Adobe

DRM: The Battle Observed
September 1, 2009

Digital rights management (DRM) is the most contentious topic in the world of digital media. The battle over DRM shows no signs of abating, and its outcome will shape the digital media landscape for decades to come.

Sony Converts eBook Store to .epub, Joins Forces With OverDrive
August 14, 2009

Sony has announced that it will convert its eBook store to the industry-standard .epub format by the end of the year. "Adopting an industry-standard format and Adobe Content Server 4, a popular, cross-platform server software solution that copy-protects downloadable e-books, allows Sony to make its eBook store compatible with multiple devices and its Reader devices open to multiple sources for content," a company press release stated. 

Markzware Releases Major Upgrade to its Conversion Tool
December 16, 2008

SANTA ANA, CALIFORNIA—December 4, 2008—Markzware (www.markzware.com), the leading developer of preflighting, data extraction and conversion software today released an upgrade to its highly-acclaimed conversion tool Q2ID (QuarkXPress To InDesign). Q2ID v4 is created as a quick, easy and affordable method for migrating QuarkXPress content into a new Adobe InDesign document. This new version boasts full…

Gene Therapy: Embracing E-books
October 1, 2008

As Steve Potash, CEO of Overdrive and president of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), said last spring at IDPF’s annual meeting: The world of digital books is expanding, and there is a steady flow of major publishers and technology providers adopting the .epub standard. What we’re going through now is a ramping-up stage during which it can’t be either/or—nobody is saying that we will accept or deliver only in .epub. Accepting only .epub formats is likely to be the first move that’s made, because the advantage to publishers is that they will have only one electronic book version with one ISBN of which

Gene Therapy: Climbing Aboard the E-book Bandwagon
August 22, 2008

With the advent of electronic ink, or e-ink, the Sony Reader, the Amazon Kindle and the .epub formatting protocols, the era of the e-book in the United States may be on its way. If you are a publisher or book producer, sooner or later you will be delivering electronic versions of all of your titles for distribution through a burgeoning network of electronic channels—if you’re not already doing so. It may be tomorrow, it may be next year or possibly later, but I guarantee the need to do so will be thrust upon you by the marketplace. While it is true that complex

Is There an ePod in Our Future?
May 1, 2008

Last month, I attended the London Book Fair and came home with new thoughts on the future of e-books. In particular, an in-booth presentation by DNL eBooks’ Peter Kent—author of many books including “SEO for Dummies” and “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Internet”—combined interesting statistics and Kent’s opinion on e-books’ future. Of course, Kent’s affiliation with DNL eBooks should be kept in mind, as the vendor provides a 3-D e-book technology (that incorporates Adobe Flash) through a software download for personal computers. (The technology was used in the Avon [a HarperCollins imprint] e-book release of “Lady Amelia’s Secret Lover,” which featured embedded video

The Evolution of Electronic Publishing: Michael Smith on his new role as executive director of the IDPF
December 7, 2007

Last month, the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF), a trade and standards organization for the digital publishing industry, announced Michael Smith as its new executive director. Smith, who replaces Nick Bogaty, is charged with directing the IDPF’s efforts to promote the newly adopted Open Publication Structure 2.0 and .epub file format, which the organization approved as the official digital publishing industry standard in September. In October, Hachette Book Group USA was the first publisher to announce that it had adopted the new standard. Smith, who previously managed e-book and book production for Harlequin Enterprises Ltd. for its North American, U.K. and Australian

Book Business Extra Q&A—Nick Bogaty, executive director of the International Digital Publishing Forum
January 5, 2007

The Executive Director of the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF) Nick Bogaty speaks with Book Business Extra about the International Digital Publishing Forum’s (IDPF) work to help standardize digital publishing. In late November, the trade association joined forces with the Association of American Publishers (AAP) to help educate book publishers on the background of the new industrywide technical standards IDPF is introducing for digital content delivery. Book Business Extra: From what you saw at November’s meeting at the AAP, how are book publishers catching on to the standardization of eBooks? Nick Bogaty: Publishers, especially trade publishers, have long created their XML eBooks

Adobe Introduces New E-book Software
October 27, 2006

Adobe is making a play in the world of e-books with the release of a new user-friendly application that will allow people to view digital editions of books and magazines on their computers. Nearly a month after Sony introduced its new Reader device to the market, the Adobe revealed Adobe Digital Editions, new, free e-book viewer and manager software, at the MAX 2006 conference in Las Vegas. Digital Editions will allow users to read and manage eBooks, digital magazines and digital newspapers on their computers. The software is a new introduction to the e-book viewer market for Adobe. The company currently offers Adobe Reader, a PDF-based