Comments on: New DAISY Pipeline Released http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/20080507/new-daisy-pipeline-released/ Information & Resources on the IDPF ePub Standard Wed, 20 Aug 2008 23:10:56 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Mike Cook http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/20080507/new-daisy-pipeline-released/#comment-43 Mike Cook Wed, 14 May 2008 10:48:32 +0000 http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/?p=23#comment-43 Hmmm, that's a lot to chew on. I find it hard to believe that the U.S. is the only country taking accessibility seriously, still, it's interesting to hear that the NIMAS format is a requirement. I'll have to take a look and see if the UK has a similar requirement. I agree that at present there's no hard facts on who, if anyone, will actually sell ePub formatted books. I guess I am a believer, so have hopes that big publisher will make this move. It still looks like Sony will get it's Adobe DE addon. As for the Kindle, well Amazon will do whatever they feel is right. One just hopes they will at least make ePub files natively readable, even if they don't actually sell them. Perhaps ePub will never become the mp3 equivalent for books, but it it is gaining ground as a major format. If this ends up being in the public domain only, I don't believe that would that be such a bad thing. Hmmm, that’s a lot to chew on.

I find it hard to believe that the U.S. is the only country taking accessibility seriously, still, it’s interesting to hear that the NIMAS format is a requirement. I’ll have to take a look and see if the UK has a similar requirement.

I agree that at present there’s no hard facts on who, if anyone, will actually sell ePub formatted books. I guess I am a believer, so have hopes that big publisher will make this move.

It still looks like Sony will get it’s Adobe DE addon. As for the Kindle, well Amazon will do whatever they feel is right. One just hopes they will at least make ePub files natively readable, even if they don’t actually sell them.

Perhaps ePub will never become the mp3 equivalent for books, but it it is gaining ground as a major format. If this ends up being in the public domain only, I don’t believe that would that be such a bad thing.

]]> By: Some Guy http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/20080507/new-daisy-pipeline-released/#comment-42 Some Guy Tue, 13 May 2008 22:15:49 +0000 http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/?p=23#comment-42 Also, I've yet to read an article which states that the larger UK publishers will sell .epub direct from their sites. If you could point me to where one of those articles exists, from a credible source, I'd be very grateful, as after all the Bookseller just seemed to cite Rothman, which in publishing circles is widely known as a career-limiting move. Also, I’ve yet to read an article which states that the larger UK publishers will sell .epub direct from their sites. If you could point me to where one of those articles exists, from a credible source, I’d be very grateful, as after all the Bookseller just seemed to cite Rothman, which in publishing circles is widely known as a career-limiting move.

]]> By: Some Guy http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/20080507/new-daisy-pipeline-released/#comment-41 Some Guy Tue, 13 May 2008 22:08:54 +0000 http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/?p=23#comment-41 Don't know about the UK, but in the U.S., anyone selling a certain portion of their titles to educational markets has to submit a copy of their book in the <a HREF="http://nimas.cast.org/" rel="nofollow">NIMAS format.</A> Unlike the UK, we take our site-disabled readers very seriously in the U.S., (all books for the blind are free), so given the real risk of sanctions, I can't see anyone not providing NIMAS who wants to do business in the 300-million strong U.S. market. Should DAISY convert automatically from the (REQUIRED BY LAW) NIMAS format, it's hard to see what the advantage is of .epub. Anyone who standardizes on OEBPS 1.2 will, eventually, bring out books in .epub, but only as a conversion offering, particularly given that neither Kindle, nor Mobipocket, nor Vitalsource has any plans to use .epub directly, and of course .pdf still rules the desktop for sales by smaller presses. (If Sony stays with BBEdit, that's roughly 98% of the commercial ebook market right there... and with Kindle, the market is doubling quarterly.) Don’t know about the UK, but in the U.S., anyone selling a certain portion of their titles to educational markets has to submit a copy of their book in the NIMAS format. Unlike the UK, we take our site-disabled readers very seriously in the U.S., (all books for the blind are free), so given the real risk of sanctions, I can’t see anyone not providing NIMAS who wants to do business in the 300-million strong U.S. market.

Should DAISY convert automatically from the (REQUIRED BY LAW) NIMAS format, it’s hard to see what the advantage is of .epub. Anyone who standardizes on OEBPS 1.2 will, eventually, bring out books in .epub, but only as a conversion offering, particularly given that neither Kindle, nor Mobipocket, nor Vitalsource has any plans to use .epub directly, and of course .pdf still rules the desktop for sales by smaller presses.

(If Sony stays with BBEdit, that’s roughly 98% of the commercial ebook market right there… and with Kindle, the market is doubling quarterly.)

]]> By: Mike Cook http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/20080507/new-daisy-pipeline-released/#comment-40 Mike Cook Tue, 13 May 2008 11:21:25 +0000 http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/?p=23#comment-40 With all the recent activity surrounding ePub, particularly that some large <a href="http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/2008-04-25/harpercollins-uk-to-release-their-titles-in-the-epub-format/" rel="nofollow">UK publishers will be releasing their catalogue in both print and as eBooks</a>, the ePub format could become a major player. Would this not also be advantageous for print-disabled users? If there was to be a standardised eBook format that utilises DTB then we could well see more Braille and audio readers making use of it. I still need to do some more research to know if DTB is fully utilised (as it was intended) within an ePub container. Hopefully it will. With all the recent activity surrounding ePub, particularly that some large UK publishers will be releasing their catalogue in both print and as eBooks, the ePub format could become a major player. Would this not also be advantageous for print-disabled users?

If there was to be a standardised eBook format that utilises DTB then we could well see more Braille and audio readers making use of it.

I still need to do some more research to know if DTB is fully utilised (as it was intended) within an ePub container. Hopefully it will.

]]> By: Some Guy http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/20080507/new-daisy-pipeline-released/#comment-29 Some Guy Sat, 10 May 2008 06:10:16 +0000 http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/?p=23#comment-29 It's hard to see what incentive DAISY would have for that. It’s hard to see what incentive DAISY would have for that.

]]> By: Mike Cook http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/20080507/new-daisy-pipeline-released/#comment-27 Mike Cook Fri, 09 May 2008 11:17:37 +0000 http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/?p=23#comment-27 Hi Some Guy, thanks for your comments. When I was first looking into ePub I did some research on the DTB but this was at least a year ago now. At present I am without an internet connection at home but once this is up and going I am hoping to get back to the DTB. I will also be taking a closer look at the pipeline. It's disappointing that there are actually no DTB to ePub converters...perhaps this will come in the next release. Hi Some Guy, thanks for your comments.

When I was first looking into ePub I did some research on the DTB but this was at least a year ago now.

At present I am without an internet connection at home but once this is up and going I am hoping to get back to the DTB. I will also be taking a closer look at the pipeline.

It’s disappointing that there are actually no DTB to ePub converters…perhaps this will come in the next release.

]]> By: Some Guy http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/20080507/new-daisy-pipeline-released/#comment-26 Some Guy Thu, 08 May 2008 03:29:57 +0000 http://www.epubbooks.com/blog/?p=23#comment-26 In your next revision, you might want to mention that .epub incorporates certain "vocabularies" from dtb (and XHTML.) There are no DTB to OCF/OPS/Epub converters in the Pipeline. In your next revision, you might want to mention that .epub incorporates certain “vocabularies” from dtb (and XHTML.) There are no DTB to OCF/OPS/Epub converters in the Pipeline.

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