One of the best things that Amazon could do for the Kindle is to support the EPUB format.
The iPad, not being a specialized device, appeals to a broader audience; but serious readers still prefer e-ink to backlight. So that makes the mainstream direct competition the Sony Readers and the Nook. I like Sony’s devices (I own an earlier PRS-500) and the Nook as well, but I much prefer my Kindle. I only wish that it had open support for the EPUB format, which would open up a world of content beyond Amazon.
To me, this closed system is not only counter-intuitive, but also out of character for Amazon. They gained market share from Apple in the MP3 market by offering DRM-free music that was not restricted to iTunes and the iPod. Why they don’t do the same for ebooks is beyond me.
So if you have a Kindle (or are thinking of getting one), you need to know how to get EPUB formatted books onto your device. I am not going to tell you how to hack DRM so you can steal books and share them amoungst your friends. What I will do, however, is to give some insight on how to change the format of content you have access to in order to read it on your device.
First, you need to get a copy of Calibre. (Incidently, Calibre is a good tool to have anyway. It is a great program to catalog a large collection of ebooks and you can use it to transfer ebooks to your various devices and to also convert to various formats.) The Calibre site is http://calibre-ebook.com/.
Calibre can be used to convert different formats to other formats, both in the program and via command-line. The EPUB to MOBI conversion works very well and I have used it on EPUB books from a variety of sources.
There are many public domain books available from Google Books that can be downloaded as EPUB. I have had mixed success converting these to MOBI for my Kindle, but I have found that as Google continues to work with their technology, the conversions have improved.
ePub is a universaly accepted ebook format.The ePub ebook files can be read on wide range of electronic book readers. With ebooks gaining popularity, ePub format is also fast becoming the preferred industry standard world-wide. You are right if kindle supports ePub, reading ebooks will be a unique experience. Regarding getting files converted to EPub format,I had my hands on various Converters available on internet. But I somehow wasn’t satisfied with the outcome. There were either one or other formatting related issues. . I would like to refer one website http://www.epubconversion.com/ePub-validator-iBook.jsp. I got my work (word files and pdf files) converted in ePub in no time. This site not only converted my work but also validated it, which is one of the most important part in publishing the epub files, especially for the Apple’s ipad. It might be helpful in getting your ePub files converted and validated.