EPUB: NEW OPEN STANDARD IN E-PUBLISHING STUDENT NAME: Blazej Blazejewski STUDENT NUMBER: 04-215-125 COURSE NAME: E-Business DEPARTMENT: DIUF SUPERVISORS: Andreas Meier / Luis Terán DATE OF SUBMISSION: 17 05 2011 ABSTRACT The aim of this paper is to analyze the EPUB file format used to produce and distribute e-books. The paper is divided in two parts. The first part is devoted to the technical aspects of EPUB files. After a brief historical introduction, the current 2.0.1 EPUB specification is thoroughly discussed and a fictional and simplified EPUB file is described in detail to provide a practical example. The future 3.0 EPUB specification is briefly presented afterwards, and the first part is closed by a critical evaluation of the EPUB file format. The second part puts the EPUB file format into a broader economic perspective of the e-publishing value chain. For this reason, the second part starts with the description of e-publishing and the e-publishing value chain. This introduction is followed by a presentation of advantages of EPUB files over traditional printed books with a special focus on production, distribution and pricing. Finally, the second part of the paper compares the EPUB file format with other popular file formats used in e-publishing. Keywords: EPUB, PDF, e-books, publishing, e-publishing 2 CONTENTS ABSTRACT ...................................................................................................................................................................... 2 LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................................................................... 5 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .......................................................................................................................................... 6 FOREWORD .................................................................................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................ 8 PROBLEM STATEMENT ..................................................................................................................................................... 8 OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................................................................... 8 OUTLINE ......................................................................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................................................... 9 EPUB HISTORY ............................................................................................................................................................... 9 CURRENT 2.0.1 EPUB SPECIFICATION .......................................................................................................................... 10 Preliminary notes ..................................................................................................................................................... 11 General structure ..................................................................................................................................................... 11 MIME type ............................................................................................................................................................... 12 META-INF directory ................................................................................................................................................ 12 Container file ........................................................................................................................................................... 13 OPF package ........................................................................................................................................................... 13 NCX file .................................................................................................................................................................... 15 Data files .................................................................................................................................................................. 16 ZIP file ..................................................................................................................................................................... 17 Final comments ........................................................................................................................................................ 18 FUTURE 3.0 EPUB SPECIFICATION ................................................................................................................................ 18 Structural modifications ........................................................................................................................................... 18 Content modifications .............................................................................................................................................. 19 EPUB FORMAT EVALUATION ........................................................................................................................................ 19 Web standards .......................................................................................................................................................... 19 Open standard .......................................................................................................................................................... 19 Multiple specifications ............................................................................................................................................. 20 External specifications ............................................................................................................................................. 20 Hardware independent ............................................................................................................................................. 20 Reflowable content ................................................................................................................................................... 20 Basic layout .............................................................................................................................................................. 20 Easy automatization ................................................................................................................................................. 21 CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................................................................ 21 E-PUBLISHING ............................................................................................................................................................... 21 E-PUBLISHING VALUE CHAIN ......................................................................................................................................... 22 3 EPUB FILES IN E -PUBLISHING VALUE CHAIN ................................................................................................................. 25 Production ............................................................................................................................................................... 26 Distribution .............................................................................................................................................................. 27 Pricing ..................................................................................................................................................................... 28 COMPARISON WITH OTHER FILE FORMATS ..................................................................................................................... 28 EPUB and PDF........................................................................................................................................................ 28 EPUB and AZW ....................................................................................................................................................... 29 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................... 30 MAIN FINDINGS ............................................................................................................................................................. 30 CRITICAL ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................................................. 31 OUTLOOK ...................................................................................................................................................................... 31 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................................................................... 33 4 LIST OF FIGURES Figure I. Structure of the helloworld.epub