Frostburn in PDF @ drivethrurpg!

[TheAuldGrump]

It depends.

If you first drag your home computer to a location where you can access the internet you can. (you register the computer you want to read your pdfs on)

If you can't register your home pc, you'll need some more work before you can open the files on your home pc. You would have to remove the DRM protection.

So barring removal of the DRM the answer is no.

The Auld Grump

 

[Cergorach]

So barring removal of the DRM the answer is no.

And barring the dragging of your home computer to a location that has an internet connection.

 

[Cergorach]

Dispensing with the DRM debate: A PDF is not worth as much to the average consumer as a hardcopy. It just isn't.

Certainly, there are things you can do with a PDF that you can't do with a hardcopy... like simply copy-and-paste from it and drop it into your notes. And it's easier to carry around.

But it seems obvious to me, as someone who does use a laptop, that having a copy of a product on the computer, is considered an inferior alternative to having a book. If transport isn't an issue (for example, if I have it on my laptop and if I have it on a shelf next to me), it seems to me the book is preferable. I can't flip open to the page and hand it to a player to read while I am doing something else on my computer. Likewise, if I am in bed and I want to read up on something I have planned for the game tomorrow, and I have a book I can pick up an read, or if I have to dig my laptop out of its case and start it up, I'm going to grab the book.

Books are more pleasant to look at and more comfortable to use.

Compound this with the fact that most arguments about printing and distribution costs vanish, charging full cover price for a PDF seems pretty dubious.

Now, throw DRM into the equation, which introduces more hassles, the possibility of volatility, and portability problems, it becomes even more dubious.

Also, someone mentioned Malhavoc earlier. I do agree that PDF has some benefits. If its a product that I like and use a lot, I will buy more version. (And I was surprised in a poll I posted here how many people felt likewise.)

This is from your perspective and from your situation.

You have a laptop, so do many others, that doesn't make you a primary pdf (or any electronic format) user. Things like the latest generation of tablet pcs or the micro pcs that have displays are tools for people that are starting to buy electronic books instead of paper books. You can fit a big library of books on a 40-80GB harddrive, that is if they are in the "Original Electronic Format". Frostburn is 6MB, that's around 135 books per GB. 20GB gives you around 2700 books, that's more then most people own, and it all fits inside a 1.4kg (or lighter) device.

Now imagine that you've bought such a device for reading/work, you've got a lot of the things you want already in an electronic format. Now you want to buy some RPG books, what's worth more to you? A paper book you don't want or a electronic book that fits neatly on your futuristic device?

Currently i prefer paper books to electronic books, but only slightly, i still want an electronic copy of a paper book. I use that for looking stuff up quickly in a large volume of books, or use it to copy/paste important information for player handouts, or dmtools.