PDF's versus Hardcopy?

[Hionhurn]

Do you have a preference for the format you buy your games in?

 

[Myrm]

No I have no preference overall. I do have a preference for different format for different purposes so having both types available is a major plus. So Mongoose going to Bits and Mortar, as well as PDFs available from drivethru on top of the deadtree format is useful to me - and no relative cost is not a primary factor in my decision, although it comes in down the line (hence the benefits of Bits and Mortar) - purpose to which I put the item is the primary driving force for format choice.

 

[The Big D]

I have no tablety thing to view them on so I need hard copies for transporting to games.
PDFs are ok for viewing on the PC and printing off stuff like character sheets and summary tables but I won't pay top money that convenience.

Plus I like being able to flick throught a book! Call me old fashioned

Geoff

 

[tneva82]

I buy bit of mix. Mostly pdf's as they are cheaper and often easier to use but if there's book that's really more useful as dead tree then that. Bits&mortar is nice in that it gives me both but often shipping prices from UK gets tad pricey combined with dead tree version higher price so the book really needs to be one I need on tabletop to buy it.

 

[danskmacabre]

Up until recently I would not have bought PDFs.
But now I have a 10" tablet PC, I have bought some PDFs.
I have also downloaded free PDFs for RPGs such as Eclipse Phase.

 

[lastbesthope]

Hardcopy all the way.

LBH

 

[DigitalMage]

Hardcopy and PDF - if I can I usually get both for each book.

PDF is used to read the book cover to cover on my mobile phone, for prepping games on my PC at work (in my lunch hour) and for quick rules references on my phone if I am playing away from home (and thus unable to take all hardcopy with me).

Hardcopy is for use at the game table.

TBH Mongoose PDFs are actually some I haven't bought despite having bought hardcopy - the lack of bookmarks (at least on older PDFs) make them practically useless to me and so I haven't bothered.

 

[MongooseMatt]

TBH Mongoose PDFs are actually some I haven't bought despite having bought hardcopy - the lack of bookmarks (at least on older PDFs) make them practically useless to me and so I haven't bothered.

We are steadily revising these, and all recent PDFs do have bookmarks.

 

[Rambler]

Did not really have my option up for vote. I always try to get a "e" version and then back fill key books (core rules) in hardback

 

[Spence]

I use PDF's for fast reference and portability.

But I HAVE to have a hardcopy during game prep. A legal pad, pencil and deadtree book are essential to my creative process for game/session prep. The computer is to organize and make things pretty once I have decided where I am going.

 

[evo]

Hardcopy. I'm ready in case of blackout.
:mrgreen:

 

[GamerDude]

Hardcopy. I'm ready in case of blackout.
:mrgreen:

Me? I prefer
- DT/HC for what I'm really interested in
- PDF-only for junk or inexpensive 'mmm let me check this out first'
- DT/HC with PDF for stuff I *really* want to be able to read with various methods.

I have several big reasons why I (as of right now) will never go pure PDF...
- Love having the book in my hands, that stack next to me at the game, how lovely they are sitting on my shelf (I'm a HUGE fan of personal libraries).
- I don't care how well bookmarked a PDF is, 85 times out of 100 I can find something in the DT/HB version much quicker than I can with a PDF on a tablet (page navigation can be awkward on PDFs, especially with how there is no standard for numbering pages without screwing the entire thing up).
- PDF pages are the same size as the print book, so they don't scale to tablets as well. Margins etc. In order to read them I have to zoom into the page to enlarge the text, but then I have the fun of sliding the page around to read it all. PDFs are not eBooks (I ADORE eBooks even if I prefer physical). Any standard size book I have? Easy to read.
- Screen glare - even with an InvisiShield screen protector on... glare on tablets can be awful.
- Keeping your place. Right now I don't know of any reader 'app' that remembers your place for multiple files, let alone let you keep multiple PDF's open at once - the latter you can get around with having different PDF readers as I do, but they only remember one at a time.

I giggled reading my "10 inch tablet PC". I have a MacBox, a WinBox, THREE WinBox's as laptops (one is a rotatable screen 12" laptop/tablet WinBox PC), an Android Phone, and a 10" Android tablet - Yet I still much prefer hardcopy, more than just a few of my PDF's put my laser printer into overtime dumping out a 400 pg PDF for me.

So why giggle at "10 inch tablet PC"? Because, those little iOS/Android/WindowsMobile tablets... don't fit into the category solidly defined as "Tablet PC". defined as a WinBox/MacBox laptop with a 12" or larger touchscreen (rotatable or not) with full PC level hardware for processor, storage, ram... For example my HP TouchPC (as they branded it) has 6GB RAM, 500GB HDD, and a sweet second gen i5 CORE processor, keyboard, 3 USB ports, HDMI out (optical drive optional)... kicks ass over any plain tablet *wink* except in weight - which isn't evenly distributed across the back of the device.

If the prices come down enough before the mess that is Win8 comes out, instead of another tablet I may just grab me one of the new "Macbook Air" clones, a Winbox ultrabook.