Adobe Digital Edition 1.5 final is available

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Further, Adobe probably doesn't mind letting others use their DRM as they neither make devices nor sell books directly. I think they're more interested in becoming the de-facto eBook standard the way they're already the de-facto printable document standard.

Agreed. I was going to point out that Software only or Hardware only vendors have less of a stake. Although Adobe must have some monitization plan. I know with the Free reader it is Acrobat.. but now there are so many free replacments for that product.

BOb

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

Agreed. I was going to point out that Software only or Hardware only vendors have less of a stake. Although Adobe must have some monitization plan. I know with the Free reader it is Acrobat.. but now there are so many free replacments for that product.

BOb

They may try monetizing through licensing schemes. That would be my first guess. They'll allow basic functionality for free and then the extended/expanded functionality will cost money.

[Walk Broad]

Originally Posted by Hadrien

Well according to the features list, the desktop version of DE 1.5 can sync content to a mobile device.

But no mobile device has for the moment proper support for DE. Obviously, if they already added a way to sync content to mobile devices, support on mobile devices shouldn't be too far away...

Yeah, one would think. But I don't think mobile carriers or handset makers will be rushing to do this since they are far more interested in nickle and dime-ing us for other services.

Mobile device makers and carriers at their next meeting:
"Allow a way for them to read e-books? For free!?! Suuuurrrre. We'll get "right" on that."

[6charlong]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Further, Adobe probably doesn't mind letting others use their DRM as they neither make devices nor sell books directly. I think they're more interested in becoming the de-facto eBook standard the way they're already the de-facto printable document standard.

This move seems to prove that Adobe views eBooks as having an important role in the future. After all, Adobe's cost center is InDesign. But as nice as InDesign is, Adobe has to put as many ePub capable readers as possible out in the world to make it to sell.

This all works well for the future of eBooks.

[Peter Sorotokin]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I still don't trust Adobe for eBooks.

Why??

[silkpag]

Originally Posted by Peter Sorotokin

Why??

http://www.freesklyarov.org/

[Lemurion]

Originally Posted by Peter Sorotokin

Why??

My own experience with Adobe formats (particularly PDF) is that they seem biased toward the creator's desires at the expense of the user's needs. PDF is a wonderful format for anything I want to print. I find it much less useful as a reading format.

I also have had issues with using Adobe software in the past. Earlier versions of Acrobat reader were incredibly slow-- even with relatively fast computers-- and I find the updater to be annoying as well.

It's this combination of documents that I have to struggle to read because they won't reflow to fit my screen, and software that gets in the way that makes me distrust Adobe products.

My own experience has caused me to react negatively to Adobe products because I associate them with slow software and being forced to jump through unnecessary hoops.

(Try reading several hundred pages of double column PDF documents for work where you have to do the scroll down and jog up thing because no matter what combination of resolution and zoom you pick it's impossible to get the whole page on the screen and still have it be legible.)

I bought a laser printer specifically so I could print out the PDF versions of the HERO Games rules that I bought, because it was easier than trying to deal with them on-screen.

I like the idea of epub: Past experience leads me to believe that Adobe software will cause me to focus more on the software and less on the document.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

My own experience with Adobe formats (particularly PDF) is that they seem biased toward the creator's desires at the expense of the user's needs.

Coming from a company of SW creators--especially a company that has been victim of rampant product piracy in the past--I'd think that's understandable.

Originally Posted by Lemurion

I also have had issues with using Adobe software in the past. Earlier versions of Acrobat reader were incredibly slow-- even with relatively fast computers-- and I find the updater to be annoying as well.

It's this combination of documents that I have to struggle to read because they won't reflow to fit my screen, and software that gets in the way that makes me distrust Adobe products.

My own experience has caused me to react negatively to Adobe products because I associate them with slow software and being forced to jump through unnecessary hoops.

I wouldn't consider product quality a reason for "distrust"... just dislike. And as later versions of Acrobat are faster than older versions, and as reflow works on my PC and my PDA, for instance, using actual Adobe SW (and not someone else's emulator), I'm not sure product quality is as much of an issue as you suggest. If you use an emulator, you might direct your distrust at the emulator makers.

Originally Posted by Lemurion

(Try reading several hundred pages of double column PDF documents for work where you have to do the scroll down and jog up thing because no matter what combination of resolution and zoom you pick it's impossible to get the whole page on the screen and still have it be legible.)

Sure, scrolling up and down multi-column text sucks on any format. (Maybe you need a larger screen?...) But again, this isn't a fault of PDFs, it's a fault of bad formatting for screen-based use, the fault of the PDF creator, and not a reason to "distrust Adobe."

The point is, Adobe SW does what it's supposed to do, and Adobe is a business doing just what businesses generally do. If you have specific needs (like reading columns of text), you should make sure you have the proper equipment to do that, and not blame Adobe because your task isn't suited to the equipment or methods you'd prefer to use. Dislike them for being draconian, or expensive, fine. But blaming them beyond that is like my blaming Hyundai because my car can't fly.

[Lemurion]

Let me rephrase my original statement, because you do make some very good points Steve.

I do not trust Adobe to produce a product that I will want to use or enjoy using.

[Peter Sorotokin]

Originally Posted by silkpag

http://www.freesklyarov.org/

That story is much more complex then this site presents it.

Do you distrust all vendors who support DRM, then?

[ProfJulie]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Let me rephrase my original statement, because you do make some very good points Steve.

I do not trust Adobe to produce a product that I will want to use or enjoy using.

But, of course, the decision to use an Adobe product to read a PDF file is probably inevitable since you are reading documents that were created (not by you) in PDF format. PDF documents are pervasive.

I dislike the multiple column format too - these look great as hard copy newspapers, magazines and printed articles and may be more efficient in that medium, but they do not translate well to electronic files and so they are really hard to read in any electronic format and in any electronic reader. These documents are nothing more than scanned images, and I do not consider them to be true electronic documents. People who intend to publish electronic newspapers, magazines and articles should understand this and change the format....some of them have.

I'm not willing to install DE to my computer until I have confirmation that using this software will not disrupt my reading of DRM PDF files on my Pocket PC. However, I think Adobe recognized that Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader were slow, bloated and more than the average reader needs and that is why they've come up with DE. In the end, I think DE will be the best and most efficient PDF reader around.

[pilotbob]

Originally Posted by ProfJulie

But, of course, the decision to use an Adobe product to read a PDF file is probably inevitable since you are reading documents that were created (not by you) in PDF format. PDF documents are pervasive.

Of course there are non-Adobe solutions to view PDFs. The FoxIt reader comes to mind. I'm sure there are others.

BOb

[Peter Sorotokin]

Originally Posted by Lemurion

Let me rephrase my original statement, because you do make some very good points Steve.

I do not trust Adobe to produce a product that I will want to use or enjoy using.

That sounds more like a challenge ;-)

[pilotbob]

Ok, just curious. I downloaded DE and installed it. It found the 18 PDFs that I had in the "My Ebooks" folder. It told me if I didn't get an AdobeID (which appears to be your email address) that the documents would be lock to this computer. Wha? Wait, they aren't protected in the first place. I wasn't worried, I can redownload them if needed and already have copies on my home PC.

It seems pretty similar to Mobipocket reader for PC. They had a link on their store web site to get some free DE books, but the link didn't seem to work. I also see no way with DE to access any book stores/libraries, etc.

It is nice to be able to catalog the PDFs, but I can do that with Calibre and Mobipocket too.

BOb

[Lemurion]

ProfJulie: DE may well be the best and most efficient PDF reader around. It's not only possible but probable; but I don't really care that much since my preference for any document I want to read is any other format than PDF.

PeterSorotokin: I know it wasn't aimed at me, but personally while I don't necessarily distrust all vendors who utilize DRM I do distrust the mindset behind it. To the best of my knowledge DRM has never prevented copyright infringement. However, it has produced clear cases of vendor lock-in and such idiocy as DVD region coding.

The primary purpose of DRM seems to be to force you to pay for the content again if you want to use a different device or program to make use of it.