Kindle or EPUB?

[SchalaZeal]

Originally Posted by nowthenmobile

What does it mean on Amazon if there is no "simultaneous device usage" entry?

At BooksOnBoard what does it mean when both Adobe ePub and Adobe Digital Edition are listed.
This is one of their bestsellers:
http://www.booksonboard.com/index.ph...ok&BOOK=601577
It has loads of formats listed, all with a padlock next to it.

The diff is that "Adobe Digital Editions" (in this case) refers to the DRMed PDF file. At least that's been what I've noticed over the (many) times I've purchased from Books on Board.

[nowthenmobile]

"-X-" You make some good points. I suppose that I am not really seeing a big long term picture. Your point about Adobe DRM is well made but I don't understand enough about Adobe's role in this and what motivates them. I guess I am just venting frustration that with ebooks it seems that you are not really allowed to own your books. It seems that competition is often lacking an element of cooperation that would allow the interests of the customer to be served. It is like being asked to pay £100 for a radio that will only receive radio signals from the BBC, and then having to buy other radios for other stations. They have managed to sort that out. If everything was as disconnected as eReaders there would be so much waste.

Re: Amazon Can Exterminate Everyone Else In eBooks
I don't believe the article. It looks like Amazon don't believe it either. It wouldn't surprise me if the author were actually doing his little bit to tempt Amazon out into the open.

Bookworm_Girl
I am waiting to see if my neighbouring county allows me to borrow their ePUBs. (My county doesn't lend them.) This is not unheard of. I suppose there is always Philadelphia.

OK - Something I am struggling to understand - What is the point of Overdrive? I can search for a book and then find out which libraries have it. What's the point of that if I can only join my local library? Am I using it wrongly? It seems that Overdrive actually sell these ePUBs and their website services to the local libraries. Why don't Overdrive just lend them directly to the public and charge book rental?

[Solicitous]

Originally Posted by nowthenmobile

After searching around it seems like the only show in town (the UK) (aside from the Kindle) is Sony. If you look on ebay, the second hand ones are mostly Sonys. Ebay's second-hand prices are preposterous; I can't understand the bidders. They knock a third off the price to buy a used piece of old technology. Waterstones have an attractive deal on the Sony PRS 350 (£139 I think) but I think we might miss the extra 1 inch. What I don't understand is how the other manufacturers are competing with Kindle and Sony. Some of them are charging the same kind of price as Sony but without the brand confidence of the Sony - Strange. I think the 650 looks like the business but at twice the price of the Kindle 3 it's not an easy sell. It strikes me that this is not really the right time to buy - just as the new high contrast screen is entering the market. When everyone has upgraded then prices will be a little keener. Maybe I should buy a Kindle and just fill it with classics and occasionally take advantage of Amazon's cheap prices. Still, the ability to borrow ePUBs would be such an advantage....and I despise Amazon for not reading ePUBs. I think it is anti-competitive, but it is people like me that allow them to get away with it.

Well as an owner of both a 5" and 6" device I can say this. The 5" was my first ereader and I love(d) it. I found it rather easy to read on. Then I bought my Kindle. The 6" size is nice. I use approximately the same font size on both, but get more words to the screen on the Kindle, so less page turns. Not a big issue. What I have found thus far is; the larger screen is nicer to read when sitting back relaxing at home and reading, the 5" unit is far far more portable when going places (I am a bloke so no hand bags to put it into, shirt/pants pocket is all I have). I did try to take the Kindle out once but to me it felt a little awkward carting it around.

My opinion is, if you only read at home, 6" is the way to go. If you intend to take it places on a regular basis, a 5" is the better option.

Originally Posted by Madam Broshkina

There is an interesting article at Nate's "The Digital Reader" site. It states that if Amazon went with ePub they would become an outright monopoly in the ebook biz.

http://www.the-digital-reader.com/20...ks/#more-10501

Something that I felt was left out of the article was the fact that Amazon has complete control over the .mobi/azw format. Epub is an open standard and would probably be more difficult to make accepted changes to. Also it would tie down Amazon with Adobe (unless they offered another form of DRM to satisfy publishers, then it raises the question as to why they would move in the first place).

All in all though, good article to read.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by Solicitous

Also it would tie down Amazon with Adobe (unless they offered another form of DRM to satisfy publishers, then it raises the question as to why they would move in the first place).

If Amazon adopted ePub they would certainly use their own DRM with it. There's no way that Amazon would pay Adobe $0.22 per book sold.

The reason for Amazon to adopt ePub would be to allow book producers to take advantage of the better layout options available in ePub, and also help publishers by reducing the number of formats they need to produce.

I suspect that Amazon will eventually adopt ePub, but until DRM on ebooks goes away it won't do anything to help ebook buyers.

[decenttp]

Pardon my lack of understanding regarding the DRM. I am a new author working on finalizing my first manuscript. I have been reading it all regarding self publishing and looking for a good publisher too. I have good exposure to programming and have been successfully able to create ebooks in .Mobi and .epub file formats. The one thing that i have not been able to understand is how DRM is implemented? how it actually works? who implements it for an author like me? Any charges involved. I believe i understand DRM as such well. And i have been able to find substantial information on goods/bads regarding DRM but until i am 100% clear with the process it's very hard to make a good choice. I am very sure there would be several authors like me who follow the self publishing route and quite a few who do not know much about implementing DRM. A word of advice from the experienced people here would be highly appreciated.

If this post is not relevant to this thread I am very sorry about the same. I am new to this forum and still learning.

[nowthenmobile]

It might be a little tangential but I would certainly be interested to follow the thread.

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by decenttp

The one thing that i have not been able to understand is how DRM is implemented? how it actually works? who implements it for an author like me? Any charges involved.

The text (and in the case of ePub, pictures and fonts) are encrypted using a secret key that's known to the software used for reading the book. The key is usually different for every reading device, except for B&N's encryption key, which is unique to the purchaser (and is derived from their name and credit card number). Without having the secret key*, the encrypted text can't be decrypted and read.

DRM is added to ebook files by the distributor or retailer. The publisher/author doesn't need to have anything to do with it.

There are usually (Lulu.com is an exception) no direct charges to the author. Amazon does their own DRM system, so their costs are internal. Adobe's DRM schemes (Adept and B&N's version) cost the distributor $0.22 per book sold.





* The fatal flaw in all DRM schemes (apart from being wholly against the customers' interests) is that they all require the customer to be in possession of the secret decoding key. Mobipocket used to make this secret key readily available (the PID). Since Amazon bought Mobipocket, the secret key has become more and more hidden and complicated.

[Bookworm_Girl]

Originally Posted by nowthenmobile

Bookworm_Girl
I am waiting to see if my neighbouring county allows me to borrow their ePUBs. (My county doesn't lend them.) This is not unheard of. I suppose there is always Philadelphia.

OK - Something I am struggling to understand - What is the point of Overdrive? I can search for a book and then find out which libraries have it. What's the point of that if I can only join my local library? Am I using it wrongly? It seems that Overdrive actually sell these ePUBs and their website services to the local libraries. Why don't Overdrive just lend them directly to the public and charge book rental?

I hope that the neighboring county works out for you. Yes, Overdrive is the main supplier of the EPUBs and website services to libraries. There are other companies too like NetLibrary, but Overdrive seems to be the most popular. I suppose the reason that you are restricted to your local library is the same as paperbooks. You've contributed taxes to your local area, and they've chosen how to spend them at your local library whether it's more paperbooks or an expanded digital media selection.

You ask a very excellent question. "Why don't Overdrive just lend them directly to the public and charge book rental?" Many people are wondering when companies are going to start offering paid rental services (like Apple TV has just announced for television episodes) or a monthly subscription service (like Netflix for movies and Audible.com for audiobooks). Maybe we will see a sales model like this one in the future.

[desertgrandma]

Originally Posted by decenttp

If this post is not relevant to this thread I am very sorry about the same. I am new to this forum and still learning.

Welcome to MobileRead, decenttp.

Not to worry about where you posted, many of our new members start out in different forums.

When you get a chance, click on the 'introduce yourself' link below and let us all welcome you properly.

[KunoK]

I think you have got the facts now. Here they are seen from my point of view.
The hole scene is a mess. There are 2 (main) ways to go: amazon and epub. They are incompatable.
Epub is the more free system, but not more free than adobe is in control.
Amazon has complete control, if you go that way. I think they have made the best overall setup, if you want things to be simple for the user.
If you as a user want freedom, there are no options, but to liberate the books once you have bought them. The you can convert to any reader if necessary.

This is a long thread, where you really have considered your options. You must let us know the outcome.

[=X=]

Originally Posted by nowthenmobile

"-X-" You make some good points. I suppose that I am not really seeing a big long term picture. Your point about Adobe DRM is well made but I don't understand enough about Adobe's role in this and what motivates them. I guess I am just venting frustration that with ebooks it seems that you are not really allowed to own your books. It seems that competition is often lacking an element of cooperation that would allow the interests of the customer to be served. It is like being asked to pay £100 for a radio that will only receive radio signals from the BBC, and then having to buy other radios for other stations. They have managed to sort that out. If everything was as disconnected as eReaders there would be so much waste.

What you mean like Sirius radio and XM Radio

Actually it's worse than that. It's like being asked to pay for a $100 radio, and then being charged full price to listen to the song, sure you can listen to it when you want, but they have to right to remove the song from your account.

Here is my advice to you. Find the bookstore that best suits you, based on selection and not format. Then look for a device that suits you. Looks and features. Find out if the DRM has a liberation solution.
Then plunge in and buy the eReader.

At the moment there is not clear solution but there is good enough. Don't worry about the format Kovid had made shifting between format trivial. And the benefits of eBooks far outweigh any con.

Originally Posted by nowthenmobile

OK - Something I am struggling to understand - What is the point of Overdrive? I can search for a book and then find out which libraries have it. What's the point of that if I can only join my local library? Am I using it wrongly? It seems that Overdrive actually sell these ePUBs and their website services to the local libraries. Why don't Overdrive just lend them directly to the public and charge book rental?

Yes this frustrates me too. Personally I think it's the publishers that are to blame and do not allow overdrive to enter this kind of business.

Can you imagine if they turned into a Netflix for eBooks. I would subscribe in a heart beat.

=X=

[nowthenmobile]

Well, we've just had a moment of excitement on ebay. I just poached myself a nearly new Sony PRS 600 for £84 including delivery. I am quite pleased with myself. I shall now live my life spitting in the general direction of any passing Kindles. Well, actually I think that if we like this one we will be saving up for a Kindle in the future. Until then, we will enjoy all the classics and borrow from libraries. Exciting times!

[Bookworm_Girl]

Congratulations! Now your challenge is to try to stay patient until your new reader delivery arrives.

[Bookworm_Girl]

I just had another thought for you. Did your ebay purchase include a cover? If not, since you got the PRS-600, maybe you should pinch a cover too while you can still find a good selection easily. I did a quick search on amazon.co.uk with the words "prs-600 cover". It looks like there are some good deals out there, like 50% off the original prices.

[nowthenmobile]

Thanks for the tip. I'll take a look. I blame you for my rush of blood to the head, Bookworm_Girl. I knew if I didn't buy one soon you would be on my case. On the subject of cases, are those Armor cases any good?