04-17-2008, 02:49 PM | #46 | |
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PDF isn't going away totally any time soon, it's too widely used, so it's about as permanent as you can get for these things. An unlocked PDF lets me move it around and use it as I please, so I can keep it regardless of what my hardware does. About the only thing I can't do with it is easily pull the contents out. Yes, that's not a good thing, but it's largely the same for most widely used formats out there, so it's not like it's uniquely malicious or anything. If a "publishers" criteria is to reach as many people as they can, without requiring those folks to jump through lots of hoops and to make their "book" as portable as possible, it's hard to blame them for looking at unsecured PDF. You really have to dig into things to find the drawbacks, and that sort of minutia isn't the sort of thing "publishers" tend to be good at. I agree with you wholeheartedly that PDF isn't the best format for anything except its designed purpose (that being preservation of document formatting/layout and contents across platforms), but I just cannot agree with you that choosing it can only be interpreted as a sign that the "publisher" is specifically and expressly out to screw over his customers. |
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04-17-2008, 02:55 PM | #47 | ||||||
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If you wish to keep testing, that's fine. But as far as I am concerned, it's a fact that PDF is a bloated format. Quote:
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04-17-2008, 03:24 PM | #48 | |
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People load and play entire multi-gig movies onto PDAs today. Processors are faster and meaner than they were just a few years ago. Today's SW and HW can handle larger files. Who's sweating about the size of a PDF file, really? By that logic, the only "viable" e-book format is the single format that generates the smallest files... all others suck eggs. I just don't accept that as a good reason to beat on PDFs. |
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04-17-2008, 03:43 PM | #49 |
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04-17-2008, 04:08 PM | #50 |
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I've got a whole list of reasons I prefer other formats over PDF long before I get anywhere near file size.
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04-17-2008, 04:28 PM | #51 | |
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If you are talking about the media devices that are out there, yes. They can handle large files - and are very poor for eBook reading and their PDF readers are even worse than the current crop of eBook devices. Oh, and did I mention that with all that extra hardware their battery life is about 3 hours? |
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04-17-2008, 04:34 PM | #52 |
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On memory cards, perhaps?
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04-17-2008, 04:43 PM | #53 |
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Exactly. Put your files on a memory card, and you can play them on most PDAs. I do this now, with books and movies (my new iPaq 110 handles movies worlds better than my Toshiba e330 did).
Sure, I realize people would like to carry all their files on one device... heck, so would I! (But I'll point out, we're not in that thread... ) If you don't have the option of carrying memory cards with you, smaller files are clearly the way to go, forget the PDFs (and leave the movies at home, too). But if your device includes a case that can carry even a few SD cards, for instance, you're talking about being able to take gigs of files with you. My PDA case carries a 2GB and 4GB card, so I have 6GB+ of storage space while on the move. That'll hold most of the docs on my PC's hard drive! And in that case, a 2MB PDF file is no worry. Last edited by Steven Lyle Jordan; 04-17-2008 at 04:51 PM. |
04-17-2008, 04:55 PM | #54 |
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it really handles movies coded with such high bit rate that the size of one movie is multi-gig?
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04-17-2008, 05:09 PM | #55 | |
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Between my 4GB SD card and my 8 GB CF card, I have 12 GB of storage card memory always installed in my pocket pc. And that's old technology. The newest pocket pcs can accommodate SDHC cards - some of these cards can get as large as 32 GB....storage space and file size is just not such a big issue these days. Oh, and I do watch movies on my Pocket PC too (but that's a different topic altogether). |
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04-17-2008, 05:15 PM | #56 | |
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04-17-2008, 05:23 PM | #57 | |
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04-17-2008, 05:24 PM | #58 |
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What tool do you suggest I use, then?
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04-17-2008, 06:13 PM | #59 |
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04-17-2008, 08:36 PM | #60 |
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You can probably also use InDesign to create tagged PDFs.
My iPaq 110 can handle SDHCs. I've converted a TV episode or two to WMF, and they play sweet! |
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