@Hitch, Thanks for the informative response.
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Originally Posted by Hitch
With regard to "PDF's" and how great they are: sure, on a massive tablet like the iPad, they're great, although I find trying to page through them really annoying no matter what reader I'm using. However, they are anything but great on smaller tablets, even the larger Kindle tablets or the Mini-Pad. Then, they suck, because you are constantly pinch-zooming them and trying to read them and scrolling around, etc. So, it's different horses for different courses. Believe me, we do a LOT of technical work (we did an 1800 page Medical Textbook that I often discuss with a lot of cursewords), and I'd be the first to agree that some things should stay in a print-layout, to facilitate perfect vertical and horizontal alignment. Unfortunately, or fortunately, take your pick, many people, like you, want their books portable. The only sellers for PDF are basically small bookstores online, Smashwords (and you can't even sell your original PDF there, mind you--it's a Calibre-conversion-created PDF), and your own websites. As many people who've sold from their own website will tell you, unless you're O'Reilly, that dog doesn't hunt.
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Exactly. PDFs are sensible on larger format devices and not well suited to smaller devices. It seems to me that trying to wade through a serious technical text - such as a medical text with copious illustrations, photos and the like - on a smaller format device is pretty much something one has to be pretty desperate to do - it just doesn't seem to be a workaday solution to me.
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Originally Posted by Hitch
And speaking thereof: yeah, he offers multi-book format packages, and I don't think I know a soul who's bought one. Not a single person. They cost the earth.
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I have actually purchased several of the O'Reilly eBook packages.