[Eoin]

ePub is an open standard, but there might be some DRM on some files.

Anyway, most readers can display PDF, but with varying degrees of success. They're extremely slow to render on my PRS-505. Calibre can convert between many formats. Not sure about powerpoint - some might, but can't imagine they'll be able to cope with anything but quite basic presentations.

[dowtchaboy]

Originally Posted by Tea_Bag

quick question here lads if you don't mind.

can this (and/or the Kindle) support arbitrary formats like pdf etc? I'm new to e-readers sorry and id be interested if I could side load other formats other than their respective bookstore closed formats. this could do wonders for my lecture notes in college. I suppose .ppt is too much to ask?

If you pdf the ppt file (ie open it in powerpoint then as 'save as' (or export as pdf on the Mac version I think - or maybe it was 'print to pdf)) you should be able to view it. Obviously if the ppt has fancy stuff like dynamic changes, stuff flying in and out, this won't work. I am looking at a few ppt files on Herself's Kindle at the moment - it understands straight .ppt files all right but you just get the basic text and the content is not nicely arranged like the slides would be in a presentation. Obviously colour is displayed as shades of grey so if the creator has gone mad on fancy colours you may miss out a little of the content.

When I look at the pdf versions of the ppt slides - if these were saved as 1 slide per page then yes it looks pretty much like a powerpoint presentation - text and graphics look normal - click page up or down gets you to the next slide etc.
You might want to rotate the screen to landscape (click the text button - the aA one - and use the cursor control to select the landscape orientation) if you want a bigger screen - but I find the slides take up a bit more than i screen that way so you have to click twice to move slides. In portrait mode (ie normal) the slides are nicely displayed.

If you generated the pdf as you would when you want to create handout notes then you will get 3 per page etc. OK if you are young and can read small text! So my suggestion is to create 'handout notes' in pdf format, 1 slide per page setting.

I just flipped through a few presentations she gave just now - the Kindle works very well I must say. Saves lugging copies of the handouts around.

[Thargor]

Originally Posted by Tea_Bag

quick question here lads if you don't mind.

can this (and/or the Kindle) support arbitrary formats like pdf etc? I'm new to e-readers sorry and id be interested if I could side load other formats other than their respective bookstore closed formats. this could do wonders for my lecture notes in college. I suppose .ppt is too much to ask?

Dont do it to yourself, e-ink no matter what the device is that uses it is for reading novels and nothing else. Trying to make notations or even flick back to something you read an hour ago is torture. pdf's, powerpoint etc are not what the device is designed for and it does it terribly whether its a Kindle or a Sony. Get yourself a netbook or something if you want to do that or I guarantee you'll regret it and your college work will suffer.

Went on a bit of a rant there but its just because Ive cringed at a few friends making the same mistake, they seem to think its a little black and white tablet pc with several weeks of battery life that they're buying but its not. I love my PRS-505 reader, its a couple of years old but still impresses me every time I use it, its honestly the most well designed and built device Ive ever bought, but as I said it has exactly one function*, reading books one page at a time from the beginning to the end, if I had to do anything else with it Id have taken a hammer to it long ago.

*Okay 2 functions, it can play mp3s and audio books really well.

[petecork]

this is now €15.50 cheaper on the .com website

www.bookdepository.co.uk = €129.98

www.bookdepository.com = €112.40

[Eoin]

If that's shipped from outside the EU, the savings could be very quickly eaten up if you get stung by customs though.

[petecork]

Originally Posted by Eoin

If that's shipped from outside the EU, the savings could be very quickly eaten up if you get stung by customs though.

you're correct, I wasnt thinking about that when I posted

[nicolaed]

Originally Posted by Eoin

If that's shipped from outside the EU, the savings could be very quickly eaten up if you get stung by customs though.

delivered, shipped from UK(
www.bookdepository.com = €112.40) no any customs fees

[Torqay]

Originally Posted by Tea_Bag

quick question here lads if you don't mind.

can this (and/or the Kindle) support arbitrary formats like pdf etc? I'm new to e-readers sorry and id be interested if I could side load other formats other than their respective bookstore closed formats. this could do wonders for my lecture notes in college. I suppose .ppt is too much to ask?

In theory, yes, both support PDF. However, these devices shine with flow text, reading PDFs on a 6" screen is a pain in the behind. But all is not lost:

Some publishers offer special 6" PDFs

You can crop PDFs with programs like PaperCrop.

You can convert PDFs to EPUB/MOBI with Calibre (the Swiss Army Knife for ebook conversion), although the results may vary.

Neither reader can handle Powerpoint slideshows, however, you can "print" PPS/PPT as PDF and view them on the reader.

I much prefer the KOBO reader over the Sony/Kindle for the simple reason that I can just copy my books onto the device or SD card and begin reading, whereas SONY/Amazon require you to install their own software on your computer to manage your library.

[killbillvol2]

Originally Posted by Torqay

In theory, yes, both support PDF. However, these devices shine with flow text, reading PDFs on a 6" screen is a pain in the behind. But all is not lost:

Some publishers offer special 6" PDFs

You can crop PDFs with programs like PaperCrop.

You can convert PDFs to EPUB/MOBI with Calibre (the Swiss Army Knife for ebook conversion), although the results may vary.

Neither reader can handle Powerpoint slideshows, however, you can "print" PPS/PPT as PDF and view them on the reader.

I much prefer the KOBO reader over the Sony/Kindle for the simple reason that I can just copy my books onto the device or SD card and begin reading, whereas SONY/Amazon require you to install their own software on your computer to manage your library.

That's not the case - you can easily manage your Sony device without their library software.