The First 25 Years, Blade Magazine, 1973-1997 DVD
The layout and organization tools are excellent, especially the Table of Contents and the Bookmarks.
Responsiveness of the file is rather slow, probably even more of an issue for lower-performance computers. This is perhaps due to the entire 25 years' worth of magazines being wrapped up into a single 1.36 GB pdf file, rather than being split up somehow. To solve this problem, copy the pdf file to hard drive.
The low satisfaction is almost entirely due to the poor resolution of the pdf files. I'm using a 24" widescreen monitor. When the pages are enlarged to 177% to fill the screen, pages become practically unreadable. Even viewing at 100% the larger print and pictures are fine, but the normal text print is difficult and uncomfortable to read.
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Blade Magazine, 1997-2007 DVD
This is a huge improvement over the 1973-1997 25 Years DVD. The pictures and text are sharp and readable even at 215% enlargement (full screen on my 24" wide screen monitor), and almost as good as print at 100%. Even the very small print publisher's notice (inside front cover) is easily readable.
The DVD is laid out with each magazine a separate pdf file, and the issues sorted into folders by year.
The smaller files make for a very fast response time when browsing and opening magazine issues.
Unfortunately, unlike the 25 Years collection, there is no Table of Contents, Bookmarks, or other organization tool.
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American Premium Guide to Knives and Razors, by Jim Sargent
First impression, the title is misleading. "American Premium Guide to Knives and Razors" gives the impression this is a broad-ranging guidebook, instead the information is almost entirely limited to Case knives.
The book is 503 pages total. The first few pages of the book are basic definitions, parts of a knife, etc. Very easy to understand and clearly labeled information. Pages 24-420 are all about Case knives. Pages 421-503 are Queen knives. And that's it. No Buck, no Schrade, no Camillus, nothing else.
My second impression is, Wow the print is incredible! The text quality is amazing at any resolution. The photos look sharp at 212% (Fit to Width), but start to pixelate well before 400%.
Disk response is very fast. Entire book is a single file of only 53 MB.
The Bookmarks toolbar seems to be closed by default, but once open allows for simple and fast navigation of book chapters.
The layout and organization tools are excellent, especially the Table of Contents and the Bookmarks.
Responsiveness of the file is rather slow, probably even more of an issue for lower-performance computers. This is perhaps due to the entire 25 years' worth of magazines being wrapped up into a single 1.36 GB pdf file, rather than being split up somehow. To solve this problem, copy the pdf file to hard drive.
The low satisfaction is almost entirely due to the poor resolution of the pdf files. I'm using a 24" widescreen monitor. When the pages are enlarged to 177% to fill the screen, pages become practically unreadable. Even viewing at 100% the larger print and pictures are fine, but the normal text print is difficult and uncomfortable to read.
-------------------------
Blade Magazine, 1997-2007 DVD
This is a huge improvement over the 1973-1997 25 Years DVD. The pictures and text are sharp and readable even at 215% enlargement (full screen on my 24" wide screen monitor), and almost as good as print at 100%. Even the very small print publisher's notice (inside front cover) is easily readable.
The DVD is laid out with each magazine a separate pdf file, and the issues sorted into folders by year.
The smaller files make for a very fast response time when browsing and opening magazine issues.
Unfortunately, unlike the 25 Years collection, there is no Table of Contents, Bookmarks, or other organization tool.
---------------------------
American Premium Guide to Knives and Razors, by Jim Sargent
First impression, the title is misleading. "American Premium Guide to Knives and Razors" gives the impression this is a broad-ranging guidebook, instead the information is almost entirely limited to Case knives.
The book is 503 pages total. The first few pages of the book are basic definitions, parts of a knife, etc. Very easy to understand and clearly labeled information. Pages 24-420 are all about Case knives. Pages 421-503 are Queen knives. And that's it. No Buck, no Schrade, no Camillus, nothing else.
My second impression is, Wow the print is incredible! The text quality is amazing at any resolution. The photos look sharp at 212% (Fit to Width), but start to pixelate well before 400%.
Disk response is very fast. Entire book is a single file of only 53 MB.
The Bookmarks toolbar seems to be closed by default, but once open allows for simple and fast navigation of book chapters.
