Re: Re: Possible conference for on-line book publishing?
- From: Michael Stutz <stutz@[redacted]>
- Subject: Re: Re: Possible conference for on-line book publishing?
- Date: Fri, 02 Nov 2001 10:38:21 -0500
"Joseph Esposito" <espositoj@[redacted]> wrote:
> >Other topics to consider --
> *alternatives to ISBN for e-book publishers;
>
> Why would anyone want to do away with ISBNs? What is the perceived problem
> with this system?
It was designed as a numbering system for books in any media but even
as the standard has been revised to include "electronic publications,"
they are still _only_ concerned with _saleable physical objects_
(hardcopy, CD-ROMs, diskettes etc) and not the machine-readable data
itself. So online books available in free etext form appear to not be
ISBN-able.
They don't recommend it themselves for Web-published books, for
example -- for that they suggest its URN is enough. However that
suggested practice is in conflict with the suggestion that every
edition of a title have its own ISBN, unless they mean every
non-electronic.
http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/international/html/usmnote.htm
http://www.isbn.org/standards/home/isbn/international/html/usmfaq.htm
I've seen online books without ISBNs sometimes refer to the ISBN of a
corresponding hardcopy edition. Do publishers ever get ISBNs for
publishing books in plaintext, HTML, PDF, PS, etc. editions?