As Feytharn suggests - purchase the PDF and print to color or b/w laser printer, 3-hole punch it and you've got exactly what you need. Paizo needs to do nothing else to provide you loose leaf printings - you can do it yourself already.
It would always be possible to lop off the bindings of a normal print product and then hole-punch it and put it in a binder. My dad used to digitize books this way: slice off the spine and then feed the pages into a scanner to be OCRed.
That works too, and is less expensive than printing it yourself.
It would always be possible to lop off the bindings of a normal print product and then hole-punch it and put it in a binder. My dad used to digitize books this way: slice off the spine and then feed the pages into a scanner to be OCRed.Hmm you know I hadn't thought about this one. I like it. I like it a lot. I'd still have to buy 2 copies of the product (one to slice and dice, one to admire on my bookshelf), but it would be doable on a limited basis, such as the adventures I'm GMing.
I'll have to crunch the numbers and see what turns out to be the cheapest solution: black and white two sided copies from a pdf from my home printer (cost = printer ink), cutting the binding off of a second copy (cost = product cost), or having a print shop print up the b&w version on 2 sided sheets (cost = varies from shop to shop) from a pdf.
Thanks for the idea!
While it is true it would require two purchases of the book to accomplish, by the time you print out the CRB on your home printer (including purchasing the additional paper and especially ink that you will probably burn through printing all those pages) you will have probably paid for the second book already. Likewise if you took the PDF down to Kinko's and had them print it out and punch it for you.
Plus this way you get color. :)
I run a digital print studio (hence my forum name), and my price for double-sided b/w laser copies at 288 pages (575 total) is $.13 a page is $37.44 - which is about the same price as the CRB. If you'd rather have color pages, a copy center cannot compete in price with the CRB itself. I'd say buy a second CRB, pop the cover off and cut binded edge off, 3 hole punch it, and you're done.
It would always be possible to lop off the bindings of a normal print product and then hole-punch it and put it in a binder.
while I have not tried this with a Paizo product, I have done this to several of my "Wargame" hardbacks. I took them to a local shop and had them cut the back and comb bind them. This then allowed them to sit open flat on the table. I also did this with several of my soft bound books as well.
I run a digital print studio (hence my forum name), and my price for double-sided b/w laser copies at 288 pages (575 total) is $.13 a page is $37.44 - which is about the same price as the CRB. If you'd rather have color pages, a copy center cannot compete in price with the CRB itself. I'd say buy a second CRB, pop the cover off and cut binded edge off, 3 hole punch it, and you're done.
This would be my recommendation as well—a well-stocked print shop will have a super-awesome paper drill to punch through all those pages too (or just get it coil bound as mentioned above).
I run a digital print studio (hence my forum name), and my price for double-sided b/w laser copies at 288 pages (575 total) is $.13 a page is $37.44 - which is about the same price as the CRB. If you'd rather have color pages, a copy center cannot compete in price with the CRB itself. I'd say buy a second CRB, pop the cover off and cut binded edge off, 3 hole punch it, and you're done.This would be my recommendation as well—a well-stocked print shop will have a super-awesome paper drill to punch through all those pages too (or just get it coil bound as mentioned above).
I'd recommend coil binding as well as laminating a few high-reference pages you always have open, such as the spell list and the basic equipment lists.
I'd only do this or want this for a few books, say the CRB, APG, and UE etc. Books bound like this do not look good on the bookshelf, rather, they are more of a utilitarian option.
For books on the shelf, I'd keep them as is. They are beautiful.
Yes, I agree. When I do this I know it is my "use at the table" copy. I often buy a copy to also keep on my shelf. The other thing I have done over time is the coil bound copy is the one I take to conventions or game store games etc.
One note: If you go to all the trouble of laminating and coil binding, etc; it may end up being more expensive than just having a shelf copy and a play copy.
To be honest, for me it was less about cost and more about the fact my table copy could lie flat open to the page I wanted it to. No spine to force it closed etc.