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[Lalato]

The ones I really like I usually print out myself, but for those of you who have taken them to a Kinkos type place, whats the average cost of having them printed and bound?

Well, I'm not sure about the printing part, but I can tell you that it only costs about $5 to have the printed product spiral bound with a black black and a clear cover. I'm not sure about the actual copy costs because I just print stuff out on my own printer. I've seen copy places charge from 3 cents to 10 cents per page. Even if you have to print at Kinko's I don't think it would be prohibitively expensive.

Keep in mind that you can also choose Print on Demand for some PDFs if you buy them from RPGNow.

--sam

 

[Trainz]

I despise acrobat. With a passion.

Every time I have to use it, I sigh. It takes forever to load (just like photoshop, which I despise even more).

I'm sorry, the product might be excellent, I just can't use acrobat.

 

[barsoomcore]

I despise acrobat. With a passion.

There is no necessary connection between PDF and Adobe Acrobat.

Oh, wait, you're probably on a Windows PC, right? See, over in Mac land we have a whole passel of wee little speedy apps that make browsing PDFs as much hassle as opening text files.

There may be options for PDF viewing besides Acrobat on Windows, as well -- I don't know. But PDF != Acrobat.

All that aside, I like PDFs and buy them regular-like. I like the lower cost, I like the fact that I can store them digitally and only print out the bits I need from time to time, and I like that I can copy stat blocks and so on right out of the PDF to use in my games. Much handier than lugging the whole book around.

 

[alsih2o]

i like pdf's, but i don't thinkit matters whether i like them or not as i believe they are the future.

people who complain about pdf's remind me of people who complained about radio, tv, or computers. it is coming, it iwll rule the market and we might as well get used to it

 

[CarlZog]

Given the choice, I'll stick to buying printed products. It has nothing to do with content quality or perceptions of amateurism. Like others, I like having the material in a tangible printed form.

And by the time I go the effort to buy a pdf, pay for the printer paper and ink to print it out, then pay for binding at a local copy shop, I've spent at least as much if not more than the cost of perfectbound book from a print publisher. Not to mention my time and the hassle of it.

However, when a really well-reviewed pdf comes along, it's worth the effort if it's not available any other way.

CZ

 

[Vocenoctum]

I like PDF's, but there are limitations.

1) PDF's are cheap. That means when I buy book X, and it sucks, I've only wasted $5, not $12+shipping or whatever. I've also used it to preview some books, usually Malhavok.

2) PDFs, if formated right, can be great for printing out some things. Especially in a book with prestige classes, where they're broken up by pages (page count means nothing to a PDF) you can just print out the one or two you might actually use, instead of carrying around an entire book. (for example, Psychic Weapon Master was free, but still easily printed out and inserted into my Psi Handbook for reference.)

3) I hate reading stuff on the screen. This is especially irritating for the high art stuff. I was disappointed when the "text file" edition was deleted from the zip file. It was easier to print, easier to reference. But, then again, the art does make the books easier to read.

4) the lower barrier to entry. This means any guy that thinks he can write a sourcebook CAN write it. But sometimes that's a good thing! Some of these authors would never get through to a paper publisher. Most publishers don't even accept unsolicated stuff from someone not already known.

That said, PDF's are getting pretty expensive from some of the different companies. I'm not paying $10 or more for something electronic, especially when it'll be out in print soon enough.

Also, some of these companies have the worst descriptions I've ever seen. It's gotten a little irritating to buy something because it looks cool, then find that it's not what I thought.

 

[Dark Psion]

I like pdf.s a lot and there are a few additional reasons others haven't mentioned.

Updates!! When a pdf. I previously purchased is errated, I get the updated version for free and that includes the 3.5 conversion. In fact I got Beyond Monks 3.5 last week. With all my 3.0 books, I have to do the conversion.

Print what you want: If I need a Prestige class or certain spells, I can print out just what I want and since it's on my computer, I can cut & paste from several pdf.s to put together a spellbook or to do psionic conversions very easily.

Also, as to printing them out, I have found the one per page is best for me since I can use the blank side for DM notes and I just use 25cent three hole binders for most. Occastionally a page or two might get damaged, but I can just print out that page an its a good as new.

I do agree that nothing beats having a book in your hand and I have bought the book versions of several pdf.s I also have, but usually it was those with a bonus content or a combintation of several pdf.s (If Thoughts Could Kill and Mindscapes for example) and the Print on Demand gives you both, so that is my favorite at the moment.

I will admit I haven't bought very many pdf.s recently, but that is just because there just haven't been many to catch my eye of late.

 

[Breakdaddy]

PDF's just don't offer the same security that a physical representation of the information does. It's unfortunate for those selling PDFs, but it's true and I'm sure those selling PDF's already know what they are up against. [/B]

PDFs dont offer the same security as paper? When someone gets into my office and I have a printout on my desk they can peruse it at their leisure and copy/steal it at will. When the same miscreant looks on my windows desktop (not the physical one!) and they open my 256 bit key-encrypted pdf, they will see gibberish until they type a rather large sentence Ive memorized as a password, they can copy it if they want but will never see the data unless they have, oh, say 200 years to crack it.

 

[Storminator]

People don't buy PDFs because they buy RPGs in their FLGS. I am constantly amazed at the number of gamers at my local store that HAVE NO INTERNET ACCESS!

It's appalling.

I love pdfs. I also got the updates to Beyond Monks and Call of Duty, and my DM constantly gets updated pdfs.

Hey! While I was typing this message, my wife told me I received an email from Goodman Games today. It's the discount for the paper version of Beyond Monks! That rocks!

PS

 

[RangerWickett]

my 256 bit key-encrypted pdf

Paranoid much?

No, seriously, computer protection is fun stuff. I just don't see how 'security' is an issue when it comes to gaming products.

Anyway, as a writer of the odd pdf, I'll just toss in a small contribution to the discussion, and say that I'm encouraging E.N. Publishing to start putting up sample sections of each book as free downloads, so that you will be able to 'browse' the books before you buy them.

I know that at least some (possibly all) of the pdfs E.N. Pub puts out, we make available as Print on Demand. So for $15 to $20, you get a nice print copy of the book, along with a CD that has the pdf on it. One book in particular I was drooling over at GenCon was Deadly Games, which is truly a gorgeous book.

Believe me, it's a huge honor to have a book published, in pdf or print, so I'm glad I'm writing either way.