Larry Devich
Monday, September 27, 2004
E-Books
I am a recent convert to the idea of e-books. These are books in digital format that you can read on a computer, or better, on a portable device such as a PDA. They come in a number of different, incompatible, formats of course.
I have had good experiences with one version called Mobipocket that is exclusively for use on a PDA. I have also used Adobe. Adobe pretty much sucks as an e-book reader I must say. Even worse, now I have a book on my computer that I cannot transfer to my PDA. I have no idea why it won't work. All I get from the Adobe program is a cryptic and useless error message telling me there is a problem, well duh. Other books transfer from the PC to the PDA through Adobe, even if the method is cumbersome and slow, without too much pain. Of course Adobe and Amazon.com where I purchased the book are unresponsive to my problem. They have my money and they don't seem to really care. Well, that's the last of my money they are going to get I think, unless they can correct the problem soon. I have always hated Adobe and PDF's, they are clunky and not at all user friendly, besides they seem to be run by paranoids who assume everyone is out to rip them off. They have so much "security" they have essentially lost me as a customer. Of course when the "security" systems cost them customers they will probably attribute it to a dislike of the technology or something nonsensical like that. This is much like the way Airlines today attribute loss of customers to fear of terrorists and not to people taking offense at the "security" measures themselves, but they are both wrong.
So, if you are going to use an e-book, DON'T USE AMAZON and DON'T USE ADOBE! I may yet change my mind but so far, after several days of not getting any real help, I doubt it.
¶ 9/27/2004 04:51:00 AM 0 Comments
I have had good experiences with one version called Mobipocket that is exclusively for use on a PDA. I have also used Adobe. Adobe pretty much sucks as an e-book reader I must say. Even worse, now I have a book on my computer that I cannot transfer to my PDA. I have no idea why it won't work. All I get from the Adobe program is a cryptic and useless error message telling me there is a problem, well duh. Other books transfer from the PC to the PDA through Adobe, even if the method is cumbersome and slow, without too much pain. Of course Adobe and Amazon.com where I purchased the book are unresponsive to my problem. They have my money and they don't seem to really care. Well, that's the last of my money they are going to get I think, unless they can correct the problem soon. I have always hated Adobe and PDF's, they are clunky and not at all user friendly, besides they seem to be run by paranoids who assume everyone is out to rip them off. They have so much "security" they have essentially lost me as a customer. Of course when the "security" systems cost them customers they will probably attribute it to a dislike of the technology or something nonsensical like that. This is much like the way Airlines today attribute loss of customers to fear of terrorists and not to people taking offense at the "security" measures themselves, but they are both wrong.
So, if you are going to use an e-book, DON'T USE AMAZON and DON'T USE ADOBE! I may yet change my mind but so far, after several days of not getting any real help, I doubt it.
¶ 9/27/2004 04:51:00 AM 0 Comments
