The Failings of Adobe Reader for PalmOS

I recently bought a new Palm Tungsten T5 PDA and have transferred over all the information from my old Palm Zire 71. I had a number of unencrypted Adobe PDF ebooks on the old device that were transferred to the new one. Sounds good so far but here is the score for this morning:

1. Adobe Reader for Palm refused to open any of the old ebooks. It did not tel me why only that it could not. None of these were encrypted (DRM) ebooks.
2. Tried to convert new Books. I had a couple of PDF novels given to me as freebies by the publisher. Tried to convert them for reading on the PDA but this failed. The Adobe desktop client just could not convert them. What that means is I will probably never read those books nor will I buy any ebooks (they only publish in PDF) from that publisher.
3. Failed conversion of another PDF ebook. This was an unencrypted ebook from a different publisher I had bought some time ago. The conversion process for a 300 page book took over 20 minutes on a 2.0 Ghz, G5 iMac, despite the time it appeared to go smoothly. When I opened up the ebook on the Palm I had garbage. Strike 3 Adobe Acrobat.

The end result is, that for pleasure reading, I no longer trust buying PDF ebook in the vain hope that I might be able to convert them to read on my handheld. Now I do not mind PDF for tech manuals, or role playing game manuals, because I expect to read those on my computer or print them out. But for pleasure reading, a PDF document has to be readable on my Palm PDA because that is my preferred reading device otherwise I just am not going to buy it or read it. I think it really highlights the problem for publishers that only offer an ebook in PDF format. They need to offer that same ebook in at least one other cross platform format such as Mobipocket or Palm.DOC.

New eReader Client and eBooks on Powells.com

Couple of quick notes:

eReader: I finally upgraded my eReader ebook reader software on my Palm and wow, is there a difference. This new version has nice high res. color toolbar icons and is very attractive. Well worth the upgrade.

Buying ebooks from Powell's: Somebody mentioned it pays to shop around for ebooks. I am finding that Powells.com has excellent prices for encrypted ebooks from the major publishers. I just bought an ebook by a well known author and saved $2 compared to another store. They offer MSReader, Adobe and Palm (eReader) formats. The last is key because I prefer the eReader DRM scheme over all the others, plus I like that reader software too.

Like most ebook stores Powells gives you an online bookshelf and the purchase experience is very smooth. They also have a Wishlist feature which I like to have so I can add books that I want to buy at some future date.

Pepper Pad now on sale - $800 Linux Tablet

The $800 tablet computer is here, running Linux. The only problem is that I do not see any ebook reader software for Linux. You could use HTML since I am sure it has a web browser. One of these days both the software and the hardware will match up at the same time.

Personally I am not sure about the landscape type form factor, I think I would prefer something a little more bookish with a portrait type orientation which would be easier to hold one handed.

Pepper Pad now on sale - Engadget - www.engadget.com.

Harlequin to Offer Romances for Mobile Phones

Harlequin to offer mobile romances - Engadget - www.engadget.com: "Want more proof that cellphone-based entertainment has entered the mainstream — or at least that big media companies desperate for new markets have decided that cellies are the next frontier? Look no further than romance-novel giant Harlequin, which is set to launch a series of cellphone-based products, ranging from serialized novels to cameraphone apps that let readers nominate their mates to be used as cover models."

PalmOne Offering Free WiFi Card with T5

This might be an offer I cannot ignore. I have been wanting to upgrade to a Palm PDA that would at least have Bluetooth, but since my house has WiFi I also wanted that too. Today I see PalmOne is running a sale offering a Tungsten T5 with a FREE wifi card, plus a $50 rebate. That is a good deal.

Are You Ready for National Identity Cards?

This has nothing to do with ebooks, but I think it is important enough to speak out on, even here. In less than 48 hours, on Tuesday 10 May, 2005, the US Senate is set to vote on a bill which contains the Real ID Act. This will impose national identity cards on every US citizen, and the Senate will not even debate the issue. It has already passed the US House.

UnRealID.com: "The Real ID Act has never been debated on the US Senate floor. They've never talked about it in any committee. Heck, most of them haven't even read it! Yet they're planning to vote on it on Tuesday, no questions asked."

Will you have to show this national ID to check out books from a library, to buy beer, to enter public buildings that you paid for with you tax money? Will you have to show this ID to any cop that stops you on the street? Who will have access to the data, private industry, your insurance company, your employer?

If this makes you even just a little bit nervous and would at least like the idea of mandatory national identity cards to be debated then you should go to the website above and inform yourself on the subject and use the form on that site to email your US Senators. Before it is too late.

Source: Boing Boing

Paper Books - "To Many Steps in the Process"

Rob Preece owner of ebook publisher BooksforaBuck.com, as well as being a p-book author himself has some observations about paper books.The Tragedy of Paper: "The more I see of the paper book industry, the more I believe it is only a matter of time before we all read our books via some sort of electronic device. There are too many steps in the paper process--and at each step something can go wrong."

Plug time: Find out about Rob Preece's ebook, Kingmaker.