Palm Reader and small images problem

[rtrueman]

From the recommendations mentioned in the DragonLance thread, I recently purchased the first three books of the Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R. R. Martin. Like most fantasy books, the first few pages show the map of the land. Unfortunately, they are too small to see. When I installed the desktop version of the Palm Reader, the images were too blurry. Has anyone found a way around this? I've been using the Palm Reader Pro for some time and never had the need to zoom in on anything. Are these images posted online somewhere?

Thanks.

Rob

[taxus]

This is a limitation in the PalmReader format. Images have to be in PNG format, and are limited to a size of 65505 bytes. The actual uncompressed displayed image can be bigger, but the original file must not be bigger than 65505 bytes.

It's a serious limitation. It was originally due to the Palm database records size limit. Yet it didn't stop Mobipocket from going around that limitation.

PalmReader has the user-friendliest DRM, but the worst format. Mobipocket has the best format, but like Microsoft, the worst DRM.

I doubt the Song of Fire and Ice images are (legally) available anywhere online.

[dh]

I bought the same books in MS .lit format and converted them to Mobipocket format for my PPC.

Both MS Reader and Mobipocket Reader have the same problem with the maps. I can zoom them in MP but the result is just too blured to be able to read.

I can read the maps (just) using the desktop version of MS Reader so I have a reasonable feel for the geography.

At the moment, I'm about half way through the second book and I'm really enjoying them. I would say that this series is better than Jordan's Wheel of Time and right up there with LOTR. I hope George Martin doesn't become the next Robert Jordan and keep on producing books when he has nothing left to say.

[rtrueman]

Thanks for your replies. I wasn't aware of the limitations of the PDM format. It's never been an issue previously, and I love the reader and DRM.

Since my first post, I was able to find what appear to be legal images of the maps. You can find them at http://www.pvv.ntnu.no/~madsb/home/read/asoiaf/maps/. The site owner says he has permission from Harper Collins and George R.R. Martin. I've downloaded them to my laptop and will store them on my Pocket PC for reference.

I finally had a chance to start reading Game of Thrones this morning. I got about five pages in when my wife and 4 month old daughter came in and wanted to play. At this pace, Mr. Martin will finish the 4th - 6th books before I'm finished the first! :lol:

Rob

[dh]

Thanks for the link. It's great to have a good size version of the maps.