Magazine subscriptions

Just wondering (gotta be careful with that one)

If magazine subscriptions (any magazine, not just fly tying/fishing ones) were made available online using a simple PDF format and a password to retrieve the issue, would you opt for that convenience vs receiving a paper magazine in the mail??? (Everybody has Adobe Reader installed on their PC's these days). Production of the magazine should be on a computers and creating the PDF document would be very simple.

I like the idea that i could archive the issues on my computers hard drive vs searching all over the place for that issue! No more dust collecting magazines on a bookshelf.

No more scanning of pages to save a particular article!

You could store a few issues on a thumb drive and read it on your laptop computer while traveling!

Saves a few trees from being cut down to make the paper the magazine will be printed on! Going green isn't a bad thing!

The bad is that you cant take it to the throne room and read it there! [Frown]

Just a thought! Whats yours??

The problem with that is a copyright.

With PDF all anyone needs to do is click "Print" and with abundance of printers magazines are "afraid to go that way".

Copying the "hard" pages requires high quality copier which are difficult to find.


Although I'm sure that sooner or later technology will catch up.

Mabe soething like Amazon's Kindle will do the trick... Who knows?

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...pf_rd_i=507846

For something like that the price would hace to be a lot lower...

I am not sure I would like it. I take the magazines home to read many times.

I also think the publishers would worry that one person would get a subscription and the copy and email it to several other folks.

Rick

Would you want to see the whole 2004 July issue, or be able to 'search' through everything (on line) that they EVER published on 'mending' or any other subject. Here we archive by subject.

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Originally Posted by Normand

The bad is that you cant take it to the throne room and read it there! [Frown]

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Laptop. :lol:

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Originally Posted by Rick Z

I also think the publishers would worry that one person would get a subscription and the copy and email it to several other folks.

Rick

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i'm sure there are technological ways of blocking that. it would have to be imbeded into the the issue that allows you to only print 1 copy, similar to some of the music download places.

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Originally Posted by MikieFinn

The problem with that is a copyright.

With PDF all anyone needs to do is click "Print" and with abundance of printers magazines are "afraid to go that way".

Copying the "hard" pages requires high quality copier which are difficult to find.

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when somebody scans a document or whatever (using an electronic scanner), isnt that a copyright infringement???

see my answer to rick on printing PDF.

another question

how is it any different than buying an audio book online from itunes or wherever???

Not sure the magazine companies would like it because they would lose their advertisers which are the ones supporting the magazine in the first place. Just a thought...

Magazines are making their money in two ways. Sales of their copies and advertising. So far this does not translate very well into the electronic media although many are trying. The file format of the stuff yopu buy from "iTunes" and such binds the copy to your machine. When you copy it to another computer the file is useless. The same protection is hard to find for written or graphics files since you can always use "Print Screen" function to override it. But many companies are trying to figuire this one out. Trust me as soon as there is money to be made here we will have digital magazines and papers everywhere. So far paper generates more revenue.

PS. Switch to digital media will also have wider impact on economy since it would eliminate "normal distribution channels" ie shipping companies, retail etc.

Since digtal solution would be a lot "greener" I hope that shift of this sort will happen soon.

Honestly, I think it would be much nicer. Adobe reader has a "Find"function that could be extremely helpful in retrieving information that you read 3 months ago and want to reference again without reading through the whole file again. Additionally, without the aid of other software (which I don't know about) you cannot copy text from a .pdf. You can highlight things and copy the image of the text, but you couldn't really reproduce that. Also, if someone emailing a copy of an article or even the whole magazine to a buddy or a bunch of buddies and you are concerned with copyright-couldn't a reader just (as Norm mentioned) scan a copy of the paper mag and email it out. Or scan it and save it to his PC and then give the magazine to a buddy to do the same. Potentially, one purchaser could supply 500 people with the entire magazine without any of them paying the original producer or owner of the copyright for their copy.

You can put it in a .pdf and email the .pdf or link to the .pdf with a secured login screen to someone who has paid for the subscription and require those individuals to register the IP address of the network or PC they're on. Then they could only view the mag through that PC (going forward) unless they saved it and transferred it to another device which, as has been established, is no different than copying and lending the magazine to a friend to read.

I've seen some online magazines that are done this way and honestly, is probably the way most "cutting edge" subject magazines will go. The mags that I've seen were rock and ice climbing magazines.

Call me old fashioned (along with the other things I'm called http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ns/howling.gif ), but I still like picking up a magazine, sitting in my chair and reading it from cover to cover. I also read a lot of online articles, but there's something about books and magazines that I don't look forward to losing. To each his own, but this guy still likes his paper.http://bestsmileys.com/reading/4.gif

Joe

I'm with Joe. I like to read my magazines the old fashioned way, sitting in my favorite chair. My computer chair isn't nearly as comfortable. Besides, when I read a magazine, I tend to read one or two articles, go do something else, pick it up and read another article, fall asleep mid-paragraph, finish it the next day, and just flip through it whenever I feel like it. Computer doesn't have the same feel for doing those things.
CJ

I too am with Joe, but I think the handwriting is on the wall. One of the video magazines I subscribe to recently reduced the size of the print version and you go to their website (with the password provided in the print copy) to get the rest of the content. The advertising is on the web site, so they're still making money. I predict more of this or something similar in the future.

Now I'll get on my stump about paper. Saving trees by using digital content is like saving corn by looking at pictures of it. The trees are cropped just like corn or wheat. It just takes 10 years for the crop to reach a mature enough size to harvest. I work in the paper industry and sometimes feel like I need to clear things up a bit. My mill produces paper for cardboard boxes and we use a percentage of recycle content - the recycle costs us more than the virgin fiber to use even when you figure the energy costs in. It takes a lot of power and water to recycle paper. Just FYI.

It's not my intent to hijack this thread, so just take this as my opinion and lets stay on topic.

TxEngr

"I'm with Joe" too. However, on FAOL, we do not offer a 'search' by back issues. We offer a search by the subject.

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Originally Posted by WarrenP

Not sure the magazine companies would like it because they would lose their advertisers which are the ones supporting the magazine in the first place. Just a thought...

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nope every page of the online product would look exactly like the paper copy you get in your mailbox including all advertising.

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Originally Posted by Rick Z

I am not sure I would like it. I take the magazines home to read many times.

I also think the publishers would worry that one person would get a subscription and the copy and email it to several other folks.

Rick

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I can do that today with my home HP scanner/printer/fax machine. I could scan a magazine to a PDF file (and even eliminate the advertisements), I can fax it to you , or I can copy it and hand you a copy.

The cost of color ink cartridges and paper makes copying and handing out to your friends more expensive than subscribing to the magazine. I could copy to a PDF but I can do that today so why would publishers be afraid of that.

I think the truth is there's something comfortable about holding a magazine and thumbing through the pages (especially while on the throne).

JC is right that on-line has the advantage of being able to search by topic, author, or nearly any other attribute and seeing all material that publication ever published.

One of the magazines I subscribe to (acoustic guitar magazine) allows you to enter your subscription number in and get any of the articles from current and past issues on-line. It's kind of a cool merger of virtual and real worlds.

Jeff

i loathe pdf files with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns. our TU chapter uses them for the newsletter, saving untold man-hours and trees in the process. however, it takes a long time to load (only 4 pages) and is a nuisance to scroll up and down the columns to read.
give me paper any time. i promise i'll recycle it!

E-Book Reader- NO Paper; http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/22/te...l?ref=business

Doug

I too like the portability of paper. So while I would accept a pdf magazine format, I prefer paper instead.

I too like to read the mags and file them to reread later. However, I am able to access the newspaper online and I find that I read more articles per day online than in the paper issue. I still get it delivered but I may have just convinced myself to stop it.

There's no question that electronic mags would be "greener."

One theory about rising sea levels is that they are only partially a result of global warming. The primary cause is the weight pressing down on the North American continent by stacks of old issues of National Geographic.

I MUCH prefer the hard copy magazine.

Deezel

I Love my paper..................But! I think the die is cast. Many magazines are offering back issues on CD and Newspapers are offering On-Line subscriptions where you can view the current issue and search back issues. What I would like is to keep getting the paper copy and periodically (no pun intended) receive an electronic copy of recent issues on CD for reference. That way you could browse your mag in the way most prefer but then chuck it or pass it on to a friend and still have the info on the computer to search later.

As computers keep getting faster with more storage and better screens I think the paper version is doomed. And, I don't think the publishers are too worried about the copying issue. True, ad sales and rates are determined by paid subscription numbers but they all tout to their advertisers about how many more eyes see the magazine than actually subscribe. I have seen claims as high as five times for some publications.

I would think advertisers would love electronic copies where they could place direct links to their website or catalog. It all is just another transition to the wonderful world of the web.

trout unlimiteds' magazine "trout" is offered 3 different ways, electronically, pdf and paper. dont know if you can get a paper mag and one of the other options.

I still like print (magazines and books). Here's one reason that I don't believe has been mentioned. Even though print publications are "old fashioned" their resolution is far higher than that of computer screens. The resolution of computer screens is 72 dots per inch. Magazines are printed at 1200 dots per inch or higher. So good photos in a well printed magazine are much better quality than what's possible on a computer screen.

Reading printed text is also much easier on the eyes than reading on screen. People will read SHORT docuuments online. But people are very reluctant to read anything very long on screen.

As least one of the magazines I get, (not fishing related); offers their back copies on CD. While the CD's weren't cheap; I LOVE having less magazines lying around that I'm inclined to save.

I'd gladly pay 2-3X the price for the few fishing mags I get to have them on CD instead. I like having the real magazine but the trade off is the hassle of storage and accessing info.

I'd take the magazine online. Can print out the pages I want to save, if necessary and can use a color printer to do it.

I get several lengthy newsletters with photos, etc. this way. Thought I'd hate it, but now I really like it.

Joe

One of the biggest complaints about reading electronic text is the brightness of the screen and the inability to carry the copy around easily and read it outside. I was listening to "On the Media" on NPR today and they were discussing e-paper, a new technology that pretty much elimnates each of those problems. Sounds like we may be closer to the end of paper than we thought. Here's a link to more information: http://www.onthemedia.org/episodes/2...segments/89327 .

I still prefer paper!

TxEngr