Giz Explains: How You're Gonna Get Screwed By Ebook Formats

Title should be: "How you're going to get screwed by eBook DRM"

But then you wouldn't need to bother clicking through because it's all right there in the title.

I wouldn't trust much of the rest of the article, there's some real nonsense in there e.g. he's got the worst explanation of EPUB I've ever read:

" It's based on XML—extensible markup language—which you see all over the place, from RSS to Microsoft Office, 'cause it lays out rules for storing information. And it's actually made up of a three open components: Open Publication Structure basically is about the formatting, how it looks; Open Packaging Format is how it's tied together using navigation and metadata; and Open Container Format is a zip-based container format for the file, where you get the .epub file extension. When you toss those three components together, you have the EPUB ebook format."

I think that's just the overdetailed Wikipedia blurb transcribed into lazy-tech-journalist-ese. In reality EPUB is just XHTML bundled in a zip file. And nonsense like:

"we've only see EPUB on black-and-white e-ink-based readers so far"

So I must be imagining the EPUB books I read with Stanza on my iPhone? Or the web-based EPUB readers?

He also tries to explain the issue of DRM on the standard EPUB by analogy to Audible Books from iTunes. Maybe buying songs from iTunes (or Amazon etc) with and without DRM would be a more recognisable comparison?

From a strictly technical point of view, the title of this article will hold true - many people will lose out and there'll be data that becomes inaccessible on other devices, especially as manufacturers come and go.

However, consumers often bring about unexpected outcomes that have little to do with what's best judged by specification, or which platform follows principles of openess best.

There's much that I don't like about the iPhone, especially Apple's veto on data transfer - "What?! I can't bluetooth data to my phone?! I can't even transfer my own ringtone, I have to buy it?!" - but this hasn't sufficiently bothered millions of consumers.

Instead, I bought a Windows Mobile phone - I can transfer all the data and ringtones I like via USB or bluetooth, I can get all sorts of free/paid software for it too. It's got a high res screen, and a zippy processor. Technically, it's a winner, but the experience downright stinks, needing a reboot every other day.

And of course, there's the old Betamax/VHS, MiniDisc/CD, HD-DVD/Bluray comparisons - usability and marketing prowess often trump rationality.

By the way... which ebook would you buy?