I just got myself Waits Compendium and was curious if any of you are using it on the ipad or other tablet. I have mine on the computer and if all the pdf files are in the same directory they have a functioning TOC. Can it be done on tablets?
V1.1 of the compendium was made up of multiple PDFs. V1.2 simplified it all and it became ONE large PDF.
Yeah I think the single-PDF-format might have been designed to make it easier to use the compendium on a mobile device. I don't know if there is any difference in actual content between the two versions. I'm rather tempted to get it I must admit.... it's $14.95 for the download...and it would make for a great coffee-shop reads on Saturday mornings
From the product description: "A reference source for safety razor collectors. See examples in the photo window on this page. By far the best source of detailed safety razor information in existence." Over 600 pages of stuff like this:
Tsk, tsk....Swedes and their Pirate Bay But no, that wouldn't be legal. (Actually I don't know the legality...but let's just say it wouldn't be ethically/morally the right thing to do)
Hahaha what is this you talk about? Pirate ebay? =P No ethically and morally it wouldn't be right, someone will leak it some day. Everything gets leaked
I ended up buying the compendium today. By using coupon code SERVICEUSA the price ended up being $13.45 You get a download link for the 263MB file. I downloaded it and put it on my iPad.... (Also backed it up to Dropbox should I ever manage to delete it by accident) Then, a rather frustrating experience... ...this is a rather large PDF (but not insanely large really) and every PDF reader I threw at it choked. Initial load time to just open the book was often in excess of 5-10 minutes...and then when changing pages it often ground to a halt rendering the pages. A complete pain and negated much of why I wanted the book anyway - to keep it on my iPad (4). So, I realized that the PDF was terribly unoptimized. I compressed it down from 263MB...to 79MB - and finally the file could be opened in second and flipped through like any magazine. Looks great! S/shot from a random page as it appears on my tablet: (If any of you might have the same challenge with displaying/fitting the full compendium on your phone/tablet I fully recommend the free compression tool at http://smallpdf.com/compress-pdf - it did an awesome job). As others have noted there are certainly some gaps/omissions amongst the razors included here but as far as I can tell this is the most complete, illustrated work there is. Now..the only remaining issue is browsing through this compendium is me going... "I want that.....and that one......oh...shiny...need that one for sure...."
Thanks, I am trying to decide if I am going to spend the money. Seems like it may be information overload for a new collector.
I'm enjoying the compendium for two main reasons; 1) A quick reference look-up for any odd razor you come across and want to at least place some context to it and its history, 2) To find all the shinies that I, once I read about them and see photos of them, realize that I need to have. I wouldn't say it's a 'sit-down-and-read' from cover to cover just as one wouldn't read the encyclopedia With the coupon code bringing it down to below $14 I'd say it's a great value for what you get. Having said that, now I do want a book like this but more 'narrated' and more of an interesting read. I've been looking at some other books and I think I'm really curious about the disappearance of the American barbershops and Waits' 'Before Gillette'.
Now, through Monday March 2, Waits' other book "Before Gillette" is on a 29% sale on LuLu - both print and digital. I'm thinking I will pick up the digital version.
This is btw a great overview of the "Before Gillette" book - over a hundred pages available for free (not the whole book of course) as it's a sample at Google Books:
