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-- Technical Books on Modules (http://discussion.visorcentral.com/vcforum/showthread.php?threadid=15598)

I was talking to a friend who published technical books and they mentioned putting their books on some type of module...whether Springboard or Palm SD or whatever.

So my question is:

Do you guys think that putting technical books and instructional text on a storage media is a good idea? Would people use them? I mean carrying a book on Unix and Java and WebObjects at once vs. carrying a module with it seems like a no brainer...but then again that is just my opinion. I'd like to know what other people think and what would you pay for something like that? Would you pay $30 for a module that you could update that didn't use your internal memory? What if the module or SD card could store multiple books that you could load onto it? Would you pay a little more? What would you pay for the module and what would you pay for the books in electronic form?



Any input you can give would be great. I'd like to see this type of thing...but I want to know if I am just the exception to the rule.

Thanks.

I'd be all for this idea. I do something similar to this now with PDF files for various apps. I use Acrobat for Palm to convert them, and then move them to my Thinmodem plus. I think $30 would be appropriate, depending on the book, and if multiple books could be stored on one module, even better. Important things for me would be to still have access to screen shots and diagrams that the books contained, not just the text, for them to be searchable, and have a "tappable" index. As long as the cost of the modules were less than, or equal to, the books contained on them, you would have a sale here.

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Sven

If at first you do succeed, try not to look astonished.

Great idea for reference books and the like, especially with the search abilities of an electronic version. One thing to remember though, it really sucks to try to read code on a PDA.

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www.jphillips66.org

I think that this is a great idea. The cost would have to be reasonable.

The main thing would be to make sure that it was quickly navigable. A straight "book," is a bad idea, but titled & indexed & quickly searched pages/sections would be great.

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If I paid $30 for a hard-copy manual, I'd be willing to lay out an additional $20 or so for the Springboard module.
I'd like a searchable one with a complete reference on HTML, perhaps presented as "Flash Cards" on each call and its attributes.
I agree that anything with diagrams would need to retain those.

What I'd really like is for all my various computer books and technical manuals to come in three formats: book, so I can read it anywhere; searchable document(s) provided on CD-ROM for accessability (try finding info on one concept which goes by several different names, and the one you can remember isn't in the index); and a PDB for my Visor so I can take it anywhere.

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They should just include it on a CD along with the hard copy in Palm format, from there you could copy it to various modules. Ontop of that they could offer different modules with like 4-7 books pre-intalled on it at a reduced price.

Diagrams are the only problem I could see.

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Matt Nichols
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Add my vote.

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"Great Spirits Have Always Encountered Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds." -- Albert Einstein

Great Idea

Great IDea...BUT I would prefer it in PDB form. With the memory solutions now available, there is no need to make book type modules. I want to carry around less modules not more.

And yes diagrams is a must!

Why not on SM or CF cards? It would be easier from a production standpoint. Then all you'd need is a MemPlug and you're good to go!!

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Portable books - the rocks!

BUT!

It should be possible to read them on PC, copy to already present PDA, etc. That why I like Adobe Acrobat. Even if Adobe's Acrobat for PDA not so good yet.

I hate Adobe Acrobat. Its difficult to navigate and the file size is enormous. Most things that are presented in PDF could easily be represented in HTML format and be much more economical.

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Matt Nichols
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But PDFs don't have to worry about how well or in what way a browser decides to emulate HTML. With PDF you absolutely for sure know what it will look like. PDF files also look a helluva lot better than HTML text-quality wise. If I wanted an official document to print out I would want it in PDF. That's the way it is already. For example, I was looking at colleges and noticed that all "Download Application for StateU here!" is all in PDF format. I like PDF myself.

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-Vincent

Yeah, PDF is good & bad for the reasons everyone already listed. I just hope they keep on working on it. Esp. the file sizes.

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"Great Spirits Have Always Encountered Violent Opposition From Mediocre Minds." -- Albert Einstein