Amazon Vs. Apple Be Damned: Publishers Pine For A Universal E-Book Format

Publishers don't pine for a universal e-book format, they pine for a universally working DRM system which they, and only they, control as they see fit.

The problem? DRM can't work! Not in an "open" world.

http://bit.ly/9AoZeo http://www.changethis.com/4.DRM http://craphound.com/msftdrm.txt

I've got no sympathy for their position. It's not as if the development of the e-book market was a total surprise, wasn't it? They could have made the appropriate steps years ago.

But they simply didn't bother or they were unable to cooperate due to their egos.

They got what they deserve.

What about PDF

Doesn't support reflowing (and thus changing text size), so you can't really read your ebooks on your phone. Even the 6" Kindle's support for PDFs is barely usable.

Then maybe HTML is the way to go?

Both Kindle's Mobipocket and iBooks' epub formats appear to be very close to HTML.

There's no straightforward way to reflow PDFs. Ebooks should be formatted in a way which allows them to be displayed on everything from a screen of a few inches up to a few feet.