Right now, I’m using Mobi because it’s the only eBook format I can read on my LifeDrive. Which now makes me think how I’d really be SOL if I were to get an iPhone!

Here in NYC, we just beat back — as I’m sure you know — the Mayor’s plan to eviscerate the NYPL. I don’t think that will translate into them adding ePub any time soon, though. (And I just saw an ominous listing for “Leased Book” in the LEO print catalog. A tweet to NYPL has not gotten a reply about that odd development.) So Mobi will persist, but at least it can be read on many pocketable devices, unlike PDF.

HeavyG, I meant distribution to distributors, of course. But that in itself suggests that ePub is no WordStar! See why we’re talking apples and cucumbers?

“EPub may also become the mostly widely used retail ebook format. If that happens then ePub might properly be acclaimed as THE ebook standard.”

Adobe and Sony are big on ePub at the consumer level, and Google just started offering ePub books that anyone can download via the Sony store. Time for Jeff to catch up. ePub is on the way up, and remember, it’s nonproprietary, a genuine standard.

If Jeff can offer either nonDRMed ePub or ePub with social DRM, he’ll have a true multiplatform format, in which people can own their books for real. A great biz opp for him, and a true service for consumers. So, as soon as possible, he should do the e-book equivalent of his laudable MP3 store—working with interested publishers. Others will climb aboard when the Amazon ePub Store takes off!

Thanks,
David

David – do you mean distribute as distinct from retail?

As far as retail sales, members of the Hachette Book Group certainly do not sell ebooks only in epub as is obvious from perusing Amazons Kindle Bookstore.

EPub may well find itself in widespread use as an intermediary format used for transcoding into various retail formats. EPub may also become the mostly widely used retail ebook format. If that happens then ePub might properly be acclaimed as THE ebook standard. At the moment the marketplace continues to disagree with your assertion.

The problem for consumers is that it’s not in the interests of big companies like Amazon (or Google in the book scanning case) to antagonize publishers that they hope to strike deals with by litigating out the limits of copyright in court.

I believe that Teleread previously reported the instance of someone who had a book they purchased erased from their Kindle. In this case, a bad credit card was used, and Amazon was able to retroactively retrieve the book. This news came from a post on Mobileread.com.

More recently, posters at Mobileread have reported that Amazon ‘upgraded’ their books. It seems that they purchased books that were poorly formatted. In one case, the book was withdrawn from purchase and later was reintroduced in a cleaner format. Amazon then automatically downloaded the better book and replaced the original copy.

Both of these instances are quite understandable, and in the later case even benevolent (to use the word of the Mobileread poster). However, it is certainly a capability that could be abused.

Even if Amazon proves to be careful about its use of this capability, I wonder whether the fact that it can reach into customers Kindles becomes an issue? I wonder how long it is before some luddite sues Amazon in attempt to force them to search Kindles for illegal content?

Er, haven’t the IDPF and major publishers already decided that issue? Hachette, for example, doesn’t distribute e-books except in ePub.

As far as translation–well, welcome to another complication of DRM, You can’t translate DRMed files that easily, and along the way you just might violate the DMCA.

Thanks,
David

Or you could say just as relevant as I can read files from either format on my Kindles via format conversion.

Maybe one day ePub will become the one format to rule them all. Maybe it won’t. For me, today, ePub is just as relevant/irrelevant as my old Wordstar files.

If Amazon fights the good fight against DRM, that’ll be a Good Thing—healthy use of clout. And, yes, the books will be out there. Just by identifying books as DRMed or not, Amazon could help. Fictionwise does a great job of listing fair use-related info. Be wonderful if Jeff B. could do the same.

Thanks,
David

I think we are starting to see Amazon using their clout in ways that will make publishers at least take a look at publishing in this brave new world.

I hope Amazon does compete with publishers. Competition is a good thing.

“I see you think Amazon should have spent their money trying to fight this. I think most of their shareholders would disagree.”

Taken a poll, lol? This hurts the saleability of Kindle books more than it helps audiobooks.

“Have they really ’steadfastly refused’? Or do you mean this in the same way that they have “steadfastly refused” to allow the Kindle to read my old WordStar files? ”

So ePub is just as irrelevant here as WordStar files? Talk about apples and oranges, er, cucumbers.

“I think iReader is just hoping to see that there be a little more diligence from various places to provide accurate information rather than just spreading the same myths/lies/misunderstandings. We all benefit from truth rather than misinformation.”

Exactly why I wrote the piece to educate ‘em about ePub and the other stuff they ignored or glossed over

Thanks,
David

“and in at least a few cases you can’t read your Kindle books on more than one machine”

Can you share a specific title or two with us that is supposedly beset with this “affliction”?

“Other issues abound such as Amazon’s refusal to stand up against publishers fighting text to speech.”

I see you think Amazon should have spent their money trying to fight this. I think most of their shareholders would disagree.

“Also, the company has steadfastly refused to let the Kindle read the ePub format natively.”

Have they really “steadfastly refused”? Or do you mean this in the same way that they have “steadfastly refused” to allow the Kindle to read my old WordStar files?

“That’s exactly what iReader Review should be seeking for the Kindle rather than casting aspersions on those seeking to reform Amazon (to the advantage of K-machine owners!)”

I think iReader is just hoping to see that there be a little more diligence from various places to provide accurate information rather than just spreading the same myths/lies/misunderstandings. We all benefit from truth rather than misinformation.

Furthermore, Amazon has the clout to encourage publishers to change their ways.

What’s more, although I’d rather that Amazon not compete with publishers in a major way, it could negotiate with “Encore” writers not to use DRM.

I think all these steps would help reduce the number of DRMed books, especially as sales figures came in. At Fictionwise, nonDRMed titles typically outsell the DRMed variety.

Thanks,
David

Same thing with their ebooks. As Amazon does not own the intellectual property rights to the books they sell it is not up to Amazon to decide to sell all their Kindle titles sans-DRM.