Is Interoperability Possible for E-books?

 

     One of the main concerns for e-book readers everywhere is the lack of interoperability of e-books among all of the e-readers. A book purchased on or for one device typically cannot be read on any other device, so an e-book bought at Barnes and Noble won't be readable on your Kindle. Because they all draw from different libraries, books have to be cross-listed on each library in order to be available for each e-reader.

 

     This is the biggest complaint from users of e-readers thus far. Because one e-reader is not significantly more popular than another, there is no industry standard and thus, many libraries with varying formats and DRMs are all vying for the one spot on top of the rest. There seem to be alliances forming, with the Kindle's Mobipocket format in opposition to the Adobe ePUB format, which is accepted by virtually every other e-reader other than the Kindle.

 

     So what can be done to incite the industry into maintaining a broader e-book standard?

 

     Already, Apple is answering that question. With the iPad on the market for less than two months, it has already sold over 1 million devices, doubling their rate of sales for the iPhone when it was released three years ago. Over 1.5 million e-books have already been sold at the iBookstore this past month, not to mention the many book and reader apps that have been sold as well. Without a doubt, the iPad is a substantial contender in the race for e-reader market domination.

 

    Its progress is no doubt aided by its steps toward interoperability. Through its iTunes app, any ePUB format e-book can be synced into the iPad, meaning that books purchased via other e-reader's libraries - as long as they use the ePUB format - are readable on the iPad. At this time, only Kindle e-books are not available in the ePUB format.

 

     This move indicates that e-books could end up much like music files: the mp3 format is akin to the ePUB format - a widely accepted, essentially interoperable file type. The industry leader in portable music players, the iPod, does not use the mp3 format, but instead has the capability to sync this file type to their device, converting it to an m4a or m4p format.

 

     As with music files, though, once the e-books are synced to the iPad, the same file cannot be returned to the original format. The e-book will be embedded with iPad DRM, making it untransferable to any other e-reading device. While this is not the most desirable situation, it is still a giant leap in the establishment of an industry-wide file type standard.

 

     Google is also answering requests for interoperability, announcing the advent of Google Editions, their digitized collection of e-books, at a panel discussion at Publishers Weekly's Think Future discussion series. These e-books will be available primarily through a web browser, rather than through e-readers, though it may partner with some e-reader suppliers. Customers will be able to use the Google Books search engine to explore the inventory before downloading their purchase to their computers or e-reading devices.

     After the announcement, Evan Schnittman of the Oxford University Press declared that a "new world order" will soon begin as Google, Apple, and Amazon permanently alter the way books are searched for, purchased, and, ultimately, read. Books will be accessible to anyone at anytime, stored online in their servers and available on any device.

 

     The bookstore, set to be opened in late June or July of this year, aims to allow any device access to their titles, a much different scenario than the current situation, in which each device has access to a separate collection. Most e-readers have web browsers though which the books will be available to read and download, but whether Google Editions will be Kindle-compatible or not remains to be seen.

 

     Google is currently in talks with publishers in order to add more titles to its libraries. Pricing for the service and for the books is yet unannounced. While there are still a lot of unknowns surrounding Google Editions, it is clear from the goals of the bookstore, as well as from the Apple's file-syncing technology, that industry leaders are aware of the importance of interoperability to their customers.