Starting with the 2020 NEC the NFPA will no longer be offering a PDF version. If you want an electronic version you will need to by an annual license for $200 and have an internet connection wherever you need to access the NEC. If you are an NFPA member and like the PDF version feel free to contact them and complain.
No more PDF verison of the NEC for sale from NFPA
- Thread starter pv_n00b
- Start date
- Status
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
Yeah we discussed this a few weeks ago. If you wait I'm sure that you'll be able to buy a bootleg .PDF copy on the internet when they come out. This is utterly ridiculous, quite often I don't have internet access but need to read the code. I've legally purchased .PDF's in the past and would do so again if it were available (which they are not), and they wonder why people pirate their stuff. :rant:
Anyone have a link to a place where we can complain?
Anyone have a link to a place where we can complain?
al hildenbrand
Senior Member
- Location
- Minnesota
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor, Electrical Consultant, Electrical Engineer
I purchased the electronic version of the NFPA NEC Handbook for five cycles of the Code which all included a PDF somewhere on the disc. The problem with the NFPA is they absolutely don't support the use of their Handbook software across operating system upgrades and versions. In all too short a time, the Handbook content was bricked. And then they began digital copyright management crippling of access. All in all, highly unsatisfactory.
In buying a paper Handbook, (or NEC) I have reading and searching rights till the paper disintegrates. My cognitive dissonance on this is extreme !
In buying a paper Handbook, (or NEC) I have reading and searching rights till the paper disintegrates. My cognitive dissonance on this is extreme !
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
I'm sure that someone will buy the loose leaf version, run it through a scanner, and create a .pdf. :angel:
Yeah, I have one or two years on a computer like that.
The only bad thing about scanning to a .pdf is it isn’t searchable.
thats what I love about the NEC .pdf
It is with the right scanning software that has OCR built into it.
LarryFine
Master Electrician Electric Contractor Richmond VA
- Location
- Henrico County, VA
- Occupation
- Electrical Contractor
hmy:
At least the annual subscription is only $65.
https://catalog.nfpa.org/NEC-2020-Digital-Access-1-Year-P20728.aspx?icid=D533
I think it's nice that they give "free access" which is kind of clunky for reading large sections but very useful when I am at home and need to look something up quickly if I know where it is. What gets me is that once you actually pay for their product, their licenses are so restricted, e.g. no printing from the secure PDF, etc., when at the same time anyone can look at it free online.
https://catalog.nfpa.org/NEC-2020-Digital-Access-1-Year-P20728.aspx?icid=D533
I think it's nice that they give "free access" which is kind of clunky for reading large sections but very useful when I am at home and need to look something up quickly if I know where it is. What gets me is that once you actually pay for their product, their licenses are so restricted, e.g. no printing from the secure PDF, etc., when at the same time anyone can look at it free online.
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
Yeah, but I have never seen a copied file that can search.
Fulthrotl
~Autocorrect is My Worst Enema.~
- Occupation
- E
well, from my point of view, the NFPA has a marketing arm that is about
as fugly as adobe.
speaking of which, my copy of acrobat pro, which retailed for $800,
and i got on sale 5 years ago for $400, quit working with the latest
OSX version, catalina.
it couldn't hang with 64 bit. i was more than a bit miffed, as i absolutely
find acrobat pro indispensable in my work. so, with much profanity, i signed
up for $15 a month, forever, to use software i already paid for.
however, upon looking at the new version...... my printer has a dual side
scanner that adobe will control, and scan, and create a searchable .pdf
of anything i feed into it. the new version is pretty powerful, and will do
stuff my old version would not do.
and i use a legally purchased .pdf of the current code, as it's searchable
on a pad.
and if someone had to buy a loose bound copy of the code to make their own .pdf,
so they can search it on their pad, well, the technology is certainly there.
acrobat pro also has the ability to strip out metadata from a .pdf, so you
cannot see who, or what authored the .pdf...... for those unaware, embedded
metadata in a .pdf header can show the creator of the document.
not that i would ever consider doing anything illegal, or encouraging anyone
else to do anything illegal, but i strongly suspect that .pdf copies of the NEC
will propagate in the wild, should NFPA decide not to provide them for sale.
actually, strongly suspect is a little weak. i'd call it a certainty. and something
that can be sent in 40 seconds attached to an email, to 200 people, should
convince the NFPA that selling a reasonably priced copy of the .pdf means
that honest people will have a chance to remain honest.
so, the appeal would go like this:
"Please, dear NFPA, don't deprive us of one of the few remaining opportunities
in America to be honest, and pay for something of value we receive. For if
you deprive us of the opportunity to be honest, the opportunity will not be offered
again to you."
as fugly as adobe.
speaking of which, my copy of acrobat pro, which retailed for $800,
and i got on sale 5 years ago for $400, quit working with the latest
OSX version, catalina.
it couldn't hang with 64 bit. i was more than a bit miffed, as i absolutely
find acrobat pro indispensable in my work. so, with much profanity, i signed
up for $15 a month, forever, to use software i already paid for.
however, upon looking at the new version...... my printer has a dual side
scanner that adobe will control, and scan, and create a searchable .pdf
of anything i feed into it. the new version is pretty powerful, and will do
stuff my old version would not do.
and i use a legally purchased .pdf of the current code, as it's searchable
on a pad.
and if someone had to buy a loose bound copy of the code to make their own .pdf,
so they can search it on their pad, well, the technology is certainly there.
acrobat pro also has the ability to strip out metadata from a .pdf, so you
cannot see who, or what authored the .pdf...... for those unaware, embedded
metadata in a .pdf header can show the creator of the document.
not that i would ever consider doing anything illegal, or encouraging anyone
else to do anything illegal, but i strongly suspect that .pdf copies of the NEC
will propagate in the wild, should NFPA decide not to provide them for sale.
actually, strongly suspect is a little weak. i'd call it a certainty. and something
that can be sent in 40 seconds attached to an email, to 200 people, should
convince the NFPA that selling a reasonably priced copy of the .pdf means
that honest people will have a chance to remain honest.
so, the appeal would go like this:
"Please, dear NFPA, don't deprive us of one of the few remaining opportunities
in America to be honest, and pay for something of value we receive. For if
you deprive us of the opportunity to be honest, the opportunity will not be offered
again to you."
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If the NFPA thinks not selling the PDF version is going to drive people to the online version I think they have a surprise coming. For one thing, I've been an NFPA member for a long time and I am reconsidering if I want to renew this year. Outside of a lot of junk mail they send they don't do much for me, without the PDF version they do even less.
- Location
- Chapel Hill, NC
- Occupation
- Retired Electrical Contractor
I quit after one year because of all the junk mail. I couldn't believe how much junk I got.
- Location
- Bremerton, Washington
- Occupation
- Master Electrician
The mail my wife gets from the NFPA equals the weight of the NEC. She joined 5 years ago to buy a bunch of code books for a class.
list prive of nec is now $105.
list prive of nec is now $105.
kwired
Electron manager
- Location
- NE Nebraska
I'm not even a member and get a lot of junk mail from NFPA.
ptonsparky
Tom
- Occupation
- EC - retired
I have a mail sorter so I don’t see much of it anymore. Another reason she still has a job.
- Location
- Illinois
- Occupation
- retired electrician
The NFPA said that only about 1% of their NEC sales were the PDF version, so they don't think that they are upsetting very many people. I think this move will increase piracy as there are already PDF versions available online. Those who want the PDF, now that the NFPA does not offer one, may be more likely to by the pirate version online.
- Location
- New Jersey
- Occupation
- Journeyman Electrician
That was my point too at the beginning of this thread, their subscription nonsense will just force someone to pirate it and then sell it a make some money that the NFPA could be making. And how costly is it to offer a downloadable PDF version? :slaphead:
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