David C. Snyder's dashboard

Sweet. Thanks! I'll let you know how these compare to the EPUB -> MOBI translated versions. – David C. Snyder, on March 15, 2009 09:08

While I admire O'Reilly and mark42's enthusiam over open ebook formats, when I purchased the kindle, I was aware that it was primarily a device for reading DRM content sold by Amazon. There are nearly 1/4 million titles available in this format, and I'll be even more delighted when all of western literature, public domain or otherwise, is avilable for purchase at a fair price from Amazon for reading on my kindle.

It is wonderful that excellent content, like books from O'Reilly, is available in non-DRM formats, but that is not why I bought the kindle. If kindle happens to read open formats, that's fine for users who don't mind managing their content, backups, and transferrs manually. However, I don't mind paying Amazon for the convenience of 60 second Whispernet content delivery, Whispersync to other compatible devices, and automated backup/restore of content, my notes, highlights, and bookmarks when I decide to replace my kindle. I want these features for every book that I load on kindle (public domain or otherwise). I'm certain that I'm not alone.

I applaud O'Reilly for leading the charge in open book formats, but as a big O'Reilly book fan (I have over 50 hard-copy titles on my bookshelf), I am frustrated that this cause is standing in the way of me being able to conveniently enjoy content that I love on my preferred ebook reader. – David C. Snyder, on March 14, 2009 01:18

To make MOBI files that display properly on Kindle without lots of
question marks and broken table/list formatting, do the following:

   1. Download and install calibre (works on Linux / Windows / OSX)

      from http://calibre.kovidgoyal.net/


   2. Load O'Reilly books in EPUB (not MOBI) format into

      calibre


   3. Set output format in calibre to MOBI


   4. Select all of the O'Reilly books (in EPUB format)


   5. Click on "Convert E-Books"


   6. Under "Page Setup", Select "kindle" for "Destination

      profile:" for each book (I have not found a place to

      set this as the default, but that would be better for

      converting 400+ books).


   7. calibre will convert the books...takes several minutes


   8. (for users), connect Kindle via USB cable and click

      "Send to device"


   9. Enjoy beautifully formatted O'Reilly books on the

      best ebook screen currently available.  Outlines

      around tables and table cells are missing, there's a

      bit of extra vertical whitespace around figures, and

      code is line-wrapped, but the presentation looks

      perfect besides these minor issues.

This is an old thread, but the issue is still current, even with Kindle 2. Amazon's lack of support for pdf reminds me of the the old Content vs. Presentation debate that raged on the web a dozen or so years ago. We've already seen some progress since this thread began with the addition of support for mono-space and Greek fonts, and with more updates, I'm sure that Amazon will sort out the tables issue the same way that web browsers did back in the mid 90's.

Ignoring format for a moment, once Kindle has adequate presentation facilities to properly render technical books, O'Reilly has the opportunity to deliver a quality digital product and delivery experience (via Whispernet / WhisperSync) to its customers via the Kindle platform. If Amazon chooses not to offer formats other than its DRM AZW for sale, I would encourage O'Reilly to take the higher ground and make your books available for purchase from Amazon using their DRM format. While this may seem like a step backwards from your position on open formats and DRM free media, providing a DRM sales channel for your media in addition to the existing DRM free formats demonstrates even greater openness, and everyone benefits. – David C. Snyder, on March 13, 2009 18:43

I feel silly for not reading the rest of this thread. It seems that Keith at O'Reilly is able to fix the Mobi files so that they look better (no question marks, at least). I think that's great! Hopefully this fix works for all of their titles.

That said, this is obviously only a partial solution for Kindle owners. Being able to buy O'Reilly books and download them via Whispernet directly from Amazon would be much more convenient. I remain hopeful that these two media giants can work things out.

-- David – David C. Snyder, on March 13, 2009 17:28

Keith, yesterday, I purchased:

Securing Ajax Applications
Dojo: The Definitive Guide
Web Security Testing Cookbook

All three seem to have the same issue as the iPhone SDK Application Development book example above. Please let me know if you can update the Mobi file in the same way to fix them as well. Thanks!

-- David – David C. Snyder, on March 13, 2009 17:13

I bought my first three electronic O'Reilly books yesterday, and I agree that this is frustrating. O'Reilly seems to blame Amazon for not properly supporting open ebook formats. I'm fine with Amazon improving its support of open formats as long as they offer them for download via Whispernet. I'm happy to pay $0.10/book for automatic backups and to avoid fiddling with the USB cable. That's why I bought the Kindle in the first place.

Another obvious solution is for O'Reilly to step down from their high horse on open formats and offer their library on Amazon.com in the native Kindle format. O'Reilly must realize that they are just as closed minded as Amazon on this format issue, and in the meantime, they are only hurting themselves and their customers.

I dropped my Safari subscription years ago because I never managed to get through an entire book using a web browser as a reader. The experience was just too uncomfortable. Imagine how many techies would (re)subscribe to Safari if they could access their bookshelf wirelessly from their Kindle...as long as the content looked just as good as a native Amazon book?

I hope that O'Reilly gives this some thought. Like many, I have money in my pocket that I'd like to spend on more O'Reilly ebooks, but I don't like spending for an inferior product. I'll wait until Amazon and O'Reilly have sorted out their differences and are able to offer a quality product with the convenience that Kindle users have come to expect.