PDF is not an ebook format!

[BearMountainBooks]

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.

I WISH companies would stop requesting PDF. There are two review sites (and one is pretty large) that I submit to and they STILL request PDF rather than .mobi or ePUB. I almost never have PDF ready to go because no one wants it--except for a couple of review sites of all places.

I certainly don't read the thing on my ereader.

I also know a reviewer who reviews for TOR occasionally and they often send her ... PDF files!

[verydeepwater]

Originally Posted by 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.

I am very curious to hear about tagging a pdf to make it reflowable, because I was under the impression that pdfs are never reflowable. If a pdf becomes reflowable, then it's behaving like a real ebook.

I am interested, because some publishers want to offer their eBooks in three formats, epub, mobi and 'web pdf'. I could never understand why someone should want to read a book as a pdf, when the other formats were available.

Originally Posted by verydeepwater

I am interested, because some publishers want to offer their eBooks in three formats, epub, mobi and 'web pdf'. I could never understand why someone should want to read a book as a pdf, when the other formats were available.

If you're talking about certain types of fiction and non-fiction (e.g. novels, history, popular science), then I agree with you. However, there is more to the world than that. Some books need more sophisticated layout and incorporate more complex elements within the text (e.g. graphs, equations, tables, etc.). In the cases, PDF is more suitable as an ebook format.

Please remember: just because epub, mobi, and other reflowable formats work better for the types of books that you read doesn't mean that it works well for all of the texts that other people read. Personally, I prefer a mix. The reflowable formats are best for the novels and certain types of non-fiction works that I read. PDF is better for the technical books that I read.

It is not an either-or situation. The world is too complex for that.

[Asawi]

Interesting read, this topic!
I don't have a problem classifying PDF as ebooks.
I DO have a problem calling PDF format something else than PDF! "Adobe" is a company that has several different software products and encryption scheme(s), NOT a format! I NEVER use Adobe to view PDF files, so to me "Adobe DRM" means that it's encryptet with Adobe's encryption scheme.
Even though I personally wouldn't expect ePub unless specifically stated I think Diesel Customer Service has handled the OP's problem poorly!