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Why can’t I send an ePub file to Amazon for conversion for my Kindle?
December 23, 2009 | 8:18 am
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By David Rothman
SF writer Robert J. Sawyer’s review of the Foxit eSlick reader will appear in the TeleBlog later today. Same for Ficbot’s thinking on E/P synergies and other ways p-bookstores can survive.
But meanwhile here’s a question. Why the devil can’t Amazon’s conversion service for Kindle owners handle even nonDRMed ePub? The IDPF standard is a major format now. Is it just piggish greed, just an undisguised desire for customer lock-in, that is keeping Amazon from offering ePub conversion via e-mail? Would it cost that much to implement? Are the technical challenges that formidable? Hardly. Of course, updating Kindles with native ePub rendering capability would be even better. Come on, Jeff. Show more consideration for your customers—don’t be a format Scrooge.
And speaking of ePub conversion for the Kindle: I tried the experimental RetroRead service mentioned here earlier—to read Google’s ePub books on my Kindle 2—and will share my findings.
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Comments:
Good point, David. I’d just add that you can do this yourself using Calibre (and probably other programs).
See http://calibre-ebook.com/user_manual/faq.html#what-formats-does-app-support-conversion-to-from
Calibre does a good job. Mobipocket Reader will also do it, but it would make sense for them to add it to their conversion service.
More strangely, publishers can upload ePub to Amazon and have it converted automatically by Amazon’s command-line tool KindleGen (formerly Mobigen).
So there are no technical obstacles here, and the necessary software already exists.
Aaron and -B and Dave:
A & B: Thanks, but last I knew, Mobi didn’t get along very well with ePub from Google. Also, not everyone wants to mess withe the technical details of Calibre. It’s a great program, but we fanatics needs to empathize with the nontechnical. In fact, sometimes even old hands may find a Web-based solution more convenient, such as when a machine with Calibre isn’t handy. Or maybe they’re running a puny netbook and would prefer the action to happen on the Web.
Dave: Yep, I was tempted to mention that. Excellent point.
Thanks,
David
I may be one of the few ebook lovers out there who thinks this but I don’t think the Kindle’s lack of ePub support is that big of a deal. As Aaron pointed out, you can set up Calibre to email you a converted ePub when it finishes. In fact, that seems more convenient than attaching the book to an email to Amazon. As for native support, ePub converts almost perfectly to mobi. Furthermore, there have been issues with other readers that offer ePub; things like speed and minor rendering issues. Amazon knows the Kindle handles mobi really well and I can’t see them offering ePub until they know it can be handled just as well. It’s obvious that Amazon cares most about the user experience. While many ebook fans might rather have imperfect ePub support than no ePub support, Amazon is more concerned with drawing in non-ebook fans; people who just love to read. Bezos always comments on the Kindle disappearing in the reader’s hand. His concern is the average reader and with that in mind I think he has taken the right approach. Especially after the nook, which I think is a hot mess right now. I don’t think the nook will win as many people over as the Kindle. I’ve never looked back since I switched from the Sony Reader to the Kindle, so whatever Amazon is doing, it works. It’s a great user experience and it’s probably best if Amazon doesn’t jump the gun on ePub support.
Spider: PDF conversion isn’t perfect via the email service. Surely ePub conversion would be less of a challenge technically. The extra touble in effect makes the Kindle LESS transparent is an e-reading device. Imagine having to go through all these steps with paper books. E-book is the industry standard, and it’ll be great if Jeff is more responsive to the very kind of reader you have in mind–those seeking a good experience, without unnecessary hassles.
Thanks,
David
Amazon still has not worked out how they want to deal with ePub.
It seems to be the case that Amazon is selling automatically generated AZW (MOBI) versions of commerciall ePubs, with gross formatting errors (e.g. terrible handling of drop caps). These are typically for the non-US market, because most US publishers still have MOBI versions to use as AZWs. The reason for the formatting problems is that they are using MobiPocket’s incomplete ePub to MOBI conversion, which is not even close to being in the same league as Calibre’s ePub to MOBI.
There is nothing stopping Amazon from using Calibre for DRM-free ePub to MOBI for its Kindle e-mail service, but if they stick with MobiPocket’s conversion capability I can see why they might not want to offer something as half baked as this to its Kindle owners. I have no idea why publishers put up with Amazon’s internal ePub to MOBI service for their ebooks. If they were willing to go DRM-free, they could instead use the excellent Calibre conversion.
You are right. It’s just the worst capitalist greed. ePub is not really a format, but an xml tagging structure. All the information is tagged correctly, so it should be possible to convert it to any format automatically. Amazon has a near monopoly and wants to keep it. It is our job to fight them. I am doing my bit to make sure they fail.