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Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

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Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#291

Post by ryukafalz »

maratc wrote: post #286
whyoh wrote: post #202

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Now that Kindle is supporting ePUB... Kindles do not support ePUB. But you can send ePUBs through the Amazon online conversion service now, which wasn't possible in the past.

There's no magic ASIC on the Kobo that transfers the stream of bytes into the stream of pixels; ePub support is in the Kobo software. Amazon now has this support in their software. The fact that the conversion software runs on Kindle servers (and not on the Kindle device) is insignificant to me - what's important is I can have an ePub and can read it on the Kindle.

So long as the server doing that continues to exist.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#292

Post by NoboruWataya »

wink wrote: post #197
Thorentis wrote: post #25

I very consciously did not buy a Kindle when choosing an Ereader about a year ago. The Kobo H2O is incredible and has served me very well. The format support is wonderful, and the stock OS does more than I need (though there is a whole community of custom OSes that also look cool). Combined with Calibre, I don't even see what the Kindle value prop is.

The kindle's value prop is that it has existed for a while and I'm pretty sure my 8y old model would still work if I hadn't left it on a plane. So I bought a used one from a friend and that's been working for many years. I see no reason to upgrade e-readers all the time. I'm not telling you or anyone to buy a Kindle, but from a VERY quick look my Kindle cost half of what a Kobo costs (tolino seems to be available aro…

> I'm pretty sure my 8y old model would still work if I hadn't left it on a plane.

Can confirm - I am currently using a ~12 year old Kindle 3rd gen, with no problem at all. In fairness it hasn't seen very heavy use but even for the battery and electronics to have held up for that long, often being stored in sub-optimal conditions, is fairly impressive IMO.

I strongly dislike Amazon and its walled garden but I dislike waste more so I have no intention of upgrading before I have to. I mostly use my ereader to read free ebooks downloaded from Gutenberg/Standard Ebooks/etc anyway.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#293

Post by maratc »

ryukafalz wrote: post #291
maratc wrote: post #286

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no magic ASIC on the Kobo that transfers the stream of bytes into the stream of pixels; ePub support is in the Kobo software. Amazon now has this support in their software. The fact that the conversion software runs on Kindle servers (and not on the Kindle device) is insignificant to me - what's important is I can have an ePub and can read it on the Kindle.

So long as the server doing that continues to exist.

You have a point. OTOH, my three Sony readers and my Nook supported ePub without any servers, but all are dead now. And again, without that server it's just back to Calibre.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#294

Post by varispeed »

On topic, how does the eReader world look today? I tried one a couple of years ago, and as a person with ADHD I was constantly frustrated how bad the experience was in terms of responsiveness. I can see it could work for a book that you access linearly, but for technical books, where you often need to switch between pages it was a chore and I couldn't focus my attention on reading. So I still buy paper books, because I can quickly flick between the pages and access my bookmarks. The downside is that they use a ton of space in my room and I am hoping that one day someone makes an eReader that I can flick through pages as fast as a real book (or faster).

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#295

Post by BeetleB »

BSOhealth wrote: post #251
Lio wrote: post #208

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not Kindle's only disadvantage. Kobo had distinct features I wanted that no Kindle offered at the time I last purchased. Like a screen big enough to comfortably read PDFs. 10.3" on Kobo Elipsa vs 7" on Kindle. IMHO that makes the Kindle only really useful for fiction. There's also Pocket support for reading offline web articles. Overdrive support so I can borrow books from my local library for free. Free Dropb…

Libraries are very important, and Kindle supports borrowing from them (for free): https://help.overdrive.com/en-us/0431.html

Funny you mention this, because Kindle support for libraries was amongst the last. For a number of years after buying my ereader libraries did not support Kindle. They've supported epub since at least 2010, possibly even before.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#296

Post by nanomonkey »

levesque wrote: post #252
maratc wrote: post #132

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Kindle is inexpensive, has great support, has a huge library (open to non-US people with non-US credit cards), and you could just email a MOBI to it (which is great if the Kindle owner is your parent). It's only disadvantage was that it did not support ePub and so one had to go through Calibre. Now that Kindle is supporting ePUB and no Calibre-tion is needed, I don't even see what the Kobo value prop is.

Kobo appears to be an inferior device on most accounts. Both of my Kobo readers have had glitches, required reboots, and at times had a suspiciously low battery life. The first even just stopped working all of a sudden. But all of it was worth it knowing I wouldn't have to support Amazon's walled garden. Now it's mostly down to "do you support Amazon?", and I'm still not sure if I want a Kindle. I'll keep my Kobo H2O…

> Now it's mostly down to "do you support Amazon?"

I don't know if this is still the case, but the Kindle used to be a loss leader. So in theory, by purchasing one, using Calibre only and never purchasing ebooks from Amazon, you are causing Amazon to bleed revenue.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#297

Post by goosedragons »

Derbasti wrote: post #272
goosedragons wrote: post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah it's possible but it's not an official feature (it's not hard though).

What are you talking about? It's built right into the Kobo reader, and has been for years. https://help.kobo.com/hc/en-us/articles/360017639893-Define-...

The dictionary is a built-in official feature and includes options in few different languages but CUSTOM dictionaries are not. It's possible to add dictionaries beyond what Kobo includes but it takes a little bit of work.

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#298

Post by NoboruWataya »

I have a very old Kindle (3rd gen, ~12 years old) and I am unsure how it will be impacted by this. My understanding was that Kindles didn't support EPUB files. It seems that Amazon now intend to roll out support for EPUB, but I highly doubt a model as old as mine will get an update.

So it seems that for now, while Amazon are just converting EPUBs to MOBI behind the scenes, everything will continue working. But if down the line they update their more modern devices to support EPUB and then stop converting to MOBI, I won't be able to email devices to my Kindle anymore and will have to sideload them via USB.

Is there anyone else in a similar situation who can tell me if this is true?

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#299

Post by misiti3780 »

Thorentis wrote: post #25

I very consciously did not buy a Kindle when choosing an Ereader about a year ago. The Kobo H2O is incredible and has served me very well. The format support is wonderful, and the stock OS does more than I need (though there is a whole community of custom OSes that also look cool). Combined with Calibre, I don't even see what the Kindle value prop is.

I can click a single button on Amazon and get a book pushed to my kindle in < 30 seconds. How is that not an incredible value proposition?

Re: Retirement of Amazon MOBI eBook file format

#300

Post by Elidrake42 »

NoboruWataya wrote: post #298

I have a very old Kindle (3rd gen, ~12 years old) and I am unsure how it will be impacted by this. My understanding was that Kindles didn't support EPUB files. It seems that Amazon now intend to roll out support for EPUB, but I highly doubt a model as old as mine will get an update. So it seems that for now, while Amazon are just converting EPUBs to MOBI behind the scenes, everything will continue working. But if dow…

I personally use `ebook-convert` (comes with Calibre) with a simple script that'll capture anything in a drop dir, convert it, and email it off.
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