National Geographic Birds Field Guide 7th edition (1 Viewer)

[fugl]

Just discovered--after upgrading to iOS11.0.1--that NG is no longer available as a app. Hope and trust a replacement is in the works and that it will be free-of-cost to us "owners" of the now useless older version.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Just discovered--after upgrading to iOS11.0.1--that NG is no longer available as a app. Hope and trust a replacement is in the works and that it will be free-of-cost to us "owners" of the now useless older version.

Another fly in the ointment for those that espouse the benefits of tech over books!

A

 

[fugl]

Another fly in the ointment for those that espouse the benefits of tech over books!

For the moment, sure, but it’s early days yet. I’ve been a book collector all my life and own well over a thousand volumes, including 100+ on birds, but the printed book has had its day and will soon be as dead as film photography. And, a good thing too. Who wants to lug suitcases full of paper field guides around when a whole library can fit on an iPhone or iPad?

But, I’m repeating myself. . ..

 

[Jos Stratford]

Who wants to lug suitcases full of paper field guides around when a whole library can fit on an iPhone or iPad?

Who does lug a suitcase full of guides? I generally have one or perhaps two on most of my trips, and my trips are generally longer than many people are able to take.

Ease of use, no worries about recharging, no worries about water or accidental breakage, what's there not to like about paper books?

 

[fugl]

Who does lug a suitcase full of guides? I generally have one or perhaps two on most of my trips, and my trips are generally longer than many people are able to take.

Ease of use, no worries about recharging, no worries about water or accidental breakage, what's there not to like about paper books?

Yes, yes, “suitcase full” was a piece of hyperbole on my part (that’s how I talk when in full throat, I can’t help it).

And yes, yes, again, for the moment, as I keep saying, but do you really think “recharging”, “water’ and ‘accidental breakage” will continue to be such problems in the future, by which I mean the not-very-distant-future? Think satellite or solar charging (or battery charging units!), water-proofing/water-proof casings (there’s a radical idea!), taking along a spare device or 2 (or coming out with a very very tough model for use in challenging conditions). Given such developments who the hell will want to lug around a heavy, stiff-spined printed book—designed to be read at a desk or in an easy chair—in a rain forest?

I must say, I find the incidence of luddism among you (mostly, I assume) prime-of-life world birders regarding this wonderful new technology, rather surprising. . ..

 

[Jos Stratford]

I must say, I find the incidence of luddism among you (mostly, I assume) prime-of-life world birders regarding this wonderful new technology, rather surprising. . ..

Is it really luddism to simply chose the means personally most convenient? I also still use a paper notebook for my appointments at work - agreeing meetings, invariably I have checked my schedule and jotted down a meeting time before my colleague with an electronic calendar. More luddism or just using whichever is easier?

Besides, as you say, your National Geographic is currently useless, mine despite a few wrinkled pages and a creased spine is working fine

As you say, in the future, or even near future, maybe some of the drawbacks will be resolved, I'll be happy to reassess my preference. For now though, still think a book is better for me and my style of travel.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I think that the scenario you describe with satellites and solar charging is not only still a long way off but as birders, we often got to places that don't get sun (deep forest) and places with poor or no satellite coverage. The other aspect you mention is durability, that isn't going to happen either with the push to make stuff lighter and lighter, nothing is made to last anymore and how many will fork out hundreds of £ or $ to carry a back up device? All I have to worry about is whether I can find my reading glasses!

Authors complain that many bird and natural history books are a labour of love and that they don't actually make much out of them but I've yet to meet anyone who's faked a bird book or illegally copied one. When that starts to happen and it will if we go full tech just like it did with digital recordings, why will authors bother at all when they make nothing for their work?

Isn't it the case right now that a certain number of actual books are sold first to fund the development of an app?


A

 

[fugl]

Well, well, round and round we go. Trust me, gents, nobody's going to have to pry your books from your cold dead hands--you'll surrender them voluntarily just as you did your film cameras not so many years ago.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Well, well, round and round we go. Trust me, gents, nobody's going to have to pry your books from your cold dead hands--you'll surrender them voluntarily just as you did your film cameras not so many years ago.

Fugl, you Sir are a philistine .... surely that's not a valid comparison, soooooo many advantages to digital over film that even I was won over without argument. My wife is a very good amateur photographer and our trips wouldn't be the same without her catlogue of the trip. It's become a bit of a ritual that extends our birding day, we lay in bed at night with the Macbook and go through the days shots, really enjoyable.

The downside of course is / was the job losses, I personally know one guy who worked in the UK for Kodak and lost his job producing film, presumably the same will happen to printers?

I don't doubt that it will happen at some point but I think it's a way off yet that no books are printed at all and I don't have to like it!


A

 

[Andy Adcock]

Fugl, tell me, can you transfer apps from one device to another easily or do you have to download and pay for each device separately?


A

 

[fugl]

Fugl, tell me, can you transfer apps from one device to another easily or do you have to download and pay for each device separately?

I currently have 3 iOS devices (phone, 2 iPads) each with all my dozen or so birding etc. field guide apps on it. No need to transfer from one device to another; once paid for, an app can be downloaded on any number of the purchaser’s devices without further ado. Don’t know how it works with Android.

 

[Jos Stratford]

.... nobody's going to have to pry your books from your cold dead hands--you'll surrender them voluntarily ...

More or less as I said a few posts up - if and when, to me, they become as easy and convenient as a traditional print book, fine by me.

But don't worry Sir, nobody's going to pry your apps and e-books from your cold dead hands, you'll be welcome to fret when the update doesn't support them for ages more yet

 

[Jos Stratford]

For those that prefer apps I have no issue, but clearly not for all as yet. I was on a pelagic off Alaska with a US birder who had an app fieldguide and he was cursing not bringing a standard fieldguide - maybe he wasn't familiar with the app and maybe it was easier than it appeared, but as shearwaters and murrelets zipped by, it certainly seemed easier to flick between the pages in my fieldguide than he was trying to on his app.

 

[McMadd]

Authors complain that many bird and natural history books are a labour of love and that they don't actually make much out of them but I've yet to meet anyone who's faked a bird book or illegally copied one. When that starts to happen and it will if we go full tech just like it did with digital recordings, why will authors bother at all when they make nothing for their work? A

Mr MacKinnon's Birds of China (Chinese text version) was widely available as a PDF on phones when I lived there in 2012/2013 and I was looking at the Schulenberg "Birds of Peru" in same format only last month so it's certainly happening and...dare I say it...you get the best of both worlds that way don't you...?

cheers, McM

 

[Swissboy]

Another fly in the ointment for those that espouse the benefits of tech over books!

A

Must say those of us who upgrade from and older to the newer printed edition will also always have to pay again.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Must say those of us who upgrade from and older to the newer printed edition will also always have to pay again.

But the old book will still be usable and it will be up to the individual if they want to upgrade, the replaced app may be useless as in fugle's post?

That's actually a good point Robert, anyone who purchases an app will expect them to work when a new book is issued but if the app is updated too, why would you expect to get it for free, it's just like paying for a new edition of a book?

The old apps becoming defunct when upgraded, does seem to be a major flaw to me.



A

 

[gdhunter]

I must say, I find the incidence of luddism among you (mostly, I assume) prime-of-life world birders regarding this wonderful new technology, rather surprising. . ..

I must say I find condescending judgment rather surprising. There's a line of demarcation that separates us, but it's probably not as bright & deeply etched as either extreme might suggest. I evolved as a birder with a preference for the look & feel of a book. Others take a different view. If our purpose is to browbeat to agreement, we could have declared stalemate well before this now lengthy thread trended a bit off topic.

Gary H

 

[fugl]

I must say I find condescending judgment rather surprising. There's a line of demarcation that separates us, but it's probably not as bright & deeply etched as either extreme might suggest. I evolved as a birder with a preference for the look & feel of a book. Others take a different view. If our purpose is to browbeat to agreement, we could have declared stalemate well before this now lengthy thread trended a bit off topic.

Lighten up. I guess you didn’t notice the smiley. . ..

 

[fugl]

But the old book will still be usable and it will be up to the individual if they want to upgrade, the replaced app may be useless as in fugle's post?

That's actually a good point Robert, anyone who purchases an app will expect them to work when a new book is issued but if the app is updated too, why would you expect to get it for free, it's just like paying for a new edition of a book?

The old apps becoming defunct when upgraded, does seem to be a major flaw to me.

As I keep saying, it’s early days yet, the transition from paper to electronic media having just begun. Disruptive technology by its very nature is seldom without teething problems. Ten years from now threads like this one will be read with amused incredulity (except for my contributions, of course, which will be extolled as prescient ).

 

[Andy Adcock]

As I keep saying, it’s early days yet, the transition from paper to electronic media having just begun. Disruptive technology by its very nature is seldom without teething problems. Ten years from now threads like this one will be read with amused incredulity (except for my contributions, of course, which will be extolled as prescient ).

Either that or people will be writing to their MP or Congessman, demanding the return of the printed book due to the impracticality and unreliablity of tech..

I can't imagine a life without books.


A