iPod Touch

adinb · 09-05-2007, 05:45 PM

With the unveiling of the iPod Touch and its beautiful high density screen today, a slightly unusual (to the general iPod audience) question jumped to my mind: is there any way to read (non-drm'ed) PDF's on it?

How does the iPhone deal with online PDF's? Is a PDF reader on the homebrew hackers' radar?

While I certainly won't abandon my e-ink (sony) device as a primary reading tool, the high density screen & zoom/pan sound pretty good for reading magazines that publish non-drm'ed versions (like Sci-Am, Eweek, etc).

-adin

adinb · 09-05-2007, 06:12 PM

Bad form to answer my own question, but I found a couple things that are *close* to what I'm looking for, though I still haven't found a native pdf reader.

It appears that Safari can directly open pdf urls, so you can upload pdfs and read them online.

There's also an ebook reader project on google code called books.app though it only reads text and html (it does do gutenberg html). The lead dev/project owner has grudgingly added pdf to the dev plan, though he made it low priority, so it doesn't appear to be anything that's going to happen soon.

Soonr give remote access to documents & skype, but from their website appears to reformat documents for mobile viewing (free service for now, soon to make a premium paid service). Drat, *so* close.

Is there anything else out there that I've missed?

flumbo · 09-05-2007, 06:57 PM

Excellent! I got sucked in and ordered one of those this morning. My next stop was to post this same question. I imagine there will be plenty of solutions for text files on the ipod in the next few months.

Thanks for the links.

Hadrien · 09-05-2007, 07:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by adinb

Bad form to answer my own question, but I found a couple things that are *close* to what I'm looking for, though I still haven't found a native pdf reader.

It appears that Safari can directly open pdf urls, so you can upload pdfs and read them online.

There's also an ebook reader project on google code called books.app though it only reads text and html (it does do gutenberg html). The lead dev/project owner has grudgingly added pdf to the dev plan, though he made it low priority, so it doesn't appear to be anything that's going to happen soon.

Soonr give remote access to documents & skype, but from their website appears to reformat documents for mobile viewing (free service for now, soon to make a premium paid service). Drat, *so* close.

Is there anything else out there that I've missed?

If Safari can open PDF files you could try using Feedbooks: http://www.feedbooks.com

One of the available template (A4/Sony/iLiad) might work OK with the iPhone/iPod Touch. You can also create custom PDFs for it. This way it should be easy to get a good looking e-book on your device...

adinb · 09-06-2007, 03:47 AM

Being the owner of feedbooks and all, would you consider making a "locker" for iPhone/iTouch owners to make their own little pdf/html/txt access areas? I could see it as mainly as an area to bookmark/save links to books that you're reading....

HarryT · 09-06-2007, 05:24 AM

I just don't see the point of these new iPods at all. They are clearly ideal for video, and yet they don't have hard disks! Why on Earth make them "flash memory" devices rather than having a hard disk? Video needs large storage capacities far more than music does. Seems crazy to me! The only explanation I can come up with is that perhaps they are basically "iPhones minus the phone"?

Laurens · 09-06-2007, 06:56 AM

I was actually more interested in the 3rd generation Nano, hoping that they'd offer a 16GB model. Unfortunately, they went a different way altogether and made it smaller (perhaps too small) and cheaper and added the (IMO rather useless) video playback.

Hadrien · 09-06-2007, 07:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I just don't see the point of these new iPods at all. They are clearly ideal for video, and yet they don't have hard disks! Why on Earth make them "flash memory" devices rather than having a hard disk? Video needs large storage capacities far more than music does. Seems crazy to me! The only explanation I can come up with is that perhaps they are basically "iPhones minus the phone"?

I agree. The new iPod Classic with its 80 or 160 Gb drive is perfect for video, why flash memory for the iPod Touch ?

Quote:

Originally Posted by adinb

Being the owner of feedbooks and all, would you consider making a "locker" for iPhone/iTouch owners to make their own little pdf/html/txt access areas? I could see it as mainly as an area to bookmark/save links to books that you're reading....

Hmm... a locker ? You mean a page with multiple links ? You could use the favorites to do this I guess...

yvanleterrible · 09-06-2007, 08:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I just don't see the point of these new iPods at all. They are clearly ideal for video, and yet they don't have hard disks! Why on Earth make them "flash memory" devices rather than having a hard disk? Video needs large storage capacities far more than music does. Seems crazy to me! The only explanation I can come up with is that perhaps they are basically "iPhones minus the phone"?

Durability ans weight. Micro hard drives have a nasty tendancy to stop working when crashing to the ground. The iPod is a device built to give one company in action. This is why I bought a Nano, it's great while I train.

HarryT · 09-06-2007, 09:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Durability ans weight. Micro hard drives have a nasty tendancy to stop working when crashing to the ground. The iPod is a device built to give one company in action. This is why I bought a Nano, it's great while I train.

I've had a number of hard-disk iPods and never had a failure - they are extremely tough.

This new device would seem ideal as a personal video player, but without a hard disk it's really not going to compete head-to-head against devices such as those produced by Archos.

Adam B. · 09-06-2007, 10:02 AM

The lack of a hard disk is realy disapointing. I'm still considering one because of the form factor, touch screen, and hackability.

Perhaps with enough of a demand, they will release a high capacity version simliar to that of the classic. I really wouldn't mind the extra thickness.

Hadrien · 09-06-2007, 10:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yvanleterrible

Durability ans weight. Micro hard drives have a nasty tendancy to stop working when crashing to the ground. The iPod is a device built to give one company in action. This is why I bought a Nano, it's great while I train.

My iRiver iHP-140 is 3 years old and the disk is still in perfect shape.

I understand why having flash memory is important on a small device like the Nano, but with the iPod Touch, I can't imagine myself running while watching some video podcast on it. The iPod Touch is a lot more like an Archos than a Nano...

Azayzel · 09-06-2007, 11:56 AM

Man o man, that's a sweet device! Guess I can quite complaining about it being locked to a cellphone. I actually watched the video on Apple's website where the seemingly sleeping individual walked you through all the new things they put into it "just for you!" That last one's kind of a joke, like they really added wireless to the iPod for you or YouTube, for that matter. It stinks of a major deal made with Google (esp. since the default search engine is Google, not that I mind since that's what I use most of the time) and yet another way for Apple to milk micro-transactions. I think they kinda stole the idea of wifi from the Zune, but they left out the feature that you can share songs with other iPods; e.g., like the Zune can.

I so want one of these, I just wish it had more memory. Though I'm sure it's a lot cheaper to throw a few SSD chips on board than to have to include a microdrive, not to mention it makes the device a whole lot lighter, thinner, and energy-efficient. It's a little pricey for the 16GB model, though I will get one eventually. I also like the re-engineered Nano; perfect for the gym to the commute to work! Oh man, Apple sure dropped a major cash-cow into the market, and just in time for Christmas (and my birthday!).

BTW Want to see some goofy figures, check out how you can fit more songs on your 8GB Nano than the 8GB iTouch, but less pictures and two hours more video on a device with a larger screen; i.e., higher resolution! Considering how they expect you to get your songs and videos from the same store, I wonder how they tricked this out? Here's the link

gmanacsa · 09-06-2007, 02:06 PM

Presumably the iPod Touch version of Safari can still read PDFs. Unfortunately, the new machine doesn't seem to support email, so one avenue that's proven useful on the iPhone for getting PDF files into the machine is not available on the new device.

I've tested the FileMark Maker hack as another way to view offline PDFs via iPhone Safari, and it seems to work well for smaller files (less than 1 or 2 megs). See a video demo of PDFs on the iPhone.

andym · 09-06-2007, 03:50 PM

A quick search on Google pdfs on iPhone threw up some interesting links.

There's a link here from David Pogue about reading books on the iPhone:

http://www.oreillynet.com/mmgadgets/..._iphone_1.html

Seems to be that there's an inbuilt pdf reader that is used by Safari as well.

I found a lot of interesting material about pdfs in iTunes (of all things) it looks like you can download pfs in the same way as you download a track - or subscribe to one in the same way as you subscribe to a podcast. Presumably you can then get them onto your iPod touch simply by syncing.

I'd love to see FeedBooks on there!

Here's theComplete guide to pdfs on ITunes. If you're curious you can also try searching for '.pdf' ino the itunes store search ending.

Of course good old basic html is still very much an option as well.

The dilemma for me is whether to get one now or wait for the HD version. the lack of the HD version is a bit of a disappointment. I'm sure Apple will produce one - there would be a hell of a market among photographers especially if they build in RAW support.

09-05-2007, 05:45 PM	#1
adinb RSS &amp; Gadget Addict! Posts: 82 Karma: 67 Join Date: May 2005 Location: Albuquerque, NM Device: Sony PRS-500, iPod Touch, iPhone	iPod Touch With the unveiling of the iPod Touch and its beautiful high density screen today, a slightly unusual (to the general iPod audience) question jumped to my mind: is there any way to read (non-drm'ed) PDF's on it? How does the iPhone deal with online PDF's? Is a PDF reader on the homebrew hackers' radar? While I certainly won't abandon my e-ink (sony) device as a primary reading tool, the high density screen & zoom/pan sound pretty good for reading magazines that publish non-drm'ed versions (like Sci-Am, Eweek, etc). -adin

09-05-2007, 06:12 PM	#2
adinb RSS &amp; Gadget Addict! Posts: 82 Karma: 67 Join Date: May 2005 Location: Albuquerque, NM Device: Sony PRS-500, iPod Touch, iPhone	Bad form to answer my own question, but I found a couple things that are close to what I'm looking for, though I still haven't found a native pdf reader. It appears that Safari can directly open pdf urls, so you can upload pdfs and read them online. There's also an ebook reader project on google code called books.app though it only reads text and html (it does do gutenberg html). The lead dev/project owner has grudgingly added pdf to the dev plan, though he made it low priority, so it doesn't appear to be anything that's going to happen soon. Soonr give remote access to documents & skype, but from their website appears to reformat documents for mobile viewing (free service for now, soon to make a premium paid service). Drat, so close. Is there anything else out there that I've missed? Last edited by adinb; 09-05-2007 at 06:33 PM.

09-06-2007, 02:06 PM	#14
gmanacsa Enthusiast Posts: 36 Karma: 10 Join Date: Sep 2007 Device: Sony Reader PRS-500, X61T Tablet, iPhone, OLPC XO-1	Presumably the iPod Touch version of Safari can still read PDFs. Unfortunately, the new machine doesn't seem to support email, so one avenue that's proven useful on the iPhone for getting PDF files into the machine is not available on the new device. I've tested the FileMark Maker hack as another way to view offline PDFs via iPhone Safari, and it seems to work well for smaller files (less than 1 or 2 megs). See a video demo of PDFs on the iPhone. Last edited by gmanacsa; 09-06-2007 at 04:39 PM.

09-05-2007, 06:57 PM	#3
flumbo I got nothin... Posts: 127 Karma: 302 Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Hawaii	Excellent! I got sucked in and ordered one of those this morning. My next stop was to post this same question. I imagine there will be plenty of solutions for text files on the ipod in the next few months. Thanks for the links.

09-06-2007, 03:47 AM	#5
adinb RSS &amp; Gadget Addict! Posts: 82 Karma: 67 Join Date: May 2005 Location: Albuquerque, NM Device: Sony PRS-500, iPod Touch, iPhone	Being the owner of feedbooks and all, would you consider making a "locker" for iPhone/iTouch owners to make their own little pdf/html/txt access areas? I could see it as mainly as an area to bookmark/save links to books that you're reading....

09-06-2007, 05:24 AM	#6
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,544 Karma: 93383043 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I just don't see the point of these new iPods at all. They are clearly ideal for video, and yet they don't have hard disks! Why on Earth make them "flash memory" devices rather than having a hard disk? Video needs large storage capacities far more than music does. Seems crazy to me! The only explanation I can come up with is that perhaps they are basically "iPhones minus the phone"?

09-06-2007, 06:56 AM	#7
Laurens Jah Blessed Posts: 1,295 Karma: 1373 Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: The Netherlands Device: iPod Touch	I was actually more interested in the 3rd generation Nano, hoping that they'd offer a 16GB model. Unfortunately, they went a different way altogether and made it smaller (perhaps too small) and cheaper and added the (IMO rather useless) video playback.

09-06-2007, 10:02 AM	#11
Adam B. Addicted to Porting Posts: 1,697 Karma: 7194 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Indianapolis, IN Device: iRex iLiad, Nokia 770, Samsung i760	The lack of a hard disk is realy disapointing. I'm still considering one because of the form factor, touch screen, and hackability. Perhaps with enough of a demand, they will release a high capacity version simliar to that of the classic. I really wouldn't mind the extra thickness.

09-06-2007, 11:56 AM	#13
Azayzel Cache Ninja! Posts: 643 Karma: 1002300 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Tokyo, Japan Device: PRS-500, HTC Shift, iPod Touch, iPaq 4150, TC1100, Panasonic WordsGear	Man o man, that's a sweet device! Guess I can quite complaining about it being locked to a cellphone. I actually watched the video on Apple's website where the seemingly sleeping individual walked you through all the new things they put into it "just for you!" That last one's kind of a joke, like they really added wireless to the iPod for you or YouTube, for that matter. It stinks of a major deal made with Google (esp. since the default search engine is Google, not that I mind since that's what I use most of the time) and yet another way for Apple to milk micro-transactions. I think they kinda stole the idea of wifi from the Zune, but they left out the feature that you can share songs with other iPods; e.g., like the Zune can. I so want one of these, I just wish it had more memory. Though I'm sure it's a lot cheaper to throw a few SSD chips on board than to have to include a microdrive, not to mention it makes the device a whole lot lighter, thinner, and energy-efficient. It's a little pricey for the 16GB model, though I will get one eventually. I also like the re-engineered Nano; perfect for the gym to the commute to work! Oh man, Apple sure dropped a major cash-cow into the market, and just in time for Christmas (and my birthday!). BTW Want to see some goofy figures, check out how you can fit more songs on your 8GB Nano than the 8GB iTouch, but less pictures and two hours more video on a device with a larger screen; i.e., higher resolution! Considering how they expect you to get your songs and videos from the same store, I wonder how they tricked this out? Here's the link

09-06-2007, 03:50 PM	#15
andym Groupie Posts: 189 Karma: 793 Join Date: Oct 2006	A quick search on Google pdfs on iPhone threw up some interesting links. There's a link here from David Pogue about reading books on the iPhone: http://www.oreillynet.com/mmgadgets/..._iphone_1.html Seems to be that there's an inbuilt pdf reader that is used by Safari as well. I found a lot of interesting material about pdfs in iTunes (of all things) it looks like you can download pfs in the same way as you download a track - or subscribe to one in the same way as you subscribe to a podcast. Presumably you can then get them onto your iPod touch simply by syncing. I'd love to see FeedBooks on there! Here's theComplete guide to pdfs on ITunes. If you're curious you can also try searching for '.pdf' ino the itunes store search ending. Of course good old basic html is still very much an option as well. The dilemma for me is whether to get one now or wait for the HD version. the lack of the HD version is a bit of a disappointment. I'm sure Apple will produce one - there would be a hell of a market among photographers especially if they build in RAW support.

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