what's the big deal about formats? -- a little calculation

[sic]

Hi

please bear with me a little bit

screen: 800 x 600
"colors": 4

since we can represent the 4 colors with 2 bits we need

800x600x2 bits to describe a page.

800x600x2 = 960,000 bit = 120,000 byte = 120 kilobyte

the Sony Reader comes with 64Mb memory so it can store...
64,000 / 120 = 533 pages as bitmaps.
If it had a 1Gb memory card it could store
1,000,000 / 120 = 8333 pages as bitmaps

I don't know about you but 8333 pages sure gives me enough reading for a while...

I know they have the SIZE button and they can reflow text with increased font size... but wait a minute!

First of all, I don't buy books from the Connect store, even if I wanted to I couldn't, because I don't live in the US so they locked me out...
I read mostly PDFs where the SIZE button... well it doesn't help much.

Furthermore... I could decide at the time when I upload content to the reader what font size I want. If it's readable I bet you I won't change it while reading.

On the other hand if they used bitmaps then we wouldn't have this mess with all the different formats.

Besides... they don't have full text search functionality, so they don't actually treat the pages as text, do they?

So the only requirement for any format to put on the reader would be to be able to export it as 800x600 bitmap.

My point is that all the "eBook format war" would happen on the computer, where it's much easier to install more software whereas the eBook reader device would be neutral to formats.
Until they make smarter devices where I can take notes, do full text search etc. wouldn't this be better?

am I making any sense?

Sic.

[slayda]

Originally Posted by sic

My point is that all the "eBook format war" would happen on the computer, where it's much easier to install more software whereas the eBook reader device would be neutral to formats.
Until they make smarter devices where I can take notes, do full text search etc. wouldn't this be better?

So are you suggesting yet another format?

Originally Posted by sic

Furthermore... I could decide at the time when I upload content to the reader what font size I want. If it's readable I bet you I won't change it while reading.

When your eyes get old & late in the evening they get tired, the larger font helps a lot.

[diabloNL]

Originally Posted by slayda

When your eyes get old & late in the evening they get tired, the larger font helps a lot.

I always set the size to "M" when it's late and I'm tired. It's less of a strain for the eyes.

[HarryT]

The trouble with storing books as bitmap images is that you're tied to a specific screen resolution. If you try to view it on a screen with a higher or a lower resolution, it's going to look horrible.

If you stick to "open" formats like text, RTF, HTML, etc, you know that whatever you have is going to be readable on whatever device is around in 10 years time.

[jashsu]

Originally Posted by sic

On the other hand if they used bitmaps then we wouldn't have this mess with all the different formats.

If they used bitmap, it would be very very easy to simply run the bmps through OCR software and get the original text. This is not something content providers would want, obviously. Besides, 120kB/page and no reflow ability is a step backward, not forward.