I've been collecting eBooks ever since the Franklin eBookman came out (read: for ages) and in all my travels through legit, questionable, or downright illegal channels, people seem to understand the NEED for reflowable text, able to be converted LOSSLESSLY between formats.
Except you guys.
Now, I probably don't need to say this, but ... Reflowable text is to like a vector-based image: you can manipulate it, re-size it, and -most importantly- convert it between formats for use on different devices without losses in fidelity or cascading artifacts. Once a book is rendered to PDF it is forever bound to the hard line breaks, page-breaks, hyphenation, and, in some extreme cases, interspersed headers and footers created during the conversion process. Any attempt to convert it back, even with Calibre's heuristic processing or XY-based mashing, results in HUGE losses in formatting and line-break issues that make it either unreadable or too undesirable to read.
So, I ask:
Why does this form seem so attached to PDF? Why not Why not upload in a rich, convertible format and let people irreversibly render the books to PDF if they so choose? I'm not asking anyone to cater to any particular format or device... just that more versatile, convertible formats be posted if you have them.
UPDATE: 8 months later...:Since I posted this, the balance of PDF's to more modern, reflowable formats like mobi and epub has been slowly shifting towards the latter. I'd like to pretend I had something to do with it
but I know it's more likely just a result of a broader, internet-wide adoption of the formats. As more people use them, they're easier to find, and therefore easier to share. Still, if you haven't made the switch from PDF to ePub or Mobi, I BEG you to pull your head from your ass and see what you've been missing. Not only are they easier to share, they offer a re-sizable and flat-out
better reading experience (well, except for text books, but that's another thing
).
As nikkimiller01 suggested, here's some information which should help you make the switch, originally posted by Jessadia:
Honestly, if you can read a PDF on your computer, then you can certainly read an ePub or Mobi file. What do you currently have downloaded as your reading program? Adobe Reader? If you like that one Adobe also has a You are not allowed to view links.
Register or Login download for free that allows you to view ePubs seamlessly (unlike with PDF's) and its FREE. There's also You are not allowed to view links.
Register or Login a free Mobi reader from Amazon (no kindle necessary), a You are not allowed to view links.
Register or Login that allows you to read ePubs (also free), a You are not allowed to view links.
Register or Login (again- FREE!) and you can also both convert and read ANY FORMAT with You are not allowed to view links.
Register or Login that's (yes, again) FREE!!!
And if you really want to read PDF (WHY?!) you can download Calibre and convert it yourself or you can go You are not allowed to view links.
Register or Login and (again) convert it yourself online (no downloads necessary).