TeleRead: Bring the E-Books Home

Archive for the ‘Adobe Reader’ Category

By a TeleBlog Contributor

Editor’s Note:  Yesterday I took a comment by Felix Torres and posted it on the front page because I thought it was really important.  After I did that I emailed Felix and asked if he would be willing to write an extended version of his comment for us.  Well he did, and this is the result.  It is, IMHO, the best post we’ve had this year, and I bet it will take that number one slot for the full year as well. The title, above, is from his email to me.  Thanks, Felix.  PB

One of the things that most folks in the publishing world neglect is that Amazon is not just a retailer, but also a software developer. More, they are one of a handful of companies working on a platform for (potentially) the next age of computing: the so-called “cloud computing” era of blended local and remote computing. Here’s a few starting points for those that haven’t caught up with the IT techies’ meme dujour:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2008/tc2008082_445669.htm

http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=8471

http://aws.amazon.com/

http://aws.amazon.com/ec2/

Notice how Amazon has multiple business competencies quietly stashed in the back? Logistics, marketing, software development… It takes a lot of skills to move that many dry goods. And once you have the tools and skills, one would be foolish not to use those tools.

Which brings us to Kindle.

Once you factor in Amazon’s hidden face it is hardly surprising that they are leveraging their cloud platform capabilities into boosting Kindle with features like Whispersync and hosting notes and bookmarks; they already host Kindle bookshelf backups and email accounts and file conversion services for their users, after all. And when you consider that none of their existing ebook-business competitors has any experience in that arena (except Microsoft, who may not even be in the game anymore) this just might turn out to be the deciding factor.

Now, to be totally clear, Adobe also has a Cloud initiative of their own;

http://technoracle.blogspot.com/2009/01/adobe-cloud-computing-livecycle-es.html

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By David Rothman

Apropos of e-book readers, where are the Web simplicity mavens when we need them?

Would that every e-reader look like the one to the right, with its nice, clean appearance. An easy click on an icon, and you’re there. Granted, I’m not saying “boring” is for every book—still photos and videos will be fine for appropriate titles. But let’s rely on the books themselves, not e-reader software, to provide the excitement.

A disappointing Digital Editions

By contrast, isn’t Adobe Digital Editions—shown in the second screenshot—a mess? One goal at Adobe was to simplify the interface so it wasn’t so much like the  Space Shuttle-style cockpit.  But damn if Adobe didn’t botch it anyway. Even geeks and semigeeks may struggle to adjust the controls to determine font size, positioning, etc., of PDFs. For shame, Adobe! And for shame, me. I should have beaten up hard on Digital Editions when it first came out.

No decent just-the-book-ma’am mode

Unlike Adobe’s usual PDF offerings these days, Digital Editions won’t let you easily switch to even a halfway-adequate just-the-book-ma’am kind of view. You still see distractions even in the “reading” mode. Not that Adobe’s usual offerings are exemplary about full screen, given PDF’s limits, especially on netbook-size displays. But they’re much better with PDF files than Digital Editions is. ePub? It isn’t as tricky as PDF, since the format is natively reflowable and displays line breaks appropriately even on small screens of netbook size or tinier.

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By David Rothman

The $199 Acer Aspire refurb from CompUSA is again sold out, at least as I write this.

But you might consider a 149.99 deal on an ASUS EEEPC from ZipZoomfly. Price includes shipping, at least in the States.

Like the Acer, the ASUS EEEPC701SD-BLK004X offers XP Home, meaning you can run more e-book programs than with Linux.

May DRM vanish, so Linux fans can enjoy zillions of bestsellers while still using this hardier OS and open source software!

Not as powerful as Acer Aspire, but longer batter life

The ASUS isn’t as powerful a machine, and the resolution of the seven-inch screen is a mere 800 X 480. But it still should do the job for the budget-crimped who want a laptop rather than an e-reader alone.

XP Home’s ClearType option, if it’s available, should make the ASUS screen a bit more tolerable than otherwise. Also, the rated battery run time of 3.5 hour actually beats the rated one for the more expensive Acer by an hour.

The ASUS offers 8G of built-in solid state storage. If you keep the number of apps down, you’ll probably still have a fair amount of space for e-books. Any thoughts on the space  issue from others?

Warning: Act fast if interested

No, I don’t know how long the ZipZoomfly deal on the ASUS will last, so don’t tarry—just so you’re aware of the risks. My knowledge of this California-based company is squat. Anyone have opinions, especially on its refurbs?

For now, thanks to Danny for calling attention to the ASUS deal .

Meanwhile, back on my Acer…

Now—more about my experiences with the Acer, or, to be exact, the statuses of various e-reading programs on it at this point.

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By Paul Biba

Excerpt from Bill McCoy’s blog appears below. Also see earlier TeleRead post.

Adobe has just released, under BSD license, EPUBGen, a Java library that generates EPUB.

To quote from our digital publishing developer blog:

EPUBGen is a Java library that demonstrates EPUB generation from a variety of document formats, and which may be a useful starting point or reference code for other EPUB generation needs. That is to say, it’s an effort to promote the development of a variety of tools and workflows.

EPUBGen has both a set of back-end code generation modules and front end format importer modules. The back-end modules generate EPUB and illustrate more advanced functionality, including font subset embedding with obfuscation

The code itself can be found on the epub-tools Google Code site, which includes other sub-projects witg Python/XSLT scripts for generating EPUB from DocBook and TEI XML. For more of the gory details on font embedding with obfuscation (aka "mangling"), which illustrates the recently published IDPF Tech Note about same, see this related blog post.

By Paul Biba

Bill McCoy of Adobe, speaks in his blog about some new adopters of Adobe’s Mobile Reader SDK. He mentions Amazon as one of them, and then he goes on to make the following statement:

I do want to clarify that Amazon’s integration of the Adobe Reader Mobile SDK into the Amazon Kindle DX only includes PDF support, and not support for EPUB or Adobe Content Server 4 protected content. I’m encouraged that this is a first step by Amazon toward open file formats and interoperability, but it is just that: a first step. I find the new large-screen form factor attractive, but as a consumer, I don’t like products that lock me in to a closed architecture. On that basis, I’m afraid I can’t yet recommend the Kindle family, since the commercial eBook support is limited to Amazon’s proprietary format and DRM, for which content can only be acquired from their online store. And, this content is not interoperable with any other reading systems. By contrast the Sony Reader product line offers complete compatibility with both PDF and EPUB, including unprotected and ACS4-protected publications that can be acquired from many different online retailers and libraries. And, this content can be transferred and used on PCs, with Adobe Digital Editions and Sony EBL software, as well as to other compatible devices that will be released soon by other Adobe partners. That’s the open, interoperable ecosystem that Adobe and its partners are working to foster.

By David Rothman

“Built on the Intel® Atom™ processor, the PeeWee Pivot PC is an Intel-powered Classmate PC which features durable, drop and spill resistant construction with a sturdy plastic case and removable carrying handle to withstand demanding everyday use at school, in the house, on the job or when traveling.” – PeeWee PC site (via jkOnTheRun).

The TeleRead take: Priced at $599—no, this isn’t an econo machine—the “tablet laptop”  uses the Windows XP operating system. So it presumably can run Adobe, eReader and Mobipocket software, as well as other common e-reading apps. Before you go with Adobe Reader, however, read about the security issues—I’d welcome comment from Adobe.

By Paul Biba

Here we go again. Adobe, according to the Washington Post, has confirmed that there is a security flaw in Reader for Windows, Linux and the Mac platforms. There have been a lot of security problems with Reader and perhaps we should be switching over to a more secure platform According to the Post’s Brian Krebs in his Security Fix column:

As an alternative, I generally recommend the free and lightweight Foxit Reader (like Adobe’s Reader it now comes bundled with a toolbar that you may want to opt out of installing). But there are other free PDF readers, including Sumatra PDF and PDF-XChange Viewer.

Thanks to Michael Pastore for the link. Michael also has a discussion of alternatives to Adobe Reader on his website. Luckily I’m on a Mac so I can use Preview, which cones with the Mac, and so don’t need to bother with this security-problem-plagued product.

By David Rothman

“We’re a bit heavy-hearted to report of plenty of unhappy German-speaking users complaining about the sub-optimal quality of ePub titles they’ve purchased. One cannot help but believe that those book editors in charge were lacking important technical information regarding the current limitations of the Sony Reader. For instance, some simply ignored the size limitation of 300Kb per XML/HTML chunk. Without splitting large files into these smaller chunks, the converted e-book won’t work properly on the Sony Reader. We’ve heard of at least one e-book that has been sold like this.” – Mtravellerh in MobileRead.

The TeleRead take: This is hardly a German-only problem. Time for Sony to launch an aggressive outreach effort to educate publishers? Then again, as Steve Jordan has pointed out, should it really be necessary to adjust ePub files for a particular device?

Other ePub creation issues issues

All over the planet, the issue isn’t just file size. It’s also the complexity of creating ePub documents. Granted, some possibilities are emerging, but the IDPF has a lot of work to do in this area if it wants to serve all publishers, large and small. I continue to believe that the IDPF needs to be financing and promoting free creation tools and readers alike—software with license terms that would not prevent private companies from picking up the better features. The existence of the same software would help encourage genuine adherence to standards.

IBM: Possible IDPF angel?

While the IDPF’s resources are limited , wouldn’t it be logical for a company such as IBM—which has thrived with open source—to offer the financial help that publishers have refused to do? Or maybe fund development of the open tools directly? I can also see a role for private foundations such as MacArthur. The involvement of IBM and private foundations would be one way to deal with the very real concerns that Adobe—a leading provider of ePub-related software—exercises too much influence over the IDPF. For now, I suggest that the IDPF spend a few hours going through Twitter messages to grasp the full extent of the problem.

Just as much as ever, I strongly support ePub, the idea of an alternative to eBabel. I also strongly support the idea that the IDPF needs to do much more to improve both the standard and its implementation, as well as work toward a logo for nonDRMed ePub.

Related: ePubWriter for small publishers and self publishers? A TeleRead challenge to the open source community—plus Azardi is now in Release 2.

By David Rothman

Might the inherent hassles of DRM—not just the legal complexities associated with copyright books—be one reason why only public domain volumes are offered through the Google-Sony partnership announced today? And isn’t DRM fraught with risks anyway, as shown by the encryption-related patent suit that Discovery Communications has filed against Amazon? The solution is simple. No DRM—at least not for publishers that, like my own, don’t want it.

Sony acted brilliantly in lining up the new 500,000-book public domain initiative with Google, which can provide the infrastructure and scanning power to grow the collection. While things aren’t as open as I’d like—I want those ePub books to be directly accessible from Google, for example—this is still laudable progress. As the next step, the two companies should collaborate on a DRMless book store, using the ePub standard, HTML and other open formats. Such a store could probably be in operation sooner, and cost less to maintain, than one using so-called "protection." Clueful publishers, such as Pan Macmillan, a bastion of skepticism toward DRM, would surely rush to be included in a Google-based bookstore from Sony. I’d love to see The Solomon Scandals sold that way, and I know that Twilight Times Books, my publisher, would feel otherwise. Other stores involving other Google partners, not just Sony, could also start up and ideally avoid DRM.

But Sony could be a leader here. Imagine the synergies. Sony for easy-to-own DRMless books and for hardware with a major retail presence. Google for rapidly deployed infrastructure and ubiquitous linking. In Sony’s case and others, the bookstores could unabashedly push company-related hardware and integrate the books with the related software without forestalling sales to owners of other devices. A win for all! Worry less about troublesome proprietary hooks like DRM and more about sheer efficiency and volume! Jeff Bezos created an MP3 music store without DRM. Isn’t it time for Sony and Google to fight Amazon’s DRM-hobbled Kindle bookstore by aligning their interests with consumers? And if Jeff wants to pre-empt them with his own DRMless bookstore allowing true ownership of books, that’s fine by me.

Reminder: I’m a very small Google shareholder for retirement purposes. I’ve knocked Google for such things as watermarking its brand name on public domain books and have warned against Google replacing public libraries. There have been other issues, too, such as the accessibility of Google-OCRed books for indexing by the company’s rivals. That said, I call ‘em as I see ‘em. In the case of the just-announced partnership between Google and Sony, I see many good things possible.

Also of interest: 500,000 free Google Books available for Sony Reader—in ePub, from Bill McCoy at Adobe, which supplied Sony with the software to render ePub on the Reader. Adobe also intends for different versions of its software to display ePub on other devices. By the way, Bill has mentioned social DRM as a possibility to avoid the technical complexities of the usual "protection"—you know, embed users’ names inside e-book files, as a way to discourage them from pirating the books. Time for Adobe, Sony and Google to act on the concept even though this idea is hardly flawless? I think so!

By David Rothman

Get the details from Adobe (download links included) and also in a Techmeme roundup. Highlights from Adobe:

A critical vulnerability has been identified in Adobe Reader 9 and Acrobat 9 and earlier versions. This vulnerability would cause the application to crash and could potentially allow an attacker to take control of the affected system. There are reports that this issue is being exploited.

Adobe recommends users of Adobe Reader and Acrobat 9 update to Adobe Reader 9.1 and Acrobat 9.1. Adobe is planning to make available updates for Adobe Reader 7 and 8, and Acrobat 7 and 8, by March 18. In addition, Adobe plans to make available Adobe Reader 9.1 for Unix by March 25.

Meanwhile Foxit users should pick up a security patch for it. Downloads here. Computerworld story here.

By Chris Meadows

According to Brad Stone in the New York Times “Bits” blog, Amazon has announced that it will leave up to the publisher the decision of whether a book can be read aloud by the Kindle’s speech synthesizer. In their statement, they continue to insist that the feature is completely legal—”Nevertheless, we strongly believe many rights-holders will be more comfortable with the text-to-speech feature if they are in the driver’s seat.”

(This reminds me of the flap caused by Adobe back in 2000 when the company released a PDF of Alice in Wonderland through Glassbook whose description included the line, “This book cannot be read aloud.” Some fraction of the Internet got up in arms over this, given that Alice in Wonderland was in the public domain—but it turned out to be a misunderstanding based on Adobe disabling use of a speech synthesizer function of Adobe Reader on that particular file.)

From one perspective, it is highly disappointing that publishers will be able to turn off a really handy feature that should be entirely legally permissible and is in no way a threat to professionally-produced audiobook recordings. But it is understandable that Amazon might not want to alienate publishers at this point. Hopefully the majority of publishers will take the sensible position that authors such as Cory Doctorow and Neil Gaiman have put forward—that the read-aloud feature is neither an infringement nor a threat.

Of course, if the stricture against reading aloud is enforced by DRM, all that a Kindle customer would need to do is offload the Kindle book onto his computer and use the tools that already exist for cracking Mobipocket DRM to get around that. (At least for the Kindle books that use the Mobipocket format.)

Regardless, the Pandora’s box of text-to-speech has been opened, and I would not be surprised if other e-book reader manufacturers included it in their machines as well. There is no guarantee those other manufacturers, or even Amazon, will be willing to listen to the Authors Guild forever.

By David Rothman

"After more than two weeks (months?) of inexplicable silence on mitigations for a known code execution vulnerability in its Reader and Acrobat product lines, Adobe has finally posted public information on the problem but the company’s response falls well short of providing definitive mitigation guidance for end users." - Ryan Naraine’s ZDNet blog.