Yesterday Google announced that digital copies of one million public domain books will now be available in downloadable ePub format in Google Books.
A Google blog post explains the new development: “EPUB is a lightweight text-based digital book format that allows the text to automatically conform (or “reflow”) to these smaller screens. And because EPUB is a free, open standard supported by a growing ecosystem of digital reading devices, works you download from Google Books as EPUBs won’t be tied to or locked into a particular device.”
Many downloadable Google Books titles are available in a PDF format, which is difficult to translate across different reading devices. In addition, the creators of the Sony Reader announced that the device will adopt the ePub format, a move that left one digital book expert concerned. (Via Publishers Weekly)