Comments on: Tower of eBabel issue persists—with or without the IDPF announcement http://www.teleread.org/2006/06/21/tower-of-ebabel-issue-persists-with-or-without-the-idpf-announcement/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:23:05 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: David Rothman http://www.teleread.org/2006/06/21/tower-of-ebabel-issue-persists-with-or-without-the-idpf-announcement/comment-page-1/#comment-64940 David Rothman Wed, 21 Jun 2006 22:32:38 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=5072#comment-64940 Thanks for your encouragement, Liviu! I hope you'll continue asking questions and providing feedback! - David Thanks for your encouragement, Liviu! I hope you’ll continue asking questions and providing feedback! – David

]]> By: Liviu http://www.teleread.org/2006/06/21/tower-of-ebabel-issue-persists-with-or-without-the-idpf-announcement/comment-page-1/#comment-64869 Liviu Wed, 21 Jun 2006 18:08:46 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=5072#comment-64869 Hi, Let us see the details and implementation and then we should celebrate. When Adobe and ebooks come in a phrase, I do not believe until proven wrong that something positive will come out of it. Get that OpenReader format and dotReader software going since I believe that once something like that is out some publishers will follow and get momentum behind rather that waiting for the pie-in-sky standards promised for 8 years and counting. Liviu Hi,

Let us see the details and implementation and then we should celebrate. When Adobe and ebooks come in a phrase, I do not believe until proven wrong that something positive will come out of it.
Get that OpenReader format and dotReader software going since I believe that once something like that is out some publishers will follow and get momentum behind rather that waiting for the pie-in-sky standards promised for 8 years and counting.

Liviu

]]> By: Richard http://www.teleread.org/2006/06/21/tower-of-ebabel-issue-persists-with-or-without-the-idpf-announcement/comment-page-1/#comment-64806 Richard Wed, 21 Jun 2006 14:17:06 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/blog/?p=5072#comment-64806 Spot on. Having a standardized eBook format won't amount to a hill of beans when: 1. Only the 'container' file format has been defined. If the contents inside that wrapper can be anything, than you don't have a strandard. (It is like Microsoft putting it's binary Office file formats inside an XML file with a few nuggets of meta data and calling it an "XML" file format.) 2. As long as DRM creates inter-op issues, than having a standard accomplishes nothing. The iPod and the iTMS uses a defined standard - MPEG 4 - for an audio file format. But the Fairplay DRM mechanism prevents you from using those files on non-iTunes software and on non-iPod portable players; so the use of a 'standard' file format there is meaningless to the consumer. It looks to me like a lot of posturing and very little real progress toward...well, anything. Spot on. Having a standardized eBook format won’t amount to a hill of beans when:

1. Only the ‘container’ file format has been defined. If the contents inside that wrapper can be anything, than you don’t have a strandard. (It is like Microsoft putting it’s binary Office file formats inside an XML file with a few nuggets of meta data and calling it an “XML” file format.)

2. As long as DRM creates inter-op issues, than having a standard accomplishes nothing. The iPod and the iTMS uses a defined standard – MPEG 4 – for an audio file format. But the Fairplay DRM mechanism prevents you from using those files on non-iTunes software and on non-iPod portable players; so the use of a ’standard’ file format there is meaningless to the consumer.

It looks to me like a lot of posturing and very little real progress toward…well, anything.

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