The 30 MB barrier

Since switching from a Kindle to an iPad for reading my experience has been very good for the most part but reading some PDFs sometimes a challenge due to the limits of the iPad. For example, the iPad cannot open a file larger than 30MB! This is a problem for me since I often get PDF versions of books that accompany the printed version, not being able to open them up in iBooks or PDFReader Pro is bad because I need to lug around the thick printed copy (how quaint)!

I have gotten around the 30MB limitation with my own documents by printing half of a book to a PDF file. While this is not ideal it does the job. However, it still does not solve the problem of getting a PDF file from a published book. Another option is to buy a kindle edition of the book. This is not a desirable option because I do not get a printed copy of the book as well. While reading novels is great on the Kindle App I still prefer a printed copy of a technical book! However, I have purchased technical books from the Kindle store when I needed something quickly!

Best of both Worlds

Since I also have a Safari Books subscription I have found the Safari App an interesting alternative. The only problem that I have seen is that some books get truncated in strange areas. For example, when reading Mike Laverick’s VMware vSphere 4 Implementation book I noticed some problems with viewing some of the pages. I was in a Borders at the time so I strolled over to the computer book section and compared both print and the Safari Books online versions and sure enough the LAB sections were cut off in the Safari App. Soon after that I reported the problem to Safari. Another good feature about the Safari Books Online iPad App is the ability to cache books for offline use. I had mixed results, if you navigate away or let the iPad sleep is stops the downloading process! This is best done in a high-speed environment (not in an Airport lounge)!