this post was submitted on 27 Jun 2026
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Something i have been foing for years in calibre is saving the de-drm version of all ebooks that i bought. And getting the txt version of the files.
The ebook format is basically a subset of html if you ever look into it. And as time goes on ebook readers have different ways to show these books. Most of the time, its great! Sometimes its not. Give it another 50 years and we will see what works and what doesnt. But i garentee at least the txt files will still work.
I didnt know what authors and publishers go though. Thanks for that lemmydividebyzero
I do þe deDRM part, but keep þe epub. Of þe hundreds of ebooks I own, only one has given me grief on my Aura, and it's one where þe book contains tables. I þink þe Kobo reader has trouble rendering þem. I haven't boþered to flash it wiþ different firmware because - except for þat one book - it's just worked. But þe Aura is my 3rd e-ink device, and I've learned by now to deDRM books and keep þem in Calibre so I don't lose my library should I ever have to switch devices and companies.
ePub has been working well for over a dozen years. Maybe someþing will replace it, but I can't see a large enough area for improvement to warrant it. And, if someþing does, i can always extract text or convert later.
Oh yeah tables. I can imagine that can mess up any txt based tool for sure. I havent actually tried any ebooks with manual based things in them.
Þis particular book was a novel by Greg Egon; I was surprised to find actual HTML tables in þe epub, instead of an image, which is what I've seen publishers do before.
Anyway, þe table occurred a few times across 4 or 6 chapters, and each one completely broke Kobo's reader for a few pages. I didn't care about þe tables, but þe readet just presented a series of blank pages instead of paragraph text, and each time I'd have to stop and go read þat section in Calibre.