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Message: <blockquote data-quote="WizarDru" data-source="post: 1823878" data-attributes="member: 151">I have no idea.  I do know that until PDFs can provide the same functionality as print, across the board, it will not replace it.  The requirements to access a PDF are still relatively strict, compared to print.  I love PDFs, but they are not even in the same league.  How many PDFs have passed the 10,000 mark in sales?  Again, I have no idea, but I'd suspect precious few, if any.That's a good point, but I think your analogy misses some key points.  Planes didn't replace trains, for a start.  They have supplanted trains for chief form of long distance travel, but for short distance travel and for regional commuting, train is still king.  Not to mention that rail still carries the majority of certain types of goods across the US.  Coal isn't transported by truck or plane, because it's more efficient by rail.  The planes success is guaged by the fact that it could travel vast distances in a relativley short time.  What takes days by rail takes hours by plane, making a day-trip from NYC to LA possible.  In that case, the plane DID 'out-train' the train, which had, in turn out-paced previous methods (such as horse-back and stage-coach travel).PDFs do offer features books don't have, and they are great strengths.  But I don't that PDFs will ever match the popularity of the printed format unless they became much easier to use for non-technical people, be able to be used in a wider aspect (some folks don't feel like lugging a PC everywhere...and if they're going to print out the entire thing, why not pay for the professional binding and nicer paper?), and be consistent.  My D&D core books are still just as usable as they were four years ago, while I have expeienced problems with different PDFs working with different readers (and this isn't even considering DRM issues).The utility of the PDF has to match the utility of a printed book, or exceed in enough in a number of situations to make me (and, I think, most folks) put up with it's idiosyncracies.  Cell-phones, for example, decimated pagers....but that's because they were superior in functionality in most fashions.  The same can be said for DVDs and VCRs.  But HDTV hasn't replaced regular TV, and isn't likely to do so, any time soon.  Neither has credit/debit cards completely replaced money.  Could it happen?  It's possible.  But it won't happen quickly.</blockquote>

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