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Mobipocket now handles ePub automatically, and ePub creation tools MAY be on the way (we’re checking)
May 17, 2008 | 1:01 pm
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By David Rothman
Mobipocket Desktop 6.2 isn’t just importing the IDPF’s ePub format—it’s now able to recognize it automatically to convert it for reading in Mobi.
Yes, Mobipocket would do well to render ePub natively without translation. But auto-convert is still a nice step forward despite shortcomings, and I hope that Amazon will consider the same capabilities for its Kindle device, which can read nonDRMed Mobi.
An iPhone reader is among the new versions of Mobi that will be available later this year. Nice going! Oh, how there’s more to life than PDF! On top of everything else, at least some of the cheapie new Astak machines will probably be runnning Mobi, in which case they will be able to display converted ePub.
ePub creation, too, perhaps—via Mobi apps
Laudably, too, Mobipocket apparently will soon let you create ePub files through the next gens of Mobi Creator and Mobigen. That’s my impression from a MobileRead post from Nate the Great (see update). Hello, small publishers? This might be it in many cases—your way to conform to IDPF standards and have the files readable on one of the world’s most popular e-reading systems.
While I’ve never been shy about criticizing the business practices of Amazon, Mobi’s parent company, I’ve always considered Mobipocket’s software to be more usable than rivals’. Now if only Mobi and Amazon can experiment with social DRM, as Wiley is doing. Maybe for some Amazon Shorts, if nothing else? People want to own e-content for real, and dropping traditional DRM and offering ePub would bolster consumer confidence in the medium and make more money for everyone, Amazon, included.
Note: I changed my ePub “File Associations” in Vista from Adobe Digital Editions to Mobipocket, and sure enough, when I clicked on a downloaded ePub of Flatland from Feedbooks, Mobi instantly converted the novel.
Update, 6 p.m.: I’ve followed up with questions to Mobipocket, and I hope others will join me. One thing I want to double-check is whether there will indeed be “creation” of ePub rather than from it. No misunderstanding here? The MobileRead post reads, “The next version of Mobi Creator and Mobigen will also support EPUB creation.” Not conversion from ePub? Meanwhile I’ve tweaked the post and headline, since I feel we need to double-check, given the importance of this apparent news and the fact I don’t see information about it elsewhere. No reflection on Nate or Mobi here—just a determination to make sure that the glad tidings are for real.
Update, 9:50 p.m.: Nate, too, will be checking to see if Mobi will in fact offer ePub creation tools in “the next version of Mobi Creator and Mobigen.” To his vast credit, Nate says his notes may have been wrong (here’s to honesty!). My hunch now is that the next Mobi tools won’t support ePub creation. But you never know. Let’s keep an open mind until we get the word form the company, which, of course, is welcome to use the TeleBlog comment area to clarify matters.
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Comments:
The latest build of mobigen, the .epub to .mobi converter tool released by Mobipocket, is a much more reliable tool. We were seeing very high failure rates (mobigen crashes) on earlier builds with “valid” (via epubcheck) .epub documents, but the new version seems to have been enhanced with a focus on robustness. My complaint at this point is the Windows-only support, which preempts us from trying to do .epub to .mobi in a batch process. All that said, perhaps with the new version of the reader software we’ll stop bothering to consider creating .mobi at all… (with luck).
This is excellent news and part of Mobipocket’s attempt to overcome the tower of eBabel through a combination of making Mobi available everywhere as a format, and allowing the MobiReader to read “foreign” formats as necessary.
From a publisher standpoint, being able to use the easy-to-read Mobipocket Creator tool to generate both Mobipocket and ePub documents is a step in the right direction. Of course, we’ll still have to generate multiple formats, manage changes across them, etc. Still, it’s better than a different tool (using different source formats) for each end format, which is today’s world.
Rob Preece
Publisher, http://www.BooksForABuck.com
Did I not also see “support for other platforms” somewhere? As a Mac user, I am ignoring all these comments until I can run the mobi programs natively on my Mac. Yes, I know I can switch to emulation, but I choose not to.
Right on, Al. As long as the .mobi publishing tools only run on Windows, you’re just pushing the e-Babel a little bit further down the stack.
There’s a lot of talk lately about converting from EPUB into other formats. This doesn’t bode well for its chances as an end format, does it?
Heck, Aaron, it’s one step closer to ePub as a consumer format. The book biz simply needs to remember, it’s in the biz of selling books, not promoting proprietary formats. E-books need to be as simple to buy and own as audio CDs, and sooner or later the industry will understand. Meanwhile we need to some U.K. publishers will offer ePub as a consumer format. Thanks. David
any body heard any more news on this