Rampant Speculation: Ebooks!

[fanboy2000]

I just took a survey on the Wizard's about ebooks. Where do I buy, where do I read them, etc...

For those who don't know, Wizard's already sells some of their novels in ebook form. At the very least, they sell them at the Sony Reader store and Amazon.com. If they started selling D&D rulebooks at those places to, I'll squeal with glee. When they stopped selling pdfs, some people thought it might lead to some other kind of ebook distribution. Frankly, I was hoping for sooner, but we can't have everything we want in life.

One of the things that excites me is the possibility that the books may be sold in multiple locations.

Epub is available on the most devices. According to Wikipedia the only devices that don't support epub are the various Amazon Kindle's and a Sony reader sold in Japan. It's also the format Apple's iBooks uses. I ran a few tests a while back and both epub and mobi (the non-DRMed version of the format the Kindle uses) can both handle the kinds of tables D&D 4e uses. (made epub and mobi files using the new monster statblock.) So, I think this has a good chance of working.

I'm so excited!

 

[AngryMojo]

I've been reading the D&D novels in eBook format on my nook since they were released. I just love being able to read at a discount without building up the clutter that paperbacks make.

 

[Dice4Hire]

I took the survey, but I think I missed a lot of questions as I do not read ebooks at the moment.

I do hope they start selling both novels and rulebooks in e format as that is a new distribution channel that will only grow.

As for format, it would be a pipe dream wearing rose colored glasses that the companies could agree on one format. Beta/VHS, Region DVDs etc. Sometimes I wonder how many feet the companies have to shoot themselves in.

I also wish WOTC would realize that if people are gonna pirate their books, they will. Right now, the paper-only ones are being pirated. So putting books out in other formats will not hurt them as much as they think.

 

[Kurtomatic]

You must spread some Experience Points, etc...

..and, oh yeah:

<squeal with="glee" />