“ We use the epub format : It is the most democratic undetermined script data formatting in the world . ” That ’s how Steve Jobs foretell the iPad . And wow , that sound like all the ebooks you own will just figure out on anything . Um , no .
The mind of an open ebook format that works on any reader sounds nice . Buy it from any beginning , read it on any gadget . In a few cases , it ’s true , and that open data format affair can work for you . But , in reality , right now ? You ’re middling much go to be stuck reading books you buy for one gimmick or ecosystem in that same little puddle , thanks to DRM . And well , Amazon .
The Hardware
• Amazon Kindle : Kindle ( AZW , TPZ ) , TXT , MOBI , PRC and PDF natively ; HTML and DOC through rebirth
• Apple iPad : EPUB , PDF , HTML , DOC ( plus iPad Apps , which could include Kindle and Barnes & Noble readers )
• Barnes & Noble Nook : EPUB , PDB , PDF
• Sony Reader : EPUB , PDF , TXT , RTF ; DOC through conversion
You ’ll discover a pattern there : Everybody ( except for Amazon ) supports EPUB as their primary ebook format . Turns out , there ’s a good rationality for that .
EPUB, the MP3 of Book Publishing
The reason just about every ebook utilize EPUB is because the immense bulk of the publication diligence has decided that EPUB is the industry standard file format for ebooks . It ’s a free and open criterion , based on open specifications . The successor to afford eBook , it ’s maintain by theInternational Digital Publishing Forum , which has apretty lengthy list of members , both of the dead - tree thought ( HarperCollins and McGraw Hill ) and of the technical kind ( Adobe and HP ) . Google ’s million - book library is all in EPUB too .
It ’s base on XML — extensible markup language — which you see all over the place , from RSS to Microsoft Office , ’cause it lays out normal forstoring information . And it ’s actually made up of a three opened constituent : Open Publication Structurebasically is about the data formatting , how it looks;Open Packaging Formatis how it ’s tied together using navigation and metadata ; andOpen Container Formatis a zilch - based container format for the filing cabinet , where you get the .epub file extension service . When you toss those three element together , you have the EPUB ebook data format .
https://gizmodo.com/pondering-the-apple-tablets-print-revolution-5456803
D-D-D-DRM!
But rent ’s not get too activated seeing the run-in “ free ” and “ undefended ” so much in conjunction with EPUB . It ’s like MP3 or AAC , and not only because it ’s become a semi - cosmopolitan diligence standard . Make no mistake , these files can be totally unencrypted and unmanaged , or they can be wrapped up in any form of digital rights management a distributor want .
So far , harmonize to Bogaty , the DRM every EPUB distributer currently uses isAdobe Content Server , which handily also wraps around PDF file . Sony and Barnes & Noble both expend it on their readers , though since Adobe ’s DRM does n’t reserve for sharing books between accounts , B&N actually uses aslightly custom version , and manages the Nook ’s lending feature film using their own backend . ( Adobe is working on a sharing provision . ) It does , however , living passing , which is how Sony ’s vaunted library lending lineament whole caboodle .
The plus side of all this compatability that it ’s actually potential to move file from a Sony Reader to a Nook , usingAdobe Digital Editionsto authorize the transfer . ( Though according to some reviewers , that would be like moving pelts from a dead horse to a rot bear . )
Apple , on the other hand , chose EPUB as the preferred file format , but will be wrapping DRM’d files from its iBooks Store in the FairPlay DRM , which is used to protect moving picture and apps ( and formerly music ) in the iTunes Store . As always , expect them to be the only ship’s company using it .
( There ’s a herald to EPUB ’s dilemma : Audible downloads . you could buy Audible audiobooks from an enormous telephone number of root , but the ones you buy from iTunes are n’t going to bring on any other Audible - up to twist , no matter how many logos they slap on the loge . )
Kindle, Barnes & Noble, and How The Dead PDA Business Affects the Live Ebook War
Did you sleep together that Amazonowns Mobipocket , which in the main targeted ebooks for PDA and smartphones , and had its own file format that with radical in the PalmDOC format ? TheMobipocket format , consequently , has two extensions : .mobi and .prc . I work it up , not because you should give care about Mobipocket — you really shouldn’t — but because the Kindle ’s preferred AZW format is in reality a very slightly modify version of MOBI , which is why it’seasy to convert files from one format to the other . Unprotected AZW Indian file can be renamed to the MOBI or PRC format and simply work with MobiPocket reader .
The problem with Mobipocket is that it ’s not a very capable formatting , since it was primitively designed for ancient - ass PDAs and all . So there ’s another limited Amazon format that’sa little more mysterious , called Topaz , which is more capable than MOBI , with powers like the power to have embed fonts . It ’s used for few book , and hold the file suffix .tpz or .azw1 . For what it ’s worth , some people complain book in the Topaz formatting are less responsive than the standard AZW files . In truth , none of this may matter if and when theSuper Kindlearrives .
https://gizmodo.com/amazons-working-on-a-full-color-multitouch-kindle-with-5466859
In condition of DRM , Amazon apply its own DRM on both data format . Both have been cracked , though it apparently take longer with Topaz . This may be undecomposed newsworthiness for pirates , but weigh not at all from a cross - platform point of view , since that format is wholly proprietary , and nothing but the Kindle or Kindle software program will say it anyway .
But the sure-enough PDA bequest crap does n’t stop with Amazon . Palm once have its ownebook platform , which it sell to a company who called it eReader . Eventually , the format and the software platform came to be have by Barnes & Noble . I ’m only dragging you into this because Barnes & Noble actually still sell many books in this formatting , even while they transition to the more popular and “ open ” EPUB format . you could spot an eReader format because the single file end in .pdb — but you only see that after you bought the damn thing . That is to say , even if you care enough about formats to go with the reader that supports the one you like , you still might get stuck with a limited , if not completely proprietary , heap of books .
PDF, I Still Love You
In comparison to EPUB , PDF is dim-witted . develop over 15 year ago by Adobe , the portable document format has been an open standard since 2008 . You ’re probably pretty all-fired familiar with it , but the main thing about it versus these other formats is that everything is fixed — baptismal font , graphics , text , etc.—so it looks the same everywhere , versus the reflowable data format that adapt to the cover size . Hence , Amazon offers PDF without zoom on its Kindle DX , which has the screen door tangible estate to ( ordinarily ) not mire it up too much . With smaller screens than the PDF ’s native size , it necessitate some pan - and - zoom hoodooism , and it still usually expect pretty distasteful .
Zoom issues notwithstanding , having a fix format has reward . For instance , a hatful of “ electronic newspapers ” were transmitted via PDF back in the Clarence Day , because it retain their design . It ’s really dainty for comics . ( therefore , you could bet scanned - comic piracy to irrupt when the iPad arrives , unless Marvel and DC come in up with killer strategies to get their funnies on a equipment that ’s clearly beg for it . ) Wikipediacovers a lot of the technical ground , amazingly thoroughly , even if the usual Wiki caveat apply . As remark above , it can be protected with Adobe Content Server DRM , just like EPUB .
chatter to catch
The Great Shiny Hope: Apps
The other path for digital publishers : Build an app to hold your Book and mag . This is the route magazine are taking , because they ’re project some fancy digital jujitsu . With Adobe AIR , which is what Wired and the NYT are using in various personification for their respective rags , they ’re able to do more advanced layout , more rich multimedia system , Flash foolery , and other designer bling that EPUB ca n’t handle , allege Adobe ’s Bogarty . Also , significantly you could dynamically update content , like when unexampled event arrive , which you ca n’t really do with EPUB .
Interestingly , the publisher Penguin is alsotaking the app routefor their books , progress apps using World Wide Web technologies like HTML5 for the iPad , so their record are in fact , way more like game and applications than mere books . So it ’s another tack publishers could take .
https://gizmodo.com/penguins-incredible-vision-of-books-on-the-ipad-doesnt-5485150
But the app business concern can facilitate with the openness of the big ebook data file format , too . Many the great unwashed read Amazon ’s proprietary formats on their iPhone , because Amazon wants to betray books , and Apple require masses to use apps . Barnes & Noble has a reader app , too ; while not groovy , it at least somewhat help get over the PDB / EPUB confusion . It ’s pretty likely that these and many other ebook apps will ferment up on the iPad , unless Jobs decides that they “ duplicate ” his “ functionality . ” Since iBooks itself is an app you have to download , it probably wo n’t be an issue . Here ’s hop-skip .
The Upshot
The estimate of an open ebook format that crop on any reader voice really nice . And in some event , if you pay really really close aid , it ’s true . That open data formatting thing really can wreak for you . But the reality ? You ’re middling much belong to be adhere with the books you corrupt in one equipment working only in that same ecosystem , or at least hoping and beg for an compartmentalization of proprietary reader apps to come out on all your equipment . Now , where ’d I put that transcript of Infinite Jest ? Was it in my Kindle subroutine library , my B&N library or my iBooks program library ?
Still something you wanna know ? post question about ebooks , bookies or horse headsherewith “ Giz Explains ” in the subject line .
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