MR on CDROM?Somebody thought of that?

[Jacktal]

This is just an idea in my mind.Feasible?I'd say so.Practical?May be not so.But I'd like to know what other modeller's feelings would be,even better what MR would say about it.Here it is....

I and many other people have room restrictions.I,for one,would find very handy to be able to store my mags neatly,in a minimal space.
I could print the articles of interest only if I wi***o and MR would indulge our planet with huge paper savings.
I believe it would be more economical to "print" CD's than tons of paper plus all the ink involved.
I also believe that shipping a CD would be more economical too,because of it's much reduced weight and size compared to the regular mag.

It may not be such a great idea,but for myself at least,it would be a practical solution.MR could offer two subscription plans,regular mag or CDROM,and be able to offer cheaper prices and still have a profitable operation.And in the same time,reduce paper consumption,as our planet may eventually benefit from.What about it?

[Big_Boy_4005]

I think you'll see MR do that about 10 years after Time and News Week start doing it. It is an interesting thought though. Still photos could be enlarged, and it could even have video clips. Actually, there have been some quarterly "video magazines" on trains in the past. They took a lot of effort to produce, and met with only limited success. Maybe they were just ahead of their time.

[dano99a]

I think it's a great idea, though Big Boy is correct in saying that the production end would be a REAL production job but with the right team on staff they could easily pull it off.

They'd actually be able to make more money by selling ad space on the CD that could be animated (charge more for the ad space, kinda like on this site) the video capabilities would be a REAL welcome addition I'm sure. You could watch an article and then print the text version of it. The magazine's topics already lend themselves to video very well.

I think you would have to start it as an opt-in type of thing where existing subscribers could change their sub to CD instead of paper. Not all people have a decent machine and some people don't want to read an article on a computer screen so you'd still have your paper-back subs.

What do the rest of us think about it??
Thoughts anyone?

MR: I do this for a living (web/CD/video) If your interested in talking more, contact me [:)]

[Anonymous]

There have been several threads on this topic in the past. Evidently, the economics do not support this endeavor.

[Jacktal]

I can possibly be wrong here,but I believe MR is already "written/edited/framed-up" or whatever the right terms with the use of computers,isn't it.They probably have a virtual copy of the mags issues in their memory banks,even the before computers issues,so I don't think it would be so difficult and/or expensive to produce CD's from these datas.

On the other hand,the added possibility of adding videos and extra features is a super idea that hadn't crossed my mind,but certainly would increase the interest in the product indeed,that is if subscription fees remain stable.I believe MR can offer more this way by having advertisers pay for this,not the subscribers.I may be totally wrong here,but I think savings can be done with the CD option and the savings passed on to the subscribers either with lower fees or more content.Fees are high enough already.My thoughts.

[Anonymous]

For me I'd rather buy something professionally printed on THEIR paper and read it in my recliner, not at my computer. How many times would you run out of ink while printing that fabulous article? MR on CDROM would be a nice optional feature, but I would rather have a good ol' magazine in hand. I love the new technologies, but you notice people with TVs and radios still buy newspapers. I like to hold the thing in my had and browse it.

[Anonymous]

I remember that there was a thread about this topic and after some pages of endless bickering, they all came to the conclusion that there is nothing like the feel of old paper in your hands. But I still think having 70 years worth of MRs on CD is a good idea, it worked for National Geographic.

[Anonymous]

I am planning on doing that for my personal collection.

With about 7 complete years of issues, plus issues scattered over another 30 years, it would save considerable shelf space.

I already am in the processing of indexing the article in the magazines I already have with a little home-brewed Perl web server script that hooks into my web browser. Once I have the scanner and CD burner working, it won't be much of an extension to scan these articles then hyperlink my index to the CD drive. I'll save the project plans and drawings on paper and file them, but the rest can be scanned for ready access.

[MRTerry]

These are all interesting ideas, but Jim is right - the economics don't work at this time. We've looked at all of them pretty seriously. We are incorporating video via the website, and the new beginner special Model Trains Step by Step will come with a CD, but the costs are prohibitive for either offering the monthly magazine on CD or for putting back (i.e. pre-digital) issues on CD. Another problem is that we can actually offer better photo resolution in print than most screens generate. At the highest-resolution setting, my desktop display is only 1280 pixels wide. We print at 300 dots (or pixels) per inch, so you can see the problem.

I'll leave you with an observation, though: I'm convinced that CDs (or even DVDs) are a transitional technology between delivering information via paper and delivering it digitally.

That opens up some interesting possibilities, wouldn't you say?

Have a good weekend, and thanks for reading MR.

[Anonymous]

I have to agree with ebriley on this one. The nice thing about having the printed issiue is you can take it anywhere you want to. While with the CD-Rom version, you would have to have a computer available to read it. I myself am not that fond of computers and only use one becasue while I am in college, my teachers expect my work to be type written, and no one near by repairs old type writters, or sells the neccisary items needed to keep them running. I have abandoned CAD infavor of more traditional paper and pencil drafting as I feel a stroger connection to the project that way. Right now I have only saved my model railroad CAD software becasue it has a 3D simulator feature that I find is really handy in working out operational kinks in a track plan.

So give me the goold classic, old fashioned hard copy anyday.

James.

[brothaslide]

QUOTE: Originally posted by MReditor

These are all interesting ideas, but Jim is right - the economics don't work at this time. We've looked at all of them pretty seriously. We are incorporating video via the website, and the new beginner special Model Trains Step by Step will come with a CD, but the costs are prohibitive for either offering the monthly magazine on CD or for putting back (i.e. pre-digital) issues on CD. Another problem is that we can actually offer better photo resolution in print than most screens generate. At the highest-resolution setting, my desktop display is only 1280 pixels wide. We print at 300 dots (or pixels) per inch, so you can see the problem.

I'll leave you with an observation, though: I'm convinced that CDs (or even DVDs) are a transitional technology between delivering information via paper and delivering it digitally.

That opens up some interesting possibilities, wouldn't you say?

Have a good weekend, and thanks for reading MR.

As an owner of a document imaging company (www.twinimaging.com), the biggest challenge I find is helping people to understand that they don't need so much paper. Having a piece of paper in their hand (i.e. magazine) is like having a security blanket vs. a digital file. However, reading a copy of MR in bed is not so easily done with a digital version. You would need a laptop/tablet, etc. and this is not the most comfortable propsition.

[jfugate]

Doing a video model RR magazine would certainly reach the next generation better than static print media does. However, many dynamics change when you move to digital video media.

For one, anyone can write an article for a print media magazine, submit it, and get paid. Kind of hard to do that for digital video media. So that means the video producer needs to come on location to shoot the video footage, which quickly makes the economics go down the tubes on such an endeavor.

Face it, the Model RR hobby market is just too small for such a thing. For products that appeal to the masses, on-site video production can pay for itself, but not for this hobby.

Now if we could get circulation numbers like MR (100,000+) on a hobby magazine DVD then it might just work, but fat chance. Even the best videos today in the hobby only distribute to 10,000+, which is way too small to make this sort of constant regular production feasible.

I'm afraid its special video projects only for a long time to come. The economics and skill necessary to pull it off well just doesn't work out with such a niche topic.

[jslean]

I would like to see MR produce a CD or DVD of construction articles from MR in the fifties and sixties. There were some really interesting industries in some of those issues and some really good model builders such as Jack work and Robert Gilbert to name two. Articles on electronics and control systems could be omitted because they are obsolete.

John Slean

[Anonymous]

John--Amen to that request. How about all of the EL Moore articles?

[CBQ_Guy]

"MR on CDROM? Somebody thought of that?"

Yep, a few year ago, in fact. It was pointed out to them that Popular Geographic magazine, IIRC, has done that and other examples were also offered up to them.

In their "wisdom" they declined...

[KenK]

I would be interested in all the back issues on CD. One of my friends got his brother a CD
of all the back issues of Mad Magazine on CD. I keep hearing rumors of a similar thing
for Hot Rod Magazine. Maybe one of these days all the popular mags will do this.

[Anonymous]

MR on CD??? Never!!!!!!!!

Sweetie wont let me put a PC in the reading room!! [;)] [:0] [|(]

[CNJ831]

With regard to the idea of MR appearing on a CDROM monthly, I offer the following thought. I have bound volumes of MR from 1940 to the present. I can examine them at any time with no problems at all by just pulling them off the shelf.

Since I got started in computers I have I used punch cards, tapes, 5.25" floppies, 3.5" floppies, CDs and now DVDs, all within 35 years. Just how long do you figure before material on any media you are currently using becomes inaccessible to the latest up-to-dated machines?

I'll stick with hardcopy, thank you.

CNJ831

[Anonymous]

Something that might come out though down the line would be extras on a dvd or cd format. Music magazines do this all the time. They add a cd of songs with their magazine, or game magazines with game demos inside. It would be neat,say for anniversary issue, they added a extra dvd with specail features. One idea is after the national MRR meet take videos of all the new products and put them on a cd so we could watch all the new products. I know they probably looked into this but maybe not. It wouldn't be every magazine but it would start the trend towards a digital MRR mag.
Andrew
edit: my local newspaper tried putting out a cd version of the local paper. The idea was gone within a month because people didn't pick up on it. Hard copy is here to stay but I still like my extras idea

[Anonymous]

I would find an archive, on CD or DVD, an excellent idea. In fact, I know of several magazines which do this, notably SysAdmin and The Perl Journal, both of which have circulations much smaller than MR's (The Perl Journal has well under 50,000 subscribers, and SysAdmin is likely under 100,000).

Even if it was just back issues, this would come in quite handy. Pictures could be scaled down to web size (72dpi) with larger available, and drawings could be available in full resolution. There are several automated utilities for this work.Heck, I'd settle for 300dpi scans of the pages of older MR's, with nothing else done.

Of course, there are copyright issues. I doubt MR holds the electronic rights to much of it's content, notably anything written by a third party. This is likely the major stumbling block to such an endeavor. It's not an issue for National Geographic because all of it''s articles are 'Work for Hire', and thus the National Geographic Society holds the copyright, rather than the author, MR is not in this position, except for articles by then-current staff members.