Sony To Convert Online Bookstore To Open Format 107
Dr_Barnowl writes "The BBC reports that Sony is to convert its online bookstore to the EPUB format. While this format still allows DRM, it's supported on a much wider variety of readers. Is this a challenge to the Kindle? It's nice to see Sony opening up to the idea of open standards. Even if you still have reservations about buying a Sony device, you might be able to patronize their bookstore sometime soon."
Great Scott! It Actually Makes Sense! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Sony is such a large company, the left hand probably has no clue what the right hand is doing. Give it time, I'm sure eventually the evil root kit department will catch on. The format supports some DRM, I'm sure using that and creative interpretations of the standards they can break interoperability.
After all, why sell a customer a working product when you can repeatedly sell them replacements for a defective product? I say this as I remember how Sony portable music players went from high quality near-inde
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
After all, why sell a customer a working product when you can repeatedly sell them replacements for a defective product?
Ah, the joys of capitalism. My 35 year old Soviet radio in the kitchen still works perfectly.
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
What you are experiencing is the joy of (relatively simple) standards.
Re: (Score:1, Funny)
Re: (Score:1)
Sure, but the new ones are shit. I'm probably going to cry when my mid-80's digital alarm clock gives out. You can't get them with a proper circuit board any more, they're all printed boards that will die pretty quickly.
Re: (Score:1)
They're also much cheaper in real terms - i.e. work out how many hours an average worker needs to work to buy a radio now compared to 35 years ago. That being said I'm sure there are people still making clock radios that will last a long time, they're just more expensive.
Re: (Score:2)
Which is part of current culture's problems. It's cheaper to make some disposable piece of crap, and in 30 years time, we toss about 6 devices away, filling up a huge junkpile.
We could have spend just a little more, and have something that actually keeps working, but then you'd not have the newest and most shiny device all the time, and hey, we just ship our (toxic) waste over to China anyway, so who cares. And if you don't have the money to buy the latest shiny thing, just borrow it. There's nothing wrong
Re: (Score:2)
After all, why sell a customer a working product when you can repeatedly sell them replacements for a defective product?
Ah, the joys of capitalism. My 35 year old Soviet radio in the kitchen still works perfectly.
Does your Beta deck still work?
Re: (Score:2)
Radio is still a standard supported by CURRENT products.
Beta is not.
Re: (Score:1, Offtopic)
Not for long.
Seriously, the switch-off of analogue radio is looming almost as fast as the switch-off of analogue TV.
Re: (Score:2)
Used a Betamax C7 just months ago for fun. It records and plays fine. There was also a super high end Betamax SLC9 (I guess) which has amazing features like invisibly marking tape with equal kind of electronics... It worked too.
In fact, if Sony (and others) made similar kind of quality electronics today, they would go chapter 11 because of the price (no Chinese sweatshops) and the quality (why change if it works?).
We, customers looking for 10 bucks cheaper products created this mess and now bitching about i
Re: (Score:2)
Technology has been improving at rates that were unimaginable when your Betamax was built. It is in such a state of flux right now that there's no value in a 30 year old video player, phone, music player, display device, etc.
A simple device designed to do one job that used a glut of resources to build lasted 30 years (25 of it off and in a box somewhere). What a marvel of craftsmanship.
Re: (Score:2)
After all, why sell a customer a working product when you can repeatedly sell them replacements for a defective product?
Ah, the joys of capitalism. My 35 year old Soviet radio in the kitchen still works perfectly.
in soviet russia the radio hear you
Re: (Score:2)
Sorry, correction:
In Soviet America TV watches you.
This correction inspired by an invention that the cable companies recently voted invention of the year. It allows them to tell which channel is currently being watched by which TVs.
Re: (Score:1)
Well, they designed it to keep working, so the audio bug in it is less likely to be detected. If it breaks, at the very least, they will either have to sneak another bug into your home, or you (or your repairman) may discover the bug and then you'll go on a hunt for all the other bugs in your home and office.
Re: (Score:2)
In music, Sony sells the player and new content.
In books, Sony sells the reader, but only gives away old content.
Ergo, Sony is open in this device category because the company has no IP interest in the field. If Sony were to buy a publisher, things might change.
Re:Great Scott! It Actually Makes Sense! (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:1)
What's the advantage of epub over a simple html file?
I read books with http://www.fbreader.org/ [fbreader.org] and it supports both epub and html (and other formats too).
Most of my books are html files so I get boldface chapter headings and whatnot (prettier than a txt file). What does epub add that I don't get with html?
Re: (Score:2)
Metadata (book title, author, publisher, title image, etc.) and machine-readable separation into chapters mostly. Additionally, it's compressed (as was already stated in the GP), which is a pretty big deal for human-readable text.
Re: (Score:1)
Metadata (book title, author, publisher, title image, etc.) and machine-readable separation into chapters mostly.
Interesting. Not that it's of much direct value to me with most books (who cares if a novel is separated into chapters, I'm not particularly interested in most cover art, and I keep the title and author as part of the filename. On the other hand, I can see where the chapter thing could be useful for technical manuals.
Additionally, it's compressed (as was already stated in the
Call me cynical (Score:1)
But I think Sony using this in practice in the way you describe is considerably less likely than Microsoft porting Exchange to FreeBSD.
Re: (Score:2)
AZW is actually mobipocket format with a token change (Device IDs for azw allow a character that isn't allowed for mobi), which in turn is ePub packaged to fit into a palm DB.
Re: (Score:2)
No, never. The Sony rootkit requires response (Score:2)
Corporate dissolution is suitable, since you can't incarcerate a fictitious person.
Re: (Score:1)
Are we sure we're actually talking about Sony? (Score:4, Interesting)
*head explodes*
Seriously, I'm glad that Sony is starting to open up a bit. In addition to the usual Memory Stick slot, Sony's new eBook readers come with Secure Digital slots too. Things like this are making me seriously consider buying a Sony for my first eBook reader.
Re:Are we sure we're actually talking about Sony? (Score:5, Interesting)
Sony do seem to be mellowing a bit, and I think that should be encouraged as much as possible.
I was surprised to find that the Playstation 3 supports standard USB gamepads in all games. Anyone can make a compatible controller for the PS3 now, and in fact have done so myself. On the other hand, the XBOX 360 uses some kind of cryptographic authentication to make sure that no-one except Microsoft authorised third parties can make controllers (read: you have to pay them lots of money).
Re: (Score:2)
I'd like to see Sony open up the PS3 just a little bit more, so that Linux can use the fancy graphics hardware. Even if it were via a library licensed in such a way that only Free Software could use it (so that commercial games would still be forced to kick money back to Sony), if such a thing is legally possible, that would be fine by me. That would be enough to make me quit boycotting Sony!
Re: (Score:2)
They probably are quite scared to do that as it would open up the ability for people to play PS3 games under hacked conditions, with all that entails. And may violate some blu-ray consortium rules as well, for all I know.
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
I will still wait for the "extend" phase.
Re: (Score:2)
My PRS-500 (first Reader) accepts both SD and Memory Stick in the same slot. From what I remember, so did the PRS-505 and PRS-700.
I'm incredibly happy with my Reader. I bought the accidental damage coverage for ~$20, and got my screen replaced for free when I accidentally crushed the Reader. Battery lasts forever, store is pretty easy to use, and now hopefully they'll let me convert my old purchases to EPUB. It's looking up.
My only real complaint is that the charger is still huge. I'd like to see them stand
Layer DRM on top? (Score:5, Insightful)
This is open-washing.
Is there a word for that? Like the eco companies green-wash, Sony, Microsoft etal have all been open-washing all their stuff lately and it just isn't open by the non corporate double speak definition.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Googled openwashing and it only came up with 1,530 results, some of which where about open washing machines.
Whether this concept has an official name or not, open has lost its meaning, and only specific formats, licences and specifications have the property of open-ness as people around here would have it.
It's going to confuse the hell out of the public, now that consumers and companies have started to identify open-ness as a "DO WANT" attribute.
It's OUR language (Score:1)
IBM tried this language takeover thing in the 1980's, and it didn't work out for them. Otherwise we'd all be calling hard drives "fixed disks" and motherboards "planar boards".
They can't have "open". It means what it means and I have do doubt that Sony's implementation won't fit the definition. We just need to point this out to the idiots who are abusing our language and the problem will go away.
Re: (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Layer DRM on top? (Score:4, Insightful)
That's grade A BS right there.
DRM is by design and by law not user modifiable. If it were, it wouldn't work at all because users would modify it to give themselves free access. OpenSSL, by contrast, can be modified by anyone to their hearts content: you can make it use "4" as a random number every single time it needs one if you wanted to (not that I'm recommending this, of course).
Your either inadvertent or intentional blurring of the meaning of the word "open" is exactly what MS did with its "Office Open XML" format, which is precisely what GP was pointing out.
Re:Layer DRM on top? (Score:4, Interesting)
DRM is by design and by law not user modifiable
Exactly my point. However, we're speaking here of the difference "This is our DRM method and we're not telling anyone how we've done it" and "This is our DRM method but any other developer can use the algorithms and substitute their own encryption keys". A piece of content crippled by either scheme remains crippled for the consumer, but the second case allows for reimplementations of the same thing by companies other than Sony. Have I made my point clearer?
And no, it is hard to consider OOXML "open" even by such a loose definition, because it isn't even possible to reimplement it due to poor documentation!
Re: (Score:2)
Re-implement? It isn't even possible to implement it ONCE!! The format that MS is calling OOXML doesn't meet the standard that they bought and paid for. (Except in a truly trivial sense that allows a zipped Czechoslovakian translation of a Japanese document to be legitimately called an OOXML version. You wouldn't BELIEVE the exceptions that thing allows! Just make it a binary blob with a one-time pad and it fits as legitimate OOXML...not that anything could read it. [Note: The particular thing that I'
Optional DRM layer on top. (Score:2)
The DRM layer is optional - there are quite a few customer friendly eBook shops who sell without DRM.
If you buy a safe at a yard sale (Score:2, Insightful)
If you buy a safe at a yard sale, and it comes with the condition that you don't get the combination, but rather must gain the seller's assistance each time to insert or remove things, is the safe "open"? I think not.
Re: (Score:2)
It is if you take the door off.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
What a fundamental misunderstanding. "Open" implies (at least to me) that anyone is allowed to implement it, without asking permission. (Since once you ask for permission, then any sort of conditions can be imposed, all the way from "sure, but give us royalties on every device you sell," to "sure, but your reader is required to download and display an ad on each page.")
Being open means not having conditions imposed on you, which means that you don't have to worry about the functionality getting co-opted an
Re:Layer DRM on top? (Score:5, Insightful)
So they hit on the idea of focusing on the ePub format, trying to make it the standard for sales of ebooks. If enough sellers go along with it, if most every non-Amazon and B&N seller goes along with it, then eventually there will be enough content usable on the Reader that Sony can compete with Amazon and B&N on things like hardware and price. They're trying to eliminate the big bookstores' inherent advantage, that's it. If a few people see this news and say, "Open formats, gee whiz, now I'll buy a Sony Reader" the so much the better (for Sony), but that's not their intention.
That said, the Sony Reader is also not really in need of "openwashing", because it's very good with open formats. This is strange to say about a Sony device, but it's true. The Reader already supports epub, which the Kindle doesn't. The Reader has always been better for open formats, even pdf (if you don't mind slow and cramped). You don't even need to use Sony's software. Just plug the thing in to a USB port and drag your ebooks over, like its an external flash drive. I've had a Reader (a PRS-505) since last fall and have read 60-70 full books on it. The only DRM that's gotten onto the machine was attached to a couple of pdf ebooks I checked out of the Chicago Public Library. The Reader has been quite happy with free and open files from Project Gutenberg, from Mobileread, what I've bought from a few small presses, and from what the excellent (free and open) Calibre software has pulled from the web for me.
Re:Layer DRM on top?YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND (Score:2)
You clearly don't understand the eBook market at all. The cost of adding new eBooks to your online store is virtually nil, and eBook publishers want their books carried in every possible store unless someone very big (e.g. Amazon) is actually willing to
Re: (Score:2)
Amazon and B&N - both US (Score:2)
Quite interesting how ever pro Amazon argument I find here on /. does not scale up world wide. News-break: Humans living outside the US can read as well. And even worse: we also got money as well to buy eReaders. I know you view of the world has just scattered but there it is.
And speaking of B&N: Fictionwise which is owned by B&N and sells work wide also offers ePUB. In fact B&N themselves plans to move to ePUB as well.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
This is open-washing.
Yes Several: Lies, FUD, Bullshit, Horseshit, Marketing
Patronizing (Score:5, Funny)
...you might be able to patronize their bookstore sometime soon...
Heck I can do that right now. Nice to see you joining the 20th century Sony!
Actually Sony was first (Score:2)
Just to set things right: Sony had an eBook reader and an eBook shop before Amazon. And Sony is selling world wide - something that Amazon did no manage yet. So Sony is changing there already existing eBook reader and an eBook shop to be more attractive to customers world wide.
While Amazon only has the tiny advantage of being most successful in the US.
Okay, but... (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Compare it to the Micro$oft XBox 360 and it's practic
The most open interconnected console ever? (Score:1)
Let's go with a Dave Barry quote here: That's like calling a plant the most eloquent asparagus ever.
Re: (Score:1)
this is a good move (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
What on earth are you talking about?
Where are you buying books overseas? Only WH Smith [whsmith.co.uk] and Waterstones [waterstones.com] have epub books overseas, neither has more than maybe 12,000 titles, and the collapse of the dollar means that books priced in pounds are far more expensive for readers here.
Your comment is entirely nonsensical. It's almost as though you were a planted commenter for Adobe, [slashdot.org] the provider of DRM for Sony's openwashed reader.
Re: (Score:2)
As for being a plant, just because I can see the value in certain companies' technologies, it doesn't mean I'm on anyone's payroll. Ideally Sony (and any other ebookseller) will dump
Re: (Score:2)
But those sites don't have literary fiction in any quantity... come on, the inventory's tiny.
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
I presume you're not from the United States then? The US Dollar has increased in value by over 25% against Sterling over the mid 2008 price and, ignoring the last 10 months of financial turmoil, is pretty much at a five year high against the Pound.
Earlier this year you could buy 1GBP for less than $1.40 - compared to around $2.10 at the Dollar's weakest point last year.
Re: (Score:1)
Breaking News: The are more countrie the US and GB (Score:2)
And to answer your question:
http://www.beam-ebooks.de/lesesoftware/ [beam-ebooks.de]
http://www.libri.de/shop/action/maga...ub_format.html [libri.de]
http://www.bol.de/shop/neuheiten-epubs/show/ [www.bol.de]
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/3249 [smashwords.com]
http://www.fictionwise.com/help/eBook-formats-FAQ.htm [fictionwise.com]
http://www.waterstones.com/waterston...e.do?ctx=10030 [waterstones.com]
http://ebooks.whsmith.co.uk/ [whsmith.co.uk]
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:2)
Can they de-sell products to you? (Score:1, Troll)
If they can't, then I generally support the move. However, I have a hard time believing that Sony "Root Kit" Corporation would do anything that would actually allow the users a measure of freedom with their products. I remain skeptical.
And meanwhile in East Texas (Score:4, Funny)
A patent troll company is filing a lawsuit to stop this sudden outburst of common sense by Sony in its tracks.
Re: (Score:2)
common sense by Sony in its tracks.
As in abolishing ATRAC-3 for audio TRACKS?
*ducks*
Re: (Score:2)
They did abolish ATRAC some time ago, for the US and Europe at least. They shut down the Connect store and told everyone to convert their ATRAC to some other format because they were stopping support for it.
Re: (Score:2)
ebook devices (Score:4, Informative)
Bad, bad sign (Score:2, Funny)
It's a bad, bad sign (for Sony, that is). The next marketing coup could only be a happy-faces-announcement that their book reader went Open Source... and you know what this means about the viability of that product / company...
Sony lost badly the first *war* (not just battles) with Amazon. Now they are trying to retreat, regroup and make alliances. In the meanwhile, Amazon keeps selling their Kindle ebook readers and receiving tons of money.
If I were Sony I would run away from this line of business as fast
Not where I live... (Score:2)
...is Amazon selling tons of devices. In fact they sell almost zero. I would think that world wide Sony is selling more the Amazon. Of course we don't know that as no one is releasing sales figures.
If anybody need to retreat and regroup it's Amazon after there European T-Online and Vodafone deals went sour.
I know that /. is US-centric - but the eBook market isn't and only 5% of the word population lives in the States.
Martin
Re: (Score:1)
... only 5% of the word population lives in the States.
What?!! Say it isn't so! Don't nobody tell Texas or we'll have another war on our hands.
DRM? (Score:4, Interesting)
While the market is still burgeoning, content providers arenâ(TM)t going to back any e-book format that doesnâ(TM)t protect their copyright, so at least for now, digital rights management (DRM) is a fact of life.
Okay then, move along, nothing to see here. Safari Books Online lets me download technical books in DRM-free PDF format. Feedbooks lets me download public domain and creative commons fiction in DRM-free PDF format (I've just finished reading Ventus [feedbooks.com], which I'd thoroughly recommend). Why on earth would I buy DRM'd eBooks?
PDF doesn't compare favorably to ePub (Score:1)
Not really as "open" as all that (Score:3, Informative)
As the Wall Street Journal points out [wsj.com], they're going to be layering Adobe's proprietary DRM on top of the ePub. So even if ePub is itself an open format, it's going to be contaminated by Adobe DRM. (There's still no way to read Adobe DRM'd books on the iPhone/iPod Touch, by the way, unless you crack them.)
Re: (Score:1)
Quite. So to buy/use one of these ebooks in this "open" format I need Adobe Digital Editions, available only on Windows or Mac. There are surely worse formats, but this one doesn't seem especially free software friendly.
Be careful with desktop e-books (with DRM) (Score:2)
Just a warning in case you change your mind or get compatibility. Adobe Digital Editions are pretty down to "demo level". There isn't even a dedicated application. There is some Adobe Air thing which you can't buy anything.
Always have at least 3 downloads guarantee while doing anything with DRM books and make sure there is no time limit. I am saying these as I stare to a Kim Stanley Robinson e-book which I could never read after changing my mac, adobe lost interest, amazon changed to something else etc.
Well
It's Not Sony, It's the Market (Score:1, Insightful)
Sony has not "gone open" in any significant sense at all; the only thing they deserve credit only for is making a good business decision. Think about it: when Apple started the iTunes store, they were creating the marketplace, so they went proprietary. Then Amazon came in to the MP3 market, and "went open" because they were the one locked out of the marketplace.
Same thing is happening with eBooks: because Amazon created the marketplace, they went proprietary. Now Sony wants to break in, so suddenly they'
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
If you ask audio and video professionals, there hasn't been a single proprietary, undocumented Sony device which doesn't tie to some mpeg standard ever.
Betamax is proprietary? For God's sake, they invented VIDEO, it better be proprietary. VHS was the same deal too, it was just JVC was clever to license it to rivals and nothing else.
BluRay is H264, AAC, VC1, Java, all open formats in 50 GB of space which movie industry desperately needs to race with pirates. Dolby/DTS audio codecs are "secrets everyone knows
ePUB won't kill Kindle (Score:2)
only 5% of world population live in the US (Score:2)
As a German living in Switzerland I find postings like your rather amusing. I know that /. is US centric but that should not stop you from thinking more globally.
Yes Amazon dominates the US eBook market - but that is only 5% of human population. Amazon's T-Online and Vodafone deals when sour - so a world wide release for Kindle is further that ever.
More and more eBook shop go DRM free and DRM free ePUB can be read fine on your beloved iPhone.
As it is Sony dominates the market outside the US and Amazon insi
Re: (Score:2)
If Amazon is making anything on the Kindle, it ain't much. But selling e-Books is almost pure profit. Bandwidth is cheap in quantity. Amazon has no incentive to make it easier to load the competitor's books except remaining relevant. But then, the Kindle will have to sell for more money, and it will be less appealing. So ePub support on Kindle would kill its dominance. At that point there's little reason for Amazon to remain involved with the hardware.
Do you believe them? Really? (Score:2, Flamebait)
Sony is an interesting corporation and they do turn out some useful devices (along with some turkeys) - but one thing they are absolutely not good at is "open
Re: (Score:2, Insightful)
When was the first Sony portable music player released, and when was the first one that supported anything other than Sony's proprietary formats released?
Uhm, 1979 and 1979? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walkman#Cassette-based_walkman [wikipedia.org]
The buy another ePUB device (Score:2)
There are enough of them
http://wiki.mobileread.com/wiki/E-book_Reader_Matrix [mobileread.com]
But DRM _is_ the problem. (Score:2)
My Rocket eBook, manufactured by Nuvomedia (and later by Gemstar), finally dropped dead. I have about $300 worth of purchased content for it. It is DRM-protected and keyed to a serial number that is embedded in the device.
The customer representatives that could tell the server to re-encode it for a device with a different serial number have been laid off. The servers capable of re-encoding it have been shut down. And the company who has the records proving I own the content is long out of business.
What good