WotC should make an online SRD....

[DracoSuave]

How hard is it to generate user specific code (both obvious and hidden) and implant them into the PDF so DDI users can use download them, but won't be inclined to share them with others? Is this hard to do? I don't know.

It isn't difficult at all.

So, when wizards DID do this, and they found out that the number one illegal downloads source -was- their own PDF, coded or not, they put the kibosh on this program as it was actually -assisting- illegal downloads, rather than combatting them.

Two years later, you don't get legal PDFs.

I wonder how those lawsuits went along...

 

[Mr. Teapot]

How would giving the compendium a better UI and making the compendium more cross-referenced hinder the current goal you hint at?

I don't see that it would, and I didn't imply that it would. (I also didn't "hint" at the purpose of the SRD. I stated it in my post. The purpose is to identify what information from the system can be referenced or reprinted by third party publishers.)

 

[vagabundo]

Being able to buy every single 4e book in PDF for the lowly cost of 1 month's DDI subscription would be more broken than the original battlerager, and hard to errata.

How about you unlock a new PDF* every month you sign up - your choice.

Yum. It would give continuous subs the edge.

*I wouldn't mind if it was some webonly DRMed thing....

 

[Zaran]

They still would have the piracy issue to tend with. They will never sell pdfs until they can figure a way to make them so they can't be pirated. Wizards not putting their books on pdf is the reason why I haven't bought an iPad yet.

 

[DracoSuave]

They will never sell pdfs until they can figure a way to make them so they can't be pirated.

This.

They already -tried- the pdf route, and got -very- burned.

This isn't a 'they'll never do it' it's a case of 'they did it and it did not work.'

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Of course one might at this juncture point out that NOT selling PDFs didn't work either as its still just as easy as ever to download any of the books AFAIK. Essentially their policy amounts to sticking your head in the sand. Oh well.

 

[darjr]

Internal links is my big want.

I'd also like some integration with the wiki, so that I could see some addendum. A wiki link would be perfect if I could put in private or shared notes linked from the compendium.

 

[Kingreaper]

They still would have the piracy issue to tend with. They will never sell pdfs until they can figure a way to make them so they can't be pirated.

Given as the things they aren't putting out on PDF are being pirated within days to a week max of official release, putting them out on PDF, available from a week after paper release, wouldn't increase piracy at all.

It would, in fact, decrease it, because some number of people pirate simply because they want a PDF version and CAN'T buy one.

 

[DEFCON 1]

Of course one might at this juncture point out that NOT selling PDFs didn't work either as its still just as easy as ever to download any of the books AFAIK. Essentially their policy amounts to sticking your head in the sand. Oh well.

However, there are probably a lot fewer copies out there to download than there would be if they still had sellable pdfs available. That means it's easier for them to go after those people who are pirating them and try and shut them down. On top of that... I would imagine many versions of those pirated pdfs are indeed the "rip a book apart and scan the pages individually" variety... and the number of people who might want that kind of crappy version are less than the number who wish for the pdfs to have the same quality as their hardback books.

It's the same thing like Hollywood blockbusters... many people wouldn't bother downloading a pirated version of Iron Man 2 that was filmed in a theater on a camcorder and then uploaded. However, if the download came from a perfectly clean DVD version or something, then they would because they could see it in theater-quality.

So yes... you can get the books in pdf form if you really want them... they just aren't necessarily the quality that you might want. And thus the number of illegal downloads are probably much less than they would be if WotC did finally release their books on pdf.

 

[knifie_sp00nie]

So yes... you can get the books in pdf form if you really want them... they just aren't necessarily the quality that you might want. And thus the number of illegal downloads are probably much less than they would be if WotC did finally release their books on pdf.

I've seen the books you can get off the net. Quality isn't "straight from Indesign", but it's very usable and has been OCRed. The numbers of seeders and leechers seem to be about the same as well.

You can't stop pirates. They will find a way around any DRM scheme. You rarely need to watch a camcordered movie since someone usually manages to leak the DVD early or copy a screener. Want Photoshop CS5? It's available too.

The way around piracy is convenience and reasonable pricing. It's easier to download non-DRMed music from Amazon than get a torrent. Why download a movie when it can be streamed from Netflix? Instead you have games that break under DRM while the pirated versions are being played just fine.

I'd gladly pay extra on my DDI subscription to get all the book content. I hardly feel the need to buy books as-is because I write my own fluff, but it would be nice to look over. There are plenty of ways to offer the content that are already proven. O'Reilly's safari books comes to mind.