ebooks and pdf?

[omegahalo-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org (Chris O'Connell)]

Portability is subjective.  To me I want to be able to read my PDF on ANY
computer (mac, pc, linux), my ipad, my cell phone, my android tablet.  I am
even able to read my PDFs to a limited extent on my ebook reader (though you
are correct, the formatting is poor do to page sizes and text wrapping).  In
my definition of "portable" PDF works perfectly fine.  My point was I don't
want to rely on a DRM or "App" based solution (such as the Kindle app) that
ties me to a one device, one provider or one particular piece of software.
 One could conceivably argue that a PDF reader is a particular piece of
software I guess, but there are tons of PDF reading programs out there.

I do like EPUBs and like the portable nature of the EPUB format.  The EPUB
format became standardized in 2007, so it's a relatively young file format.
 I'm a bit concerned the file format has the longevity that PDFs have.

There's probably room for both but it's largely a matter of what you intend
to use the files for.

On Tue, Apr 12, 2011 at 10:50 AM, Richard Pieri <richard.pieri-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org>wrote:

> On Apr 12, 2011, at 7:35 AM, Chris O'Connell wrote:
> >
> > one notable exception.  I won't be pirating my books, but I don't like
> the
> > idea of being tied to one device or company (The kindle for example, or
> BN &
> > their crappy nook).  I want PDF portability.
>
> PDF isn't portable.  It makes assumptions about page and display sizes that
> simply don't hold in the portable/mobile arena.
>
> Amazon's Kindle software runs on almost as many platforms as Adobe's
> Reader, and there is Wine for the rest.  The book format, AZW, is a minor
> variant of Mobipocket's MOBI format which is based on the Open eBook open
> specification.
>
> B&N uses ePUB as its foundation with the Adobe Digital Editions DRM latched
> onto it.  At this time, ePUB is a vastly more widely supported container
> than PDF.  And as with Kindle, the ADE software runs in wine for those edge
> cases.
>
> Both ePUB and AZW/MOBI are infinitely more portable than PDF.  They don't
> make assumptions about displays so books look good no matter what you read
> them on.  ePUB addresses many of the shortcomings of MOBI and as a rule the
> ePUB version will look better on more devices than the MOBI version,
> especially if you find yourself doing format conversions.
>
> And there is FBReader, which can read and display unencumbered MOBI and
> ePUB files equally well.  The only reason to use PDF is if you need DTF
> containers.
>
> (DTF = Dead Tree Format, used extensively for hard copy distribution.)
>
> --Rich P.
>
>
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