Hachette Adopts IDPF Ebooks Standard

At the 2007 International Digital Publishing Forum (see InfoTech, LJ 6/1/07, p. 27), IDPF president Steve Potash suggested that a “reading revolution” was within reach if publishers could, like the movie industry did with the DVD, agree on a single format. The Hachette Group, which includes the former Warner Books, now Grand Central, has officially embraced Potash's vision, announcing it will use the IDPF's “.epub” file format standard for its ebooks. It is the first major trade publisher to adopt the standard.

Hachette officials said they will introduce the “.epub” standard, a file extension of an XML format for digital books and publications, with their December 2007 list.

The standard allows publishers to produce and send “a single digital publication file through distribution,” allowing for “reflowable” digital books. This is as opposed to, for example, a PDF file, which does not “reflow” pages to fit different devices.

IDPF hopes adoption of the single format will lead to wider ebook acceptance, making ebooks easily viewable and portable from player to player, including computer screens and cell phones and other handheld devices. Moving to the “.epub” format will also save publishers money, IDPF officials noted, as publishers producing ebooks currently have to release individual versions to suit the varied formats.

Nonetheless, adopting the standard is only a step, however laudable, toward wider ebook use. When Hachette's adoption was announced, Publishers Weekly quickly observed, “The catch is that Hachette made its announcement without saying whether its distributors would then use .epub or other formats with digital rights management (DRM).” If Hachette chooses to use DRM, PW continued, that could mean that even if made fully .epub capable, some devices would still not be able to cut through proprietary DRM. “For software to display an ebook,” PW explained, “both the basic format (.epub in this case) and the DRM must be compatible. So you get a double whammy when both the basic format and the DRM are proprietary.” The publication suggested IDPF work with members to “ditch DRM—unlikely for now,” or to come up with a plan for DRM interoperability.