[Fot] Books

[TeriAnn J. Wakeman]

On 1/28/13 10:41 PM, Randall wrote:
>> Why do it on dead trees?
> I can't tell you how much computer media I have from just 20 or 30 years ago
> that is totally unreadable today.  Zip drives, cartridge tape, 8" floppies,
> 5.25" floppies, hell even 3.5" floppies are a thing of the past.  Some of my
> DVD backups from just a few years ago are no longer readable either.
That's why I will only purchase an e-book in html format. From past 
experience of software changes, with companies coming & going and 
formats coming & going, I have decided that if you tie yourself to one 
company's e-reader you are guaranteeing a limited shelf life for your 
content.

Every device that connects to the web has software that will read and 
display html. New versions of html will be backwards compatible with 
older versions and is my best bet for being able to reread a book a 
decade or so later.  I can not imagine anyone making a change to html 
that would render everything archived on the net unreadable.  If a 
publisher offers an e-book in html format, I purchase the html version.  
If not I go with the paper version.

While I have 4 book cases filled with paper books, I also have 54 books 
in html format that I can read on any web browser on any hardware that 
supports a web browser. My e-fifth book case.

TeriAnn