Quote:
Originally Posted by ahi
(And, again, I am talking about properly done PDFs--not well nigh or literally unreadable crap that there is so much of in these dark times of eBooks.)
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That's one of the key issues you're missing--who's going to create these "properly done" PDFs? Right now, publishers don't even consistently release PDFs without crop marks. They release print-ready PDFs with 300dpi full-color artwork, that would look just fine at 150dpi grayscale, and probably would be fine at 72 dpi. They don't put bookmarks or metadata in the PDFs, an average of 2 minutes or less work for an experienced PDF editor, and you think they're going to start adding reflow-sensitive formatting?
There's been some acknowledgment that yes, PDFs could be a reasonably good ebook format... IF they were done correctly. If Acrobat's full array of options were used. If features like tags were activated. If color & design features were adapted to look good in ebook readers.
But they're not. And there's no sign at all that publishers will start paying attention to these details... the people who most notice them and care, are already convinced that other ebook formats are better. (And they are. Because you can't remove the reflow ability from ePubs or Mobi books; you can't scramble the kerning and initial-letter positioning without deliberate effort.)
And if publishers won't listen to avid ebook readers who say, "give us stuff w/o DRM so that it works for us; we'd be willing to pay for that" or "give us formats that work on our readers" or "give us the option of buying an ebook for a friend," why would they listen when those readers say, "give us PDFs with tags and good fonts for a mobile device and bookmarks and good metadata?"
They're convinced that the ebook fanatics are the lunatic fringe, and they're going to ignore *everything* that comes out of places like Mobileread. They have a marketing department that tells them what the public really wants, and it's never "better metadata and linked TOCs!" Because "the public" doesn't know those things exist... they just know that they tried an ebook demo at a store, and they didn't like it.