PDF downloads are going away

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Stephen Cole

eBooks.com still supports PDF and EPUB formats, for these reasons. In summary: a) some smaller publishers still aren't equipped to deliver EPUB, and b) some books are much better suited to PDF than EPUB.

Some books are indeed much better as PDFs. Amazon have their "Print Replica" format which is PDF in a Kindle wrapper (from which the original PDF can trivially be extracted).

[haydnfan]

Originally Posted by DNSB

I was noticing that Kobo is no longer going to be supplying PDF files as of November 1st, 2017. While this affects only 3 of my books and I've already downloaded those, I'm wondering how many people are going to be affected by this decision.

I don't have any pdfs from Kobo, but I have to say that this is anti-consumer in both the decision and the way that it is being handled.

They're taking away options from their customers.

They're taking away books paid for by their customers.

They're not adequately informing them. An email should be sent not just a message buried in the library page.

They make it very tedious to check the format of each ebook.

What Kobo should do-- is not take away pdfs. But if they're dead set on that course of action, they should at least email each consumer the warning along with the list of ebooks in their library that are in pdf format. Perhaps even specifying which will be converted to epub and which will simply be not available after November 1 (or whatever the date was).

[PeterT]

Our buddy at GoodeReader has a post on this https://goodereader.com/blog/electro...#disqus_thread

I believe the title is erroneous and should be "Kobo will no longer distribute PDF files"

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Our buddy at GoodeReader has a post on this https://goodereader.com/blog/electro...#disqus_thread

I believe the title is erroneous and should be "Kobo will no longer distribute PDF files"

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

that piece is BS - it got its facts wrong and ripped off both me and this thread:
https://the-digital-reader.com/2017/...fs-1-november/

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

that piece is BS - it got its facts wrong and ripped off both me and this thread:
https://the-digital-reader.com/2017/...fs-1-november/

So same a usual then.

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by PeterT

Our buddy at GoodeReader has a post on this https://goodereader.com/blog/electro...#disqus_thread

I believe the title is erroneous and should be "Kobo will no longer distribute PDF files"

Sent from my SM-T713 using Tapatalk

Originally Posted by Nate the great

that piece is BS - it got its facts wrong and ripped off both me and this thread:
https://the-digital-reader.com/2017/...fs-1-november/

You expected better from them? Can I interest you in a bridge?

[Nate the great]

Originally Posted by DNSB

You expected better from them? Can I interest you in a bridge?

no, but I am in the market for some bottom land - just don't tell me what it is on the bottom of!

[DNSB]

Originally Posted by Nate the great

no, but I am in the market for some bottom land - just don't tell me what it is on the bottom of!

How about a nice beach property in Arizona?

[johnnyb]

I accidentally started a duplicate thread on that issue, here’s what I wrote:

While this may be a good thing, I fear that this is the last nail in the coffin for all hopes that Kobo would eventually improve upon their pathetic PDF support in their firmware. Even Amazon, who never ever offered PDFs ever in their store (at least for download on eInk devices) have a factor 1000 better engine for PDFs on all of their Kindles.
I know, PDF not an ideal format for eInk in general. However, PDF support on your eInk device is more than helpful for taking your docs outside occasionally. Especially with the advent of larger screens, some people initially hoped that Kobo would do something to improve that, but their PDF engine is as 1999 as ever...
Lucky for us, there's Koreader. But even this fine piece of software still lacks the ability to add notes to PDFs, something that every Kindle does without blinking...

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by johnnyb

Even Amazon, who never ever offered PDFs ever in their store (at least for download on eInk devices) have a factor 1000 better engine for PDFs on all of their Kindles.

Amazon have "Print Replica" format (AZW4), which is PDF in an Amazon wrapper (eg this book), although such books can indeed only be read on the tablet and PC apps, rather than on eInk Kindles. The "KindleUnpack" plugin for Calibre allows the original PDF to be extracted from such a book. I've bought several such books (including the one linked to) and read them (as PDFs) on my iPad.

The native PDF support in eInk Kindles is not at all good, unless the PDF has been optimised for the page size of the Kindle. I'm sure that Kobo's PDF support can't be any worse!

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Amazon have "Print Replica" format (AZW4), which is PDF in an Amazon wrapper, although such books can only be read on the tablet and PC apps, rather than on eInk Kindles.

That's what I meant when I said that Amazon does not offer PDFs for their eInk devices.
They have no need to support PDF and yet they do, and better than Kobo.

Originally Posted by HarryT

The native PDF support in eInk Kindles is not good, unless the PDF has been optimised for the page size of the Kindle. I'm sure that Kobo's PDF support can't be any worse!

You really should try the native PDF reader on Kobo, it is several times slower, does not offer persistent zoom (in a way that retains the exact zoomed area after page turns) nor any form of annotation feature.
In comparison, all of the recent Kindle models (starting at least with the original Paperwhite) give a sufficiently pleasant experience. Nothing compared to a tablet, but at least in landscape and with slightly increased contrast, you get to read your documents with persistent zoom (double tap auto zoom on text-area), relatively fluid page turns and the basic annotation features that the Kindle offers for its other formats.
If you think that this is not good (of course it could be better), give any recent Kobo device a try. You will find that experience atrociously slow and clunky, despite the device possibly having a larger screen and faster processor than your Kindle.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by johnnyb

You really should try the native PDF reader on Kobo, it is several times slower, does not offer persistent zoom (in a way that retains the exact zoomed area after page turns) nor any form of annotation feature.
In comparison, all of the recent Kindle models (starting at least with the original Paperwhite) give a sufficiently pleasant experience. Nothing compared to a tablet, but at least in landscape and with slightly increased contrast, you get to read your documents with persistent zoom (double tap auto zoom on text-area), relatively fluid page turns and the basic annotation features that the Kindle offers for its other formats.
If you think that this is not good (of course it could be better), give any recent Kobo device a try. You will find that experience atrociously slow and clunky, despite the device possibly having a larger screen and faster processor than your Kindle.

Fair enough. I gave up trying to read PDFs on my Kindle because it wasn't a good experience, and I don't think I ever tried reading a PDF on my H2O when I had that. I decided a long time ago that tablets really were a much better way to read PDFs!

[johnnyb]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Fair enough. I gave up trying to read PDFs on my Kindle because it wasn't a good experience, and I don't think I ever tried reading a PDF on my H2O when I had that. I decided a long time ago that tablets really were a much better way to read PDFs!

You are 100% correct that tablets provide a vastly better experience for reading PDFs than eInk!
(and Kindles provide a vastly better experience for reading PDFs than Kobos)