Handheld Ebook Reader Wars - eReader Formats Or eReader Discount

It is becoming increasingly clear that the big battle, in the handheld ebook reader war, is going to be more about eReader formats than eReader discounts.

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Look at the facts. The Nook (Barnes and Noble) and the Daily Edition (Sony), recent releases in to the wireless section of the market, were in danger of cleaning up the very important Christmas sales. But, and it pains me to say it, they have given the Kindle a way back in the short term anyway.

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The Nook and the Daily Edition, in fact the whole Sony range, have taken the massive step to include support not only for the Adobe PDF standard but also for the emerging ePub file format. When put like that, it does not seem that important but let me explain further without getting overly technical.

eReader formats allow the handheld ebook reader to handle (read) a specific file format. Perhaps the most common or recognizable to everyone would be the mp3 format. This is an audio format, so if your reader handles.mp3 you can play that format, not the best example I grant you but incidentally most devices do handle mp3. Now two formats that are popular not only for free content but as importantly used by online book stores to distribute text based content, are the.pdf and.epub formats.

It makes sense then, if you want to take advantage of the vast amount of public domain (free) content, that your device has support for these file formats. And you would assume also that manufacturers would be keen to give you these, after all without them you can not shop about for your content. But you may be surprise to learn this was not always the case. Both Sony and the Amazon Kindle started out using proprietary (their own protected) file formats, Sony used the.lrf extension and Amazon the.azw format. Neither offered the.pdf format and the Amazon Kindle offered the mobi pocket format, if you wanted.pdf support you had to turn over the extra to purchase the DX. Sony soon caught up from catching a cold, realized the error of their ways and released a free software update for their prs505 reader.

Then came the second generation handheld ebook readers. Kindle led the way, back in February 09, when they released their Kindle 2. More of an update than anything ground breaking really and again no natural support for ePub or surprisingly the Adobe PDF standard, opting instead to stick with mobi pocket for free content and once again, disappointing, their proprietary AZW standard.

Fast forward then to the back end of the summer, and in the midst of Amazon starting to offer eReader discounts, Sony unveiled their new Edition range. ePub and PDF support, matching Amazon the price of best sellers and increasing the number of titles available at the Sony Book Store. They also offered an entry level model packed with those features for an incredible 9.

Then hard on Sony's heels and later in the year Barnes and Noble brought out the Nook. Wireless connectivity, touch enabled navigation screen and importantly for consumers, epub and pdf support. Brave move as B&N are the biggest high street bookstore and make their money selling books and here they are saying go buy your books from any place you like.

I hope you can see now how it is very important to know which ereader formats are supported by the handheld ebook reader you're thinking of purchasing. Yes price is important, and a trip over to my ebook reader review site will help you in that area, but don't fall in to the trap of purchasing on the size of ereader discount given by the manufacturer over the ereader formats your chosen device will support.

Handheld Ebook Reader Wars - eReader Formats Or eReader Discount

BARNES AND NOBLE

Digital Book Readers File Formats Information You Won't Find in eBook Reader Reviews

I was recently writing an article about the new Nook and Sony Daily digital book readers ability to handle the ePub standard, a file format that is fast becoming the preferred file format of the eBook publishers. It struck me that it may be helpful if I explained the differences between proprietary formats and the ePub standard, something you will not find in eBook reader reviews, but something you should remember when researching the many digital book readers on the market, prior to your final purchase decision.

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It was, in the early days of digital book readers, somewhat accepted by the buying public that both Sony and Amazon released their content coded in their own file format. What this effectively did was tied the eBook to one device, but it did not take long before customers caught on, something that hit the likes of Sony hard.

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But fast forward to today, the industry had been looking for a standard file format, firstly to remove uncertainty in the customers mind and secondly to do as the title suggests, standardize e-publishing.

It does look more and more like they have settled on the emerging Epub format. Why, you may ask, with so many other options about, have some of the biggest names in the industry thrown their weight behind this new format when there was, some would point out, a perfectly good one in the form of Mobipockets universally available file format. That's really a question only the likes of Google, Sony and now Barnes and Noble can answer.

Looking on from the sidelines, it seems like the three of them have ganged up to deliver a good slapping for Amazon, as their latest offerings - the Kindle US and Kindle International digital book readers - don't have natural support for the ePub standard.

On the other hand the latest Sony Edition Range of digital book readers, which incidentally are receiving some rave eBook reader reviews, and the brand new Barnes and Noble Nook reading device all support the ePub format. Titles at both the Sony-Store and the Barnes and Noble online bookstore will publish in this format, something that both companies are happy to sing the praises of.

Now, throw into the mix the quite considerable influence Google have on everything online and look at their recent backing of the ePub format. They intend to publish the whole of their massive library of over one million books in the ePub format, many of these titles are free to down load.

These developments have opened up the market totally. No longer do users of digital book readers have to purchase content from one source, this move can only lead to greater competition and ultimately lower eBook prices. And the encouraging thing is three massive companies have totally embraced, even instigated, it.

This leaves the Kindle digital book readers in a very difficult position, news travels at the same speed as prices change in this industry. Customers of the Kindle will feel short changed when this news hits the eBook reader review sites, and they every right they have to feel that way too don't you think.

Digital Book Readers File Formats Information You Won't Find in eBook Reader Reviews

BARNES AND NOBLE