Why I'm Not Elated with Adobe DE and My Sony

vivaldirules · 08-29-2008, 08:25 AM

I'm pleased to see the reflowed (reflown?) PDFs on my Reader and to borrow Adobe DE books from libraries and read them on it, too. But I won't be buying anything in this format for my Reader until further improvements are made. About all I can say for the rendering on the Reader is that all of the letters do indeed appear on the screen in a readable size. But they have a very long way to go before this is decent.

Below are scans of Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle (I checked it out from the Washington, D.C. public library at no cost) on my 505 in both small and medium fonts. The small font views are also just as they appear on my PC. All the formatting and layout is the same. Too bad we can't read it because it's too tiny. But switch to medium font and here comes reflow to the rescue. Or does it? You judge. I think it's pretty awful.

The lack of full justification is annoying. To be fair, though, in this case the original (unreflown) ebook isn't fully justified (not a good idea, in my opinion). But even worse, you'll see that indented text and text which is a collection of short lines gets converted to a jumble. I don't like this at all and hope Sony will work on and fix this. They did a great job with the displays of their BBeB format and I'm hoping for something similar here.

dordale · 08-29-2008, 12:39 PM

I agree. I'm appreciative that Sony has made it possible for me to "reflow" my PDF's on their reader. It does allow me to read material on it that I wasn't able to before. I'm also glad that I now have the ability to check out Adobe Digital Editions from my library and read them on my Reader. Since these are free, and are now readable I'll put up with the formatting inconsistencies.

But, I won't be purchasing any Adobe DE PDF books to read on my Sony.

dordale

BobVA · 08-29-2008, 05:31 PM

I'm hoping the burden won't entirely rest on Sony - perhaps new publications (i.e. stuff we will be interested in buying) will be formatted to optimize DE's reflow capability.

Cheers,
Bob

Megatron-UK · 08-30-2008, 05:24 AM

Correct me if I'm wrong but DE doesn't have to mean secure PDF does it? I was under the impression that EPUB was also available for secure content?
Of course that requires people to provide content in EPUB, rather than the trivial methods that one needs to go through in order to produce a PDF document (file, print, print as pdf.....)

astra · 08-30-2008, 09:09 AM

I appreciate Sony's effort but reading pdf files on Sony reader is far from fan. I tried a few Tor's freebies. The result after reflow is just horrible.

maj0rglitch · 08-31-2008, 01:35 AM

I do not rely on the reflow function at all. I change the orientation to landscape and that seems to be better, I prefer the original layout.

6charlong · 08-31-2008, 02:20 PM

I had about the same experience except I wanted to find out how it handled DRMed books in PDF. I purchased the cheapest secure PDF I could find--it was Sparknotes on a book I was studying--and loaded it on the PRS.

They seem to have perfected the DRM part because it connected to Adobe and unlocked the book like a Swiss watch: perfection. Too bad the reading experience was so wonky.

At first, the text was too small to read, but when I increased the font size pagination went clear off the tracks. The first page was OK, but after that pages would suddenly stop in the middle of the screen, or start halfway down the screen, or whatever. It made reading for understanding pretty hard. I don't like to have to read around the way a book is formatted, especially when I've paid to have it formatted in the first place.

I remember someone on the forum saying that PDF isn't an eBook reading format. Apparently it still isn't.

mgrunk · 09-01-2008, 12:20 PM

I just checked out my first book from the DC library - and I agree, the text flow is ok - but the pagination is totally off, and I think it is very difficult to read w/o being fully justified. And, the new paragraph formatting is off when it comes to dialog - very confusing to follow people speaking since there often times aren't new paragraphs when a new speaker starts. I won't be buying any secure PDF's either unless I absolutely need the material.

08-29-2008, 08:25 AM	#1
vivaldirules When's Doughnut Day? Posts: 10,059 Karma: 13675475 Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Houston, TX, US Device: Sony PRS-505, iPad	Why I'm Not Elated with Adobe DE and My Sony I'm pleased to see the reflowed (reflown?) PDFs on my Reader and to borrow Adobe DE books from libraries and read them on it, too. But I won't be buying anything in this format for my Reader until further improvements are made. About all I can say for the rendering on the Reader is that all of the letters do indeed appear on the screen in a readable size. But they have a very long way to go before this is decent. Below are scans of Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle (I checked it out from the Washington, D.C. public library at no cost) on my 505 in both small and medium fonts. The small font views are also just as they appear on my PC. All the formatting and layout is the same. Too bad we can't read it because it's too tiny. But switch to medium font and here comes reflow to the rescue. Or does it? You judge. I think it's pretty awful. The lack of full justification is annoying. To be fair, though, in this case the original (unreflown) ebook isn't fully justified (not a good idea, in my opinion). But even worse, you'll see that indented text and text which is a collection of short lines gets converted to a jumble. I don't like this at all and hope Sony will work on and fix this. They did a great job with the displays of their BBeB format and I'm hoping for something similar here. Attached Thumbnails

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08-29-2008, 12:39 PM	#2
dordale Wizard Posts: 1,731 Karma: 3472866 Join Date: Apr 2008 Device: Sony PRS-650 & 350; Kindle Voyage; Kobo Aura HD, Aura One, and Forma	I agree. I'm appreciative that Sony has made it possible for me to "reflow" my PDF's on their reader. It does allow me to read material on it that I wasn't able to before. I'm also glad that I now have the ability to check out Adobe Digital Editions from my library and read them on my Reader. Since these are free, and are now readable I'll put up with the formatting inconsistencies. But, I won't be purchasing any Adobe DE PDF books to read on my Sony. dordale

08-29-2008, 05:31 PM	#3
BobVA Addict Posts: 230 Karma: 1500 Join Date: Oct 2006 Device: Kobo Clara, Sony PRS950, T1, T2, T3	I'm hoping the burden won't entirely rest on Sony - perhaps new publications (i.e. stuff we will be interested in buying) will be formatted to optimize DE's reflow capability. Cheers, Bob

08-30-2008, 05:24 AM	#4
Megatron-UK Connoisseur Posts: 76 Karma: 22 Join Date: Mar 2008 Location: uk Device: Sony PRS505	Correct me if I'm wrong but DE doesn't have to mean secure PDF does it? I was under the impression that EPUB was also available for secure content? Of course that requires people to provide content in EPUB, rather than the trivial methods that one needs to go through in order to produce a PDF document (file, print, print as pdf.....)

08-30-2008, 09:09 AM	#5
astra The Introvert Posts: 8,307 Karma: 1000077497 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: United Kingdom Device: Sony Reader PRS-650 & 505 & 500	I appreciate Sony's effort but reading pdf files on Sony reader is far from fan. I tried a few Tor's freebies. The result after reflow is just horrible.

08-31-2008, 01:35 AM	#6
maj0rglitch Junior Member Posts: 3 Karma: 10 Join Date: Aug 2008 Device: Sony 505	I do not rely on the reflow function at all. I change the orientation to landscape and that seems to be better, I prefer the original layout.

08-31-2008, 02:20 PM	#7
6charlong friendly lurker Posts: 896 Karma: 2436026 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: US Device: Kindle, nook, Apple and Kobo	I had about the same experience except I wanted to find out how it handled DRMed books in PDF. I purchased the cheapest secure PDF I could find--it was Sparknotes on a book I was studying--and loaded it on the PRS. They seem to have perfected the DRM part because it connected to Adobe and unlocked the book like a Swiss watch: perfection. Too bad the reading experience was so wonky. At first, the text was too small to read, but when I increased the font size pagination went clear off the tracks. The first page was OK, but after that pages would suddenly stop in the middle of the screen, or start halfway down the screen, or whatever. It made reading for understanding pretty hard. I don't like to have to read around the way a book is formatted, especially when I've paid to have it formatted in the first place. I remember someone on the forum saying that PDF isn't an eBook reading format. Apparently it still isn't.

09-01-2008, 12:20 PM	#8
mgrunk Zealot Posts: 130 Karma: 96 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: metro Atlanta, GA Device: Sony Reader PRS-505	I just checked out my first book from the DC library - and I agree, the text flow is ok - but the pagination is totally off, and I think it is very difficult to read w/o being fully justified. And, the new paragraph formatting is off when it comes to dialog - very confusing to follow people speaking since there often times aren't new paragraphs when a new speaker starts. I won't be buying any secure PDF's either unless I absolutely need the material.

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