One of the big complaints about the Kindle is that it can’t handle Adobe Reader files (PDFs).

Well, it turns out that’s not the case. The Kindle can’t store native PDFs, it’s true, but you can use the Kindle’s conversion service to transform your PDFs into the Kindle’s AZW format, and get them onto your device that way.

It sounds clumsy - and it is, a little - but even using this roundabout method you’ll find that Kindle’s PDF support is appreciably better than the Sony Reader’s.

You’ll find no mention of the PDF support in the Kindle marketing hype. That’s because it’s part of Kindle Experimental, a collection of services still being worked on. Other Kindle Experimental services are MP3 support, the Web browser and NowNow. The latter is a research service: submit a question and real people (working for, presumably, pennies an answer) respond, usually within 10 minutes or so. NowNow is the most well developed of the experimental services and it works very smoothly. MP3 and Web browser support, on the other hand, are exceedingly basic. More on both of those later. Today, I’ll stick with that other, unmentioned, experimental service: PDF support.

Kindle document conversion 

Kindle’s PDF support is tied into its document conversion service.

Natively, the Kindle supports only three document formats: plain text, unprotected Mobipocket (.MOBI and .PRC) files, and Amazon’s proprietary AZW. It can also handle MP3 and Audible (.AA) music/audio formats. You can copy files in any of these formats (except .AA) directly to the Kindle from your computer, via a USB connection, or download AZW files wirelessly. To transfer Audible .AA files to the Kindle, you’ll need to use Audible’s AudibleManager software.

That’s not a big range of formats. The Kindle document conversion service expands the range to include Microsoft Word and HTML, plus JPG, GIF, PNG and BMP graphics files. You can’t simply drag and drop these files into your Kindle; instead, you email documents to your Kindle’s email address (each Kindle has two addresses in the form of username@kindle.com and username@free.kindle.com) and the conversion service transforms them into Kindle-digestible format. You can have the converted documents sent directly to your Kindle for 10 cents a pop (by using username@kindle.com), or have them delivered back to your computer for free (using username@free.kindle.com) and then copy them into the Kindle.

It’s not the most elegant of solutions, nor is it instantaneous, but it’s a move in the right direction.

A simple PDF on a KindleSo what about PDFs? There’s no mention of PDF support in Kindle’s docs, but lurking in the online support is a mention of experimental support for PDF document conversion.

I gave it a whirl using both the wireless and free conversion options, and it works decently. The conversion process doesn’t support links and navigation with your PDF document, but it converts text with aplomb and graphics to some degree (let’s face it, neither the Kindle nor the Sony Reader are graphics adept). Formatted lists don’t do too well and tables suffer, but bulk text comes through beautifully. I emailed a 250-page, 2.3 megabyte book in PDF format and got the converted book delivered to my inbox in about five  minutes. Not long after it appeared wirelessly on my Kindle.

For text-heavy PDFs, this is a pretty neat solution.

PDFs on the Sony Reader

The Sony Reader offers drag-and-drop PDF support. You simply drag the PDF directly into the Reader using the (loathesome) eBook Library software.

The same PDF on the Sony ReaderThat’s a less roundabout process than with the Kindle. The results, though, are hit and miss. While some documents look great, others are almost unreadable.

The Sony Reader is, understandably, picky about how PDFs are formatted. After all, you can’t expect a document designed for Letter-size or A4 paper to convert perfectly to the small-screen format on an ebook reader. Unfortunately, even after following Sony’s detailed formatting instructions for creating readable PDFs, even plain-text documents often end up with itsy bitsy, almost unreadable text. And it’s a pain to have to do all the pre-formatting anyway. And, too, what about all those pre-existing PDFs you no doubt have - who wants to try to get them into usable format?

The Reader does a better job with text-heavy Microsoft Word documents, although there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

Take a look at the two images in this post (click either image to see a full-size screenshot - any blurriness is a limitation of my lighting setup and not of the ebook readers). You’ll see that the PDF text on the Sony is very small. This is the result you can expect when you copy a standard PDF across, without going through the rigmarole of reformatting to suit the Reader’s standards. Note that this is the text displayed at its largest size on the Reader. The shot above shows the same PDF given the Kindle document conversion treatment. While the Kindle doesn’t keep the list format as clean as the Reader, its text is far more readable. The photo shows the text set to size 4 (the Kindle’s third largest font).

On the way

As you can see, full PDF support is a long way off for either reader. The graphics limitations, for a start, mean that tables, lists and images don’t translate well.

Having said that, it looks like the Kindle is on the right track with its experimental PDF support, and I’ll be surprised if it doesn’t blossom into something a lot more refined in the future. Sony, too, needs to boost its PDF handling, but given the company’s apparent inability to write decent software to accompany the Reader (eBook Library is, to be kind and generous, a piece of junk), I have less faith in its ability to deliver a good PDF conversion utility. Maybe the competition with Amazon will be the stimulus it needs.