PDF in kindle app

[mack 120]

is it possible to read PDF's in the kindle app on the ipad???

[arcadata]

Nope, the iBooks app on the iPad reads PDFs fine though.

[djpyle]

Another nice option if you don't mind spending 99¢ is GoodReader. It allows you to crop the PDF so you can use as much screen space as possible. It can also connect to external storage sites like Dropbox or iDisk. I've been using it for as long as I've had my iPad and really love it.

That said, iBooks is a great (and free!) PDF reader as well.

[toddos]

Stanza also reads PDFs and is free.

On the other hand, PDF is a terrible ebook format and if at all possible I'd recommend avoiding PDF ebooks. The more we buy PDF books, the more publishers believe that PDF is a valid and viable ebook format when it's not.

[djpyle]

Originally Posted by toddos

Stanza also reads PDFs and is free.

On the other hand, PDF is a terrible ebook format and if at all possible I'd recommend avoiding PDF ebooks. The more we buy PDF books, the more publishers believe that PDF is a valid and viable ebook format when it's not.

It depends on the reading device. I love reading PDFs on my iPad and figure the experience will be even better when the iPad gets a retina display (which I'm assuming it will next summer). No, PDFs don't reflow or resize, but you get to read them exactly as the publisher laid them out. I'd take a lack of font options over garbled text run through one too many file converters every time.

[toddos]

Originally Posted by djpyle

you get to read them exactly as the publisher laid them out.

I don't buy that argument. A publisher who sells PDF books is lazy. Unless you're reading layout-specific stuff (graphic design magazines, a tiny subset of poetry, etc), why do you care how the publisher laid out the book? Does it really matter that what the publisher intended to be page 3 is really page 6 in your e-reader?

[djpyle]

Originally Posted by toddos

I don't buy that argument. A publisher who sells PDF books is lazy. Unless you're reading layout-specific stuff (graphic design magazines, a tiny subset of poetry, etc), why do you care how the publisher laid out the book? Does it really matter that what the publisher intended to be page 3 is really page 6 in your e-reader?

With a PDF, you don't have to worry about extra, unintended spaces between paragraphs, one chapter ending and the next beginning two lines later instead of on the next page, section breaks lost so that one POV leads right into another and you have to read through it three times to figure out what's going on, etc. I think many publishers are much lazier about laying out their ebooks than their PDFs.

Then again, most of the PDFs I read are ARCs from other authors and are on their way to a traditional printing. Maybe I haven't been exposed to the lower-quality PDFs.

[toddos]

All of the problems you mentioned are solvable either with proper attention paid to creating the non-PDF epub or with a smarter reader (no reader currently handles orphans/widows properly, but there's no reason why they couldn't).

Originally Posted by djpyle

I think many publishers are much lazier about laying out their ebooks than their PDFs.

This, I think, is the main problem. Publishers are lazy. They have to create PDFs in order to get their books to the printer, and they figure they can just publish those PDFs to satisfy people who want electronic versions of their books. This is not acceptable. There is no reason why publishers can't spend a little bit of extra time editing epub or mobi versions of their books, especially if they want us to pay greater than paperback prices for their books. Unfortunately this is not going to change unless we give publishers an incentive to change, which means no more buying of PDF-only ebooks. If they see that they can't make money by just pushing out their PDF master, they'll have to do something about it. Ebooks are not going away, and in fact are gaining ground against traditional print books. Any publisher who refuses to properly edit a non-PDF version of their book is risking death by technology.

[djpyle]

Originally Posted by toddos

All of the problems you mentioned are solvable either with proper attention paid to creating the non-PDF epub or with a smarter reader (no reader currently handles orphans/widows properly, but there's no reason why they couldn't).

Yes, but until they do start paying attention to non-PDF ebook creation, I don't see any reason to boycot all PDFs. I doubt there are many publishers sitting back and waiting for PDF sales to die down before worrying about other ebook formats.

And for the record, are there really even that many publishers who sell only PDFs? I don't think I've ever run across one.

[eGeezer]

Okee Dokee.

I bought my wife an iPad because, except for their need to own and control everything, Apple produces products that don't usually take a lot of in-depth technical knowledge to use.

Bought the iPad before we realized Library books and iPad don't mix. Got a stack of books my wife was reading when I bought it, and paid $8 a book at iBooks and Kindle for two of them as part of the gift, and she bought a few more at B&N using gift cards, but she finally went back to pbooks when the gift cards ran out.

Been reading here how iBooks reads .pdf's just fine, and all I have to do is drag and drop them from iTunes onto the iPad. I figured out that you need to drop a book into iTunes in order for a "books" folder to first appear, but when I attempt to drag and drop from the iTunes/Books folder into the iPad/Books folder, I get the little "can't do it" circle/slash symbol.

These are scanned pdf's of a paperback flattened out on the scanner in order to do a cheap and dirty ebook that should fit just fine on the iPad screen. Initial attempts to see how it single scanned pages look on my Astak PPro certainly get my vote that this is not the way to go for a 5" screen. However, I figured it would be fine for the iPad.

But no drag and dropping allowed. Any hints on what steps I am missing?



Thanks

[eGeezer]

Problem solved, but for anyone else who might have this problem, the solution is simple:

Use the computer to which the iPad is synced.

Duh.

Was using my own PC, since that's the computer I scanned the pages to. Took the files to her comp, and just synced after dragging the files to iTunes/Books. Probably could have dragged them, but was only trying to do that to avoid syncing all my stuff onto her iPad.

[kjk]

Originally Posted by eGeezer

Problem solved, but for anyone else who might have this problem, the solution is simple:

Use the computer to which the iPad is synced.

Duh.

Was using my own PC, since that's the computer I scanned the pages to. Took the files to her comp, and just synced after dragging the files to iTunes/Books. Probably could have dragged them, but was only trying to do that to avoid syncing all my stuff onto her iPad.

Glad you got that worked out! But, it still seems odd. You should be able to drag PDFs to any copy of iTunes, regardless if an iPad is synced to it.

[eGeezer]

I probably wasn't as clear as I thot. I actually was able to drag the files to iTunes. Just couldn't drag them from the iTunes "books" folder to the iPad "books" folder until I used the computer on which iPad was synced to iTunes.