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Old 04-21-2010, 06:42 PM   #1
sylkstream
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Unhappy PDA/Smartphone format eBooks

I am new to this site and I apologise if this topic has already been discussed - I couldn't find a reference when I did a quick search. So...

Are you tired of the fact that the new formats of eBooks are completely overlooking the PDA/Smartphone market? Also, now that this new Agency Model pricing structure has come into force, are you tired of all the typos and grammatical errors in your eBooks which you were prepared to overlook because you obtained them at a reasonable price?

I am constantly finding that books I want are either in Adobe Digital Editions (a wholly awful program and not available on PDA at all) or one of the proprietary formats (Kindle etc).

I've been exclusively reading books on my PDA for over seven years now. I am, quite frankly, very irritated and frustrated that the publishers, in general, are beginning to completely overlook the PDA market.

I've now emailed the Customer Services departments of as many of the publishers as I can find to complain about the above two things (unavailable formats/errors). Please, if you have the same issues that I do, write to them too. One voice they will completely ignore - many voices will tell them how important these issues are to their reading public.

I'll get off my soapbox now -
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Old 04-21-2010, 07:03 PM   #2
Steven Lyle Jordan
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Yes, there are plenty of us who read on PDAs and smartphones, and are constantly seeking some love in this market of dedicated devices. I was able to bring most of my reading apps over to my WinMo smartphone from my PDA... but I'd love to see a Kindle and Barnes & Noble app as well, and just feel I'm being neglected by all parties. I'm actually buying fewer books, as I cannot read DRM'd books from Amazon or B&N on my smartphone... and no one seems to care.

But even we're not alone: People who own dedicated devices often find themselves shut out of other bookstores with competing formats (or DRM). It's an industry-wide problem.

The best thing for you to do is not only to tell those booksellers what you want... but tell them you are spending your money at other bookstores that do not lock their content with DRM or use proprietary formats... money that could be theirs. There's some good indie stuff out there... you just have to look harder for it.
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Old 04-21-2010, 07:12 PM   #3
wodin
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That's why I use the Darkreverser and Calibre.
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Old 04-23-2010, 12:53 AM   #4
sylkstream
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Well, HarperCollins have been nice enough to actually answer me about this situation. Here is a portion of what they said...

...Although we do produce our books exclusively in ePub, many of our retailers convert the ePub to other formats before they sell them--as an example, ebooks.com converts our ePub files to Mobipocket and Microsoft Reader. Hopefully you can find an e-book retailer that sells the file format you prefer....

So, now that I have had that "from the horse's mouth" I'm going to be "attacking" the stores I commonly use, e.g. BooksOnBoard.

I appreciate the replies, but don't forget to hassle your retailer/publisher if you want to get anywhere - especially without having to resort to converters etc.

All the best
Lea
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Old 04-23-2010, 02:33 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by wodin View Post
That's why I use the Darkreverser and Calibre.
I must admit, I do much the same. I try to purchase the ebook in either MOBI, EPUB or LIT, then liberate the ebook from the shackles of DRM. Once done I can convert to MOBI or more lately EPUB for use in either my PDA, Omnia smartphone or my PRS-300.

I won't sully any of my preferred devices with a DRM'ed ebook.

The above is pertinent only if I can actually buy the ebook in the first place though. Geographic restrictions are expanding like a super nova.
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Old 04-23-2010, 02:40 AM   #6
joey1986
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I use the Calibre. LOL
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Old 04-24-2010, 09:47 AM   #7
dkoenig
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Are there good tutorials on liberating ebooks. i have been buying ebooks from fictionwise/ereader for 10 years, and still do, but I know have an Android, and their software for the Droid is lacking. Their software for the iPhone is very nice, but they have not done much to update the droid client.

Thanks,

don
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Old 04-24-2010, 09:32 PM   #8
bobzam
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I am new also and have a Smartphone with Windows Mobile. My library has ebooks via Overdrive. I installed the software on my home computer and all is fine. I downloaded a book and can listen. Then I went to overdrive.com and installed the software on my mobile phone. Now here is the roadblock. I have an 8 gig SD card. The books are too big to go on my main drive so they must go on the storage card. I start downloading and try to direct to storage card and get failure. I also copied the book over from my console computer to SD card but cannot get it to play via Overdrive software or WMP.

Where can I get help. Overdrive and lots of public lib sites have tutorials but they do not address this issue.

Thanks, Bob
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Old 04-26-2010, 10:08 AM   #9
mikaelalind
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Check out Kobobooks, they have a lot of novels available for mobile devices.
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