| Although most people prefer to purchase walking guides in printed paperback form, some users prefer to buy books in e-book form. An ebook is a book that is available in electronic format. Various formats are used, but one of the most popular is Adobe Acrobat, since the pdf files produced by this software can be viewed using e-readers - such as the Sovos - or on virtually any computer, including easily-carried netbooks or laptops and. of course, Apple's fabulous iPad. Ebooks can also be viewed on the more sophisticated mobile phones such as the iPhone (though you'll need good eyesight as the screen is only 50 x 75mm in size). Most of our titles are available as ebooks in a pdf version. These can be transferred to an iPhone or any mobile phone capable of importing pdf files (seebelow). They can also be used on the Apple iPad or on an Amazon Kindle or Sony Reader. Transfer to a Kindle or Sovos is easy - just drag the icon of the pdf file from your computer to the folder of the Sovos or Kindle. Note that on the Kindle and the Sony Reader, all the photographs and maps will be in black and white. The Apple iPad will display our books in colour via the iBooks app. Once you have downloaded a pdf version, you are free to load it (for your personal use) on to all the media you possess. In addition to our pdf versions a few of our titles are also available from Amazon in Kindle versions. A limited number of titles are also available from Apple as iBooks. In both instances a search for "Sunflower Books" will locate the titles we have released via Amazon and Apple. A big advantage of buying these versions is that they are cheaper and downloading is virtually instantanous. However, our pdf versions have the advantage of better resolution and ease of printing out pages you'd like in hard copy form.
Ordering one of our pdf versions is easy - choose the appropriate destination page then just click on the ebook link to be taken to a form where you can order using your credit or debit card. (If no link is shown, it means that for technical reasons the title is not available as an ebook.) After you've placed your order, we debit your credit or debit card and then send you an e-mail telling you how to download the ebook you require onto your computer. As long as you have Adobe Acrobat Reader version 3 or later on your machine, you will be able to view the book immediately. (Adobe Acrobat Reader software comes as standard with many computers but if you don't already have it you can download it free of charge from www.Adobe-Reader.co.uk) Once the pdf version is saved on your computer, it can also be transferred to a media player, laptop or netbook or to a compatible mobile phone.
If you download a pdf file to any of these media you can save the pdf file and with many devices you can view it as large as you wish by zooming to a specific part of the page, with the highest possible image quality. (This is particularly useful for the maps as you can zoom in to the precise area you are in.) Provided you have the latest software on your iPhone or iPad, you can download pdf files very easily by copying them into your iTunes library. They then appear on the iPhone or iPad when you next sync. (If you are still using version 3 software, you will need to buy the GoodReader app (price 59p) to be able to view pdfs). Good Reader is a useful app to possess even if you have the version 4 software as it gives you the option of viewing pdfs either as single pages or as double-page spreads, It also has many other useful extras. THE ADVANTAGES OF E-BOOK VERSIONS
1. Are you in a hurry? Our pdf versions are available almost immediately - no waiting for the post. Provided you order before 15.00hrs on any working day, we will normally be able to e-mail you the instructions for downloading the same day - and in any case within 24 hours. The pdf versions preserve the layout and style of the printed book and include the large maps that appear at the end of each book. Note that our service is personal - your downloading instructions are sent by a real person, not by software so that if you have any queries, we can answer them at the same time as meeting your order.
2. You can if you wish print out selected pages (for example just half a dozen walks you plan to do) or the entire book. Moreover, if you prefer to print pages in a larger size than our normal size (21cm for Landscapes books and 15cm for Walk & Eat titles) you can do so. (Note that if you do this, type matter will be sharply defined but to avoid ebook files becoming too large all colour photographs are low to medium resolution - fine for viewing or printing in normal page size but photos will be less sharp if enlarged too much.) However, all maps are included in high-definition so that within reason there is no limit to the size you can print them. See notes below regarding printing the large touring maps.
3. We allow you to print extra copies of walks for use by your companions - as long as you provide them free of charge and don't attempt to sell them. 4. You are permitted to install the pdf version on all the compatible devices you own - for example, on a computer, on a mobile phone and on an iPad or other portable device such as a netbook (but the file must not be installed on devices owned by anyone other than yourself).
5. If you want to find the place in a book where a particular item or location is mentioned or described, Acrobat will search the entire text within a couple of seconds and take you to the appropriate page. WANT TO TRY A FREE SAMPLE?
If you'd like to see how well our ebooks reproduce on your own device, just click here to view some sample pages taken from Landscapes of Samos USING A COMPUTER TO PRINT THE TOURING MAPS
Most of the touring maps are larger than A4. Adobe Acrobat Reader will normally reduce the larger maps to a size that will fit on an A4 sheet, but this will result in very small type for some of the place names on the map. For best results an A3 size printer is desirable, as the average touring map of size 210mm x 420mm can be printed full size or even slightly larger if required. However, if you are restricted to an A4 printer we suggest printing the touring maps in two halves. If you possess Adobe Acrobat software as well as the Adobe Acrobat Reader software, you can use Acrobat to crop each map as required and then print the two halves, pasting them together when printing is completed. Or if you don't have Acrobat but possess Photoshop software, use "Open" from the File menu to select the pdf book, then use the pdf page selector to open the required map in Photoshop. After the map has rasterised and opened, crop it as desired before printing the two halves. Note: It is difficult to print touring maps from pdf versions held on Apple iPhones or iPads or other media players unless it is possible to connect them to a printer. WHICH PORTABLE DEVICE DO I CHOOSE?
Undoubtedly the displays on Apple's iPad and iPhone are among the best you will find on portable devices. But both are expensive. And the iPhone, although light and so easy to carry (and with GPS potential), has a screen that is very small for viewing walk routes and maps (just 3 inches by 2 inches). The iPad, although with a screen that displays our pdf versions in superb quality, is heavy to carry on a walk and it is really too valuable to risk damage clambering over hedges, wading through or jumping across streams. And both devices are not at their best in full daylight, much less in bright sunshine. Amazon's Kindles and Sony's Reader are visible in sunlight but are black and white only, so not ideal for viewing maps and colour photographs. If, however, you do a lot of reading of fiction, biographies, etc, then the Kindle or Sony Reader can be an excellent choice as they can be read indoors or out. Of the two, we recommend the Amazon Kindle. It's much cheaper than the Sony product and it has wireless access to the huge Amazon library of ebooks - you can read a review of a book in a newspaper or magazine, decide you'd like to buy it and within as little as a couple of minutes you can have downloaded it to your Kindle. Moreover, if you buy the 3G version of the Kindle, you get free broadband access to the Amazon store for life. ((If you are using an iPhone or iPad you'll have to pay a monthly fee for 3G broadband access.) With the Kindle, if you are not sure whether a particular book will be suitable, you can even download a sample couple of chapters free of charge before deciding to purchase. The Sony Reader is beautifully made but its performance for books containing straight text is no better than the Kindle and it does not have wireless access. And for heavily illustrated books in pdf or epub format, the Sony Reader struggles - in particular it fails to display maps properly. In the end, most of our users prefer to carry the printed book and reserve pdf versions for convenient armchair viewing of possible destinations and walk routes in advance of a holiday. However, if you would like the convenience of storing as many of our guidebooks as you wish on a device that is a handy compromise - a bit larger than an iPhone but less bulky than an iPad, you could consider the Sovos e-reader (shown above). It weighs 190 grams (less than 8 ounces; less, even, than a Landscapes paperback book, so it is truly pocketable). It has a 5-inch (diagonal) colour screen with an unusually elogated shape - two and a half inches wide by four and a quarter inches deep, particularly well suited to the formats of our Landscapes and Complete series guides. It displays pdf versions with no difficulty - transfer from a computer is fast and easy. Perhaps best of all is the price - under a hundred pounds.
Unlike the iPad and iPhone, the Sovos doesn't have web access, but as well as downloading and displaying ebooks it will download from a computer to play music, hold photographs, run videos and record sound. Like the iPhone and iPad, it is not at its best in sunlight, but it can be viewed out of doors provided you find adequate shade. A web search for "sovos e-reader" will find plenty of supplier options - it's available from Amazon, for example. At its price, we think it is a bargain. If the screen size is still too small for your eyesight to cope, and if compact size is not an essential, there are new devices coming on to the market with 6, 7 or 8 inch screens - a web search will bring up many options. If you have any queries, please feel free to contact us. We will gladly advise on the choice of an e-reader. Note that at Sunflower ebook orders are handled personally - you get a reply from a real person, not from an automated server. For this reason, the time taken to respond can vary. However, we always aim to provide details of how to download the pdf version you require as quickly as possible. ANDROID DEVICES
More and more devices are appearing on the market month by month. In some cases, extra software is needed to be able to import pdfs. Performance varies from manufacturer to manufacturer. For this reason we have limited our recommendations above to the most easily available products which come already pdf-compatible.
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