02-21-2010, 11:45 PM | #1 |
Member
Posts: 17
Karma: 10
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Ky, USA
Device: Sony PRS600
|
Sony ePub spacing
I just bought my first few ebooks from the Reader Store, and the ePubs all have spaces between the paragraphs and first line indents. Why do they have both? I thought ebooks usually had one or the other. I find it a little annoying. Since they have DRM, am I stuck with the formatting or is there a fix to remove the blank lines between paragraphs?
I'm a noob here so I hope I posted this in the right spot. Thanks. |
02-22-2010, 12:25 AM | #2 |
Member
Posts: 17
Karma: 10
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Ky, USA
Device: Sony PRS600
|
I just had a live web chat with Reader Store support. The tech said I should remove the ebook from my Reader and the Library, then download the ebook again. He said that would remove the spaces. Is this true or is that just a standard response for many issues with ebooks? I guess I will find out soon.
Edit: That was a waste of time, just as I thought. Last edited by Harryplopper; 02-22-2010 at 12:34 AM. |
02-22-2010, 12:50 AM | #3 |
Enthusiast
Posts: 43
Karma: 426
Join Date: Jan 2010
Location: Lone Tree, CO (Way too far from Disneyland!)
Device: Sony PRS600
|
Some of mine are what you describe..spaces and indents, others are just indents with no extra spaces. Doesn't bother me one way or the other. I get so wrapped up in the content that I don't pay a lot of attention to the formatting. Guess I'm not all that particular - I just enjoy the reading.
(my usual pose) |
02-22-2010, 03:28 AM | #4 |
Wizard
Posts: 1,196
Karma: 1281258
Join Date: Sep 2009
Device: PRS-505
|
It's an unfortunate fact that many of the technicians employed to convert books to digital format know very little about typographic conventions and will just do whatever's easiest. I routinely remove the DRM from ePubs simply to correct the formatting.
|
02-22-2010, 06:26 AM | #5 | |
Wizard
Posts: 1,454
Karma: 37243
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: Europe
Device: pocketbook 360, kindle 4
|
Quote:
The only way to change formatting you don't like is to remove the drm and edit the ebook to your liking. You can be happy your book is only typographically awkward. Other books have serious errors in them, OCR mistakes, typos, question marks in place of letters, you name it. The book I'm reading now has some headers with the name of the book and the page number left here and there, right in the middle of the text, obviously forgotten from scanning. It is very annoying, to say the least. |
|
02-22-2010, 06:29 AM | #6 |
The Dank Side of the Moon
Posts: 35,872
Karma: 118716293
Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Denver, CO
Device: Kindle2; Kindle Fire
|
Not to be rude, but different strokes for different folks.
There is no standard for layout. Different books are going to be different just as they are in the print world. |
02-22-2010, 09:33 AM | #7 |
Member
Posts: 17
Karma: 10
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Ky, USA
Device: Sony PRS600
|
Wow. I don't have anything as bad as title and page number in the middle of text, but i have seen some other errors besides spacing in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Words runtogether, mis ing letters, and left out lettrs frequently. It is a shame that they aren't better quality. I guess it's something I'll have to live with. This is my first pay ebook and was hoping for at least pbook quality with only occasional errors. C'est la vie.
|
02-22-2010, 09:38 AM | #8 | |
The Grand Mouse 高貴的老鼠
Posts: 71,496
Karma: 306214458
Join Date: Jul 2007
Location: Norfolk, England
Device: Kindle Voyage
|
Quote:
|
|
02-22-2010, 10:22 AM | #9 |
Addict
Posts: 292
Karma: 24688
Join Date: Aug 2009
Device: Sony PRS-505, iPad
|
No, you don't have to live with it! Call or email the bookstore you bought the book from, demand a refund for the poor quality of the book. If they refuse, dispute the charge on your credit card. If everyone started doing this right now, the quality of ebooks being sold would dramatically improve in about a month. People are too quick to accept such terrible reading quality because they spent so much money on those fancy ereaders and don't want to do anything that might imply they made a mistake by buying that gadget. It ought to be the other way around: if you spent that kind of money, you ought to demand a high quality reading experience.
|
02-22-2010, 10:55 PM | #10 | |
Member
Posts: 17
Karma: 10
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: Ky, USA
Device: Sony PRS600
|
Well, I complained to the Reader Store and here's their reply:
Quote:
I am enjoying my Reader though. I have plenty of free better quality ebooks. Last edited by Harryplopper; 02-23-2010 at 12:59 AM. |
|
02-23-2010, 12:43 AM | #11 | |
US Navy, Retired
Posts: 9,864
Karma: 13806776
Join Date: Feb 2009
Location: North Carolina
Device: Icarus Illumina XL HD, Nexus 7
|
Quote:
Now Sony has moved to epub and removing the DRM is relatively easy so I no longer hold a grudge and I format the books to my liking. Additionally DRM is easy to remove on AZW (I'm not willing to do Topaz yet) books from Amazon and I can now buy from pert near anyone I choose. I'll be interested in the reply you get from Random House after all it is their book, Sony is just a retailer and by this point they have convinced you that you do not have a corrupt book. |
|
|
Similar Threads | ||||
Thread | Thread Starter | Forum | Replies | Last Post |
EPUB Line spacing | Jabby | Ectaco jetBook | 0 | 08-30-2010 11:43 AM |
Strange Spacing in ePub in ADE | ngbabu | ePub | 2 | 06-12-2010 07:47 PM |
Line Spacing on PDF to Epub conversion | poodlemama | Calibre | 2 | 05-03-2010 08:28 PM |
ePub double spacing | leebase | Calibre | 5 | 03-30-2010 03:42 PM |
Changing paragraph spacing in DRMed epub? | salty-horse | ePub | 4 | 09-15-2009 06:48 AM |