YM, PBO digital issues and Kindle...

[zaragozo]

There have few threads hereabouts apropos digital magazines, particularly with regard to pricing and the downloading experience. What with the imminent arrival of Amazon's Kindle and PR puff about how you'll be able to download magazines, I wonder if anyone can comment on the actual useability of a digital YM issue on their PC, laptop or whatever and whether or not you can search for stuff and/or create your own database of back issues etc...

 

[snooks]

Not an unbiased opinion, as I work for YM.

But you can pick up a years back issue on a memory stick. With that you can search for features, keywords etc. read the magazine. I don't find it as easy to physically read, cos I have to open the laptop up, and I like to read the magazine in places I don't want to take a computer. But for research it's great.

Much easier that trying to flick through 12 months of YM or PBO.

 

[asteven221]

I agree with Snooks. I have been in the I.T. game for many years and as you would expect, we got into electronic versions of the paper version years ago. From what I can see all the paper versions have remained in circulation whilst many of the electronic versions have come & gone. FWIW and IMHO I think that us humans prefer reading off paper i.e. reflected light, rather than via a screen which is backlit. We can scan pages, flick through pages and so on which can't be done the same on a screen. Somehow a physical magazine just works better than an electronic version. However for research on specific articles and archiving, snooks is spot on as electronic wins the day.

 

[geoid96]

As I live in Norway, I subscribe to the digital version. The biggest problem with the search engine is that it will only search individual issues for entered keywords. There does not appear to be any way of searching the complete library to find all references to say the Oyster 37.

Another gripe is that about 6 months ago IPC changed the reader software from Delivery Reader to Zinio. Since then I have changed my PC, lost the old software and can no longer read the pre-June issues. It's a real shame that when the switch was made, there was no option to migrate my old library to the new software.

 

[bedouin]

Reading on an eBook is a very different experience to reading on a PC, or even on paper. Most digital magazines that I have seen have been exact replicas of the paper version and so difficult to read even on a laptop - it would be impossible on an eBook.

I think companies who provide digital versions of the paper mag are missing the point somewhat

 

[Richard Shead]

That depends

Reading on an eBook is a very different experience to reading on a PC, or even on paper. Most digital magazines that I have seen have been exact replicas of the paper version and so difficult to read even on a laptop - it would be impossible on an eBook.

I think companies who provide digital versions of the paper mag are missing the point somewhat

YM and YW digital versions are popular with cruisers and live aboards with no mailing address who cannot easily get hold of a paper copy.

 

[rickp]

There have few threads hereabouts apropos digital magazines, particularly with regard to pricing and the downloading experience. What with the imminent arrival of Amazon's Kindle and PR puff about how you'll be able to download magazines, I wonder if anyone can comment on the actual useability of a digital YM issue on their PC, laptop or whatever and whether or not you can search for stuff and/or create your own database of back issues etc...

The Zinio stuff is dire.

Its a proprietary format, so you have to use their software - you can't read it on an eBook or any other device (like you could if it was PDF). I appreciate that this is because of the DRM - but as a customer is annoys me enough that I'll probably not bother renewing. I'm happy to pay for the product, don't treat me like a criminal.

The scrolling in the application isn't very nice to use. There's no equivilant of the PDF 'Continuous View'.

You can't search across issues - so you have to search each issues individually. Thats bloody stupid.

Be aware that issuses come out on digital weeks after the magazine is published, so if you cancel the paper version and then subscribe to the digital too quickly - you'll get a duplicated issue. The magazines and Zinio can't comprehend this as a problem.

I would be concerned about a change in format meaning I lose access to issues I've bought.

There are some good things though - e-mail addresses and web links are clickable, even in the small ads. Thats as it should be and must take some effort.

You can get international magazines more easily and at some good prices. eg. 12 issues of Cruising World is £17.55 (compared to 12 issues of YM at £29.99)

You can try the Zinio stuff relatively easily, but I'd still prefer a portable format. PDF would do at a push, but something that is more easily 'reflowed' on a smaller eBook screen would be ideal. I'm not holding my breath though - eBooks and eMagazines are still in the VHS vs Betamax part of the learning curve.

 

[Malish]

As I live in Norway, I subscribe to the digital version. The biggest problem with the search engine is that it will only search individual issues for entered keywords. There does not appear to be any way of searching the complete library to find all references to say the Oyster 37.

Another gripe is that about 6 months ago IPC changed the reader software from Delivery Reader to Zinio. Since then I have changed my PC, lost the old software and can no longer read the pre-June issues. It's a real shame that when the switch was made, there was no option to migrate my old library to the new software.

What a poor, lamentable situation. I would expect full search capability and a stable platform to be cornerstones of any digital offering (they certainly are with academic journal publishers) - come on IPC, sort your system out

 

[zaragozo]

It's all a bit of shambles - the subscribe digital page has nothing about needing a 'datastick' to search on previous issues. How much extra does this cost? Bearing in mind they're offering the Nov issue digitally at the wallet-thumping price of £6.92 I suspect it'll be stratospheric. So much for saving the planet..
There's also a dearth of information on the site - if one subscribes can one move each issue to a separate database and search with/without using the Zinio thingy? Can one search for images? Can one print out articles? What about screen requirements? It'll be an unpleasant surprise to find after you've subscribed that your aged laptop can't actually display the content satisfactorily.

 

[webcraft]

Kindle , mags and e-readers

.
Kindle are planning on bringing out a larger (more magazine-sized) device with the intention of having it wireless-connected and able to download your daily newspaper. I can;t see it catching on as it is too big to be easily portable and is not foldable and chuckable like a newspaper:

It will be a gray-scale device, so not much use in any event for colour mags.

E-readers are good for books though; the Sony e-reader (available from Waterstones at a discount) looks better than the Kindle to me, although the touchscreen model is reported as suffering from screen glare. These devices use e-ink that 'writes' on the screen and you use reflected light to read them - they are not backlit - so the experience is much closer to reading a real book.

- W

 

[Malish]

the silence from Snooks et al to the identified issues is deafening........

 

[Richard Shead]

Let

the silence from Snooks et al to the identified issues is deafening........

Me reply tomorrow as i said in other posts we cant watch this 24/7 and the digital department is different to that of normal editorial.

I will answers your questions tomorrow hopefully in full.

Many Thanks

For info Graham is on a plane somewhere and I am watching masterchef so dont have answers to hand !

 

[geoid96]

- if one subscribes can one move each issue to a separate database and search with/without using the Zinio thingy? Can one search for images? Can one print out articles? What about screen requirements? It'll be an unpleasant surprise to find after you've subscribed that your aged laptop can't actually display the content satisfactorily.

The Zinio software is nowhere near as good as the old Delivery Reader. With that it was possible to search either the current issue or my complete library. With Zinio the only options are to search the publication you are reading or the entire list of publications available online at Zinio.com. I can't search just my downloaded library.

The Zinio search facility is very basic and just has a simple word search. The old software had advanced search features that included date ranges and a very useful option to limit search to content or editorial and avoid all the hits from the ads.

Both readers allow printing of pages ranges.

The old reader made navigation around the magazine much easier. It was possible to display the complete magazine as thumbnails, click on the page and then zoom in as much as you needed. The Zinio version is much more clunky.

For me, once I have got the right zoom level they are both perfectly readable on big LCD or small notebook. The benefit of digital magazines is that I don't have to store a ton of paper. The downside is that whether it's on an eBook or a Laptop, it will never be as comfortable to read as when curled up in a chair with the paper original.

 

[zaragozo]

So basically YBW, YM, PBO or whatever, have been sold a pup by sweet-talking Yankee Zinio salesmen - 'we'll help you get the punters to spend more to get less'. Bankers, methinks.

 

[Richard Shead]

Ermmm

So basically YBW, YM, PBO or whatever, have been sold a pup by sweet-talking Yankee Zinio salesmen - 'we'll help you get the punters to spend more to get less'. Bankers, methinks.

Not quite, there were very few readers about when we first started, that's first started there are of course many many readers now and as Rickp said the whole thing will be turned upside down once more as more and more ebooks roll out.

Remember we are an American owned company so watch the technology on both sides of the Atlantic. Other titles here are on other platforms / readers / versions whatever you may call it.

This is not my full reply that will come later when I have some more facts for you.

Thanks

 

[Ubergeekian]

Not quite, there were very few readers about when we first started, that's first started...

Acrobat came out in 1993. When did you start?

 

[bedouin]

Acrobat came out in 1993. When did you start?

that's missing the point - Acrobat is not really an appropriate delivery mechanism - particularly not for mobile distribution

eReaders are exciting because they are the first electronic mechanism that focusses on the readers' experience rather than being an add on to a PC or mobile phone.

What the industry has yet to work out is how best to provide content to the platform. A digital version of a monthly magazine is not the answer.

We probably need a rich content push technology - like an enhance RSS

 

[Richard Shead]

That is

Acrobat came out in 1993. When did you start?

Very different, why do some on here go out of their way for a verbal fight, I have said I will get back to you ad I will.

 

[Ubergeekian]

that's missing the point - Acrobat is not really an appropriate delivery mechanism - particularly not for mobile distribution

Acrobat is not a delivery mechanism. It's a file format, and a bloody good one at that, for this sort of thing

eReaders are exciting because they are the first electronic mechanism that focusses on the readers' experience rather than being an add on to a PC or mobile phone.

Perhaps. But there is no reason why they cannot use pdf files. The lack of colour is a bit of a problem for something like a yachting magazine, but that's independent of file format.

What the industry has yet to work out is how best to provide content to the platform.

What the industry wants it to provide a crippled, locked-down, DRMed version of content, up at which more users will rightly stick two fingers.

 

[Ubergeekian]

Very different, why do some on here go out of their way for a verbal fight, I have said I will get back to you ad I will.

I look forward to your convincing me that a closed, platform-dependent, DRMed, proprietary reader is better than a well-established open, accessible, multiplatform system. Your answer should touch on the issues raised here by other users about losing large amounts of content, for which they thought they had paid, when the publishers decide to switch system. Will you be coming round for my printed backnumbers too?