Real world prevalence of ePub?

I'm interested in an ebook reader and thought I was leaning towards the Nook... until I read the not so hot reviews calling the UI is sluggish and buggy. Of course the Kindle is not perfect but the battery life and the selection are its strengths. Maybe Apple will surprise me on Tuesday but I'm not sure I want backlit battery draining LCD on which to read books. The simplicity of the Kindle and the Nook are actually their advantages.

However, I don't want to buy into a purely proprietary ecosystem. So ePub support is pretty important to me. This is the biggest strike against the Kindle in my opinion. Question is how prevalent is ePub at stores other than the B&N or Amazon? Is there really any significant selection of ePub books for sale out there?

Reply 1 : Real world prevalence of ePub?

Since you can hit Amazon and try a dozen titles your old STATISTICS tell you that you can with a degree of certainty get your answer in how many samples? (hint: classic statistics problem.)

Reply 2 : Real world prevalence of ePub?

Nor does Barnes and Noble. I already know this. They want to keep you in their ecosystems to maximize profit and make sure you always buy another of their devices. And that is precisely the problem.

I went through this before during the first 5 years of iTunes store and I don;t really want to go through it again with books. I don't mind a reader being tied to a particular store for convenience but I would at least like the option to buy elsewhere.

So are there any stores selling books in ePub format who have any real selection?

Reply 3 : Real world prevalence of ePub?

There are actually lots of ebookstores selling epub ebooks that work on many of the different ereaders like Sony, Kobo, the Nook, etc.

I've seen great selections at sites like www.lazydaybooks.com, kobobooks.com, ebooks.com, etc. Their books are not tied to a specific reader so you can shop there without being 'tied' to their store and just transfer the title from your computer to whatever device you're using.

Reply 4 : Real world prevalence of ePub?

There is also the option to convert any ebook format to ePub by using a free program called Calibre