Harlequin fan worries about eBabel
“With technology changing, will we still be able to read ebooks we buy today in say ten or twenty years? I’ve already come across problems with buying ebooks from Harlequin. Their reader, though pretty, worries me. The first e-book I bought from them gave me reservations about buying from them. Now I buy from other avenues. Technology seems to be the driving force behind ebooks. It’s also the thing, I think that will hold ebooks back. Have you encountered any issues with opening files? Transferring types? Is a reader like Sony’s or the Kindle the answer? What do you think?” - Ecataromance blog.
The TeleRead take: As consumers grow more sophisticated about E, I suspect that Harlequin and other publishers will be hearing from more and more people frustrated with eBabel—all those warring e-book formats. eBabel worries are no longer just for geeks. The Harlequin site serves up books in at least three formats, Adobe, Microsoft Reader and Mobipocket Reader—which it should do. But oh for a universal format like ePub, so e-books can be as easy to buy and use as audio CDs.
May 18th, 2008 at 6:44 am
I agree that a durable and universal format is helpful in reducing reader angst. This is one reason I offer all of my books in HTML. No matter what happens in the world of E, I think HTML will always be readable–and a good basis for user conversions, should they have an incompatible device. Perhaps, soon, ePub will also serve this role. I have to say that I’m encouraged by the progress I’ve seen over the past few weeks.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
May 18th, 2008 at 10:02 am
I do agree that finding a universal format will definitely be important the more ebooks become mainstream. The closest thing we have now is PDF (Acrobat Reader on every computer, etc), but for long-term e-reading, I do agree that something needs to happen in the tech realm of it.
All the best,
Heather S. Ingemar
May 18th, 2008 at 10:31 am
PDF is nowhere near a universal format, it does not work on many mobile devices. The closest thing we have to universal is plain text.
May 19th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
Fortunately, one can save PDF files as TXT, so that makes TXT even more universal than before.