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