birding-aus

Pizzey & Knight

To: "" <>
Subject: Pizzey & Knight
From: Russell Woodford <>
Date: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 14:37:50 +1000
Hi Joseph

You can't do that for two reasons: 1. It would violate you license agreement 
(that's the long winded info that usually comes on the screen every time you 
install a new software program - nobody reads them, but they tell you about 
restrictions on how you can use the program, and what you cannot do, such as 
make extra copies, or run the program on two computers at once etc); 2. iBooks 
can only open certain file types like ePub and PDF. If you scan the pages of a 
book it might be possible to save that as a PDF and import it to iBooks, then 
read it. However, the Pizzey guide is a lot more than the scanned pages of the 
field guide. It includes lots of drawings and photos, text, sound clips, and 
could even have movies if the authors wanted: all of this is packaged up in a 
program that is written in one of the programming languages and may take 
hundreds or thousands of pages of code that allows the user to interact with 
all those images, etc. When the programmer has finished putting it all together 
(images, sounds, code) they then have to COMPILE it for whatever operating 
system they intend it for: another computer program takes all their code and 
content and converts it into a form the intended computer can read, but that a 
human can't read. More, it is almost impossible to reverse the process and end 
up with something you or I could read. Each operating system (Android, iOS, 
Windows, MacOS, Unix, etc) can't usually read a program compiled for another 
system. 

Despite how confusing I've made this sound, it really is a simplification, and 
in practice things are even more complicated. It would be nice to be able to 
write a computer program then compile it for Android, then for iOS, then for 
Windows phone ... But the differences between these systems almost always mean 
a programmer has to design for each system from the start. I don't know for 
sure, but I'm guessing that Gibbon Media used three different groups of 
programmers: one for the PC version, one for iOS, and then a third for Android. 
Most programmers tend to specialise in one development environment. 

It's almost time to move this conversation over to birding-aus-programming ... 
:-)

Russell (who has just run out of lunch break!!)


Sent from my iPhone

> On 28 Apr 2014, at 12:28 am, Joseph Morlan <> wrote:
> 
> Is there anything preventing synching your PC with your hand-held and
> uploading the PC version into something like iTunes and then into your
> iPhone?  Then open it with iBooks on the iPhone?  
> 
> On Sat, 26 Apr 2014 17:44:54 +1000, "cgregory123 ." <>
> wrote:
> 
>> David
>> 
>> I too have the PC (beta) version which is on my laptop - beta, by the way,
>> refers to a pre launch test version . It is certainly useful for research
>> and compiling lists but not as a "Field Guide" as such. Not unless I want
>> to lug my laptop around with me, which I don't. Whereas my wife's Apple
>> (beta) app. has all the functionality of the PC  version but also is a
>> superb "Field Guide". The beauty of the Apple app on my wife's iPad as
>> "Field Guide" was brought home last year when we were looking for the
>> Eungella Honeyeater. Before walking the forest trails we sat in the car
>> with the iPad, which weighs no more than the Pizzey book. We checked the
>> same excellent drawings and descriptions you can find in the book but also
>> at the tap of a finger looked at great photos and heard recordings of its
>> call. In a couple of minutes walking the trail in the forest we identified
>> and tracked the bird by its call. We could have easily carried the iPad
>> with us and sometimes do. We now find it convenient having everything on
>> one platform but it's horses for courses. Some people like having different
>> references (ipods, books etc) to hand in the field.
>> To answer your last your last question. The PC version and the apps (Google
>> and Android) are not interchangeable. You pays your money and you takes
>> your choice.
>> Cheers
>> Chris Gregory
>> 
>> 
>>> On 26 April 2014 16:01, David Richardson <> wrote:
>>> 
>>> I don't understand what the differeces are in the computer version being
>>> discussed. I thought the electronic version would work on iphones and those
>>> pads etc that people have now. Is the  "PC 'disc different to that?  I
>>> don't yet have an iphone of any kind. No mobile at all.
>>> 
>>> I have BOCA calls on ipod. And I carry Simpson and Day in my bag.
>>> 
>>> David Richardson.
>>> 
>>> 
>>>> On Sat, Apr 26, 2014 at 3:48 PM, Dave Torr <> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Yes, would not be very good on a PC - mine is on a tablet which is
>>> smaller
>>>> and lighter than the book!
>>>> 
>>>> 
>>>> On 26 April 2014 12:31, David Richardson <
>>>> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>>> Hello,
>>>>> I was surprised to have won a competition to win the Pizzey & Knight
>>>>> Digital Edition.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I have just received it and managed to load the CD onto my computer.
>>>>> 
>>>>> I'm really not sure what use it is better than having the book.I'm
>>>>> grateful to have won the competition but looking at the field guide on
>>> my
>>>>> computer, I think I may as well stick to using the book. people say the
>>>>> book is heavy but its not as heavy as the computer.
>>>>> 
>>>>> David Richardson
>>>>> 
>>>>> 
>>>>>> On Fri, Apr 25, 2014 at 8:32 PM, Dave Torr <> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> One of the things I noticed in an early download when testing was that
>>>>>> the
>>>>>> app seems to be limited to two devices, which is unusual for an Android
>>>>>> app
>>>>>> - all the others I own can be downloaded to all Android devices that
>>> use
>>>>>> the same Google account. I am not sure if that applies to the released
>>>>>> version or whether it was just in the test versions - has anyone who
>>> has
>>>>>> downloaded the release version noticed this limit?
>>>>>> Not of course that many of us will have more than 2 Androids I
>>> guess.....
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> 
>>>>>> On 25 April 2014 16:44, Arthur & Denise Carew <>
>>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> 
>>>>>>>    I have downloaded  to both a HTC EVO phone and Galaxy S2 7”
>>> tablet
>>>>>>> with no problems on either. Remember that once you download it, it
>>> has
>>>>>> to
>>>>>>> unpack and load to your system.
>>>>>>> 
>>>>>>> Arthur Carew
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> -- 
> Joseph Morlan, Pacifica, CA
> "It turns out we're very good at not seeing things" - Jack Hitt
> 
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