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How to access digital issues of MR?

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  • Member since
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Posted by kasskaboose on Monday, May 3, 2021 6:47 AM

Forgive the late arrival, but are print issues gone and the only way to get MR is online?  

Is the above instructions the way to access them or some other way?  I might call Kalmbach and ask.  It seems someone dropped the ball on this.

  • Member since
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  • From: AU
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Posted by rventura on Sunday, May 2, 2021 11:21 PM

I'VE WORKED IT OUT!


I've figured out how to download the PDF. 

  • Go to the archive.
  • Click on the "share" icon (the box with the up arrow), and click on "request desktop site".
  • Now you have another option on the tool bar: a copy icon (two overlapping pages).
  • click on this and the PDF loads, and you'll see the "open in" link at the bottom of the browser page.
  • select your favourite reader (I use SideBooks) and go from there.
Ron Ventura
Melbourne, Australia
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Posted by rventura on Sunday, May 2, 2021 11:00 PM

ricktrains4824

 

 
conrailguy

 

 
BigDaddy

David Popp has a video addressing some of the concerns, which is free

 

 

 

I couldnt find that video, can you tell me where it was at?

I just discovered its no longer Zinio - but I never got any communication that this was happening. Very poor form by Kalmbach. 

 

 

 

Ditto.

 


Hopefully, this link will work for you.

 

https://mrv.trains.com/series/mr-insider/2021/04/mrvp-and-trainscom--david-answers-your-questions

If not, got to the old MRVP page. It should be one of the "recent videos"

 

 

 

Ron Ventura
Melbourne, Australia
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Posted by ricktrains4824 on Saturday, May 1, 2021 1:06 PM

conrailguy

 

 
BigDaddy

David Popp has a video addressing some of the concerns, which is free

 

 

 

I couldnt find that video, can you tell me where it was at?

I just discovered its no longer Zinio - but I never got any communication that this was happening. Very poor form by Kalmbach. 

 

Ditto.

Ricky W.

HO scale Proto-freelancer.

My Railroad rules:

1: It's my railroad, my rules.

2: It's for having fun and enjoyment.

3: Any objections, consult above rules.

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Posted by chris.mincemoyer on Saturday, May 1, 2021 10:40 AM
If you're a Firefox user, search Firefox on how to delete site cookies. I have had issues logging in the past few day, cleared all trains.com cookies this AM and here I am.
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Posted by conrailguy on Friday, April 30, 2021 2:44 PM

BigDaddy

David Popp has a video addressing some of the concerns, which is free

 

I couldnt find that video, can you tell me where it was at?

I just discovered its no longer Zinio - but I never got any communication that this was happening. Very poor form by Kalmbach. 

  • Member since
    September 2020
  • 432 posts
Posted by JDawg on Friday, April 30, 2021 7:46 AM

mlehman

 

 
JDawg
Could I have that number please!

 

877-246-4879

 

 

Thanks!

JJF


Prototypically modeling the Great Northern in Minnesota with just a hint of freelancing. Smile, Wink & Grin

Yesterday is History.

Tomorrow is a Mystery.

But today is a Gift, that is why it is called the Present. 

  • Member since
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Posted by rventura on Friday, April 30, 2021 1:04 AM

I had the same problem others have had logging on to the new site. Wouldn't accept my credentials, pretended to change the password etc. several attempts to email Customer "Service" resulted in radio silence. After two weeks I got the "delete your cookies" response. I did that and, to my surprise it worked. 
Went to the June issue (on my iPad) and what a dog's breakfast that is. Because of browser furniture, the page is difficult to read because it's too small. The thumbnails aren't: it's just the cover page covering half the screen. Didn't they do any usability testing? And I can't download it to my iPad. I like reading MR on my iPad, and I can't always be certain to have internet access, so I liked to download each issue from Zinio to the Books app on my iPad. The reading experience was fine and I could take it with me without worrying about internet access. They really need to give us a download option with MR. I subscribe to another online only magazine and i can download every issue if I want to, and the format is easy to read, zoom in to etc. And in page links work so I can go to an article directly from the contents page, which also didn't seem to work for the new MR from my iPad. Very disappointing.

Customer Service? I'm in Australia so email is really the only option, but if you get any answer at all, it takes ages. Up until a couple years ago, CS was great. You got prompt replies and they sorted out your problem quickly. Those days seem to be long gone, sadly.

 I also sent an email to questions@trains.com as suggested in David Popp's video. I have specific questions that have not been answered, or even responded to, by CS so hoped that question@trains.com would actually get to him, or another MR staffer. So far no reply. Why am I not surprised?

End of rant.

Ron Ventura
Melbourne, Australia
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Posted by mlehman on Thursday, April 29, 2021 10:37 PM

JDawg
Could I have that number please!

877-246-4879

Mike Lehman

Urbana, IL

  • Member since
    September 2020
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Posted by JDawg on Thursday, April 29, 2021 6:03 PM

mlehman

 

 

 

 

 

So I tried contacting CS. Tried to use the email form, but it choked up, too. It did finally cough-up a phone number to speak with a human being. The CS rep was very nice, asked what broswer I was using (Firefox), but the ONLY solution she offered was to delete my entire browser history! Seriously!

I'm an old guy who has trouble remembering everything I need to do today, let alone what I was doing on my computer last week. If you delete browser history, you'll be forced to log in to every site you have open that requires it.

I told her that was an awfully big ask by Kalmbach and that I'd think about that. I seriously considered just letting my sub run out and walking away. But I was able to pull up my cookies and delete about 10 Kalmbach associated cookies. Then my latest password started working and I was able to get in to read my backed up issues.

FYI, YMMV, and good luck!

 

 

Could I have that number please!

JJF


Prototypically modeling the Great Northern in Minnesota with just a hint of freelancing. Smile, Wink & Grin

Yesterday is History.

Tomorrow is a Mystery.

But today is a Gift, that is why it is called the Present. 

  • Member since
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  • From: Shenandoah Valley
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Posted by BigDaddy on Thursday, April 29, 2021 5:33 PM

Overmod
the browser history and the list of saved cookies are two very different things ... and deleting the "browser history" alone wouldn't have anything to do with inability to log in, or anything else sensible about security.

True

I don't know how anyone can survive without a password manager.  I have 460 separate logins and passwords.  Some aren't very important, a forum I've visited once or twice or the local supermarket.  Some are real important, my bank, my broker, my social security and my doctors. 

Don't use the same password for multiple sites.

I use the free version of Lastpass.  Unfortunately they will not support computer and mobile unless you pay them. 

Bitwarden does both, I have not tried it.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

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    February 2021
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Posted by KitbashOn30 on Thursday, April 29, 2021 5:06 PM

mlehman
I'm an old guy who has trouble remembering everything I need to do today, let alone what I was doing on my computer last week. If you delete browser history, you'll be forced to log in to every site you have open that requires it. I told her that was an awfully big ask

With my messy health I totally get that.

Have subscription to print issue which was recently said to include digital.

Think I've succesfully gotten in to the digital twice.

Sad

Have come across a thing where someone described computers as "a useful burden" & I'll definitely concur with the 2nd half of that.


The 1st half ... I often really, really, wonder about that. 

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Posted by Overmod on Thursday, April 29, 2021 4:55 PM

mlehman
If you delete browser history, you'll be forced to log in to every site you have open that requires it.

As you subsequently note, the browser history and the list of saved cookies are two very different things ... and deleting the "browser history" alone wouldn't have anything to do with inability to log in, or anything else sensible about security.  I can't imagine what the customer service people could have been thinking (or, perhaps, smoking) when they gave that bit of advice to you...

Over the years a number of products have made it difficult to impossible to edit cookies to remove specific malfunctioning content, and their usual catchall 'advice' is the old delete-all-the-cookies excuse.  One of my 'favorites' was an older version of Internet Exploiter that "helpfully" kept access to the cookies 'live' ("It's not a bug, it's a FEATURE") while you were editing them.  More than one mercenary program would be periodically checking for the presence of a particular tracking cookie and, when it was not found, helpfully 'restored your functionality' from another location; it was like digital Whack-A-Mole trying to get rid of all the cookies before they could re-establish each other.  For all the problems Kalmbach has had, at least they never stooped that low.

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Posted by mlehman on Thursday, April 29, 2021 1:01 PM

chris.mincemoyer

Go to the Model Railroader homepage on Trains.com.  Hover over the menu for Model Railroader Magazine and then select Archive Access.

 

That works IF you are able to log in. Thanks for the tip though, as it's not especially obvious where to find things from all-too-busy kalmbach webpage.

But I still couldn't log in after a dozen of so apparently successful password changes.

So I tried contacting CS. Tried to use the email form, but it choked up, too. It did finally cough-up a phone number to speak with a human being. The CS rep was very nice, asked what broswer I was using (Firefox), but the ONLY solution she offered was to delete my entire browser history! Seriously!

I'm an old guy who has trouble remembering everything I need to do today, let alone what I was doing on my computer last week. If you delete browser history, you'll be forced to log in to every site you have open that requires it.

I told her that was an awfully big ask by Kalmbach and that I'd think about that. I seriously considered just letting my sub run out and walking away. But I was able to pull up my cookies and delete about 10 Kalmbach associated cookies. Then my latest password started working and I was able to get in to read my backed up issues.

FYI, YMMV, and good luck!

Mike Lehman

Urbana, IL

  • Member since
    July 2020
  • 50 posts
Posted by chris.mincemoyer on Sunday, April 25, 2021 12:28 PM

Go to the Model Railroader homepage on Trains.com.  Hover over the menu for Model Railroader Magazine and then select Archive Access.

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Posted by Overmod on Sunday, April 25, 2021 10:26 AM

It appears Kalmbach's working 'best answer' is to cancel existing subscriptions and take the trains.com option (at $83.88 in advance for a year).  Other threads have discussed difficulties with receiving the trains.com digital versions, lack of effective archive indexing so far, and other issues.

Be aware that as far as I know, no version of Firefox later than 61.0 will work with the Kalmbach PM system.  I believe this is a security-update consequence that will be resolved when the full changes to the 'forum experience' are finished.

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Posted by JDawg on Sunday, April 25, 2021 8:23 AM

Does anyone know how to access the issues though. I have the April issue through zinio but that's it. My account is active and paid and it confirms that I am good through April of 2022. I don't have a problem getting into my account and I changed the password to be sure, but no luck. I can't find the place to just read the new article, how do I get to the viewing platform!?

JJF


Prototypically modeling the Great Northern in Minnesota with just a hint of freelancing. Smile, Wink & Grin

Yesterday is History.

Tomorrow is a Mystery.

But today is a Gift, that is why it is called the Present. 

  • Member since
    February 2008
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Posted by maxman on Sunday, April 25, 2021 6:54 AM

mlehman
Tried it again and still no luck. Hmmm. Maybe later in the morning.

Yes, I've received the same incorrect credentials message several times over the past couple days.  I just go away and try again later.

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Posted by mlehman on Sunday, April 25, 2021 5:39 AM

The site came back up and I was able to "update" my password, although I think I really didn't change it, simply entered it someplace new? In any case, after that it told me it didn't recognize the password I'd just entered. Tried it again and still no luck. Hmmm. Maybe later in the morning...

I'm a couple of issues behind right now, so hoping to catch up someday.

It might have been helpful for Kalmbach to have sent emails with links that would have tekn you either directly to your new/revised/whatever account or at least to the page to sign-up/sign-in with details to ease this process.

Mike Lehman

Urbana, IL

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    March 2013
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Posted by Colorado Ray on Saturday, April 24, 2021 10:32 PM

i understand that all issues after April are only available through Trains.com.  I called customer service yesterday and canceled all my digital subscriptions to MR, CT, Trains and MRVP since all of those are included in the Trains.com membership.  I was told that if you wanted a print copy of a magazine you had to separately subscribe to that magazine in addition to Trains.com.  

So today I subscribed to Trains.com.  I was on my desktop computer and after two attempts I was able to log in  - the first attempt said it didn't recognize my password. I use Firefox browser on my desktop.  

This evening I have been trying to log in to Trains.com from my iPad using Safari.  I continually get the password error.  When I tried to use the "contact us" or "support" links, all I got was a message saying that Safari couldn't establish a secure connection.  Very frustrating and I guess I'll have to wait until Monday to try and contact customer service again.

Ray

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Posted by BigDaddy on Saturday, April 24, 2021 10:19 PM

It's definitely not zinio.  I've lost track of the number of threads on the new site and I even posted a link to the latest issue.  I have on idea which thread that was.

David Popp has a video addressing some of the concerns, which is free.

Henry

COB Potomac & Northern

Shenandoah Valley

  • Member since
    September 2020
  • 432 posts
How to access digital issues of MR?
Posted by JDawg on Saturday, April 24, 2021 10:00 PM

I am a print and digital subscriber. How do I access my digital issues? Is it still through zinio?

JJF


Prototypically modeling the Great Northern in Minnesota with just a hint of freelancing. Smile, Wink & Grin

Yesterday is History.

Tomorrow is a Mystery.

But today is a Gift, that is why it is called the Present. 

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