What're your thoughts on getting digital fly fishing magazines?

I just got a post card announcing that my subscription to Fly Rod & Reel magazine is now available in digital format. I believe that other fly fishing magazines, such as American Angler and Fly Tyer, either have or soon will be available online.

I haven't signed up yet to get my Fly Rod & Reel magazines via the internet versus the traditional printed copy, but I'm seriously thinking of doing it. One reason for doing so is that I have trouble processing change of address for the summer months that we spend in Montana versus being in Pennsylvania in the winter, and my magazines do not always get sent to me, or arrive late.

What are your thoughts on this?

John

It's kinda neat to go through the old stacks of magazines and read through them, seeing how certain fisheries have changed over the years and finding some old patterns to try again, but at the same time storing all that paper gets to be a bit of a pain. I can see the logic in having it in digital - a little thumb drive vs boxes and boxes of magazines.

I have a couple of firearm magazines that I read online. I receive them for free or I would take them in the paper version. I read alot while waiting for someone while in my car or other places where I dont have a computer. I dont have an electronic reader or that might take the place of it. decide where you want to read or tie etc. that computer may be a very short leash.
You can browse here and see what it is like.
http://fmgpublications.ipaperus.com/...GUNS/GUNS0212/

Eric

Scott -

I once kept all my fly fishing magazines beginning in 1969 when I first subscribed to Fly Fisherman. I began unloading them several years ago, and now don't keep more that a few months of back issues. It seems there is more information on the internet now than I could ever hope to possibly keep up with.

I'll stick with my printed Fly Tyer!!! The digital age can't replace a good copy, and what happens when your battery goes dead?? LOL I'll stick to printed.

I just can't seem to get the hang of reading magazine stories or books off of a laptop screen (or CRT). I like something I can fold and hold in my hands. Plus I can't bring m'self to read a laptop when I'm on the throne!!!
Adios Philip43

Actually, the digital formats are the future, well really, the present. So, we may as well get the hang of using them.

There are some great advantages to using the digital format.

You can access that digital magazine any place you have a computer, and depending upon how long they keep their back issues, you can access many years back for data. As an example, look at all the great information that FAOL has at your disposal. All you need is a computer. You don't have access to all those back issues if you take the printed format, unless you carry box after box of all those back issues with you when you travel.

Another great feature is that you can copy most articles, say about tying a fly, and grab the photos, and store that data in a file on your computer. Your computer can go with you but not all those magazines.

Many clubs and organizations are going to the electronic format for newsletters and magazines.

Hop on board and enjoy the ride.

Larry ---sagefisher---

I had a bad experience with the Fly Tyer application. I bought it from iTunes and received a confirmation. Fly Tyer would not honor the subscription. They said it was Apple's fault, Apple said it was Fly Tyer.

My solution was to get my money back from Apple and I will not renew my paper subscription to Fly Tyer.

My knee jerk reaction is to say that I would miss the hard copy. But the truth is, the stacks of paper issues would often just sit there collecting dust while the articles I search out on line get read immediately.

One exception, the California Fly Fisher - It's regional and relative. It'll be the last paper copy subscription I'll give up. That and our fly fishing guests enjoy browsing through new and back issues of CFF too.

Dave

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Originally Posted by John Rhoades

Scott -

I once kept all my fly fishing magazines beginning in 1969 when I first subscribed to Fly Fisherman. I began unloading them several years ago, and now don't keep more that a few months of back issues. It seems there is more information on the internet now than I could ever hope to possibly keep up with.

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John,

I agree, there is a tremendous amount of information available on-line and some day I'm going to end up donating or pitching all the mags I currently have. However, this past summer I was looking through some of them and ran across an article on the Nelson's Caddis, a pattern I hadn't thought of or tied up in a while; tried them out again and was pleased to see that they still worked as well as they always had. It was like getting together on stream with an old friend I hadn't fished with for years. One other thing I love about the older magazines is seeing ads for some of the state-of-the-art equipment from the late 70s-early 80s, including Seal-Dri latex waders. I had a pair of them and found them to be perfectly useless in just about every way imaginable- I froze in cold water, sweat like a farm animal when it got warm (and boy did they retain the smell!), and had to use all my strength to lift my leg over anything higher than a 2x4.

Regards,
Scott

Just in case anyone is wondering what a Nelson's Caddis is, here are two examples:

http://www.danica.com/flytier/jnicho...ons_caddis.htm
http://home.centurytel.net/gigharbor...nelcaddis.html

FAOL had one too but the photo was in someones photobucket and had been removed.

Larry ---sagefisher---

I hate taking my laptop into the bathroom. I'll leave it at that.

I get several web based fly fishing magazines and I enjoy reading them. The video segments are pretty cool. I like paper magazines, too, but eventually they will go away. From an environmental point of view, it is kind of silly to waste the paper and all of the energy that it takes to produce and distribute paper magazines.

I will miss having paper magazines to read in the throne room when the paper magazines are no longer available.

Do these web based magazines have a search function, like FAOL does, so you could rather easily find topics of interest from past issues?

I have a subscription to the digital edition of Bird Watchers Digest. It's great! They have embedded videos and pictures links you can't get with the paper forum. Also you can do research by simply highlighing words and phrases and bring up several search options. Digital is the future and a better way to go. By the time my kids are in high school they will be required to have a digital reader. Paper is on the way out.

I havent bought any digital magazines yet, but all the books I have bought for the past 18 months or so have been in Kindle (iPhone/iPad app) format as well as downloading books from the library.

I dont think I would like magazines on the phone, but i think they would be quite enjoyable on the iPad. I did download a sample of Fly Tyer and will check it out in the near future. Also downloaded a sample of one of Charlie Craven's books. if the fly tying books work out I may pick up a couple digital versions of the hardcopy books I have.

One benefit of the digital versions is that you can take 100's of pounds of books/magazines with you when you are away from home.

I think digital is the work of the devil and should be avoided at all costs...probably because I'm in journal and magazine printing. ;)

Really, they are whats coming, like it or not. Circulation is declining and when we reach the tipping point, that is, when the younger generations become the main demographic in conjunction with the rising cost of producing lower quantities of paper product, hard copy circulation will crash. It will simply cost too much. I think it will be sooner than we think.

Anyone hiring?

Then again, you just can't take your old digital copies up to the cabin for reading material during deer camp. And a Kindle is useless for anything but reading in the outhouse.

I like to read magazines in bed before going to sleep. So I prefer to not have to have a laptop at my bed side. Especially since I am on a computer so much already.

You guest'er chester!!!

I guess I am "old school" and would not like my Fly Tyer magazine in digital only. I enjoy reading a magazine in peace and quiet and cannot do that everywhere if electric or a battery is required. What happens to your digital magazines if the company goes out of business like Warm Water fishing magazine?

I know digital is where we are headed and "hard copy" is on the way out, but, I just do not want to become "attached" to a computer controlled "everything." I see the "younger" generation going around surfing the net with their hand held toys, on their Ipods, on their cell phones, texting, etc., and just do not want to give up on the old fashion way of talking to a real person, confirming deals with a hand-shake and driving over to a friend's house and visiting them.

The wife and I are retired and when the monthly charge for internet goes up high enough, the computer is gone. There are more important things to spend our limited income on. The younger generation do not understand that yet, but, they will one day when their big paychecks come to a halt and they have to come down to my level. The real question is will they be able to survive at my level after living in the push button age for so long?

My grocery store carries Fly Tier. Makes it fun to go.

Are there any good free online magazines out there, relating to FF or tying

I prefer the hard copy. But I really like the option of getting both.

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Originally Posted by NewTyer 1

Are there any good free online magazines out there, relating to FF or tying

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FlyAnglers Online. ;)

I am a computer guy and see digital formats as the present and future. I joined the digital book world with a Kindle a year ago. Love it. But I will buy paper books for anything fly tying related. I like the color pictures and the how-to sequences. I don't have a iPad yet but it's coming someday. I think my problem is I would like to see a unified format approach. I don't want apps from each magazine. I like the Zinio concept. A company that distributes digital magazines, all in the same app. I just got $25 credit for signing up for a Zinio account so I'll try a subscription out just to see how it goes.

I don't like digital magazines. There's a number of them that I read because I have no other choice, but I still hate it.

Love the magazine in the hand :)