Comments on: The problem of e-book ISBNs http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/the-problem-of-e-book-isbns/ News & views on e-books, libraries, publishing and related topics Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:36:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Johan http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/the-problem-of-e-book-isbns/comment-page-1/#comment-1160287 Johan Fri, 12 Mar 2010 13:13:51 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2010/03/11/the-problem-of-e-book-isbns/#comment-1160287 Cosidering both ePub and azw are baisically variation of HTML underneath the coversion should be relatively easy to do. Cosidering both ePub and azw are baisically variation of HTML underneath the coversion should be relatively easy to do.

]]> By: Ben http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/the-problem-of-e-book-isbns/comment-page-1/#comment-1160238 Ben Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:56:31 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2010/03/11/the-problem-of-e-book-isbns/#comment-1160238 "A “lightly modified EPUB”? Really? Given that the Kindle is not compatible with EPUB, that must be some “modification”." I doubt much modification is needed to change epub to azw, and it doesn't take much modification to break compatibility. Also, don't forget that epub is a consumer format AND a source format. “A “lightly modified EPUB”? Really? Given that the Kindle is not compatible with EPUB, that must be some “modification”.”

I doubt much modification is needed to change epub to azw, and it doesn’t take much modification to break compatibility. Also, don’t forget that epub is a consumer format AND a source format.

]]> By: Zeke http://www.teleread.com/ebooks/the-problem-of-e-book-isbns/comment-page-1/#comment-1160172 Zeke Thu, 11 Mar 2010 18:09:20 +0000 http://www.teleread.org/2010/03/11/the-problem-of-e-book-isbns/#comment-1160172 It seems to me that an appropriate solution for digital publishing (whether the book is printed from that digital copy or sold as an e-book) would be a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) standard with an addition for edition. Far be it for me to change existing standards, but a 2nd level suffix for edition might work well for pricing schemes ("free edition suffixes"). ISBN worked well for print, but maybe it's time for something new. The hard part is finding the interim solution -- so that booklisters' software and databases don't need to be changed overnight. It seems to me that an appropriate solution for digital publishing (whether the book is printed from that digital copy or sold as an e-book) would be a Digital Object Identifier (DOI) standard with an addition for edition. Far be it for me to change existing standards, but a 2nd level suffix for edition might work well for pricing schemes (“free edition suffixes”).

ISBN worked well for print, but maybe it’s time for something new. The hard part is finding the interim solution — so that booklisters’ software and databases don’t need to be changed overnight.

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