You're right actually... you need the (freely available) software to do epub. I've never actually converted from that format myself so I didn't notice it wasn't on the emaillable forms.
I despise monopolies that use non-standard methods to keep people locked in. It's why I won't use iTunes, and I won't buy Kindle books.
And presumably why you wouldn't use .doc format documents (or perhaps why you wouldn't until people reverse engineered the format) and (to a lesser extent I admit) .mp3 music files? :-)
Seriously though, for me, it's not a "lock in" as I can convert to and from any other format with ease. As the kindle itself is such a nice toy and the convenience of having all the books I buy archived with a single publisher, I'm willing to see it as the kind of relatively benign DRM that steam also provides. It keeps all my stuff centralised in one place so if I lose it I can get it again, I can shop at alternative places if I want and if the whole situation turns evil then I can rip the books to another format or steal them elsewhere and it's of the same "crime" class as ripping my CDs to mp3.
Mind you, there's still no actual substitute for MS Word on a PC or Mac to read .doc formats as everything else mucks up things royally.
Seriously, I don't think we actually disagree on the preferable hierarchy: 1) Widely used, open standard. (By far preferable) 2) Widely used closed standard. 3) No widely used standards but many competing standards some open, not freely convertible. 4) No standards but many ad hoc solutions.
no subject
I despise monopolies that use non-standard methods to keep people locked in. It's why I won't use iTunes, and I won't buy Kindle books.
And presumably why you wouldn't use .doc format documents (or perhaps why you wouldn't until people reverse engineered the format) and (to a lesser extent I admit) .mp3 music files? :-)
Seriously though, for me, it's not a "lock in" as I can convert to and from any other format with ease. As the kindle itself is such a nice toy and the convenience of having all the books I buy archived with a single publisher, I'm willing to see it as the kind of relatively benign DRM that steam also provides. It keeps all my stuff centralised in one place so if I lose it I can get it again, I can shop at alternative places if I want and if the whole situation turns evil then I can rip the books to another format or steal them elsewhere and it's of the same "crime" class as ripping my CDs to mp3.
Mind you, there's still no actual substitute for MS Word on a PC or Mac to read .doc formats as everything else mucks up things royally.
Seriously, I don't think we actually disagree on the preferable hierarchy:
1) Widely used, open standard. (By far preferable)
2) Widely used closed standard.
3) No widely used standards but many competing standards some open, not freely convertible.
4) No standards but many ad hoc solutions.