

There are 2 different extensions I've seen - .azw1 is what you get when you download to your Kindle, and .tpz if you download to your computer.

[catsittingstill]

Re topaz books--I don't like not being able to adjust the line spacing. I don't like the fonts they use, and I doubly dislike that they tend to be fuzzy. I don't like that the pages seem to take longer to turn, and I have to turn them more often because I can't adjust the line spacing.

And yes, I don't like that their DRM can't be broken. I've never broken Kindle DRM, but I like knowing that I *could* if I really had to, in order to be able to read my paid-for books on my paid-for device.

BTW--does anyone know if regular Amazon DRM limits you to 6 devices the way regular Mobipocket DRM does? Because if it does, I've already burned through two in two years. I'm very glad to have the K2, of course--but it makes me think. If you only get 6 devices, how long does a Kindle book last, really?

[Sonist]

Do you guys realize just how crazy this sounds?!

You pay a price comparable to the price for a printed book, but:

- you get a file (thus most of the savings from the elimination of printing, storage and distribution become profit for the publisher);

- the publisher/seller lock the book, so that you can use it on only one device;

- when you finish reading the book, you cannot pass it on to your spouse to read, if they use a different device;

- if you decide to change to a device from a different manufacturer, you lose all your purchased books, and have to repurchase them, if you want to reread them;

- if you later have an unrelated dispute with the merchant, who sold you the initial device, they can prevent you from purchasing a new model of the device, and ban you from getting your purchased books to your current device, if you lose them.

- because you are locked to one device manufacturer, you have to provide personal information, and are being tracked on what you read, and such information is kept "forever" by the manufacturer, for whatever use they deem it fit, including for sale to other parties.

It makes every year seem like 1984.

[wallcraft]

Originally Posted by catsittingstill

If you only get 6 devices, how long does a Kindle book last, really?

The limit for MOBI ebooks is 4 devices, but it is possible to drop a device and add another one (so long as you don't do this too often). So it is 4 devices at a time. The Kindle limit is 6 devices, and it is also apparently 6 devices at a time. Lots of readers have hit the MobiPocket 4 device limit over time - so we know for sure that old devices can be dropped and new ones added. The Kindles are new enough that fewer readers will have reached the limit but plenty of K1s have been removed from accounts and, so far as I know, the removed K1s don't count against the 6 device limit.

[sirbruce]

According to Amazon, the "6 device limit" is not a hard-and-fast rule for the Kindle. Publishers can specificy 1 device or an unlimited number. 6 is the default number and the one they recommend. If you use Amazon's platform to self-publish you probably can't change it, but if you're a larger publisher working with Amazon it should be negotiable.

[Boston]

Originally Posted by wallcraft

This is the only way from the web page. If you download a sample or the actual ebook it will have filename extension .azw1 (vs .azw for a AZW ebook), I have also seem mention of filename extensions .tpz and .azw2 but I always get an .azw1.

Since my issue with Topaz isn't the DRM but that its harder to read, I just try reading the sample to see if its Topaz. The one's I've seen are pretty obvious.

But again, I've only checked to see if its Topaz on a couple of books where I noticed the visual change (and every time it has been).

I guess if if there are Topaz formatted books that don't deter from my reading experience, ignorance is bliss

[Sonist]

I just bought a book, and it's azw1 :-(

It really does look weird, font weights appear different in the same sentence, there are random gaps in word spacing as well.

Just for the sake of it, I tried to de-DRM it, and it gave me "invalid file format."

It's going back to Amazon, which is a bummer, since I have not read the book, and wanted to. I guess I'll have to find it in a different format, and not from Amazon.

[InlawBiker]

Ah well, according to the unsubstantiated rumors I'm hearing, Topaz books are OCR'd PDF documents. There is plenty of room for error in OCR. In my opinion the technology is almost as bad now as it was 10 years ago.

Anyway the root of this is that there's no excuse for selling a product with layout flaws. They should format the books correctly and not sell them until they're proofed.

[Fiberfolly]

Originally Posted by SpiderMatt

. . .
After realizing I purchased something that was virtually useless to me, I looked into Amazon's return policy. I knew I had heard something about it. I didn't know at the time they had a 7 day return policy on all ebooks. I was excited to find out about it. About ten minutes after buying and downloading the book, I sent Amazon's customer service a message saying that I wanted to return it. When I woke up the next morning I had an email message saying the $9.99 had been returned to my card and that the book was removed from my library. It's the only thing I've ever returned to Amazon and I'm very happy that it went smoothly....

I am so happy I ran across your post here. I bought a techy book for my Kindle a couple days ago and I cannot see screenshots or tables well enough to really get full use out of it. I though I was gong to have to eat the $25 I paid for the Kindle version and get the paper version, but i called Amazon and they refunded my money. Thank you very much!!!!