Re: Re: reader polling shows shift in preferred formats

From: "Daniel P. B. Smith"

>> 1. reader polling shows shift in preferred formats
>>     From: Brenna Lyons
>
>> It was interesting (to me at least) that PDF's dominance 
>> was less
>> than 40%.
>> I had expected it to be higher since PDF can be read on 
>> the
>> majority of
>> devices, but perhaps this reinforces the fact that there 
>> are now some
>> strong, popular, other formats/reading methods out there.
>
> It's mostly about content availability, second about DRM.
>
> A vast quantity of material that one might want to read on 
> an eBook
> device is available in PDF format. That probably accounts 
> for its
> _popularity_.
>
> Availability of popular, mainstream, recent "mainstream" 
> titles, in
> PDF that "can be read on the majority of devices" (i.e. 
> normal
> unrestricted PDF), is limited.
>
> Adobe once had a restricted "Adobe eBook Reader" format, 
> readable
> with a dedicated application (_not_ Acrobat Reader) on a 
> full PC (Mac
> or WIndows). I don't think that format is readable on most 
> current
> eBook devices. And content availability was always 
> limited.
>
> That probably accounts for it being popular, but not a 
> dominant as
> might have been expected. How can PDF dominate if you the 
> stuff you
> actually want to read isn't available in that format?
>

It surely depends what the figures are actually dealing 
with; and what the basis and manner of collection is. If I 
am gathering correctly this is a self-selecting constituency 
of handheld users.

It may be an unsustainable assumption to think that 
dedicated device users dominate the whole market, and the 
pdf reader is free and easy to set up on any machine that 
facilitates it. I doubt if there is any way of counting pdf 
use, and in the major activity on the web it seems to me 
ubiquitous, even more than text or html [outside browser 
windows and website pages, of course].

Few of the proprietary brands are usable on desk or laptop 
machines, and the pdf is capable of holding content design 
and has many improvements now that enable treatment almost 
as a mini website.

All of which suggests the quoted figures have a very limited 
value for any extrapolation, or market share calculations.

Joseph Harris 



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