I’ve heard that when Adobe first invented PDF files oh so many centuries ago they were derided for being proprietary and wonky – or maybe I just dreamed that (some lame-ass dreams). Today, PDFs haunt so much of my academic life, required class readings, journal articles, archival materials are all only provided in PDFs. It’s not too surprising though, especially on a Mac, the format is really easy to use and create.
So ain’t technology grand? Okay time to do some reading… Here’s where I get screwed anally royally. Because I prefer desktops to laptop computers, I’m now stuck in front of a huge immobile computer screen, my eyes hurt, my ass is numb and I probably have 50 tumors from all the radiation.
The ideal solution is easy though. Ideally, I’d want some way to carry a bunch of pdfs on a portable little machine that has a super good battery and a nice readable screen with a simple zoomable interface. I prefer to take my notes on paper, because I can connect information and scribble pictures in a non-linear way so I don’t need a big input device.
So what are my real-world options? (I’m thinking out loud and talking to myself at this point):
- A laptop computer.
I had an ibook for 2 years, and now that I look back on it, the day it got stolen was a blessing in disguise. Laptop computing is a pain in the ass – and the neck. You’ve got to constantly worry about whether your fast dying battery holds a charge, lug the weight of it around, and just generally deal with more stress as a result. I say this in a totally non-hipster way (mostly because they annoy me), but rediscovering the joys of paper has really improved the quality of my life.
- iphone/ipod touch.
I’ve heard good things about the iphone (who hasn’t?), and my phone is still a non-color kinda ancient and my ipod is only 2gbs. But apparently, despite the potential, reading PDFs is still a bitch and it’s far too big to be a phone (to me). That and the price.
- Printing shit out.
I’d love to do this, but it’s not uncommon for me to have to read like 40-50pages for each class a week. That’s a lot of paper, I just don’t have the heart to waste that level of resources.
- Palm Pilot
I’ve still got one of the Sony ones from back in the glory days. The problem here is that they’re far too slow, the screen is too small or low resolution, it’s such a bitch to get working with a mac and the acrobat reader software sucks balls and doesn’t work for PDFs that are made up of scanned images. Oh, and I hate it like poison. (Does anyone want to buy a Sony PEJ22?)
- eBook Readers.
I think this might just be the ideal solution, in theory at least. The batteries last forever, it’s super clear, they support PDFs, and nobody likes them so maybe they’ll be cheap on ebay. The problem is I have no idea how they deal with pdfs that are basically large scanned pages and are not normal book size. I’m researching it right now, but information is hard to come by. The information I have right now about both Sony and Amazon’s readers imply that they’re made useless by DRM. Fucking DRM.
If anyone knows anything about them or has any other ideas, let me know :)
This is something that should be a lot easier than it is.
High geekery // 