Scott Catalog 2015 Digital Plans

Some good news in an email I got from Amos.

Has Amos IT department invented a new storage process in which they can store hundreds of thousands high quality images data without using large amounts of space on the local device? And if the smart phone/table device does have the space have they devised a method to install/load this amount of data without it taking hours? (Of course it will have to install/load locally and not try to do this 'online' since the data transfer rates would be excessive for most people.)

My point is that this is not an 'Amos issue', it is a technology issue. Loading and storing a small part of a large catalog is certainly feasible but trying to do the same with an entire set of catalogs is going to take an extremely large amount of storage space. The images could be eliminated or 'downsized' to very tiny size but much detail would be lost and users will probably want to be able to zoom in on images for greater detail.

Sorry, but I am dubious.
Don

Maybe low-res images (good enough for basic ID but insufficient for detailed viewing/enlargement) could be stored locally with better images available if connected. But I agree w/ Don - given their long-standing "lock down" approach to data (they obviously don't trust us) and the technology hurdles Don mentioned, I'm not very optimistic that these improvements will ever happen, let alone by the end of this year.

BTW, I think they currently have something like 150,000-200,000 images in the full set of catalogues. I could produce "usable" images with a 25 KB file size, but that's still almost 5 GB (uncompressed.) If you cut back the number & just used "identifier" quality images, you're down to maybe 1 GB, but still...

But even if they did everything in 1) and 2) above, I have a feeling they'd still be way out in left field on pricing. Unless & until they're willing to sell those e-catalogs in the $15 range (assuming they're really like eBooks w/ all the expected functionality/features), the digital sales will never be sufficient to justify any significant technological work (IMO.)

The PDF format used under the hood on the iPad version worked well simply because the vast majority of the data was stored in vector rather than raster form, and thus could be rendered in high quality at any zoom level, at very low file sizes. The entire set of catalogs is less than a GB and retains high quality.

The same is NOT true of the ebook version. Everything is pre-rasterized, highly compressed, and looks like complete CRAP when zoomed in. Even with these compromises in quality, the volumes will take up considerably more space than the iPad version did.

By not continuing to use PDF in some way, they are compromising quality, delivery, and storage. They are SOOOOO hung up on securing the data that they are missing the forest for the trees.

Agreed that PDF has benefits but the PDF landscape is also not as simple as it once was. The original concept of a PDF (Portable Document Format) was a file format which could be used independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. Early on (most when Adobe retained full control) the PDF format was standardized and fulfilled the specification well. This made them very popular especially with IT/IS people since supporting them was so simple on a PC, Mac or Linux box.

But just like browsers, it started to morph into things far beyond the original basic specifications as more and more features were added. There are currently no fewer than 6 subsets of PDF file format today and hundreds of devices which claim to display PDFs. Different browsers (and browser versions) now embedded their own PDF rendering engines and most do not fully support all the features of the newer subset PDF formats. The result? Companies now need large support staff to handle the number of 'help calls' when the PDF works on one device but not the other. This is especially true when users have the ability to download and install multiple PDF readers on a single device. Frankly they have become a nightmare to support and I understand why a company would struggle with investing in a PDF direction.
Don

If not PDF, then what is a better option for high resolution and small file size?

PDF is still a viable standard, regardless of individual software/app issues.

pdfs contain raster images which are then compressed using jpeg compression in the "distilling" process. Just because it is a pdf does not mean it is a vector image. Any scans are raster images, unless they are traced. Highly detailed traced vector images like engraved stamps, if they are to resemble the actual stamps in magnification, would be so complex the app would probably grind to a standstill. To say nothing of the size of the resulting vector images.

The problem here is not the PDF, but the paranoia about piracy.

You are correct, however, on any given Scott catalog page, only 5-25% of the image area is comprised of actual stamp images. It is a very low-density publication with respect to graphical images.

That portion of the data will likely always be rasterized data in some form, as it was in the PDF versions. The problem is the other 75-95%, which in the iPad PDF versions was vector text (which takes up very little storage space as ASCII data compresses very well) or whitespace (which takes up no storage space whatsoever). In the ebook versions, it is ALL rasterized, meaning that empty whitespace is still taking up storage space as pixel data.

That doesn't even address the qualitative differences at high zoom levels or more importantly, on high resolution "retina" displays, which are becoming more and more the norm. Low-resolution images look increasingly like poo on 1920x1080, 2560x1440, and 3200x1800 screens. With PDF or other vector-based formats, the text will be rendered at the native resolution of the display, not interpolated/scaled.

If anything, the vector vs. raster issue is far more critical an issue today than at any point in the past. Windows 8 has a host of issues with application scaling compared to the MacOS, as (a) Windows does not handle scaling elegantly, and (2) application developers have not yet fully embraced high-rez displays, so you end up with application menus and interfaces that look blurry or come up at tiny sizes. It's a big problem.

I am currently writing a book about the forgeries of the Italian States. It will be app. 350 pages, with many big images. It will be an e-book only publication.

I went through a lot of possibilities before settling on a generic PDF file with 1024x768 resolution.

Originally I wanted to use Apple's iBook author, because it enables you to create interactivity with-in the book. Problem: That leaves out anyone not using an iPad. Then I went on the PDF trail. Many possibilities for nice interactivity as well, but your PDF files have to include Flash. Problem: Huge filesize and no-go for anyone using iPads. Sigh.

If you want to support the latest and greatest in HD/retina - no problem. But then you'll end up with at least 4 times bigger files. I want to keep my book below 100MB, so that leaves anything 'HD' out.

No matter what you choose, you will end up disappointing some people.

With all this talk about raster vs vector, image size and resolution, the reality is, who would want a COMPLETE set of catalogs on their smart phone, with all the images, to bring to a stamp meeting or show?

All I would need is the text with descriptions and numbers, as I generally know what the stamps I am looking for look like. The PC version would of course include the images.

Besides, HUGE amount of the space taken up these days is for absolutely USELESS stamps from Grenada, St. Vincent, Tuvalu and other IGPC countries. I wounder what percentage THESE take up in a digital version of Scotts.

For myself, a digital version of the Classic catalog would be just fine.

Hi ClassicalStamps,

Can you not do both? Offer a Mac and a Windows version? I see quite a few third party software packages offering both. Or am I on the wrong foot completely?

Terry

BeeSee, many of the full-time dealers (and a reasonable number of part-time dealers) would keep a full set of catalogs on their phone/tablet (assuming they were reasonably priced with good search/navigation capabilities.)

Terence, if you go with a "classic" PDF, it can be viewed on everything from Windows, Mac, Linux, Tablets etc.

The only "feature" available to you is hyperlinks. I.e. the ability to create links within the book to ease navigation for the reader.

If you want to have most of the features requested by people in this thread, you would need to create a "stand-alone" application. No e-book format available offer these functionalities. Releasing an application on multiple platforms is expensive. And then there are the mobile platforms (IOS and Android).

A solution is a HTML5 application, where you only create one application - which can be run on most modern platforms - including mobile. Then you only need one code base.

I chose not to use HTML5 due to the steep learning curve.

Decent pictures (and not even remotely close to HD) require so much space for a single Scott catalog that I seriously doubt Amos will ever release such a product. Then again, they are so afraid of piracy that I doubt they will ever release a product with decent pictures.

BeeSee, what YOU see as "useless", other collectors and dealers may deem "useful". If you are expecting to find catalog offerings geared specifically around what you personally collect, you're in for a long wait.

Now, that brings up another solution that Scott is offering, but only to a limited extent: ala carte offerings. They offer some of the major and countries (France, China, "British Commonwealth", etc.), but at arbitrary and extremely expensive price points. They need to make ALL countries available individually. Now, I realize that they are afraid (seems to be a theme) of losing out on revenue as currently someone who wants a single country is forced to either buy an entire volume, or buy individual countries from one of the eBay/Bidstart sellers who buy catalogs and split them up by country... these sellers are essentially reaping the benefits for what Amos should be doing THEMSELVES!

So, let's say Amos's per-volume pricing works out to N cents per page. Offer individual countries at a rate of 5 x N or 10 x N. Customers who want the cheaper per-country rate will buy complete volumes, and those who just want one or two countries will buy those countries as opposed to not buying from Amos at all. In my opinion it would be a win-win for Amos, and they might find themselves getting MORE customers because of it.

Right now, the secondary market resellers are reaping all the benefits of the ala carte demand.

As an aside, I found out yesterday that Amos is taking yet another a step backwards in the e-book version of the U.S. Specialized Catalog compared to the iPad version. With the iPad version, you could purchase just the first half or second half if you so desired, which was great for me as a back-of-book collector. Not so with the e-book. It's all or nothing.

Also, their publishing of the e-book version is lagging behind the printed version. So I'm now faced with the choice between getting the book on time, but for $30 more than the e-book ($10 cost difference + $10 S&H + $10 tax) and having to cut out the pages I want and scan them into the computer like I had to do before the iPad version, or saving $30, not having the physical book to use, and not being sure if it will be available when I need it in October.

Ugh.