Digital magazine subscriptions
 

I, like probably many of you, have way more paper copies of woodworking magazines than I can possibly read. My collection goes back to the 1980's, which means 30+ years of Wood, Pop Wood, American Woodworker, etc. Just keeping things in order is a problem.

I'm thinking of switching over to digital copies over the next renewal schedules. I've owned digital copies of magazines before and to be honest, until tablet computers came on the market, it just never seem easy to use them. With iPads and such, it's easy to bring them to the shop and be able to review a plan without having to print things out.

I'm curious what the members here think? In addition, I want to "rail a bit" against the rather exorbitant pricing some of the publishers have on the digital copies. I understand the wanting to maintain a profit margin for the effort to produce, but I just don't see why a digital copy cost the same as a paper copy. I mean isn't there a price for paper, printer fees, storage, etc?

The model that I like for any of this is Tauton's Fine Woodworking. For $14..95 (I think) a year, you get access to their entire digital database of magazines, articles, blogs, etc. I've used this feature many times and it's just great. I just wish more magazines would follow.

Thoughts about this?

MJ

Digital magazine subscriptions
 

MJ wrote in
:

I, like probably many of you, have way more paper copies of
woodworking magazines than I can possibly read. My collection goes
back to the 1980's, which means 30+ years of Wood, Pop Wood, American
Woodworker, etc. Just keeping things in order is a problem.

I'm thinking of switching over to digital copies over the next renewal
schedules. I've owned digital copies of magazines before and to be
honest, until tablet computers came on the market, it just never seem
easy to use them. With iPads and such, it's easy to bring them to the
shop and be able to review a plan without having to print things out.

I'm curious what the members here think? In addition, I want to "rail
a bit" against the rather exorbitant pricing some of the publishers
have on the digital copies. I understand the wanting to maintain a
profit margin for the effort to produce, but I just don't see why a
digital copy cost the same as a paper copy. I mean isn't there a price
for paper, printer fees, storage, etc?

The model that I like for any of this is Tauton's Fine Woodworking.
For $14.95 (I think) a year, you get access to their entire digital
database of magazines, articles, blogs, etc. I've used this feature
many times and it's just great. I just wish more magazines would
follow.

Thoughts about this?

MJ

I'm not sure I want to invest serious cash in a device to sit on the back
of the toilet. I've got a couple different bathrooms in the house, so
I'd need one for each room. Print subscriptions are cheaper. (Then
there's the whole issue of keeping the batteries charged, being in range
of a wireless connection or distributing files to each device, etc.)

I've got one magazine subscription that keeps on missing issues. Rather
than go digital (I've got access to the digital version and rarely use
it), I'm probably going to drop the entire subscription. I might have to
get some old magazines to read. (Larry Blanchard, did you ever get rid
of those train magazines from like 10 years ago?)

On the other side of the coin, printed magazines can't do anything fancy
like play a video or sound. They also tend to take up quite a bit of
space.

Puckdropper
--
Make it to fit, don't make it fit.

Digital magazine subscriptions
 

On 02 Jul 2013 03:08:21 GMT, Puckdropper
I'm not sure I want to invest serious cash in a device to sit on the back
of the toilet. I've got a couple different bathrooms in the house, so
I'd need one for each room. Print subscriptions are cheaper. (Then
there's the whole issue of keeping the batteries charged, being in range
of a wireless connection or distributing files to each device, etc.)

Sorry, but just the fact that you've stated all this suggests that you
have little experience with it and/or just not particularly interested
in the available technology.

Wifi is set up once and should cover most areas of a house. And, on
the off chance that it doesn't, you can get a cheap repeater or range
extender to increase the range.

Most/many people travel with a cell phone or tablet much of the time.
The Wifi and your tablet is all you need to have universal access to a
computer or cloud directory or website containing PDF's of woodworking
articles.

While I agree that a magazines are nice to have available while
sitting on the throne, there's only so many times you can read the
same article without longing for something new.

Digital magazine subscriptions
 

On 7/2/2013 2:10 AM, wrote:
On 02 Jul 2013 03:08:21 GMT, Puckdropper
I'm not sure I want to invest serious cash in a device to sit on the back
of the toilet. I've got a couple different bathrooms in the house, so
I'd need one for each room. Print subscriptions are cheaper. (Then
there's the whole issue of keeping the batteries charged, being in range
of a wireless connection or distributing files to each device, etc.)

Sorry, but just the fact that you've stated all this suggests that you
have little experience with it and/or just not particularly interested
in the available technology.

Wifi is set up once and should cover most areas of a house. And, on
the off chance that it doesn't, you can get a cheap repeater or range
extender to increase the range.

Most/many people travel with a cell phone or tablet much of the time.
The Wifi and your tablet is all you need to have universal access to a
computer or cloud directory or website containing PDF's of woodworking
articles.

While I agree that a magazines are nice to have available while
sitting on the throne, there's only so many times you can read the
same article without longing for something new.

Here's my take on digital. Your subscription is only good for the year
you are in., if you want to look up something 2 years after dropping the
subscription, you can't. If you have paper you probably saved it.

Some of these do allow it, most don't.

Many require awful reader software.

I have stopped all subscriptions, they all seem to come from a beginner
point of view. I occasionally pick up a nice tip, what I look for
mostly is design ideas, and even those don't exist in the WW magazines.


YMMV

--
Jeff

Digital magazine subscriptions
 

On Mon, 01 Jul 2013 17:13:13 -0700, MJ wrote:

I, like probably many of you, have way more paper copies of woodworking
magazines than I can possibly read. My collection goes back to the
1980's, which means 30+ years of Wood, Pop Wood, American Woodworker,
etc. Just keeping things in order is a problem.

I'm thinking of switching over to digital copies over the next renewal
schedules.

One of the model railroad magazines I subscribe to offered a digital
version here a while back. I wrote them and pointed out that with a
paper copy I could drop my subscription and still have access to all the
issues I'd received as a subscriber. I asked if they were going to allow
me access to the digital issues I'd subscribed to after I dropped that
subscription.

They never responded.

You might want to ask the same question.

--
When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and
carrying a cross.

Digital magazine subscriptions
 

On 7/2/2013 10:18 AM, woodchucker wrote:
On 7/2/2013 2:10 AM, wrote:
On 02 Jul 2013 03:08:21 GMT, Puckdropper
I'm not sure I want to invest serious cash in a device to sit on the
back
of the toilet. I've got a couple different bathrooms in the house, so
I'd need one for each room. Print subscriptions are cheaper. (Then
there's the whole issue of keeping the batteries charged, being in range
of a wireless connection or distributing files to each device, etc.)

Sorry, but just the fact that you've stated all this suggests that you
have little experience with it and/or just not particularly interested
in the available technology.

Wifi is set up once and should cover most areas of a house. And, on
the off chance that it doesn't, you can get a cheap repeater or range
extender to increase the range.

Most/many people travel with a cell phone or tablet much of the time.
The Wifi and your tablet is all you need to have universal access to a
computer or cloud directory or website containing PDF's of woodworking
articles.

While I agree that a magazines are nice to have available while
sitting on the throne, there's only so many times you can read the
same article without longing for something new.

Here's my take on digital. Your subscription is only good for the year
you are in., if you want to look up something 2 years after dropping the
subscription, you can't. If you have paper you probably saved it.

Some of these do allow it, most don't.

Many require awful reader software.

I have stopped all subscriptions, they all seem to come from a beginner
point of view. I occasionally pick up a nice tip, what I look for
mostly is design ideas, and even those don't exist in the WW magazines.


YMMV

The digital subscription I have allow the issue(s) to download directly
to the PC. Therefore, once there, they stay in the folder on your PC.

Some subscriptions have online reading and can archive several years,
such as Consumer Reports, but they aren't saved to your PC, tablet, etc.
The program I use offers both options and they recommend you download to
the PC for a few reasons. One is hassle of internet speed, or lack there
of, if presented.

Overall, I prefer digital. I have stacks of older Mags with sticky notes
tabs for reference, but they are wilting, losing adhesion and simply
getting in the way. IMO, digital is the way to go.

Digital magazine subscriptions
 

On 7/2/2013 7:18 AM, woodchucker wrote:

... what I look for
mostly is design ideas, and even those don't exist in the WW magazines.


YMMV


The reader projects section in the back of Fine Woodworking has some
good design ideas, even if it's only to keep up on what's in style. As
far as furniture design magazines, Fine Woodworking tried that years ago
in their "Home Furniture" series. Unfortunately, it failed due to lack
of interest. I guess most subscribers like that beginner stuff more
than pure design.

Digital magazine subscriptions
 

scritch wrote:
On 7/2/2013 7:18 AM, woodchucker wrote:

... what I look for
mostly is design ideas, and even those don't exist in the WW magazines.


YMMV


The reader projects section in the back of Fine Woodworking has some good
design ideas, even if it's only to keep up on what's in style. As far as
furniture design magazines, Fine Woodworking tried that years ago in
their "Home Furniture" series. Unfortunately, it failed due to lack of
interest. I guess most subscribers like that beginner stuff more than pure design.

Houzz.com ... I keep their app on both my phone and iPad, turn my clients
on to using it, and save everything I see that is interesting in a
shareable "idea book".

--
www.ewoodshop.com (Mobile)