Signs of a further shift toward KFX

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by Hitch

Well, I can't kvetch about their marketing--it would be hypocritical, given I earn my daily bread therefrom--but yes, adding ePUB would be nice.

Hitch

Of course you can kvetch some more. You've already done a lot of kvetching about Amazon.

And rightly so. This is a disaster (IMHO). This is going to confuse many customers with older Kindles. I already know that some eBooks I cannot read on a Kindle that does not support KFX when there is no reason for these eBooks to be KFX only. The formatting is not something that needs KFX.

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by jhowell

The only currently developed Kindle reading platform that does not support KFX is the Cloud Reader and it looks like that is now in progress there based on these books.

Amazon is now using a new Cloud Reader format, called Karamel, with stronger encryption and less on-device caching.

A book I purchased in March that is available only in KFX format states in it's description, "This title is not available on Kindle Cloud Reader." That book is now readable in KCR despite the warning.

[odamizu]

I never really understood the purpose of Kindle Cloud Reader. Is there an advantage to it over the Kindle apps?

Originally Posted by jhowell

Amazon is now using a new Cloud Reader format, called Karamel, with stronger encryption and less on-device caching.

A book I purchased in March that is available only in KFX format states in it's description, "This title is not available on Kindle Cloud Reader." That book is now readable in KCR despite the warning.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by odamizu

I never really understood the purpose of Kindle Cloud Reader. Is there an advantage to it over the Kindle apps?

The advantages of KCR is that you don't have to download the eBooks. You can read on different computers/phones/tablets using a web browser.

[Sirtel]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

The advantages of KCR is that you don't have to download the eBooks. You can read on different computers/phones/tablets using a web browser.

Yep, like on a work computer where you have no permission to install anything.

[Quoth]

Originally Posted by Sirtel

Yep, like on a work computer where you have no permission to install anything.

You may not have permission to sit reading books?

I'd rather have a Kindle or Kobo or even my phone for work coffee breaks!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by jhowell

Amazon is now using a new Cloud Reader format, called Karamel, with stronger encryption and less on-device caching.

A book I purchased in March that is available only in KFX format states in it's description, "This title is not available on Kindle Cloud Reader." That book is now readable in KCR despite the warning.

I wonder if Karamel is the basis for the new LITB? We've all (probably) seen the new interface there--jhowell, do you have any thoughts on that?

Hitch

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Hitch

I wonder if Karamel is the basis for the new LITB? We've all (probably) seen the new interface there--jhowell, do you have any thoughts on that?

The basic format behind both the new Look Inside (LITB) and new Kindle Cloud Reader is called HTML_YJ. It is an HTML conversion from KFX (aka YJ) format with proprietary markup similar to that used in the original KCR format.

That can either be delivered all at once without DRM for Look Inside or split into chunks with new DRM for Cloud Reader. That second delivery method is Karamel.

I am still working out the details, but as far as I can tell this is the new terminology.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by jhowell

The basic format behind both the new Look Inside (LITB) and new Kindle Cloud Reader is called HTML_YJ. It is an HTML conversion from KFX (aka YJ) format with proprietary markup similar to that used in the original KCR format.

That can either be delivered all at once without DRM for Look Inside or split into chunks with new DRM for Cloud Reader. That second delivery method is Karamel.

I am still working out the details, but as far as I can tell this is the new terminology.

Is this really as confusing as it sounds?

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by jhowell

The basic format behind both the new Look Inside (LITB) and new Kindle Cloud Reader is called HTML_YJ. It is an HTML conversion from KFX (aka YJ) format with proprietary markup similar to that used in the original KCR format.

That can either be delivered all at once without DRM for Look Inside or split into chunks with new DRM for Cloud Reader. That second delivery method is Karamel.

I am still working out the details, but as far as I can tell this is the new terminology.

Jesus H. Christ.

For a brief, shining second there, I could use KCR to emulate the LITB results. Or...was that a dream????

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Is this really as confusing as it sounds?

Yes, it bygod is for those of us eking out a small, pitiful living doing it, yes, yes, it is.

Hitch

[jhowell]

I looked a bit more at Karamel. It works very differently from the old KCR renderer.

Previously book content was sent to KCR as HTML which was selectively rendered by the KCR JavaScript program running on the user’s browser. With Karamel each screen full of content is rendered by the servers at Amazon and delivered to the browser as a jpeg image. That slows things down significantly, but is far more secure since OCR is the only way to obtain the book’s original content.

[Quoth]

And pirates often crop binding, scan and OCR the pre-release review copies (ARCs) of anything popular. So what exactly does this consumer unfriendly browser reading achieve?

[jhowell]

Originally Posted by Quoth

And pirates often crop binding, scan and OCR the pre-release review copies (ARCs) of anything popular. So what exactly does this consumer unfriendly browser reading achieve?

It increases the effort involved in copying a book to the point where most individuals won’t bother.

I agree about it being unfriendly to the consumer. It is slower than the old KCR and no longer allows offline reading in a browser.

[Hitch]

Gents:

Have you lads seen the latest and greatest piracy stunts, going on, in KDP-land?

It's horrifying. Apparently, the newest "thang" is that they scan the file, and then embed the pages--sideways--into eBooks at the least and both at the worst (eBooks+Print); they slap on a new-ish cover, change the name very slightly. Then they write one unique line, at the top of the description and literally copy the entire description of the "pirated" book, into the description box--and publish it.

I honestly don't understand what's happening there, unless it's money-laundering, but that doesn't make any sense, either. One lousy alert, one copyright violation notice, one complaining customer and the book will be yanked and no royalties will be paid.

These surely cannot survive the mandatory 60-day payment cycle. So, what the hell is the point? WHY are they doing this?

And it's not just 1-2 books, either. I'm seeing reports near-daily at the KDP forums about it. The people who find their books pirated seem to find 2-3 copies, each time. They search on keywords and voilà!, there is their book, over and over.

I'm at a loss to understand the gist there. Unless it's some sort of brute-force testing for something else...but WHAT?

Hitch

[Notjohn]

This is all fascinating stuff. Thank you!