Book publishers clamor for an open ebook format

[thewayne]

I whole-heartedly agree. I don't buy ebooks, but I download a lot, mainly from Gutenberg. The fact that, if I had a Kindle and bought an iPad, that I couldn't read purchased books interchangeably between the two, that would really irritate me. And with an avalanche of slate computing devices over the horizon, that's going to become an increasing problem.

For Michael Serbinis, chief executive of Kobo, a company that allows users to buy e-books and read them on most devices, that battle is a distraction to the real changes coming.

“Today you can buy a book at Barnes and Noble and you can buy a book at Walmart and you don’t have to keep them in separate rooms in your house,” he said. “You buy a book from Apple and Amazon and you have got to keep it tied up with your Apple universe or your Kindle universe.”

I just downloaded Kobo's app for the iPad Mini (AKA iPod Touch) and quite like it, except it doesn't link to Gutenberg like my Stanza app does.

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/universal-e-books-format/all/1

http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/05/31/2031202/Publishers-Campaign-For-Universal-E-Book-Format

Comments

[vaudy.livejournal.com]

I am not really into ebooks (maybe someday, when I have the disposable income for a reader), but I very much agree with this. If things remain as they are, where you can't read a Kindle ebook on a Nook, or a Nook ebook on and iPad, etc., well, I'll probably never bother to get a reader. But even just in principle, open format is the most consumer-friendly way to go. (Which is why it will probably never happen, because nobody wants to be consumer friendly anymore. I should try to be less jaded.)

[droewyn.livejournal.com]

You can.... it just involves using a DRM removal program and then converting the file to something your reader can use. Surprisingly easy -- my mom could do it -- but it's very much a legal gray area even if you never intend on sharing the file.

I bought and converted a Kindle edition of Seanan McGuire's A Local Habitation when I got sick of waiting for B&N to release one themselves.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

There's both a Nook and Kindle program for the iPod Touch/iPad, so there's a bit of compatibility in that direction. Amazon released a developer's kit for the Kindle, so there's a possibility that there will be some movement in that direction. The problem is that the Kindle and Nook are more specific-purpose computers whereas the iPad is closer to a general computer with restricted programming, so without an open specification it's less likely that the Kindle or Nook (can we call them collectively the Kinook or Noodle?) are less likely to support other formats than the iPad could.

I used the Kindle program on my iPad Mini (iPod Touch) and it was acceptable. I was looking for a free book that was supposedly available for the Kindle, but for whatever reason it didn't work well on my Touch. I've heard the Nook program isn't that great but have no personal experience with it.

[silveradept]

If they adopted a single open format, one that didn't have onerous DRM, libraries and book people would flock to it, because they would finally be able to do with e-books what they can do with regular books - share them and lend them and tell other people about them.