Disastrous-Bite4258 t1_iwjof6o wrote
Reply to comment by AtraMikaDelia in Digital Books wear out faster than Physical Books - Internet Archive Blogs by koavf
Plain text is the most superior format, because it's plain text. No need to convert it to different formats, no special readers required, nothing.
With the magic of modern technology, you can of course have the same text in multiple formats! Wow!
AtraMikaDelia t1_iwjrjnc wrote
>Plain text is the most superior format, because it's plain text. No need to convert it to different formats, no special readers required, nothing.
What does that even mean? You still need some form of word processor to read it, unless you can read binary. And I wouldn't really say that a basic pdf reader is any more of a specialized tool than a basic text editor is.
NumberlessUsername2 t1_iwjtty2 wrote
I would say there are no situations where a program can't read plain text, but there are some, albeit few, situations where PDF can't be read. I have definitely opened PDFs that didn't work, or been on a device that didn't have an installed PDF reader (although that latter part was years ago). It's rare, but it happens. Just saying, plain text has always worked because it's basically universal.
AtraMikaDelia t1_iwjvxql wrote
There can be issues with pdfs saving improperly and being corrupted, but the same thing can happen to a text file, or to literally any other file type.
Additionally, every modern web browser is capable of opening a pdf natively, so you don't even need a dedicated pdf reader. And if you have a computer without a web browser, then I'm curious how you're getting the books on it in the first place.
Lastly, even if you absolutely cannot open a PDF because a bandit has appeared behind you and threatened to shoot you if you open a pdf, there are still free ways to convert a pdf file to a .txt, so you could simply convert it into a text file and then read that if you absolutely needed to.
The only reason you'd run into problems with not being able to read a pdf is if you were technologically illiterate, but it would be much simpler for you to simply learn how to open a pdf than it would be for you to try to read an entire book in .txt format.
NumberlessUsername2 t1_iwl4ngh wrote
The fact that the backup if it doesn't work is to convert to text kinda proves the point.
rfdavid t1_iwjyi6y wrote
In 10 years .txt files will be readable by literally anything with a power cord. Toasters, thermostats, etc.
AtraMikaDelia t1_iwjyohz wrote
And in 15 those things will probably be capable of reading a PDF. What's your point?
nemothorx t1_iwkj9gw wrote
You clearly have no concept of embedded operating systems in general. Most can read txt trivially (often in the form of config files and the like) but have no need to understand pdf.
Fact is, PDF is orders of magnitude more complex than txt and needs similarly more complex specialised tools to understand it. That complexity is the problem that makes it inferior.
Disastrous-Bite4258 t1_iwjvv0r wrote
I mean you can read plain text files with a command line interface if you really want to, on pretty much every computer ever made.
You can put that file on an IBM PC from 1981, write "type filename.txt | more". You can use the cat command on a 50 year old Unix system to read the file. If you somehow put the file on a Commodore 64, you can read it too.
It's a format that is extremely unlikely to become unreadable in the foreseeable future, regardless of where technology progresses.
Of course, for everyday use PDF and EPUB are much better. But for compatibility and archival? Can't beat plain text.
Gyr-falcon t1_iwo0d2j wrote
Curious. You are advocating for text but use BOLD for emphases. Do you remember that plain text has no bold? Nor italics, or chapter headings, plain text doesn't have much in the way of formatting.
[deleted] t1_iwo6v0o wrote
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AtraMikaDelia t1_iwjwhs8 wrote
Yes, with how technology works you will be able to open older formats on both new and old computers, while old computers without updates will only work with old formats.
But if you rely on this trend to assume that all future computers will always be able to read a text file because computers have always been able to do that, then why wouldn't I be able to extrapolate from that trend and say that it is equally unlikely for future computers to ever lose the ability to read a pdf? Realistically they are always going to be able to read both.
And if you need to archive them, archiving something in a format that loses data seems questionable. If you save it as a .txt you lose italics, bold, etc. You lose chapter titles being in large font, you lose any pictures that may be in the book, you lose a lot. On the other hand, if you save it as a .pdf, all of that is retained. And if you ever need to convert it from a pdf to a txt for whatever reason, that is possible to do. I don't see why you would ever feel the need to do that, but if you want to there are numerous ways to convert a .pdf file into a .txt.
Disastrous-Bite4258 t1_iwk0glb wrote
> it is equally unlikely for future computers to ever lose the ability to read a pdf
Well, we'll just have to wait and see. I wouldn't count on PDF files being easily readable in, say, 40 years (if humanity even exists at that point :D).
Anyway, this has been an interesting discussion, random person on the internet. I need to head out to a Covid test, wish me luck.
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