| It has always been my thoughts that the Electronic | | | | I don't think it is any coincidence that the newly |
| Book Readers war would not be won on price alone. | | | | announced Edition range of the Sony Digital Book |
| It seems that Google and the Sony Digital Book | | | | Reader has support for this format and PDF as it |
| Reader have fired the first salvo across the bows of | | | | coincided with the Google announcement. This must |
| Amazon, in what has become the new | | | | have come as a great shock over at planet Amazon. |
| battleground...proprietary file formats linked to on line | | | | Their Kindle models, only recently upgraded, don't |
| eBook sales. | | | | directly support ePub so are now at a distinct |
| One of the main stumbling blocks for people joining | | | | disadvantage to savvy electronic book readers. |
| the e-book reader revolution has been the fact that | | | | Those in the know are just not going to touch a |
| if they threw their hat in with one manufacturer, in | | | | Kindle at any price, and we all know Sony are going |
| the future any change in allegiances could result in an | | | | to do ever thing in their power to get the word |
| e-library that was unreadable and useless on their | | | | across. |
| new choice. It seemed at the time, the time of the | | | | So what is ePub and why, all of a sudden, have two |
| newness of the technology and the top ticket prices | | | | monster companies seemingly set out to shaft |
| being asked for the devices, that this was a good | | | | Amazon?ePub file format is an open standard, |
| idea. Most manufacturers had their own proprietary | | | | lightweight format, specifically for text based |
| format, it seemed that only the smaller | | | | electronic books, or eBooks as we all know them. |
| manufacturers, in their attempt to make their models | | | | Unlike PDF, ePub automatically shrinks or expands |
| more appealing, actually thought about this as a long | | | | text for various display sizes. This makes it far more |
| term problem. | | | | electronic book readers friendly than PDF which was |
| Fast forward to today, the electronic book readers | | | | always intended as an image based format and does |
| gold rush has passed, we have been in the midst of | | | | not react kindly to down sizing text for smaller |
| a global down turn and buyers are looking for even | | | | screens. To answer the second part of the question |
| more value. They are still there but they are in belt | | | | we just need to look deep into Go ogles mind. They |
| tightening mode and are in no mood to be screwed | | | | have always been firmly on the side of freedom of |
| by anyone, something I have been saying has | | | | choice and delivering, to the masses, relevant |
| happened far to often in the past. | | | | content. It is not in their psyche to limit there |
| So the logical step, by manufacturers of these | | | | reported million plus titles, available at Go ogle Books, |
| devices, had to be towards more openness. Sony | | | | to only certain readers who own certain models of |
| Corp seem to have stolen a big start on Amazon | | | | ebook reader and so have come down firmly on the |
| with the recent announcement by Google that they | | | | side of the Sony Digital Book Reader by choosing to |
| will be backing the open ePub file format. This format | | | | use pub. This has brought together, either |
| is taking over from PDF as the preferred format to | | | | intentionally or unintentionally we will probably never |
| deliver free content, and we all know where Google's | | | | know, two giants squaring off against the current |
| stand on that, with more and more publishing houses | | | | market leader. |
| using this as their choice. | | | | |