MR going DIGITAL. 12 month sub for downloading.

[Anonymous]

Is this possible?

Over here in Oz, MR has cracked the magic $10 mark for each issue. Skyrocketed from $8.75 to $10 in one issue. OUCH.
I used to subscribe, but my copy would arrive in a pretty crappy plastic bag, with the issue damaged. It was actually cheaper to buy off the stands and in better condition.

Is it feasable for Kalmbach to offer and service digital subscriptions? It would save on paper,that's for sure. It would be more immediate,which means that Aussies can enter competitions in time.
I'd get my copy for the cost of a late night download,sans dog ears and torn covers. I'm not a publisher, but I reckon it'd sport a lower cover price,through lack of postage and printing.
It would still include the ads.

The only agin' I can think of is server space. But then, Finescale Modeler has an entire issue for download .. it can be done.

What about it MR? It must have crossed your mind..

rgds

Andrew

[Anonymous]

I had several threads where I got involved talking and advocating going digital with MR issues. Mainly with scanning past issues all the way back to #1 and perhaps making them availible on CD sets.

The MR introduced a "Information Station" where you are able to pull articles for a price.

I have recieved both positive and somewhat damp comments from both sides. The biggest problem I think is related to money and staffing. The technology is not the issue. I "Download" my local Beebe News and Arkansas Democrat Gazette every day on the internet while comics are in another section. I get my fill of "Newspaper" daily this way without ever paying a cent at the paper box or vendors.

I do subscribe to MR and am in for 2 years, I get the issue before the hobby shop does here in America. I dont know how they transport mail to you way down under in Australia but I would think they can improve quality handling.

Maybe someday we will indeed "pull" the magazine via the internet directly out of Kalmbach's offices and no need for Ink and Magazine paper. But with the costs involved and I think the sheer pleasure of having a Magazine full of pictures and articles in your favorite chair beats hunching over the keyboard and coaxing a balky computer over a even slower internet connection (FTTH Where are ye?)

My two cents. I encourage you to hang in there!

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by HighIron2003ar

I had several threads where I got involved talking and advocating going digital with MR issues. Mainly with scanning past issues all the way back to #1 and perhaps making them availible on CD sets.

The MR introduced a "Information Station" where you are able to pull articles for a price.

I have recieved both positive and somewhat damp comments from both sides. The biggest problem I think is related to money and staffing. The technology is not the issue. I "Download" my local Beebe News and Arkansas Democrat Gazette every day on the internet while comics are in another section. I get my fill of "Newspaper" daily this way without ever paying a cent at the paper box or vendors.

I do subscribe to MR and am in for 2 years, I get the issue before the hobby shop does here in America. I dont know how they transport mail to you way down under in Australia but I would think they can improve quality handling.

Maybe someday we will indeed "pull" the magazine via the internet directly out of Kalmbach's offices and no need for Ink and Magazine paper. But with the costs involved and I think the sheer pleasure of having a Magazine full of pictures and articles in your favorite chair beats hunching over the keyboard and coaxing a balky computer over a even slower internet connection (FTTH Where are ye?)

My two cents. I encourage you to hang in there!

[Anonymous]

Oops... how about that? I thought HighIron2003bar's reply was so I printed it again for free!

Yeah I get the feeling of the comfy chair and the smell of fresh mud ,paper and ink..
But I have a plan see... I'm setting up a alittle multiy meedia thing out in my workshop/train room. Basicly a steel 6m sq shed. A car on one side and shelving and on the other, my benches and train layouts. I've got a projector that handels video and pc outputs.. so I'm set.. But either way, I'd most likely print off stuff.
But I do get what you mean.

I also suspected the mag would make it flat to my letterbox some 15000klms away,where the postman would jam it into my periodicals slot.. regardless of just how spacious the hole is..

I'm a hangin' !

[Anonymous]

I love it.

Regarding the trip down under in pristine condition only to be jammed in a perodicals slot by a tired post man.

I just love it.

I also use my computer in support of video and still pictures (Multimedia) that are sometimes related to railroad stuff. I dont know the climate in your area but aint it too hot/cold for your equiptment in that steel shed?

[gvdobler]

Andrew H

Kind of off subject. If you buy a loco from a mail order/internet sales outlet, what do they charge you for shipping? Do you pay the same price that we do? Do you have the same access to goods that we in the States have except for higher postage? We hear quite frequently that you have trouble getting supplies and I wondered if postage was the problem or something else.

We have it tough here. We point and click, slap a credit card number down and a few days later we have a new Thomas The Train. It's a real hassle.

Here's hoping you get your stuff. [:D]

Jon - Las Vegas

[chrismay]

It would have to be worthwhile. My local newspaper offers an online versionthat you can subscribe to. Unfortunately, it is the SAME PRICE as the print version!

If you were going to print anything out, it costs you more that just buying it printed in the first place.

There are not many papers or magazines that have gotten this right yet, although it would be nice to see MR lead the way.

If you save money on distribution because you don't have to ship AND you save money on materials because you don't have to print it then how can anyone justify charging the same price regardless of how you subscribe. Just my 2 cents.

[dazzar]

Hi Andrew,
With the oz dollar up, my sub cost only $65.00 AU dollars . I notice at the newstands they are about 2 months behind the sub and nearly double the price,( this why I started to subscribe). I have also noticed that by this groups discussions at times, (someone may comment did you see a certain articile in the lateset MR magazine, a few modelers state we have not received ours as yet), meanwhile we have that edition already delivered in Australia, which is excellent sevice and half the price of buying it here in Australia at the newstands. I have been subscribing for a few years now and only once the plastic has been ripped. Though I must admit now and then the postie does fold it in half to fit into his bag on the bike. But with fast internet speeds these days your suggestion is food for thought.

[dinwitty]

I already emailed MR about digialy archiving back issues for sale on CD, they know, but are aware of how easy copying stuff is in the digital world, and they have no plans in doing so, I hope they archive the mags in digital form just for their own sake, as time goes the paper may finally wither.
I have a lot of old issues and although its good enough to peruse the paper, it would be safer to archive on a digital form and read the stuff in a digital form and keep the paper versions safe.
The thing is, ads and magazine sales pay for the circulation once around, and that is it. When a mag is a month old and no longer sells, how much resale worth is it?
There are X number of copies out there and thats it.
It just seems to me that an archived issue could get another resale value by selling archived issues on CD, it would help re-spread the valuable information the mags have. Is it practical to reprint old issues? I dont think so, except with new advertisers. I look at the copyright issue and I am totally aware of it, and it goes back to the money issue and the digital issue that one can flop the contents on the net. But there is one great advantage, and that is searching.
Trains here has a mag search and that is very cool, but I don't have all the issues
and I have to try to find back issues somewhere.
How do I find a collection dating back to the mag's original starting existance?
scrounge....or find a digital archived collection for sale, and ***, that would rock.

[JohnT14808]

I had a favorite subscription to a computer magazine go digital about three years ago. The publisher wanted to "charge" $1.00 for each issue, that the subscriber would have to log on to the publisher web site and do a massive download to get the digial copy.
I took the time to write to the publisher when they actually went digital. No choice was given..boom... they went digital. And they charged for the download.
I wrote and cancelled my subscription and demanded a refund of my subscription cost. Because there is one thing you can't do with your PC...and that is sit in the bathroom on the pot with your favorite magazine in hand. Who wants to sit there with a HOT laptop on your lap??
To date, I haven't missed that particular magazine that much. Now, if MR did that, I may have a problem.

[Anonymous]

Oh, from the title of the thread, it sounded like a done-deal.

The last thing I want to do after sitting at this bleeping computer for 10 to 16 hours trying to make a living, is to sit here a couple more reading what is perfectly acceptable and enjoyable in printed form.

This material is certainly in digital format before ink ever hits the paper, and I chuckle every time this thread comes and people ask how hard it is to scan it, as if that is the issue. One guy actually posted his proposal that his his company scan each issue fro $1.00 per page.

I'm sure MR's publishers are fully aware of the digital option. They are at least reminded of it every month or so when we discuss it here in another new thread. I don't expect you will see it in the near future, if only because of the likelihood of file-sharing abuse.

Wayne

[Anonymous]

I dont think file sharing abuse is the problem and I also think that the 1.00 per page may be wrong.

Ink and paper is very expensive, a research of modern printing techniques leads me to believe that the entire magazine issue for that month is already in electronic form ready to be sent to the printer. Literally.

Once the buyer pays the monthly fee or a hobby shop browser pays for the actual magazine that is income (Being rather simple minded here) for Kalmbach.

The problem I understand is the bandwidth use and other fees of maintaining a server for those thousands who probably would like to down load a issue. As for back issues, the paper slowly crumbles over time and eventually is lost. Then only Kalmbach's library and other modelers who maintain good collections practices will be the few left in the USA able to access MR from years, decades back.

My interest in this digital world related to MR is preserving the access ability for current and future generations who wonder for example... "who was John Allen?" they can then be able to access the material that was created when they were alive and written in thier time with all other things of that period.

Is this not beneficial to the hobby?

[Anonymous]

Benificial to the hobby, perhaps, but there is an issue of copyright & ownership in which rights to "preserving access ability for current & future generations" is strictly up to the owners of the material. A purchaser of a printed issue may preserve it as best he can and make that copy available to all who wi***o see it, but only the publisher/copyright owner can decide to make digitial copies for preservation and distibution to future generations.

Fear not. MR is not going to let the material disintigrate into dust.

Wayne

[dinwitty]

Copyright has a time limit, like 50 years, it might be renewable, issues in 1940s would already be determined public domain.
A lot of great info is wasted if not shared, and I have back issues of Trains/MR/RMC/RR back to the 40's.

Just sitting.

[lyctus]

My subscription issue MR arrives in first class condition every month, a month in front of the cover date and my mailbox slot says that no postie has to fold the magazine to get it to me. I subscribed to MR for many years back in the eighties and it would arrive a month after the cover date(i.e., 3 months after publication) so I am very impressed with todays deal !
I sure don't want a e-zine, I want to read, re-read, refer again and again to the latest issue, just like I do with issues 25 years old from time to time. And I want the convenience of the print format. And also, the subscription price is way cheaper than the unfortunate news stand price here in sunny Oz. BTW, what competitons were you planning on entering Andrew ? If you check out the fine print, entry is almost always restricted to US addresses...........they won't share their toys , those varmits !!!

[lyctus]

Jon from Vegas asked about the cost of getting trains from US mail order suppliers for Aussie model railroaders. Well, it costs me usually about $US25 -35 for post and handling but the cost of the landed goods is way cheaper than buying in Australia from the LHS, even if they had exactly what you wanted. I have real trouble hitting the LHS as I run a retail business myself, and as I have specific niche interests, it is as quick for me to e-mail off an order to Toy Train Heaven or Trainworld as it is to finally get away to the city to personnally shop,and be disapointed that they ain't got what I want. I do try and support the LHS with the basics stuff, but the hobby is really only affordable to me by e-shopping and paying the US Post big bucks for posting. And TTH can actually drop the stuff on my desk 8 days from order.V.Good. We pay advertised price in $US + postage, adjusted on the Visa statement into $A. At the moment, exchage rate is good so the deal works out well for us.