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eBooks: What to read on which reader

Your pre-Christmas guide to what's on

Electronic Reading For Dummies

Take, for example, the For Dummies series published by Wiley: a popular series of reference books on just about every subject imaginable. From Wiley's website one can buy paper editions of 2180 different titles in the series, but the publisher's online presence makes no mention of electronic editions. Amazon's Kindle repository lists 581 For Dummies books, but Diesel will let you download 671 titles from the series in Adobe's Digital Editions format.

The Kindle does have more Wrox titles, also now owned by Wiley - 141 compared to Diesel's 67 of the 399 available on dead trees from Wiley.

We tried to speak to Wiley about this somewhat confused strategy, but the only chap in the whole company who knows anything about it was on a plane for two weeks and then told us they publisher was really keen on the Kindle, but would have to get back to us on the fact that more titles were available for Digital Editions - so we're assuming the company hasn't settled its plans just yet.

We did manage to speak to Lonely Planet, which provides sections of books in PDF format (no DRM) for digitally-equipped travellers. Lonely Planet country guides are also available on the Kindle as well as through the Android Marketplace, and it's even been playing with Google Wave, so can't be accused of lagging behind the technology even if it hasn't gone down the Adobe route.

Rough Guides can be accused of lagging: it does have a small range of electronic content available, but only in formats suitable for Palm Pilot devices or those using Microsoft Reader on a Pocket PC. We're assuming someone spearheaded the initiative five years ago and subsequently left as no other explanation makes sense - the company hasn't responded to our enquiries on the matter, but we did use email.

Turning to the triditional publishers: Random House will make sure you can read Dan Brown on your iPhone, or in a format suitable for Adobe's Digital Editions, while Amazon will sell you a copy for your Kindle. Other titles are more hit-and-miss, but the publisher is clearly committed to providing more content in ePub form.

Pan Macmillan will supply you with a copy of The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy through a link to WH Smith's eBook arm where you'll also find a range of other titles protected with Adobe's technology. So now we're replicating the bookshop experience, having to shop around to find what we need.

Which takes us to Borders, which has thoroughly endorsed Adobe's Digital Editions and offers a range of books comparable to what one might find in a physical store.

One problem you won't find in a physical store is incompatibility - we've been using a Cool-ER reader happily with Adobe's software and for us everything worked fine. We managed to buy books from US suppliers and local shops as well as importing free content, but not everyone has been so lucky.

Some publications have restricted geographical rights, and we've spoken to a few people who've bought from US shops only to find the Adobe software refuses to copy the book to their reader. Although they have managed to get a refund, it's an unnecessary complexity.

This is a shame, as the advantages are considerable: the Cool-ER weighs in at 189 grams, which compares to 138g for the John Wyndham we bought, and 691g for a For Dummies reference, while the Wrox title we tried weighs in at almost 1.4kg in paper form. A copy of Ian M Bank's Feersum Engjinn would add 234g to the saving, if you could buy it in electronic form, but it seems only The Bridge is available from the good Mr Banks, which is a shame but indicative of the hit-and-miss nature of the content available.

Despite the strange gaps in availability the industry does seem to have settled on Adobe's Digital Editions as the platform of choice. They have nothing to fear from Adobe (unlike Amazon), and the format is open enough for most users.

The Kindle may have more titles available right now and being locked to one shop makes life easier, but browsing for obscure titles is part of the book-buying experience and the majority of devices coming out over the next six months will remain compatible with Digital Editions. So for the more long-term view Adobe wins out, though it's unlikely that Amazon or Barnes & Noble are ready to admit defeat just yet. ®

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