On 2010-06-21 19:15:49 -0400, Andrew Barss said:

I keep considering the Fine Woodworking Archive DVD, basially to both
save shelf space (I have several feet of FWW) and also to make it
somewhat easier to find things. Does anyone out there have it? If so:

a) how useful do you find it, vs. the hardcopy magazine with the annual
indexes?

b) How high quality are the scans? I use the magazine (e.g., the reader
gallery) for project ideas and inspiration, and would be disappointed
if the scans are low enough resolution that they aren't as nice as the
printed photos.

The woodworking teacher at the Indianapolis Art Center (a professional
wookworker for about 35 years who does know his stuff) tells me each
time he sees me that I need this. Even with a full collection of the
printed magazines, he never looks at them -- the search funtion for the
electronic version can bring up every reference from issue 1 to present
day. (I assume that includes errata where necessary.)

He's used a couple of the articles as handouts in class, and the
reproduction quality is what one would wish -- limited only by your
output device, assuming no one is still using a dot matrix printer.

In any case, it's faster, easier, and more thorough than manually
searching issues or indexes. You are, however, less likely to make the
serendipitous discovery when your search is so directed. I'll probably
continue to thumb the mags I have and visit the used bookstores...
there's certainly more out there than one magazine piublisher.

rant I've always thought of FWW as the "ne plus ultra" of the
woodworking magazines, though lately I think they've slipped. It REALLY
frosts me that any meaningful access to their website is only by
subscription. Perhaps their business model assumes that web will
eventually supplant print -- and video is a wonderful teaching tool
(and awfully hard to do on the printed page) -- but other publishers
seem to regard the web as an adjunct to their publishing efforts rather
than as merely another revenue stream. / rant