INCEPTION Hits the Shelves

[ronny]

I got my hands on this earlier today, but I want to finish Sorrows of Empire and read Under the Raptor's Wing before I read it.

Inception is really short. It's only 300 pages and the text is twice the size of DRG3's . You'd probably blow right through it.

Yeah, I read a big chunk while standing in line waiting to see the MST3K folks at Sketchfest. Expect to be done before the weekend.

 

[seigezunt]

"ST: Inception: I read it on the crapper!"

 

[Ktrek]

Figures! I buy a B&N nook so I can save shelf space but the book is released and no ebook version! Ugh!

Kevin

 

[ATimson]

Figures! I buy a B&N nook so I can save shelf space but the book is released and no ebook version! Ugh!

...

 

[Ktrek]

^ Thanks! I looked all over for that. Search did not pick it up for me but where in the heck is the cover?

Kevin

 

[ATimson]

^ Thanks! I looked all over for that. Search did not pick it up for me but where in the heck is the cover?

Some publishers like Tor and Random House make a habit of not including the "real" cover in their ebooks. Not S&S, though. My EPUB version of Inception from elsewhere had a cover, so it's possible that B&N's catalog is just outdated.

 

[Ktrek]

Well, if Inception is an example of S&S's quality control for ebooks then I think it sucks. Not only does the book NOT have a cover but the text is littered with question marks in the oddest places throughout the text. I'm very disappointed. I think if we have to pay the same price for an ebook as for the trade paperback Pocketbooks should have better quality control. It's obvious that nobody proofread the B&N version. And they want us to believe that as much work goes into the ebook versions as paper? Give me a break! If I have one more ebook from them with this kind of quality it will be the last Star Trek book I purchase. No DTB and no ebooks. I'll be finished.

Oh..and it's hard for me to believe that SD Perry had anything to do with this story other than lending her name to it. It's nothing in style like her other Trek books and honestly...pretty poorly written.

Kevin

 

[ATimson]

Well, if Inception is an example of S&S's quality control for ebooks then I think it sucks. Not only does the book NOT have a cover but the text is littered with question marks in the oddest places throughout the text. I'm very disappointed. I think if we have to pay the same price for an ebook as for the trade paperback Pocketbooks should have better quality control. It's obvious that nobody proofread the B&N version.

The problem stems from Adobe Digital Editions (and Stanza on the iPhone, and possibly other readers) not recognizing the (valid) HTML entity used for the ellipsis. It shows up fine when viewed in Calibre or a web browser.

Get functioning reader software and try again.

 

[Ktrek]

The problem stems from Adobe Digital Editions (and Stanza on the iPhone, and possibly other readers) not recognizing the (valid) HTML entity used for the ellipsis. It shows up fine when viewed in Calibre or a web browser.

Get functioning reader software and try again.

That's all well and good but I bought an ereader so I do NOT have to read on my computer. I hate backlit screens and the epub should be corrected by the publisher to read on an ereader.

Kevin

 

[Thrawn]

^ Lots of people have similar complaints with the Nook. Expect future patches to fix things like that.

 

[Ktrek]

^ Lots of people have similar complaints with the Nook. Expect future patches to fix things like that.

The problem is one with the publisher and not a software issue with the nook. None of my other purchases from B&N have had a single problem. Just this book from Pocketbooks. It would still be readable if the question marks did not replace some words but it is glaringly apparent that text has been replaced because it makes no sense when read in certain parts.

Kevin

 

[Dayton Ward]

I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure publishers themselves don't prepare e-Books for all the various formats out there -- I guess unless they're preparing them for sale off their own sites. Wouldn't they provide the digital file to the vendor, and the encoding/etc. is taken care of by whoever owns whatever proprietary format we're talking about? At least, that's how I think it worked at one time. No idea how it's done today.

 

[Ktrek]

I'm not certain, but I'm pretty sure publishers themselves don't prepare e-Books for all the various formats out there -- I guess unless they're preparing them for sale off their own sites. Wouldn't they provide the digital file to the vendor, and the encoding/etc. is taken care of by whoever owns whatever proprietary format we're talking about? At least, that's how I think it worked at one time. No idea how it's done today.

I was told by B&N customer service that the publisher provides the ebook file and the distributer is responsible for adding the DRM to the file. Each distributer uses a different means of DRM. Barnes and Noble for instance encodes your email and credit card to the file and the nook authorizes that file as belonging to a valid account.

 

[JWolf]

I did fix the problem with the ePub. It was actually very easy to fix.

But, the fix never should have been needed. ADE is what we use to handle the DRM. If it was DRM free and there were other ePub viewers out there, fair enough, but ADE is what we need to use. So yes, this is a glitch caused by S&S not using ADE to verify the ePub.