05-06-2009, 08:54 PM | #166 |
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It strikes me that PDF support, in conjunction with the recent change to bandwidth-based fees associated with stuff sent to @kindle.com for wireless delivery, is a potential revenue-enhancement mechanism for Amazon: PDFs can be HUGE as they tend to have lots of bitmaps and so on. I'm not one of them, but there will always be people who prefer the convenience of wireless even if it costs them something.
One wonders if that isn't reason enough for them to retrofit PDF support to K2/K1. Yes, the screen is too small, but Sony reader seems to do something useful with the same screen size. I'm sure there will be plenty of reasons to upgrade to K3 without holding off until then, and it would remove a competitive advantage vis a vis other readers in the meantime. None of this alters the fact that PDF is a lousy ebook format, of course. |
05-06-2009, 09:13 PM | #167 | |
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The PDF viewer functionality is provided by software so technically it is possible for Amazon to provide a PDF viewer for the Kindle 2 (and Kindle 1 as well). However, the Kindle 2 only has a 6" screen, which is just slightly larger than a 3″ x 5″ index card, and from a practicle matter this sized screen is just too small for displaying many PDFs. A large number of PDFs are based on 8 1/2" x 11" pages. The new Kindle DX can display this page in portrait mode by removing margins from the PDF and by scaling down the page slightly and still have an acceptable page that can still be read. The Kindle DX can also be turned sideways and essentially display half of a full-sized 8 1/2" x 11" page, and clicking the Next Page button will display the next half. None of this is really possible with the small screen size used in the Kindle 2. Shrinking a PDF page would result in text too small to read. Dividing a full 8 1/2" x 11" page into sections would require cutting it into at least fourths. So a PDF viewer on the Kindle 2 just isn't likely from a practical standpoint. [Edit: I hope none of this sounded disrespectful to Wallcraft because that's definately not the intention.] Last edited by Daithi; 05-06-2009 at 09:23 PM. |
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05-06-2009, 09:17 PM | #168 |
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Personally, this would be the showstopper for me. I find the Kindle refresh rate is fine for forward reading but for reference books, textbooks and even newspapers, I like to be able to flip back/forth quickly and still prefer paper.
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05-06-2009, 09:38 PM | #169 | |
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But seriously, you could view the pdf page in landscape mode, half an A4 page at a time on the K2 screen. If you also cropped the margins, you'd be at something like 90% full size--like the KDX screen in portrait mode. This would be somewhat suboptimal, I grant you, but not completely terrible. |
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05-06-2009, 09:40 PM | #170 | |
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I agree....a firmware update or two and the K2 could do pdf
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05-06-2009, 10:05 PM | #171 | ||
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As for organization, like I said my fields probably easier to categorize. Easy to put stuff in folders for say types of policing, particular criminological theories etc. That isn't going to apply in more complex fields like yours. Quote:
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05-06-2009, 10:11 PM | #172 | |
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Wistful sigh! |
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05-06-2009, 10:11 PM | #173 |
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I think I was basically agreeing with you, except that Amazon has an Adobe Digital Editions license and so could provide PDF support on the Kindle 2 as good as on any other 6" device. This basically isn't very good for letter/A4 documents (impractical) and so I expect Amazon would say pay the extra for the bigger screen (or try its PDF to MOBI by email option).
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05-06-2009, 10:17 PM | #174 | |
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It's much different in fields like yours where you have probably hundreds and hundreds of studies on the topics you work on. |
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05-06-2009, 10:24 PM | #175 |
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It varies. Some of the papers I worked on had probably only 50 or 60 references. The grant applications my boss would ask us to proofread probably had 200+. At that point I *definitely* couldn't keep them straight. There was a set of about a dozen core papers I could keep mostly straight without looking. But when I actually checked on myself, "mostly straight" was about 80% of the time, which wasn't good enough, so I verified every cite, every time. A lot of work, but I thought it was worth it to avoid potential embarrassment.
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05-06-2009, 10:27 PM | #176 | |
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05-07-2009, 09:21 AM | #177 | |
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05-07-2009, 12:21 PM | #178 | |
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And if I happen to make a mistake I'll catch it when I go through and double check that every text citation is in the bibiliography, and that nothing is in the bibliography that isn't cited in the text. |
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05-07-2009, 12:40 PM | #179 | |
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Dale |
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05-07-2009, 09:05 PM | #180 |
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It's priced pretty well imo. Saving a few more bucks then purchasing! One of my relatives gets my old Kindle 2 hehe.
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