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I don't know what it is. I have a problem. I can't read pdfs. I have been a subscriber to pathfinder since the beginning, and I own all the pathfinder written material. Except the pdfs. I have a bunch of them available for download. And I have access to the pdf long before the written material arrives. And even though I am super excited, I just can't bring myself to really look at the pdfs because I hate it. I would rather lug a metric tonne of books around than one laptop. Even ipads are useless to me at games.
The most tragic part is I would love to support more 3pp companies. But guess what all those damnably stupid pdf releases ruin it for me. I have to have a book in my hands or it's just a no.
What is wrong with me. Am I just a technological luddite?
I don't even care how crowded my gaming shelf gets. I would rather have that than a full hard drive.......
I much, much prefer a hard copy in my hands than looking at a pdf on the computer screen. I do admit to owning a great many pdfs, mostly 3PP stuff because they don't print a lot due to cost, and I understand that. But I print off as much as I can, or at least what I need from different pdfs on an as needed basis. I think if I had a tablet computer I'd like the pdfs better, as I could carry them around with me and read them like an ebook (which I do like, as long as I have a reader for them). My computer is a desktop, so I don't have the luxury of taking pdfs to game nights, etc.
Books have been optimized over 100's of years; screen-pdf's are new and awkward.
In the coming decades, natural selection will work the kinks out in product development.
So, simply buy and read books for now. (Like me.)
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I'm exactly the opposite. I own almost nothing of Pathfinder in print, mostly due to my inability to have things shipped and because PDFs are cheaper. And I love that so many groups and 3pps are able to produce their products for prices they can afford by taking advantage of the PDF format.
But I do heavily encourage people to support 3pps by buying PDFs and if the mechanical format doesn't appeal to you to make use of something like Kinko's to get it printed out into physical pages. Or is that not an option either for some reason?
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I, too, much prefer a physical rather than electronic copy.
I managed to fix the issue when I started getting into cardstock models, and bought an inkjet printer with a continuous ink supply. Decent paper isn't crazy expensive, and the ink is cheap. Throw in a couple 3-ring binders, and I'm swimming in printed product!
I am a hard copy person. Give me a hard copy over looking at a .pdf every time.
That being said, I do try to support 3PP .pdf-only stuff, and read it on the screen; only occasionally do I print them. I also have .pdfs of many of the hardbacks for portability, and for running games online.
I don't think you're a technophobe or anything, Minis Maniac; I know for certain I'm not, and I still prefer having a hard copy. Just personal preference, I suspect.
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Yep, the opposite for me, too. I own the Core (which fell apart in less than a year), the APG, UM and UC as actual books. Everything else that I have is PDFs.
I love the savings. I love the convenience of easy transport, since I play both home games and PFS in many different locations. I have no problem reading them on an iPad or on my PC. Also, my wife plays just as frequently as I do, so sharing our purchased PDFs via Google Drive with each other allows us both to easily peruse our owned materials at the same time.
There's something really nice about the actual book in my hands and I most certainly grew up as a voracious reader, but for me, that feeling just doesn't outweigh the savings and convenience I get from PDFs on an iPad.
For me, I've found that reding something on a computer screen just doesn't 'stick' as sell as reading it off of a paper page, and that (probably a related issue) I just can't get as pulled in to a story or other type of text if I'm reading it on some sort of screen.
I had to give up on printed media. Not because I don't like it... but because I no longer have the physical room for it.
Interesting point: They say (whom ever they are) that Tablets/ereaders/etc. are causing us to loose our tactile memory. That is memory and experience through feel.. i.e. feeling our way through hard copies of books and creating placement memory. Someone much smarter than I could probably explain the significance better but it does help give credence to the use of hard-copies of books...
what
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At this point I am somewhat indifferent. I really like the physical book for many aesthetic reasons (look on the shelf, quality of printed art, the SMELL, and tradition of the game are a few) but when it comes to reference I'm apathetic. Over the last couple of years I find myself building more and more characters using electronic methods and during that process pdf's and the PRD are preferred, though I do find most PDF's to be bothersome to navigate. I think if PDF's were fully-hyperlinked, had more efficient art (from a load time perspective), could do partial rendering (ie, the 2 pages in front and behind my current page rather than trying to render the full file before I can do anything) and were full indexed so that search functions worked as text searches rather than OCR searches it would be a much more pleasant experience and I might leave hard books on the shelf forever. (Wow, run-on sentence much?)
For general "reading" I vastly prefer the physical book. When I get the new books, or read through modules I plan to run, or do character background research, it must be the hard copy. I can't snuggle up on the couch with my dog, coffee, and iPad. Mostly because the tech device feels vastly out of place to the experience I am seeking and because most book readers suck if you plan to read RPG books for pleasure rather than reference. They either dim out before I am done with the page, or you disable that and the battery dies. The size is wrong, and the reading angles are bad or strain the wrist. Overall a less enjoyable time.
Interesting point: They say (whom ever they are) that Tablets/ereaders/etc. are causing us to loose our tactile memory. That is memory and experience through feel.. i.e. feeling our way through hard copies of books and creating placement memory. Someone much smarter than I could probably explain the significance better but it does help give credence to the use of hard-copies of books...
I can see that. I can usually thumb my way to a spot I want in a book, can't do that in a pdf.
I am a pdf person though, I like have all my books in one spot and then CRB in hard copy.
I've got both! I need to be able to carry the material with me with out carrying 100 tons of books.
We've managed to start gaming at my house again (when we can get together) and as the buyer of all things PF in our group, I don't have to cart a wagonload of books to the FLGS every time.
I need physical books. Sure, I got the iPad with some cool apps for tracking initiative and quick-searching of spells, but I cannot properly play without several books scattered around.
I've long noticed that the reason I cannot properly read a PDF for enjoyment is because part of what I like about reading a book is the smell of the paper, the sound the pages make when going through them, and the tactile sensation of holding it. I know it sounds lame, but for me that's fundamental in reading a book. Also, seeing the books I've read lined on the shelves feels like a collection of trophies I've earned. I love seeing books everywhere I go.
Same goes for RPGs (and I'm sure we all love that brand-new book smell. Though my favourite book smell for RPGs is still AD&D 2e).
Also, I like to think I'm poring through obscure arcane tomes whenever I have to consult a manual at the table, elaborately point at something with an interested face and then close it loudly before dramatically telling a player "It's a DC 8 for scratching your butt with that".
Things that you don't get with PDFs:
1) Cover art (I suppose you do... not the same, though...)
2) Weird things left over by previous owners - receipts, train tickets, laundry lists, comments scribbled in margins...
3) Blurb at the back - my favourite was after the end of a Gardner F. Fox novel, offering various sleazy early '70s delights including a super book of Turkish Love Secrets, which I wish I could get hold of.
Having said that, ebooks do make it one heck of a lot easier to find stuff you'd be very lucky indeed to come across in print, plus I like having books on my phone. Hooray for the modern world, where we can have both!
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I realized one day, deep in self-analysis, that I am a bibliophile because I received so much praise for reading when I was a child and I spent so many summers with my mother in the school library alphabetizing and shelving books.
I also realized why I like having a [redacted] jammed up my [redacted], but that's probably a story for another time.
The instruction manual for my bicycle recommends driving a book up your scrotum.
I don't know what it is. I have a problem. I can't read pdfs. I have been a subscriber to pathfinder since the beginning, and I own all the pathfinder written material. Except the pdfs. I have a bunch of them available for download. And I have access to the pdf long before the written material arrives. And even though I am super excited, I just can't bring myself to really look at the pdfs because I hate it. I would rather lug a metric tonne of books around than one laptop. Even ipads are useless to me at games.
The most tragic part is I would love to support more 3pp companies. But guess what all those damnably stupid pdf releases ruin it for me. I have to have a book in my hands or it's just a no.
What is wrong with me. Am I just a technological luddite?
I don't even care how crowded my gaming shelf gets. I would rather have that than a full hard drive.......
You are not alone. I much prefer the physical copy of books to any other media. I even spent $500 on a giant, massive bookcase that my friend made so I could put my PF ( and Rifts, 7th Sea, Brave New World, Alternity, Dragonstar, 1st ed Advanced D&D, and few FR books) on and have room to expand for about another 5 years. And I still have 5 totes of books in storage.
The instruction manual for my bicycle recommends driving a book up your scrotum.
What?!
Kajehase, are you *sure* that's a bicycle instruction manual you're reading?
Yup. It's supposed to help you figure out how high the saddle should be.
I prefer a digital copy when referencing something, such as looking up rules. For casual reading I prefer an actual hard copy.
I'm just the opposite. For pleasure reading, I'm fine with having just the PDF. I mostly buy disemboweled tree carcass fiction to help support my locally-owned independent bookstore. For reference, it's got to be paper. That said, many of my referencing needs go to dusty out of print histories that are unlikely to get a PDF copy and less likely still to get a good one.
Yup. It's supposed to help you figure out how high the saddle should be.
Oookay.. So, driving as in driving a Leyland Imp up the M62? Stuffing down your shorts in case something decides to crawl up the frame and have a nibble, or to protect against chafing? Volume 3 of The Wheel of Time gives the optimum distance between man-parts and pedal powered conveyance? What if you don't have a scrotum, for whatever reason?
I've heard of ye olde Bible in top pocket deflecting bullet schtick, but this is something else entirely (try doing that with an iPad)
I prefer my physical books much of the time, but I also recognize the value of a pdf (because my laptop can hold many books but weighs nearly the same amount as the CRB). Otherwise, yes, paper please. That pdf can't give me the same warm feelings as the flipping of a page.
Like I said I have no idea why I am the way I am. It isn't to attack pdfs, because I can definitely see their utility. I personally just can't use them. Not only just Pathfinder and gaming material. I love old books. I buy Folio Society books all the time as well. I love going to old antique book stores and just wandering. So I think it is something deeply ingrained in me.
The question is, can you use a pile of PDFs to get your pressure barrel up to optimum beer siphoning height? No, you cannot. One disadvantage of this method is that Andrea Dworkin is now covered in lukewarm stout, but it's all for the greater good.