How do you feel about digital magazines?

**prelude** · 7th December 2019, 08:15 PM

In the last few years I have found out about a lot of wonderful 4wd stuff on the interwebz. On youtube I came across a few blokes "misadventure 4wd" when I was looking for rover V8 off road, since I just bought myself a P38 back then I wanted to see one in action of course!

Fast forward a few years and I am well into watching 4wd traction control (a pun because Graham keeps hammering on about it on his d-max, must be a sponsorship deal...). In any case, so much for the intro: it turns out that it is well was a magazine and although I still would like to watch the old dvd's (anyone can help me with that?!) I also wondered why the magazine stopped. So I found the last issue online and decided to spend some money on it to buy it digitally.

Now, I love that one is able to "buy" a magazine from across the globe and be able to enjoy the content, what I dislike however is the way those magazines are locked in.

I now have an account on some vague (for me) website which hosts my copy of that magazine which I can't download or anything.

Next I found an article on lro (uk) about a guy who butchered his P38 into a camper van and since I am contemplating this as a possible option to do I decided to buy this mag as well. Again, I now have an extra account on a site that I will likely never use again, I need to install an app on my ipad (no way to view the mag online with this one) etc etc etc.

Personally, I have bought into the apple stuff a long time ago and I would just like my magazines to show up in the ibooks app. I am sure android has something similar.

Am I the only one getting aggravated over this?

I am not an apple apologist but the one thing steve jobs did very well for me as a consumer; itunes. Piracy of mp3's is at an all time low because access to legal music is VERY easy and a no brainer. How I only wish this were also true for other media...

Maybe I'm just getting old

Cheers,
-P

**350RRC** · 7th December 2019, 08:32 PM

Maybe someone's thought of a way of 'owning' digi mags and access so they can profit from 'scarcity' as time goes by, I dunno.

I've given away 100s of surfing mags (Tracks, Surfer, Surfing, Breakaway, SeaNotes, etc) to friends and others who used to buy my boards and now collect everything from 'the day'.

Ownership and access are viewed very differently now, from the days when ownership of info in mag format became all yours for personal use when you handed over the coin at the newsagent or got your monthly mag after sending the cheque for annual subscription.

DL

**rick130** · 8th December 2019, 08:20 AM

Or you could subscribe to a free e.mag?

How do you feel about digital magazines?

And you can download it, too.

Loaded 4X4 | 4WD and off-road adventure stories gear reviews and advice

**Eevo** · 8th December 2019, 10:14 AM

excellent question!

i find it hard to take digital magazines seriously due to the lack of credibility.

DiscoMick · 8th December 2019, 08:59 PM

Being a Grumpy Old Fart, I prefer paper, which I find easier to read.
But I do read the Unsealed 4WD mag.
I am tempted by digital copies of UK Land Rover magazines, since they are cheap and arrive immediately rather than having to wait for the paper copies, but at this stage I'm reluctant to commit to anything.
Digital mags are also annoying on small screens.

**prelude** · 9th December 2019, 09:47 PM

@rick, I usually click the link when I see a post by you mate

I am perhaps not an old fart yet but I do like paper as well, I own it and I can look things up if I want to. Reality of the matter is that I hardly ever do. I moved into this house 12 years ago and there are boxes stored with papers that I have not touched since...

Anyway, I digress. Indeed ownership and access are the key things. It started with software (most of you run windows and you do not actually own it according to the EULA for example), it moved into the video space and magazines and newspapers are sure to follow, evidently.

It's a shame.

-P

**grey_ghost** · 10th December 2019, 12:39 AM

I must be getting old because I much prefer a paper copy..

I do see the benefits of digital but what happens in the future when that particular web page changes hands or simply ceases to exist? (If I can’t download the copy).

Or if I can download it - I then have to use my own ink to print it?

Plus the WiFi signal on my throne ain’t that great.

Yeah - I am getting old. Lol

**rick130** · 10th December 2019, 07:34 AM

Originally Posted by prelude

I am perhaps not an old fart yet but I do like paper as well, I own it and I can look things up if I want to. Reality of the matter is that I hardly ever do. I moved into this house 12 years ago and there are boxes stored with papers that I have not touched since...

Anyway, I digress. Indeed ownership and access are the key things. It started with software (most of you run windows and you do not actually own it according to the EULA for example), it moved into the video space and magazines and newspapers are sure to follow, evidently.

It's a shame.

-P

I'm the same, it's a tactile thing with paper.

I refuse to get an e-reader or kindle, I love printed books but the magazine thing is the way it's all going and with the ability to get 'to print' so much quicker, and not be limited by how much you can stack into a printed copy is a huge advantage for the publisher, as well as not being constrained to traditional distribution channels, where if you weren't taken under the wing of a big distributer you had no chance of success.

**prelude** · 10th December 2019, 07:10 PM

That's the key thing here is'nt it? I should have perhaps given this topic another title; DRM. At least you had the good sense of producing your magazine DRM free rick!

I guess publishers, even when they are digital, feel that they need to squeeze every penny out of distribution even if it means draconic measures. That is not going to change unless there is enough push back and even then some industries won't budge.

Cheers,
-P

**speleomike** · 10th December 2019, 08:59 PM

Hi all

It's clear that none of you actually can see the benefit of eMags over paper mags for the global economy. In short, eMags subscriptions or steaming is a way to ensure a steady and continual contribution to the GDP of a country by those that read, listen to music or watch movies :-)

When you bought a paper magazine you spent $4.99 or $9.99 on a rag that you read and then you can read it again and again, either next week or when your an old fart in retirement. But you never contributed again to GDP. It's the same when you re-watch those VHS movies or play your LP records. Your not contributing to GDP which helps to pay politicians so they can represent us, pays our pensions, and balances our purchases from Brit Parts.

With an eMag and DRM you can have tens of millions of Australians on a yearly subscription. Subscriptions to eMags, movies on our set top boxes, music on your iPad. That's a continual steam of money to companies that make lots of money so they can pay taxes (well a little bit of tax), and that goes to the Govt and gets added to our GDP which ensures Aust can borrow more money and the Govt can tell the Reserve Bank to print more money and the world's lenders won't mind this as they will see Aust has a good credit rating as we have tens of millions of users paying annual subscriptions and doing the right thing by not pirating. So then we will be able to get our pension and during elections we will know that our GDP is in good shape.

So now you all should understand. The whole world is teetering on a recession because no one is spending enough money but eMags (and DRM and streaming) will save us from those greedy short-term readers that still want to buy paper magazines and pay just once and not ever again and again and again.

Here endeth the economics lesson.

Mike
Bloody Kindle won't bend at its corner. How do I book mark that page?

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