DVD plus (+):
Philips, Sony, Mitsubishi Chemical, Hewlett-Packard, Ricoh, Thomson, Yamaha

DVD minus (-):
Pioneer, Sharp, JVC, Hitachi, Mitsubishi, Kenwood, LG Electronics

But in the end Sony developed a DVD burner which mastered both formats and this battle was decided. The past has shown, that only if this terrible format wars come to an end, consumers will buy technology in numbers. Before this we all are Early Adopters and act as guinea pigs.

I also wanted to correct one point – you stated that “Bookeen's Cybook reads only proprietary Mobipocket format.” I use a Cybook, and have used it with multiple non-DRM formats (including PDF, HTML, TXT, and non-DRM as well as DRM MobiPocket). Also, even DRM MobiPocket is not as proprietary as, say, the Kindle, because you can purchase MobiPocket eBooks from multiple online retailers.

If you haven’t used a Cybook, I definitely recommend it (BooksOnBoard is giving one away for FREE right now! More info here). I still agree with you that DRM needs to be abolished… I hope publishers realize this soon.

http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419-amazon-does-damage-control-on-its-print-on-demand-demands/

hundreds? no.

maybe a dozen.

likely half that…

> it really is not the format
> it's the DRM that is bad.
> Formats can be converted easily.

easily? no, not really.

not all of ‘em, anyway.

and especially not .pdf,
which is the one that
people want to convert
most often, i’ve found…

if you’re a windows user,
abbyy’s pdf-transformer
– an $80 program –
can do a fairly good job.
and there’s other options.

otherwise, you’ll need the
_pro_ version of acrobat,
which means that adobe
extracted cash from you.
feels like extortion to me.

-bowerbird

Formats can be converted easily.

I won't have Adobe reader on any of our office computers or any of my personal computers. I hate that bloated memory hog.

As long as the PDF is not DRM’d by the Publisher you can use any one of the hundreds of PDF readers out there that meet your needs.

As usual only the DRM creates the Adobe monopoly.

I’m waiting for the 2.0 version of Kindle. I figure they’ll probably win – they’ve got the biggest, most visible marketing, since every time someone clicks on Amazon, there it is. And Whoopi Goldberg was showing hers off on The View a week or so ago. Once it comes down in price, I think it’ll be the way to go, especially with the wireless connection, instant subscriptions that show up daily, like newspapers, and instant Wikipedia access. It’s a nice machine.

I think I’ll wait and see if the industry ever decides on one format. At least now I know to buy Blu-Ray.

Jane A on February 24th, 2008 at 3:14 pm:

Danielle,
Jane here at Dear Author has a great post on this.
http://dearauthor.com/wordpress/2007/02/04/convert-ms-reader-files-into-ebookwisebbeb-compatible-formats/
I hope this helps…

Thanks Jane. I forgot about these instructions.

right, and this is precisely why the recording industry
would never think of doing lawsuits against music fans.

and why adobe would never have a russian d.r.m. cracker
arrested and held in jail for a long period of time…

corporations are smart about avoiding this bad publicity.
they’re trying to do what’s right for us, the customers…

-bowerbird

Frankly, I don't think the big print publishers care enough (at this point) to try and set a uniform format. As Keishon said, they care more about how to avoid piracy.

Maybe this is counterintuitive, but it seems to me that creating hostility in readers by frustrating conversion, inflating prices, and privileging propriety will ultimately boost piracy way more than working *with* readers to offer the most affordable and easily used and acquired product — something that will build a sense of trust and loyalty in readers rather than a sense of being jerked around (let alone all the ways in which the new technologies can be viewed as attempts to circumvent long-valued limitations on copyright).

I just bought a Sony Reader and I have to say, I’m in love. I’ve read three books in less than a week and I haven’t done that in ages. Lately, I only read sporadically but the Reader’s made it a lot easier for me.

Of course, I’m not really looking forward to converting a lot of my older formats so I can read them easily, but I figure if I do a few at a time, it won’t be so bad.

As annoying as some of the formatting mess is, I’m glad I didn’t put off getting the Reader. I can knock out a decent amount of reading at the gym, and this is MUCH easier to use on a treadmill than a paperback and this summer instead of two totes of books to haul around on vacation, I’ll just load up the SD card before we hit the road. For that kind of convenience, I’ll deal with some inconvenience.

Bettie, your LOLcat is just too cute.

and it will be locked-up, and opaque,
and defective-by-design with d.r.m.,
and viewer-programs for it will suck,
and you’ll have to pay through the nose
to get your content converted to it, and
adobe will laugh all the way to the bank,
because they’ve got you by the short hairs.

not really what you wanted after all, is it?

-bowerbird