Trek Books for Kindle
- Thread starter terpette
- Start date
So that means the DRM is tied to Adobe the company and not Barnes and Noble or other ePub format ebook sellers? Sorry, just trying to understand the model.
If you can get the first seven Star Trek novelizations, I would definitely recommend them. The Star Trek novelizations were the best, greatly expanding the stories.
Recommended stories...Ex Machina and the two The Left Hand of Destiny books.
Recommended stories...Ex Machina and the two The Left Hand of Destiny books.
That's correct. If you want to stop there that's fine. If you want a more detailed explanation of each, read on.
There's two types of ePub DRM that Adobe offers. (Apple has their own third kind, but everybody else in the world uses Adobe's, so they're the guys I'm going to discuss here.) They are:
* "Standard" DRM, used by all booksellers except B&N. Books are tied to an account with Adobe. You need to register your computer/device with Adobe, then any existing books in that account can be moved to your new machine, even if the bookseller is dead.
* "B&N" DRM. Books are encrypted with a hash of your name & the last 8 digits of the credit card #. To open the book on a new device, you just need to enter the name/card #.
(This is perfectly secure; a hash is a one-way encryption that cannot be reversed. Even if someone got their hands on your files, they could never figure out your name/credit card info from the file. When you open the book, the reader software asks you for your name & card #. It then encrypts what you gave it, and make sure that the encrypted name/CC# you entered match the encrypted name/CC# added to the file when you downloaded it.)
While less devices support B&N encryption right now, to me it's the preferred method; you can read your books on as many devices as you want, and Adobe can never say no to you.
ATimson, thanks for the detail. Now I understand it better. I have a kindle and love it. I understand peoples concwrns about vendor lock, etc. sounds like there can be issues all around.
Fortunately I am able to remove the drm and convert as necessary. I have done this over the years since I started buying books on palm 3 and ms lit books. My oldest ebooks started life as pdb and lit format and now are on the kindle and ipad.
Fortunately I am able to remove the drm and convert as necessary. I have done this over the years since I started buying books on palm 3 and ms lit books. My oldest ebooks started life as pdb and lit format and now are on the kindle and ipad.
And that guarantees you'll be good forever.
I don't disagree at all. While I do believe the Kindle's hardware is the best on the market, I'm less than thrilled that they didn't choose to support the ePub format. I don't have a problem with them adopting their own proprietary format like the .mobi as well, but they really should accept the industry standard.
Well, I feel better about Amazon's commitment to their one and only product and their financial future than I do Barnes and Noble, but, that being said I'm not banking on that device for my library. I strip all the DRM from all the books I purchase and I let Calibre manage my library. If I decide to port to another device, I just plug it into the computer and put my books where I want them.
That may have been true at one point, but the new nook honestly is goddamn impressive if all you want is a reader. Makes my old nook look like an antique.
You technically have no right to those files once they're outside the Amazon ecosystem though. You may as well be downloading pirated files as far as the law is concerned.
Based upon the description of the way ePub DRM is implemented on the B&N devices then I believe this applies to Nook books too.
It may not be within the letter of the law but it is the sensible thing to do. If I was to start buying ebooks I'd certainly go for the ones that were format-shiftable.
My wife just bought the new Nook and I read about 1/2 a book on it to try it out. Other than how hard the left page turn buttons are to press, I do really like the new Touch nook a lot and if Kindle were to drop the ball, I wouldn't have any qualms switching to the new nook. We'll know more for sure in a couple months when the new Kindle 4(s) comes out and we can compare apples to apples (Nook touch vs. Kindle 4 touch), but my suspicion is that the Kindle will pass it back up as it already has features in the Kindle 2/3 that the nook Touch don't have like Speech to Text, enhanced internet browsing and other features that are lacking on the nook touch.
That being said, I was quite impressed with the Nook touch. I will also mention I tried the Kobo touch as well (my wife is shopping readers) and I would not ever switch to that. Too small, too buggy and not a good experience overall.
Perhaps where the technicality of the law is concerned, you are correct. Last time I checked, removing DRM from a file you own was not technically illegal, but I will admit I don't follow the laws that closely.
I do, however, always purchase books and as in the first 40 years of my life, when I do so, I feel like that book is mine to do with as I please. I know publishers try and jockey themselves into position to maximize their profit margins by limiting how and when and where I can read the digital copy of the book I bought, but I'm not really interested in playing those games.
Much like in the early days of DRM'd MP3's when people ended up stealing them because companies like Apple made it too difficult, pricey and locked down to buy music from them, the eBooks are going to have to go the same route that Apple eventually did and remove the restrictions and let people buy a copy of the book at a fair price without trying to make them buy it over and over again.
So, I may or may not be technically illegal but I certainly feel like I obey the spirit of the law which is to pay for a product you use and support the authors which you enjoy.
They can at least be unlocked on non-B&N devices, if not many at the moment.
Right now the only thing that would tempt me towards a kindle is if they made one with a larger screen and managed to get rid of all the page flashing (whereas the new nook still flashes every half-dozen pages or so.) Make it touch-screen and get rid of all the buttons and something about the size of the DX's screen with a month or so battery life would be just about the optimal device for my reading needs.
I'm not bothered about the buttons either way, but I have an aversion to touch technology. Or rather it never works properly with me. It has got better as the technology has improved, but I have what I want. A reading device that stops me taking up too much space in a small apartment and that I can connect to the internet to wherever I am. I read just as fast on it as I do dead tree books so there's no issue there.
I'm not going to buy the Kindle 4 unless I can exchange the 3 for it, but I'll to have a look at it and play around with it to see if it really is enough of an improvement.
I'm not going to buy the Kindle 4 unless I can exchange the 3 for it, but I'll to have a look at it and play around with it to see if it really is enough of an improvement.
This is kind of where I'm at......I did like reading on the Nook Touch, but I also noticed that I would inadvertently touch the screen from time to time causing an unwanted page turn. Since the Kindle 4 is supposed to have one cheaper($99) Kindle 4 that is basically an enhanced Kindle 3 and a more expensive Kindle 4 Touchscreen, I'm thinking seriously about moving from my Kindle 2 to the cheaper Kindle 4 and forgoing the touch aspect for reading entirely.
Sony is upping their game too. They are coming out with at least one new model The PRS-T1 and it will have wifi. No idea if this a 6" model or a 7" model. I don't think we'll know that until sometime in September.
label, do you strip DRM and convert your Kindle eBooks to allow your wife to read them? If not, then you have two choices. You either buy the eBooks twice (for the ones you both want to read) or you buy an ePub capable reader and share. See, Amazon's vendor lock-in could be biting. Your wife didn't want a Kindle and for people who do not strip DRM and/or format shift, they would be in a similar situation.
As for the Kindle hardware, it is not the best out there. I'm guessing you may have meant the Kindle's software. But when we look at AZW (Mobipocket with a different DRM) vs. ePub, you will notice that Mobipocket is not as capable.
Sure Amazon could add features to Mobipocket since they own the company, but I don't think that would be in Amazon's best interest. It would not be in the best interest of the customer. In the best interest of the customer would be for Amazon to adopt ePub (using ADE and not a different DRM). If we had one stadardized format, that would mean the tower of eBable would be that much closer to toppling.
When you look at the technical aspects of Mobipocket vs. ePub, Mobipocket is just obsolete. Sure it works to allow you to read eBooks. But, so does a text file and there are ways to denote bold and italic in a text file. But would you want to read that? Probably not.
What Amazon does well is the Kindle experience. But that could come at a high price for a lot of people. That price is vendor lock-in. Let's say you have a Kindle and decide you'd like to switch to a Sony. Your library won't go with you. It can't.
There was once a chance for Mobipocket to become the defacto eBook standard but not today. Back when the 505 was the current Sony model, they wanted to add in another eBook format. They approached Mobipocket about this and Mobipocket told them that in order to use Mobipocket, it had to be the only format that allowed eBooks with DRM and Sony said no. After that Sony went to Adobe and added ADE. Mobipocket's inflexibility is what is leading to their downfall. Amazon is using it. but nobody else is.
label, do you strip DRM and convert your Kindle eBooks to allow your wife to read them? If not, then you have two choices. You either buy the eBooks twice (for the ones you both want to read) or you buy an ePub capable reader and share. See, Amazon's vendor lock-in could be biting. Your wife didn't want a Kindle and for people who do not strip DRM and/or format shift, they would be in a similar situation.
As for the Kindle hardware, it is not the best out there. I'm guessing you may have meant the Kindle's software. But when we look at AZW (Mobipocket with a different DRM) vs. ePub, you will notice that Mobipocket is not as capable.
Sure Amazon could add features to Mobipocket since they own the company, but I don't think that would be in Amazon's best interest. It would not be in the best interest of the customer. In the best interest of the customer would be for Amazon to adopt ePub (using ADE and not a different DRM). If we had one stadardized format, that would mean the tower of eBable would be that much closer to toppling.
When you look at the technical aspects of Mobipocket vs. ePub, Mobipocket is just obsolete. Sure it works to allow you to read eBooks. But, so does a text file and there are ways to denote bold and italic in a text file. But would you want to read that? Probably not.
What Amazon does well is the Kindle experience. But that could come at a high price for a lot of people. That price is vendor lock-in. Let's say you have a Kindle and decide you'd like to switch to a Sony. Your library won't go with you. It can't.
There was once a chance for Mobipocket to become the defacto eBook standard but not today. Back when the 505 was the current Sony model, they wanted to add in another eBook format. They approached Mobipocket about this and Mobipocket told them that in order to use Mobipocket, it had to be the only format that allowed eBooks with DRM and Sony said no. After that Sony went to Adobe and added ADE. Mobipocket's inflexibility is what is leading to their downfall. Amazon is using it. but nobody else is.
Not sure if anyone is interested, but I just posted a large review of the current Kindle on my blog. In short, I really like it, and while it isn't the same as a real book, it's not a bad substitution. You can read the much more in-depth review here: http://frenchfriedgeek.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/the-amazon-kindle-a-library-in-your-hand/
Cheers!
Cheers!
You said...
Have you tried any of the other readers out there such as Sony, B&N, Kobo, etc.
The Kindle does not have font customizations. You cannot change the font. Other readers/formats (ePub) can, but not the Kindle. So that is incorrect information.
That's not entirely true either. The Kindle does allow you to adjust the size of a font. This could be considered by some to be a font customization. I didn't read the blog post though so I have no way of knowing if that was what he was referring to.
Still, basic as it is, being able to change the font size is a font customization.
- Byron
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