Is it true that our access to the digital archive going to disappear?

[RobboParticipant @robbo]

Posted by Diane Carney on 11/07/2013 17:00:38:

Hi Nick

To go back to my very long post:

· The digital archive will still be available, but it will be available as part of a new Print + Digital Subscription package and a new Digital Subscription package.

So – if you want to subscribe to print only, that's all you get – the paper magazine only. No online access to old issues.

If you want to continue to access the archive you will have to subscribe to the Print + Digital or Digital only which now has the added benefit of the longed for ability to download and read off-line.

The way I see it is that the emphasis is now definitely shifting towards Digital consumption – as is the way with so many publications. However – this is Model Engineer – and I suspect that old habits (printed magazines) will die hard. But we'll see….

I hope this helps.

Diane

Am I the only one who has NEVER longed for the ability to download and read off-line??

Phil

[SteambuffParticipant @steambuff]

Nope

[The Merry MillerParticipant @themerrymiller]

Nope

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 11/07/2013 06:44:12:

Hi John, you should find your answer here **LINK**

Regards Nick.

Thanks for that Nick. Confirmed that if I stay paper only I will lose access to the digital archive. Bit of a poop that as I don't want to download and read. Off for a sulk in the corner.

[Diane CarneyModerator @dianecarney30678]

Posted by John Coates on 11/07/2013 20:51:49:

Posted by Nicholas Farr on 11/07/2013 06:44:12:

Hi John, you should find your answer here **LINK**

Regards Nick.

Thanks for that Nick. Confirmed that if I stay paper only I will lose access to the digital archive. Bit of a poop that as I don't want to download and read. Off for a sulk in the corner.

John

In your case you would have to pay £12 a year more than you would for paper only in order to access the whole archive. I suppose you have to decide what, to you, is the value of that archive.
(I maybe shouldn't mention this but don't forget, also, there are always people selling collections of the magazine in the Free Ads!)

On the other point above – I know not everyone wants to read off-line (me included!!) but you would have to agree it has been one of the loudest complaints we have had – time and time and time again – ever since that technology started to become widespread.

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by Danny M2Z on 11/07/2013 16:53:36:

G'day all.

I was just about to subscribe to MEW. Even here down-under without the free gifts the digital archives seemed attractive ( I get my copies from the newsagent). But from reading this thread it appears that the magazine owners are getting greedy. That's what happens when the bean counters get creative. Hence NO subscription from this little bunny!

For limeric fans " There once was a man from Australia. Etc"

Regards from the land of the kangaroo

Cu Later * Danny M *

,

There once was a man from Australia

who considered subscription a failure.

The cost increment

 

for digit content

 

was too much for the man from Australia.

 

.

 

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 11/07/2013 22:32:58

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Well done Michael, 9.5/10 for that one!

However. The problem of access to information and the desire of the 'traditional' media to force people to pay for access because the print copies are losing customers is an ongoing saga.

Our own 'Mr R. Murdoch' has much to answer for but he does not speak for all of us here in Oz.

I just picked up MEW # 202. 'On the editors bench' still has a picture of David, surely this should be a photograph of Dianne?

Regards from the land of the kangaroo

Cu Later * Danny M *

[Gone AwayParticipant @goneaway]

Posted by Danny M2Z on 12/07/2013 01:11:03:

I just picked up MEW # 202. 'On the editors bench' still has a picture of David, surely this should be a photograph of Dianne?

Why? David is still the MEW Editor

[I.M. OUTAHEREParticipant @i-m-outahere]

Hi all,

After switching to the digital version i have been mostly happy with the exception that if i wanted to print something i had to do it a page at a time .
I feel i should be able to download the whole issue to my PC and view at my liesure as i have payed for it .
I should not have pay as much as a hard copy subscriber as there are no printing or mailing costs and i also lose the subscription offer as i live outside the UK.

So there could be tiered system :
Basic digital – latest issue only for budget minded readers -no archives .
Basic hard copy – mailed issue no archives as above but a hard copy .
Intermediate digital – latest issue + archives
intermediate hard copy – as above but with printed version.
premium subs – both ME & MEW hard copy + full digital access.

I should be able to download the magazine as a PDF and keep it for future refrence as i wish as i have paid for it .

I found the Digial subs are excellent except i cannot 'click a copy and print the whole magazine .

Ian

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Dianne,

I have been a subscriber to both magazines for some years and am not at all happy with this situation.

I used to keep all my backnumbers but some time ago we were told that subscribers (to the paper magazine) would have access to the digital archives. Great I thought, I can recover some workshop space by sending my old copies for recycling. Now we are told that the promise made earlier will be renaiged upon and I will have to pay extra for something I have already bought. To my mind this is entirely dishonest and I am unlikely to renew my subscription next time if you continue to treat your customers this way.

I stronly suspect that this proposed move will significantly reduce your revenue and not, as your bean counters evidently believe, increase it. The way to increase revenue is to create happy customers.

[JoParticipant @jo]

I like paper copies of ME: once you have read them you can either give them to the club for others who do not subscribe to read or sell them as volumes.

Digital subscriptions seem very restricted. For instance when I down load a copy can I only keep it on that phone/computer that I downloaded it on to? What happens when in two years time I upgrade my phone/computer again? Can I transfer the file to my other/new computer? I assume I will not be able to because otherwise there would be nothing stopping me sending that digital copy out to all my mates.

Jo

[MAX THE MILLERParticipant @maxthemiller]

I like hard copies of magazines and books. They belong to me, I can do what I like with them and there's nothing the publishers can do about it. I can lend a hard copy to my friends or sell it to a dealer.

With a digital copy it's different. I don't own the copy. I can't lend it out and I can't sell it. I have merely bought the right to read it for as long as the publisher decides to grant me that right. The publisher can withdraw that right at any time he thinks fit. He can even remotely delete it from any reading device it's loaded on.

The extra cost of producing and distributing a digital edition is I suspect fairly small, as presumably the input to the printer is the digital edition or something very similar.

Unfortunately it looks like some bean counter has asked "Why are we giving free acces to our archive? We could be making money out of it". This is a publisher's decision, not an editorial one, which I suspect is why the editors have understandably been reluctant to contribute to this thread. They don't want to offend their masters who pay their wages.

I have no fear of technology, but I'll stick with a paper copy of the mags as long as they're available.

Max.

[Danny M2ZParticipant @dannym2z]

Dianne (and David if you're reading this).

Obviously this 'revision' of distribution methods has p*ssed-off a lot of loyal subscribers.

So exactly how much input do yourself and David have with the owners of ME & MEW?

I suspect that the magazine editors have been put between a rock and a hard place.

For every person that accesses this forum there must be hundreds that purchase the magazine but;

Do not have access to the website technology

Do not care

Just want to get on with making swarf

Or like myself, are fed-up with another method designed to rip me off a few more $$

Regards from the land of the kangaroo

Cu Later * Danny M *

[GaryMParticipant @garym]

Posted by Jo on 12/07/2013 10:28:26:

<snip>… because otherwise there would be nothing stopping me sending that digital copy out to all my mates….<snip>

Jo

This is what the publishers are trying to guard against. Once they allow PDFs to be saved locally then there is nothing to stop people copying them and passing them round, apart from the risk of destroying the magazine as a viable business. This is what most under thirty-year-olds do with music. Hardly any of them pay for it and don't see why they should. In the publisher's ideal world (and anyone else selling media) you would not be able to buy a physical copy at all but only buy access to content that could not be downloaded only streamed. At the risk of getting told off for venturing into politics it is called 'rentier capitalism'.

BTW I've still got all my vinyl LPs but have also got most of them on CD as well which have been ripped to mp3 and transferred to ipod.

Gary

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Posted by MAX THE MILLER on 12/07/2013 11:45:02:

I have no fear of technology, but I'll stick with a paper copy of the mags as long as they're available.

Pretty much my final position Max and I find your rationale on this situation perfect

At least with paper copies I can always scan the relevant page and print a copy to take into the workshop to face the swarf and cutting fluid rather than the precious original. Or I could view it on the planned workshop PC (redundant household unit)

John

[Michael GilliganParticipant @michaelgilligan61133]

Posted by GaryM on 12/07/2013 12:52:08:

BTW I've still got all my vinyl LPs but have also got most of them on CD as well which have been ripped to mp3 and transferred to ipod.

Gary

.

That's a missed opportunity, Gary

Apple's lossless compression is much better quality than mp3

MichaelG.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Posted by Jo on 12/07/2013 10:28:26:

Digital subscriptions seem very restricted. For instance when I down load a copy can I only keep it on that phone/computer that I downloaded it on to? What happens when in two years time I upgrade my phone/computer again? Can I transfer the file to my other/new computer? I assume I will not be able to because otherwise there would be nothing stopping me sending that digital copy out to all my mates.

Hi Jo,

Perhaps I shouldn't let the editors know this but:

You certainly can store downloaded digital editions on your computer in PDF format so that they can always be read. Unfortunately it can only be done one page at a time so it is very time consuming (unless someone canwrite a script to automate it).

The magazine viewer allows you to print a page at a time. If you install a pdf printer, such as cups-pdf (Linux) or cute-pdf(windows), it enables you to print directly to a pdf file you can then combine the files using a pdf merging program. As an experiment I tried saving one issue and it took me 15 minutes, mainly as I had to rename each file after downloading and before downloading the next page. So it's not very practical but useful if you have one issue or perhaps a drawing you want to save.

Russell.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I have just been asked by Kate in the Subscriptions department to say that she hopes to have answers to the queries raised by early next week and they will be posted here as soon as they are available.

Diane is off to IMLEC for the weekend so won't be able to add anything further until she returns.

On the plus side Kate informs me that some of the missing issues in the archive are being added as I write this, the rest will follow as they are scanned in. If anyone knows of a specific issue that is either missing or the wrong mag comes up when clicked can they post the issue number here.

J

[SteambuffParticipant @steambuff]

I think MyTimeMedia have got it wrong …. pleasing some people but upsetting even more …

I think they should offer the following options:-

1/ Online access to Archive only. (Original Digital)

2/ Print + Online Archive (Original Print)

3/ Online Download & Keep + online archive (New Digital)

4/ Print + Online Download + Online Archive

For me I want option (2) to get this I have to pay an extra £12 per year (I don't want online download) …. my second choice would be for (1), again I have to pay even more per year … Wot a rip off !!!!!

I have now cancelled my MEW Direct Debit, so the September issue will be my last …. I have just renewed my ME (June) so I will get what I want for a year …. Then I will decide what I want to do.

Dave

[DMBParticipant @dmb]

Who’d be an Editor? 4 pages of moans and counting. Hope the Editors get a good “Compensation Package” (paid well), bet they don’t! Management probably say “it goes with the territory.”
I am going to wait and see what actually happens before I decide action to take with greedy bean counters. Mags can always be bought later on 2nd hand market.

[Sub MandrelParticipant @submandrel]

I think with MEW once you subscribe that's your rate forever, If you want to unsubscribe then resubscribe to get a free gift then you take the risk of a higher subscritpion rate. As has been said elsewhere if they contact you, you might unsubscribe and they've lost income, so they don't run that risk.

I let my MEW subscription lapse by accident. The lady offered me a cheaper price and free gift to return!

Neil

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Posted by JasonB on 12/07/2013 18:21:10:

I have just been asked by Kate in the Subscriptions department to say that she hopes to have answers to the queries raised by early next week and they will be posted here as soon as they are available.

Diane is off to IMLEC for the weekend so won't be able to add anything further until she returns.

On the plus side Kate informs me that some of the missing issues in the archive are being added as I write this, the rest will follow as they are scanned in. If anyone knows of a specific issue that is either missing or the wrong mag comes up when clicked can they post the issue number here.

J

Hi Jason, I've just looked through the ME archive and 4158, 4274, 4275 and 4315 are missing.

Regards Nick.

[John HinkleyParticipant @johnhinkley26699]

I thought I'd download the "pocketmags" app for my iPad, just to see how easy (or otherwise) it would be to read/store my copies of MEW. Like a previous respondent to this thread, I got the message that my subscription wasn't valid. Waited a couple of days; still no joy, so on Friday last I fired off an email to help@pocketmags as suggested by their website. I have yet to receive a reply.

Has anyone had the same problem and managed to overcome it?

John

[SteambuffParticipant @steambuff]

John,

I assume that you have taken out a new Digital subscription? (The higher cost one)

If you have an older Digital Subscription (i.e. one purchased prior to this month) then you won't be able to download issues. (That is what I understand the situation is)

Dave

[jason udallParticipant @jasonudall57142]

Me?.. I will make my choice when renewal comes around.. to renew or not..frankly the content is more concern than the format..

digital subs want hard copy?..well printit and store it your self.. that is in theory why digital is supposed to be cheaper…you save the pub. production / distribution costs.

paper subs. want digital copy ? scan it yer self.. or use camera phone….good enough for the odd pages you want to take to the workshop.

my request might be for more readily searchable by topic etc….but a third party solution (solutions) exists for that…..

I would love to have the archive anywhere I go but then again thats more to do with internet access on the go than the magazine publisher…

hate to sayit ( and do it) but you can buy bootleg / pirate/ or what ever disks of back issues…would rather buy these from the publisher but if they don't want to take my money….

please note If a free service is withdrawn you are entitled to a refund up to the price paid….

[Author]

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