[Tiresias]

I discovered today that you can drop a PDF file into iTunes and that it is imported and filed just like an audio or video file—that is, separately. It has a little icon of a book next to it, and double-clicking opens it with the Finder. I can see how this could be kinda useful, but wouldn't it be better to be able to drop PDFs (such as cover art, etc) into the album art pane and have them attached to the audio or video file to which they belong? (You can't).

*Emailing Steve Jobs*

[slpdLoad]

I believe the ability was added when the iTunes store started selling "digital booklets" with some full albums (it's a PDF of what you normally get in a jewel case), and it just made more sense (especially for Windows people) to be able to view the PDF in iTunes.

[P]

Yes, that sounds very logical, but I'm going to pretend that I didn't see that and hope that Apple will add an E-book reader to the iPhone/iPod touch and use iTunes for the syncing, because I'd really like to see that.

[ghporter]

I'd be very surprised if iTunes doesn't support PDF format ebooks, at least to some extent. Not that it would be very helpful on any model before, say the iPod Touch... But the "digital booklet" for liner notes and the like makes a lot of sense too, particularly since there are a lot of "special edition" discs that differ from their more pedestrian relatives through having maybe two additional tracks and a fancy booklet.

[Person Man]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

...particularly since there are a lot of "special edition" discs that differ from their more pedestrian relatives through having maybe two additional tracks and a fancy booklet.

Oh, do they do that here in the US too, now? I don't buy many CDs in the US, but there's an annoying trend in Greece (and maybe the rest of Europe, too) to come out with an album, and then three months later come out with "v2"or "special editions" that have 4 or 5 more songs, but the booklets are identical. I can even think of one instance where they triple dipped: 16 track regular release, special release one (16 track regular, 4 new tracks and 4 remixes from the first album), and then special release two (16 track regular, the 4 old new tracks and 4 remixes, and then 10 totally new tracks, no remixes). I got burned by this a few times, so if it's by a popular artist, I now wait 3 to 6 months to buy the album ONCE.

It's crap like this that makes me wish I could buy from the Greek iTunes store. Actually, now that my father lives there six months out of the year (and thus has an actual physical address that doesn't change), I could establish a bank account in my name over there, using Dad's address, and get a debit card and use that to buy from the Greek iTunes store, but logistically it's not worth it to me.

[larkost]

It could also be that they were adding this so that the iTunesU people could use this to distribute corse materials alongside lectures. I know I heavily requested this for our (not quite out yet) version.

[lavar78]

iTunes 4.8 added the ability to import and manage PDFs.

[P]

Originally Posted by ghporter 

I'd be very surprised if iTunes doesn't support PDF format ebooks, at least to some extent. Not that it would be very helpful on any model before, say the iPod Touch...

Yes, exactly. See, I've been convincing myself that I actually really do need one of those, and that it will really replace not only my 4G iPod (which is working splendidly and does not need replacing at all) but also my ancient Palm IIIxe. I'd get the Calendar and the Adressbook, which was basically what I used the Palm for, along with a few games that it'll never hurt to have around on long flights. What I wouldn't get was the ability to read of the screen, something I did do quite a lot from the Palm. If Apple were to release a PDF reader for the iPod Touch, my credit card would literally be squirming in the wallet.