Actually, I have no idea what point you're trying to make.

The "facts" that you seem to care so deeply about are outlined, as I have experienced them, in my post. Allow me to clarify:

1. I'm responding to the idea that hardcover automatically means "durable".
2. I have copies of softcover books that have fallen apart at the binding, but I also have softcover books that have not (and indeed show no sign that they ever will).
3. Not all runs of softcover books are made to the same standards of quality and craftsmanship.
4. Not all printers do an equal job of binding books, regardless of what generic binding method is being used.

My point: you can make softcover books that do not fall apart, therefore the generalization that hardcover is better because it's somehow inherently more durable is wrong.

So I suppose you're right in some respects. I don't have all of the "facts", if what you mean by facts is the answer to "Do you know exactly what company/printer made the SR books that fell apart, and the company/printer that made the ones that didn't?" I don't know that. I don't need to in order to make my point. (see above)

I have tons of softcover books that haven't fallen apart, but some that have. I've got one or two hardcover books that have fallen apart. The only gaming books I've ever had fall apart without tons of use are the SR3 early printing main books. When one of the guys in our group got his latest main book he juggled it, slid it, rolled it, and generally slapped it around like it was holding out money on him and it never gave a sign of falling apart.

Soft cover books can definitely be made to be durable, so citing durability as a reason to switch to hardcover doesn't make much sense.

I disagree. My crappiest bound hardback (PHB D&D 2nd ed) has lasted longer than any softcover I've had. That may just be my experience, but it's been proven many times over. Secondly, hardcoevers are more "child resistant". Less prone to a child taking a few pages with him, or biting off a good chunk of the cover. I have had both happen.

Look at it this way, the people hardcore about SR and willing to spend whatever it takes will be happy to buy hardback copies. Hardback feels much nicer in the hands.

A lot of others might have bought the softcover, but they don't see it that way. People who just want a physical book are one example. This pushes you to either go cheap with the PDF or pay the extra if you must have a real book. Not sure whether selling PDFs makes them more profit than softback, but it means you can only get hardback if you like buying from physical shops, or can only get the PDF from select places online.

Making your own binding of a SR book is an interesting way to go, but most people won't go to the effort. The reasons to do it are probably to either be able to put in new pages when errata come out and new versions of the PDF are released (nice idea, really nice...) or to give the whole hardback only method the finger. Most people'll just buy hardback and carry printouts of the errata with them, especially most casual players unless they're especially stubborn (not necessarily a bad thing).

Having worked in the printing industry for more years than I care to consider (back at uni now studying architecture to get out of this place!) I can tell you that book quality goes in the following order of 'sturdiness' from strong to week.

Stitched Hardcover - pages are folded into 40-60 page folios which are then stitiched together and to a spine strip
Saddle Stitch - effectively individual folios as per above - generally done with a staple if just one folio and the importance is on size of staple and quality of cover material.
Velo-Bind - pages are punched along the spine like a spiral bound copy and then has a toothed plastic strip inserted through the holes and through top strip with same holes with the excess teeth protruding out the top being welded to the top strip.
True Spiral Bind - true spiral bind is where a metal coil (spring) is wound through holes in the spine.
Hardcover Perfect Bind - effectively a perfect bind book that has an outer hard cover glued on and is better than basic perfectbind because the spine can't be curved as easily and therefore doesn't crack the glue.
Perfect bind - thermal glue binding
Wiro Bind (Common Spiral Bind) - similar to spiral except binding is more like C shaped rings connected along one edge of the C with a strip, is not as good as true spiral binding as pages can slip out of the binding fairly easily and is more of a temporary binding.

This all depends on quality of finish too as a poorly maintained stitching machine will leave the folios loose and that will allow them to move and ruin the book. Poor glue and the perfect-bound copy will fall apart very very quickly. Perfect bound books are the most varied in quality as it is very rare for the glue to be adjusted for the paper being used (eg glossy paper generally doesn't glue as well hence the colour pages being the first to slip out.) Also the brand of binder being used for Perfect binding will affect the final quality too as some trim the spine roughly before applying the glue and so get better adhesion whereas others slice the spine before applying the glue and so get a better looking finished product. Finally with Perfect binding environmental conditions need to be taken into account! Too hot a day and the glue takes too long to set and allignment can be upset which means a possibly screwy spine, too cold and glue sets too quickly and so doesn't penetrate into colour/glossy pages well enough).

Personally I went to a hardcover after being burnt by my 3rd ed version falling apart but then again it didn't start doing that until after it had gotten past the "precious new treasure" stage and started to get abused at gaming (it was always the books fault - honest officer!)

Evil

Just to add to the anecdotal evidence:

I've had 4 copies (hardcover) of the AD&D 1st edition Unearthed Arcana. Every copy of that that I've owned and/or seen loses pages like it's a stack of sheets rather than a bound book. (Especially around the infamous use 10 dice to roll your stat charts somewhere in the middle.)

The first print run of GURPS 4th edition (hardcover) had major problems with losing pages. Mine was sold to a second hand shop after opening it 2 or 3 times, and seeing pages start to loosen.

Somebody else mentioned Palladium as being of higher quality. I've got several Robotech books from them (I know Sentinels specifically) which are losing pages. It's worth noting -- these are games I've ever actually played, they pretty much just live on the shelf and deteriorate.

I've had a bit of mixed results with SR books. Some are falling apart, some are amazingly sturdy. NAGNA is the first one that comes to mind as one that's fragmenting. Conversely, my rather abused copy of MitS seems to be holding up well.

Regarding SR4 -- if you flip through the folios, and look closely, you should be able to see the thread and tell that they are in fact, stitched bindings. They should be able to go through hell. I very much hope that this printing method is continued through the remaining hardcovers in the line.

I'm more than willing to pay the extra for an improved binding method, if it means never having to watch the loose pages in a book dog-ear their way into nonexistence.

My SR2 and SR3 hardcovers look like new (except the beer spot in the SR3 book). And my SR3 book is my most used RPG book.

If I think about it, my only RPG book that lost pages was hardcover to, but a really crappy made one.

But then, I am carefull of books too, like others here, and can read a paperbook without leaving signs ... You guys are not crazy !!!!!

Basically what I've seen is lots of people saying that soft cover books can be plenty durable. So is "make more money" really the reason for printing hardcover supplements?

I like the lay flat on page 208 for several days and close smooth ability of my SR4. Don't know if that's a hardcover advantage, but it pretty much rules (previous had to ring bind SR3 and SoNA).

Hackign is complex and often confusing, but did you really have to study those two pages for several days?

Stepping away from the fascinating history of how pages fall out, I'm hoping that the $35 pricetag indicates that Arsenal is full of a lot of really, really cool information.

I think the fact that it's hardback reflects the fact that physical books are becoming luxury items in the hobby. Cheap = PDF.

So What I would liek to know, whats is the point of buying the PDF? To help put your local hobby store out of Biz?

So I can have a copy of the books when I'm travelling on biz and don't have the space to actually pack a book?

That's PDF time.

Searchable, backuping, editable. I'm this <--> close to buying a PDF in addition to my hardcover.