[Tfug] OT: RFC about Android and ebook software

[Bexley Hall]

Hi, John,

> >[snowing yet?  :> ]
> 
> Actually, I've been back in Tucson since September. 
> So... no, it's not snowing just yet.  :)

Ah, well... maybe we'll get LUCKY!!  ;-)
 
> >> I'm interested in opinions and advice on what features
> >> *might* be useful in a
> >> new version on such a device, a device which is far more
> >> capable than Palm PDAs.
> >
> >ANSI/ Z39.86-2005
> 
> This is very interesting, but I think it might be a little
> too far outside the scope of what my program is/will be.

Sorry, I didn't mean to imply you should *conform* to the
standard *or* support speech.  Rather, I was suggesting you
look at the features the standard tries to support and see
what parallels you might be able to draw from those.

> I say this mostly because the interface
> for a digital talking book will necessarily be quite
> different from something
> that is strictly visual, both in terms of presentation and

Yes.  Again, my comments were intended towards looking at
the structure of DTBs -- what's there and, of course, *why*!
I.e., presumably the structure is as "complex" as it is
for reasons that have very little to do with *visual*
presentation but, rather, the goals likely of a potential reader
(as in "human being").

> control.  DTBs and their users would probably be better served 
> by an app focused on DTBs.

There already are such open-source app.

> Also, I'm a little dismayed by this line from the
> spec's foreword:
> 
> "Regardless of how a DTB is distributed, however, it
> will normally be in the context of an intellectual property 
> protection system."
> 
> This says to me that most DTBs users are likely to come
> across on the Net will be "broken" and since I intend for 
> there to be no DRM at all in Weasel, users
> would not be able to make use of these.

I think the DTB folks are trying to come up with a standard
for distribution that can "fly" with makers of *print* media
as well.  E.g., with Braille, there wasn't much concern over
folks "pirating" copies of texts!  :>