IDPF - New digital book standard released: OEBPS (XML format) & OCF (container)

[CommanderROR]

It looks like the IDPF is finally starting to move a bit...

The Press release doesn't really go into too much detail, but it seems that the new standard is finally becoming real. You can about read it here.

Maybe this will be our new DRM format for the iRex Iliad?

Thanks go out to DoctorBri for this tasty bit of news!

[Michael]

I think you can find an implementation of this specification (encapsulation of the OEB format in a container) in the new Adobe ebook reader available in Beta version at http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/digitaleditions/.

In this new reader, two formats can be read:
- .PDF
- .epub (which is a reflowable format)

Download an epub file from their library, rename it in .ZIP, unzip it and you will find an OEB publication (the HTML and CSS files) .

To make a small summary:
IDPF new spec <=> ePUb <=> OEB zipped

[DoctorBri]

Nice! Just as you said. Thanks Michael.

[jæd]

So... Which format is that from the downloads available at http://adedemo.com/ ...? Xhtml...?

Btw, has anyone noticed the restrictions on the pdf books there:

"Copying not allowed
Printing not allowed
Lending not allowed
*Reading aloud not allowed*
Book never expires"

[TadW]

Mobipocket is also part of the game? Now, that's getting interesting, since Mobipocket = Adobe.

[igorsk]

I thought Mobipocket is Amazon?...

[Jon Noring]

Originally Posted by CommanderROR

It looks like the IDPF is finally starting to move a bit...

The Press release doesn't really go into too much detail, but it seems that the new standard is finally becoming real. You can about read it here.

Maybe this will be our new DRM format for the iRex Iliad?

Thanks go out to DoctorBri for this tasty bit of news!

I am one of the contributors to the IDPF OCF 1.0 specification, as well as all versions of OEBPS going back to 1999.

So with that background, I today posted my thoughts to TeleRead on the OCF specification (which essentially is a ZIP file with a few rules of usage.)

And a few days ago I posted a deconstruction of Adobe's "epub" format, which implements OCF.

[pdam]

Just a note - it's actually only the container standard that has been released, the ebook standard hasn't changed (I think).

It's worth noting that IDPF don't actually do DRM, they simply allow for it by showing where the pointer to 3rd party DRM goes within the OCF structure... this won't be the DRM solution for the Iliad I'm afraid.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

After reading Jon's links, I find one thing I agree with, and one thing I disagree with, in the same paragraph:

Anyone who builds a reading system to natively render OEBPS Publications should not pick and choose which features of OEBPS they will support — the reading system should, in good faith and only tempered by platform limitations, support them all and let publishers decide what features they want to use in their publications.

In fact, Adobe has every right to decide which of the OEBPS features their system will support... it's their product, after all. They decide what features to support, and customers weigh in by customer comments, or they don't use the product (prompting Adobe to rethink their product and act accordingly).

However, if they say they conform to OEBPS specs, you should be able to read all properly-formatted OEBPS pubs. Otherwise, they need to be clear that they support AdobeOEBPS or limited OEBPS only.

[Jack B Nimble]

Originally Posted by Steve Jordan

However, if they say they conform to OEBPS specs, you should be able to read all properly-formatted OEBPS pubs. Otherwise, they need to be clear that they support AdobeOEBPS or limited OEBPS only.

Great... So then we end up like the early days of the web. "Best viewed using..."

I don't really want to have to keep several readers up to date, and then remember which books work best with which reader. That's one of the issues I have with this standard "container." Without standardized content, who cares? I wouldn't buy a DVD that only worked in Sony DVD players, either. Which is why the HD / Blue-ray DVDs are having such a hard time. It's like the companies involved are actually trying to make things more difficult.

Jack

[doctorow]

Originally Posted by igorsk

I thought Mobipocket is Amazon?...

Definitely agreed. Mobipocket = Amazon. Makes IDPF even more interesting

[doctorow]

Originally Posted by Jon Noring

I am one of the contributors to the IDPF OCF 1.0 specification, as well as all versions of OEBPS going back to 1999.

Hi Jon, welcome to the forums.

I am somewhat confused... as a contributor to the IDPF OCF format, you sound rather pessimistic about it today. How come? What happened between you and IDPF?

[Jon Noring]

Originally Posted by doctorow

Hi Jon, welcome to the forums.

I am somewhat confused... as a contributor to the IDPF OCF format, you sound rather pessimistic about it today. How come? What happened between you and IDPF?

Yes, I have my concerns with the direction that IDPF is taking OEBPS. The primary concern is that there is no well-established Roadmap in the new OEBPS Working Group by which to make decisions. Two companies, Adobe and ETI, are ramming through the next version of OEBPS, and decisions are essentially ad-hoc in nature. There's simply no vision of where they want to take OEBPS. I could go on and describe in gory detail all my concerns, but I'll refrain from now. I am thinking of writing a TeleRead blog article to outline them. The list is long (dealing with both OEBPS and the IDPF organization itself), and I may have to write it in a series of articles.

It should be noted that other than the ETI folk, and myself, no one else who was substantively involved with OEBPS Development the last few years is around. Everyone else is pretty much disillusioned by the direction IDPF is taking standards work. Why I still hang around is something I wonder about every day.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Jack B Nimble

Great... So then we end up like the early days of the web. "Best viewed using..."

Yeah, you're right, no one really wants to see that happen. But as long as the actual content is the same, as Jon suggests it should be, then it's up to the user to decide which e-reader they prefer based on features... and it's up to the manufacturer to come up with the best combination of features to sell their e-reader.

The situation does have some troubling parallels to the browser wars... but it would worse if, say, Sony was actively guiding OEBPS to run on their new e-reader. At least Adobe is not creating HW (or content) to run in the OEBPS format, so they are relatively impartial here.

And ultimately, if Adobe doesn't handle this properly, the content and HW makers will simply ignore OEBPS and take to a different format (or formats, putting us back where we started...)