Little Black Book PDFs?

BFalcon

Mongoose
I can't seem to find any LBB PDFs out right now - I was wondering if Mongoose has any plans to release any for use on the tablet PCs - I tried the library sample on my Kindle (which has a smaller screen than a 10.1") and the library was just barely readable (magnifier would be needed) - I was just wondering if, now tablets are becoming popular, there were any plans...?

NOT that I'm gaming right now, of course, just trying to help justify the expense of a tablet... (partly to myself and mainly to relatives). :lol:

Incidently, for those wondering about the sample I mentioned above, I have since bought the PDF version of the Library... :)
 
Not sure what problem you're having. I use the PDF's on my nook and have no readability problems. Change the font size.
 
On the kindle, you can't resize fonts on PDFs, only zoom in or out, meaning you need to scroll around the page... I was hoping to avoid similar behaviour on the tablet, since I'd much rather treat it like a book and use just one button press or gesture to turn the page.

I've ordered the tablet now, so we'll see how it goes. I was just thinking that it would be a better size for mobile devices than the full-format pages.
 
BFalcon said:
On the kindle, you can't resize fonts on PDFs, only zoom in or out, meaning you need to scroll around the page... I was hoping to avoid similar behaviour on the tablet, since I'd much rather treat it like a book and use just one button press or gesture to turn the page.

I've ordered the tablet now, so we'll see how it goes. I was just thinking that it would be a better size for mobile devices than the full-format pages.

Use Caliber to convert to ePub format.
 
Well, that assumes that it's legal to do so - I've assumed (and will, until Mongoose says otherwise) that it's illegal to do so in the UK.

Also, reformatting the text will also screw up the table of contents - something I'd *like* to avoid if possible - I'd sooner strain to see the screen than do that.
 
BFalcon said:
Well, that assumes that it's legal to do so - I've assumed (and will, until Mongoose says otherwise) that it's illegal to do so in the UK.

Also, reformatting the text will also screw up the table of contents - something I'd *like* to avoid if possible - I'd sooner strain to see the screen than do that.

Hmm, it's legal in the U.S. to do so, not sure about UK. Converting has never messed with Tables of Content for me. YMMV as, it seems that the Kindle isn't as flexible as the Nook.
 
I would hope so - since the Nook costs £70 more for the same model - a lot of money if the only difference was the touch-screen. Both have their advantages and disadvantages and the PDF reader on the Kindle has the benefit that it presents a true-life image of the PDF - I tried it out with my Shadowrun 4th ed. PDF when I first got it (my most complex PDF I could find) and it only suffered from the text being too small - not too bad when you consider that it was a full rulebook.

Quite frankly, since I like music and audio books, as well as preferring the mobi format over the epub, the larger built-in memory (I do miss the lack of an expansion slot, admittedly) as well as the wider range of formats supported by the Kindle, I think I'd sooner stick to the Kindle. The ability to listen to a little music while I read is a nice option and the heavier Nook would be too heavy, I think. I also like the keyboard on the Kindle.

Each to their own. I'm talking about tablets though, not ebook readers in this one and was purely asking if such a release was on the cards, not for the pros and cons of various platforms.

As for the circumvention of DRM, which I'd be VERY surprised if the Mongoose PDFs didn't contain in the form of watermarking, is still illegal in the US the last I heard and is definitely so in the UK unless something happened without my hearing about it... and as a small IT businessman, I'm NOT prepared to step outside the letter of the law intentionally - especially over such a minor issue.
 
DFW said:
BFalcon said:
Well, that assumes that it's legal to do so - I've assumed (and will, until Mongoose says otherwise) that it's illegal to do so in the UK.

Also, reformatting the text will also screw up the table of contents - something I'd *like* to avoid if possible - I'd sooner strain to see the screen than do that.

Hmm, it's legal in the U.S. to do so, not sure about UK.

Format shifting is not permitted under the law in the UK. Even ripping a CD (that you own) to mp3s. However it has never been tested in court and no-one seems to be too keen on doing so. So in real life there doesn't seem to be much risk in format shifting of music for which you have bought but the potential for a civil case does exist.

The recent Hargreaves Review on intellectual property came out in favour of format shifting (that the law should reflect common practice). However the government hasn't implemented the review's recommendations.

However I do have an Android tablet (an Asus Transformer) and because of the clean design of the main Traveller books the PDFs I have display absolutely wonderfully.
 
Thanks Andy - that's what I wanted to hear :)

I'm getting an Archos (recommended by another member of the forum) and in a competition for a Transformer (crosses fingers).

Mind you, tablets do seem to cover a wide range of sizes - I had to laugh when I saw a 2.8" screened device claiming to be a "tablet" - to me, if it's under 6" screen, it's either a phone or a PDA, depending on whether you can make phone calls on it without using Skype (or another program, before someone gets smart...). :)
 
The most important factor for reading PDFs is resolution which is why I went the Transformer route (I use it for far more than gaming and as a software developer hope to extend my skills to Android programming). But I don't think you will have a problem on a tablet with slightly lower res than the Transformer.

For those using Android I can heartily recommend RepliGo Reader - which is a PDF reader which lets you add sticky notes to pages (and draw freehand, underlines etc) and seems pretty responsive to me. You do have to pay a bit for it - but it is the best I've found.
 
BFalcon said:
I would hope so - since the Nook costs £70 more for the same model - a lot of money if the only difference was the touch-screen.

Wow! Kindles must have dropped in price. My new nook cost $110.

BFalcon said:
As for the circumvention of DRM, which I'd be VERY surprised if the Mongoose PDFs didn't contain in the form of watermarking, is still illegal in the US the last I heard

I guess you heard wrong. In the US you can convert an ebook all you want. You just can't give copies away. Glad I live in the US if the law is so strict in the UK.
 
DFW said:
Wow! Kindles must have dropped in price. My new nook cost $110.

The cheapest I could find in the UK was 179 when I checked earlier, vs 111 for the Kindle. Just found one Nook for 154, so I'd better revise that down to 43 quid more. I guess someone is just price-gouging on the Nook over here.

DFW said:
I guess you heard wrong. In the US you can convert an ebook all you want. You just can't give copies away. Glad I live in the US if the law is so strict in the UK.

Having looked into it, it used to be illegal in the US ("Digital Millennium Copyright Act") but was overturned in the courts - as is typical over here in the UK (and europe), the government followed suit in making the laws, but not in the removing of them. I'm afraid that I don't tend to keep up to date with US law, in much the same way as you don't keep up with UK law. :)

Got my Archos 101 today (and committed the cardinal sin of playing BEFORE the battery was fully charged, naturally) and I guess I can live with having to scroll the page I'm looking at - it's my first (modern) touch screen device, so I wasn't sure how easy it would be to have a full-screen page on it... the multi-touch makes zooming a lot easier than I thought it would be too. As long as a device can comfortably see a single column width, then I think that it'd be good enough in any case. I was in the older "it'll be hard to zoom around so best display the whole page" mindset before.

Tried it out on the Merchant PDF sample and I could see the whole page in portrait, but (due to the narrow ratio screen) could only see very small text. In landscape, I can see the full width easily, but obviously need to scroll up and down to read - a mere flick of the finger.

Obviously, those with modern phones and/or tablets will already know this, but my last touch screen device was my iPaq 119 PDA which has a 2.8" screen if I recall correctly and, in comparison to today's devices, was bl***y useless. :)

Andy and BP: thanks for the help here and in the other (discussion) thread.

(Edit) DFW: just found one supplier (an overstock company) selling the Nook (1st edition) for around 20 less than the Kindle 3rd edition - but that seems to be the exception rather than the rule over here (I suspect they may be importing the Nooks themselves). So apologies on the price aspect.
 
BFalcon said:
The cheapest I could find in the UK was 179 when I checked earlier, vs 111 for the Kindle. Just found one Nook for 154, so I'd better revise that down to 43 quid more. I guess someone is just price-gouging on the Nook over here.

I bought mine in store at B&N.

DFW said:
Having looked into it, it used to be illegal in the US ("Digital Millennium Copyright Act") but was overturned in the courts - as is typical over here in the UK (and europe), the government followed suit in making the laws, but not in the removing of them. I'm afraid that I don't tend to keep up to date with US law, in much the same way as you don't keep up with UK law. :)

Yeah, it was unconstitutional and was eliminated by the courts. No one ever followed it as the law was obviously a joke.

BFalcon said:
Tried it out on the Merchant PDF sample and I could see the whole page in portrait, but (due to the narrow ratio screen) could only see very small text. In landscape, I can see the full width easily, but obviously need to scroll up and down to read - a mere flick of the finger.

That's one of my favorite features of a tablet. Otherwise, I like the eInk display. Easier on my eyes. Too many decades in front of back lit monitors I guess.
 
I'm in the middle of nowhere (West Cumbria, UK, if anyone's curious) and so book and game stores are a no-go for me, so purely digital and mail-order.

The modern multi-touch interface is nice, but I've got fingerprints all over screen now - I'll need to get a screen protector in, I think. :lol:

As for the law - like I said - the euro and british government seems quite happy to enforce all these laws, without actually thinking them through - just to appease the large companies, it seems.

And yeah, I hear you on the back-lit monitors... mind you, I do miss the tan from the old CRTs :lol:
 
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