I’ve been trying ebooks and reading software today. This subject can become very involved, so this post is focused what is available for those without a dedicated ebook reading device. The hardware I had available were an iMac, Windows XP, Palm OS and Linux (on an Eee netbook).

First, let’s take a look at the PDF format to justify why looking at ebook formats at all.

PDFs — we know them so well

PDFs files are common and a whole part of publishing industry uses it, as well as the business world at large. Virtually all ereading devices handle PDFs (but beware: the Kindle 2 will not support this format).

The PDF format can now do more than simply present pages on the screen as if they were printed. You can flick down through the pages and customise your book with bookmarks, highlighting and your own notes.

From the ebook perspective, here is an example of a free ebook released as PDF

 

and here is another example of an ebook purchased as a PDF, slightly more sophisticated.

 

For a final note to show how serious this format is, take a look at Tizra from MIT Press, a website-building service to sell PDFs, also with tags and a table of contents. And consider that Wiley’s first choice for developing elearning text for the University of Texas is “enhanced PDFs”.

What else is there?

There must be more to reading ebooks than PDFs. Below is not an exhaustive comparison of all that is available, but a fair overview of what is accessible to those who don’t have a reading device. It sheds light on the types of choices we may have in the future. Inevitably, this review not only looks at what a format can offer but also the software — software and formats are sometimes inextricably linked.

epub format — favoured by the industry

All the major UK booksellers use this format. You can read it with Adobe Digital Editions software, which is freely available for Mac or PC systems, Stanza software for iPhone and iPod, and the Sony eReader device.

I’ve tried using Digital Editions under Mac.

 

It just isn’t as nice as ereader (see next section) — no running heads and the page numbers float in the margins — or the mobipocket software under Windows, which does allow changes in font style, size, margins, line spacing, as you can see here.

 

Thus, people with sight difficulties can enjoy a "large print format".

mobipocket — another industry favourite

I tested this under Windows and on the Palm. The experience is much the same as for the epub format. The  screen shot, compared with the one above, shows the flexibility of presentation that this software has. 

 

ereader format (and software) — serving the customer

Just to clear up any confusion, the term “ereader” is used both generically to refer to a ebook-reading device, specifically to an ebook format and specficially to the software application for reading ereader format. When you consider that there is also the Sony eReader device, conversations can easily degenerate into “what do you mean by 'ereader' in this context”!

Here I am talking about the format, originated from Palm Digital Reader and now belonging to Fictionwise, and the free software for Mac and PC. The software on the Mac allows much more customisation than for PDFs or the EPUB and MOBI formats. ereader gives a better look and feel with a two-page spread (ignore Wikipedia’s comment that it doesn’t), and shows running heads and page numbers just like a book. There are also bookmarks and highlighting facilities, both with/without annotation. See the neat little bookmark here,

 

and adding a note is as simply is clicking on the icon in the top outer corners. Like Mobipocket software, you can change the appearance of the font colour and size, and line spacing: see this version of the same ereader document as above with different settings. 

 

What is nice about this as well is that you get this reading experience with Mac as well as Windows and virtual windows machines (Digital Editions and Mobipocket software is only available for Windows). With the simpler presentation on the Palm, you can still view the contents page, and navigate and annotate the chapters.

The future

Due to digital rights management, to prevent us from copying books to our friends and family, some ebooks will only be released with secure formats, at least until they are out of copyright. I am not against that.

Unfortunately, the industry hasn’t agreed what that format should be, and so different ebook reading devices subscribe to their manufacturer’s choice, not the customer’s choice. And thus we are tied into agreements between publishers, device manufacturers and booksellers.

Certainly we do need another format than PDF: you need a very large screen to zoom in on a PDF and accommodate a whole page of large font. The epub, mobipocket and ereader formats have strong software providing for them, which allow repagination for changes in settings and provide a two-page view.