Book publishers clamor for an open ebook format
I whole-heartedly agree. I don't buy ebooks, but I download a lot, mainly from Gutenberg. The fact that, if I had a Kindle and bought an iPad, that I couldn't read purchased books interchangeably between the two, that would really irritate me. And with an avalanche of slate computing devices over the horizon, that's going to become an increasing problem.
For Michael Serbinis, chief executive of Kobo, a company that allows users to buy e-books and read them on most devices, that battle is a distraction to the real changes coming.
“Today you can buy a book at Barnes and Noble and you can buy a book at Walmart and you don’t have to keep them in separate rooms in your house,” he said. “You buy a book from Apple and Amazon and you have got to keep it tied up with your Apple universe or your Kindle universe.”
I just downloaded Kobo's app for the iPad Mini (AKA iPod Touch) and quite like it, except it doesn't link to Gutenberg like my Stanza app does.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/universal-e-books-format/all/1
http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/05/31/2031202/Publishers-Campaign-For-Universal-E-Book-Format
For Michael Serbinis, chief executive of Kobo, a company that allows users to buy e-books and read them on most devices, that battle is a distraction to the real changes coming.
“Today you can buy a book at Barnes and Noble and you can buy a book at Walmart and you don’t have to keep them in separate rooms in your house,” he said. “You buy a book from Apple and Amazon and you have got to keep it tied up with your Apple universe or your Kindle universe.”
I just downloaded Kobo's app for the iPad Mini (AKA iPod Touch) and quite like it, except it doesn't link to Gutenberg like my Stanza app does.
http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/05/universal-e-books-format/all/1
http://news.slashdot.org/story/10/05/31/2031202/Publishers-Campaign-For-Universal-E-Book-Format