PDFs - Does size matter?

[Andre]

In this regard, I find many smaller products are actually grossly overpriced. I don't care whether the PDFs I buy are large or small; I just want to get my money's worth.

Yep. I often refuse to buy a small pdf because it's priced 1/3 or 1/2 the normal cost of a large one. Unless that small pdf fits exactly what I need, when I need it, I'm not likely to get my money's worth. And just as Phil uses small pdf's as an opportunity to test out ideas, I buy them for the same reason. I may not be willing to spend $10 for a book on planar gates, but I'll spend a couple bucks to see if I can use them in my game.

Favorite pdf's:

Book of Templates (both versions)

GM Mastery: NPC Essentials

City Guide I and II

BTW...anyone else notice that the favorite pdf's listed so far are all larger products? Don't know if that means anything, but it's interesting.

 

[Emiricol]

My most heavily used PDFs are from Darwin's World (large), Blood and Fists (large), and Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe (also large).

But I wouldn't give up my Future: Starship series from Ronin Arts for the world, and those are individually quite small. I could live without them if I had to though, I suppose.

I guess size doesn't impact my feeling on a particular product, but the larger ones do seem to get the most heavily used. I guess that's one measure of subjective value, too.

 

[HellHound]

A 40 MB download takes exactly the same amount of time whether you do it through Save Link As or the browser window.

Yes, but it is my experience that the browser will do something wrong (like crash) while I wait 8 hours for the file to download in the browser window, whereas a direct save seems less likely to crash. Also, I don't get a status indicator that works properly with the browser load, whereas it works great for the zip download.

It's a quick fix on the SERVER side, so it's way easier than either of those. All you do is just associate a non-PDF MIME type (e.g. application/x-unknown) with the PDF extension, but as I've said I hardly think it's necessary anyway. I mean do you expect there are a lot of people who don't know how to use the File menu but do know how to extract files from an archive? I don't think so. My mom can barely turn on a computer, but she sure knows that if you want to save a file, you use File|Save. Give her a zip file, and she's calling me up long distance. I don't know how much time I've spent on like genealogy groups over the years with people posting things like "help! how do I view a zip file?" With XP, it's a lot easier (since the dearcher is part of the shell), but not everybody in the world has XP.

Good point.

So basically we've designed this whole system to suit a particular quirk of the way you personally have Eudora set up? Sorry, I think you're still on the post-hoc apologetics here. I don't for one second believe that that's the reason this is done the way it is.

No. That's just one reason. The real reason is that this is how the system is set up where we are vendors. And it works for me. In fact, I certainly prefer it.

My only complaint about the process is that the zip files have to be the product SKU and not the product name. This leaves me with a directory full of "XXX-####.zip" files. But from these, I extrac the PDFs and rename them if necessary. It also allows multiple file downloads, as indicated earlier.

This is without going into the problems I have using acrobat within a browser window - the crashes, system slowdowns and so on.

I know that people selling through RPGNet don't determine what RPGNet's policy but what I don't get is why you guys are vehemently defending it. On the one hand you say "don't blame us, we have no control" (and I wasn't blaming you) but then when I complain about it you all start busting my butt? I don't get it.

Actually, all I did was explain my reasoning, and you insist on claiming that you know the real reason I'm saying this (that is is some 'post-hoc apologetics' as you state).

I've been zipping them because I have no choice, because there is not universal support for .rar files yet (which compress PDFs quite nicely), and because I include multiple files in a package, and finally, because I find it a LOT easier to download a zip using a web browser than downloading a PDF.

Once again: I never zipped a commercial PDF release to reduce the file size. Never. That is not why it is done. My explanations are not post-hoc excuses, but are actually why I work this way.

I'm not accusingyou of ulterior motives, why are you constantly claiming that I have them?

 

[tarchon]

Thanks for the tip about Save As. In the last decade and a half I never saw it.

Coulda fooled me.

 

[Darkness]

Please be nice, everyone.

 

[IronWolf]

It really depends on the PDF for me. So far I think I tend towards the smaller PDF's, but I think that is because of the price point they come in at. They tend to be a little cheaper, so I tend to be more likely to take the chance on them.

 

[IronWolf]

I guess I like the zip file distribution method despite the fact it doesn't do much compression wise. No having to remember to right click on the link and save target as. ::shrug::

If people think that Clicking on File|Save is a lot of effort, then saving a file as a zip and then having to click on it again, open it in a ZIP folder/window (depending on the OS), and then extract or copy it out of the ZIP into another folder is comparatively a lot of work.

I don't extract my PDF out of the zip file normally. I just open the zip file and click the PDF. I let the zip program take care of handling it by temporarily extracting it to a temp folder. All of my online purchases of PDF files sit in their own folder in their ZIP file.

Everyone has their preference though and to each their own. When it comes to computers and how one does things there are usually a myriad of ways to accomplish what one wants. While I may swear by one, you may swear by another.

 

[Emiricol]

Coulda fooled me.

Man, would you just stop already? I even apologized twice for possibly saying things that might be inflammatory and you just keep coming. Dude, it's ONE FREAKIN CLICK. And it isn't even the topic of the thread. Please. Just. Stop.

 

[philreed]

But I wouldn't give up my Future: Starship series from Ronin Arts for the world, and those are individually quite small. I could live without them if I had to though, I suppose.

Thank you. Glad to hear you enjoy the series.

 

[GMSkarka]

Man, would you just stop already? I even apologized twice for possibly saying things that might be inflammatory and you just keep coming. Dude, it's ONE FREAKIN CLICK. And it isn't even the topic of the thread. Please. Just. Stop.

Just let it go.

As I mentioned in another thread a while back, I've been working in the RPG business in one form or another since 1988, and it has been my experience that there is always going to be someone with something to complain about.

I've seen complaints from people who wanted to see no art in a product, complaints from people who didn't like a font that was used in a product, complaints from people about the lack of rules coverage of elements that weren't part of the game's genre, complaints from people who didn't like a particular die type being used....you name it.

I guess I'll now add "complaints from people who feel that extracting a zip file is too much of a hassle" to the list.

You can't make everybody happy. There's always going to be at least one....and usually vocal.

Given the topic of the thread, in fact, I'm surprised, and more than a little bit thankful, that we haven't seen the "short PDFs are a rip-off by greedy publishers" argument that I've had thrown at me on this very site in the past.