PDF is not an ebook format!

[meeera]

When oh when oh when will companies learn that PDF is not an ebook format? It's a standard for printable documents so that the user will see a consistent layout; not an ebook format.

Do not, under any bloody circumstances, try to sell me something labelled an "ebook" and tell me that oh yes, it's compatible with your exact six inch eink ereader, completely compatible, and carefully avoid telling me until I've bought, paid for, and downloaded it, that oh it's actually an unreadable PDF, oops, well, we've got your money now.

I'M LOOKING AT YOU, DIESEL EBOOKS.

And you know, whatever, if some of you, for some bizarre reason, prefer reading your books in PDF format (on large tablets, perhaps?), then bully for you. Just TELL the consumer up front that you're only offering a PDF, before you take their money.

[cromag]

PDF is better than nothing (just barely), but no, I wouldn't want to pay for it.

[Rob Lister]

Originally Posted by meeera

When oh when oh when will companies learn that PDF is not an ebook format? It's a standard for printable documents so that the user will see a consistent layout; not an ebook format.

Do not, under any bloody circumstances, try to sell me something labelled an "ebook" and tell me that oh yes, it's compatible with your exact six inch eink ereader, completely compatible, and carefully avoid telling me until I've bought, paid for, and downloaded it, that oh it's actually an unreadable PDF, oops, well, we've got your money now.

I'M LOOKING AT YOU, DIESEL EBOOKS.

And you know, whatever, if some of you, for some bizarre reason, prefer reading your books in PDF format (on large tablets, perhaps?), then bully for you. Just TELL the consumer up front that you're only offering a PDF, before you take their money.

Most places categorize PDF as an e-book format. It is incumbent on the buyer to check what format. For example, this


instead of what you wanted, which was this


I'd be pissed too though if I had overlooked that.

[nohmi2]

Originally Posted by meeera

When oh when oh when will companies learn that PDF is not an ebook format? It's a standard for printable documents so that the user will see a consistent layout; not an ebook format.

Do not, under any bloody circumstances, try to sell me something labelled an "ebook" and tell me that oh yes, it's compatible with your exact six inch eink ereader, completely compatible, and carefully avoid telling me until I've bought, paid for, and downloaded it, that oh it's actually an unreadable PDF, oops, well, we've got your money now.

I'M LOOKING AT YOU, DIESEL EBOOKS.

And you know, whatever, if some of you, for some bizarre reason, prefer reading your books in PDF format (on large tablets, perhaps?), then bully for you. Just TELL the consumer up front that you're only offering a PDF, before you take their money.

Somebody had to say it.

Cheers

[fjtorres]

pdf is electronic paper.
A digital microfiche.
That is what it was designed to be and despite the kludges and attempts to make it reflowable the result has always ended up better for archiving than for reading.

[meeera]

It doesn't say PDF anywhere on the product page, and it specifically lists the product as being suitable for a variety of six inch eink readers. No two ways around it; that's a lie. I figured it was incumbent on me to check compatibility with my hardware. I did. I was lied to.

How hard is it to just say it's a PDF? Why cover it up? Why hide it behind "Adobe Encrypted [DRM]", which doesn't mean "PDF" in any language?

Now they're refusing a refund "because the book was already downloaded". Um, yeah, I had no way of knowing it was a PDF without downloading it; and I emailed within minutes to ask for the refund.

I'll be avoiding Diesel like the plague in future.

[Billi]

Originally Posted by meeera

and it specifically lists the product as being suitable for a variety of six inch eink readers

And, is it? What happens when you open it on your reader? If the pdf is made for a 9x12 cm screen it should be perfectly readable there.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Billi

And, is it? What happens when you open it on your reader? If the pdf is made for a 9x12 cm screen it should be perfectly readable there.

It's unreadable, like I said.

[Billi]

Can you look up the page size (on the PC, for instance)? If it was made for A4 or letter size then you have a point against the seller.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by Billi

Can you look up the page size (on the PC, for instance)? If it was made for A4 or letter size then you have a point against the seller.

Couldn't figure out how to do this and I'm getting sleepy, but I poked around the hardcover "Look Inside" page on Amazon, and the "ebook" is virtually the same layout. The hardcover is 6.5 x 9.2 inches, much larger than an ereader.

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by meeera

Couldn't figure out how to do this and I'm getting sleepy, but I poked around the hardcover "Look Inside" page on Amazon, and the "ebook" is virtually the same layout. The hardcover is 6.5 x 9.2 inches, much larger than an ereader.

If you have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed (and I imagine Foxit and other equivalents are the same) open the PDF there, go up to file > properties and the document page size should be noted there.

[Zetmolm]

Also check in the file properties if the PDF was 'tagged'. If yes, it's reflowable and so readable on smaller screens. If not, you have another point against the seller.

[markom]

Originally Posted by sangitasingh247

Agreed. Pdf should not be an ebook. I consider is just a read only version of the document, which is not editable and also saves the formatting of the document when opened in different text editors. I have had experience with this problem of format messing up in other editors.

Anyways, I like reading ebooks in my android device and I really love the page flip effect when I turn page. It feels like I am reading a paper back version of it and is also has the sound of a paper turning. This effect is absent in pdf.

...

There are a lot of free pdf readers with realistic page-curl animations for pdfs (textual or scanned), at least for iOS.

It all boils down to pdf document size A4 or A5 and e-reader size 10" or 6".

In many e-ink devices like Sony PRS we can use reflow for textual pdf while in Kindle we can even use pdf reflow on scanned images, if there is kindlepdfviewer installed.

I have no problem whatsoever reading A4 sized pdf in landscape mode on Kindle Dx or iPad, because its screen width (about 20 cm) is larger than A4 pdf text width (17-19 cm).

[Lemurion]

I'm going to start by saying that much as I hate PDF for fiction, I've bought a whole bunch of RPG Manuals in PDF format over the last decade and been very satisfied with them. Of course, I also have a large tablet.

Where I see the problem is in the idea that it's not identified as PDF. I'm sure Diesel has a page where they explain their formats and terminology, but if they're selling PDFs they should identify the format, not just the DRM scheme.

Sure, they may call DRM epub something else, but referring to a format by the name of a DRM scheme it shares with at least one other format just isn't good enough. It's bad form and it's sloppy.

[BookCat]

Sorry for stating the bloomin' obvious, but you could always convert it.