magazines vrs cd's

larry merlau

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Location
Delton, Michigan
ok let say we have mag we like and its available to be had in cd form for all of the back issues. you purchase this cd,, now do you pitch the hard copy? and what about the future issues,, do you get free up dates to the cd you have??
whats your thoughts on this?
 
I just received the WJ CD, have not tried it yet. I will be ordering the FW and WOOD CD's someday soon. I had over 30' of shelf space devoted to magazine storage. You've been to my home, there is just not enough room here to dedicate that much space to something that could be shrunk to a single CD. Unfortunately, the people at Shop Notes and Woodsmith have told me they have no current plans for converting. Pity. That would save another 4' of shelf space.

I put mine on Craig's list and sold all the WOOD and FW in a few days as complete lots. Not much money, about $75 for both.
 
When 'the big one' hits, I can still read my magazines . . . at least during the daylight hours ;-) I believe the CD "is what it is" and updates are not included. I have been sorely tempted many times to go that route. I would have to be confident that the content had been formatted for PC reading. That is; it would have to be searchable, indexed and have sub-tables of content for each issue. If it is just a big wad of PDF's, that can be pretty cumbersome to navigate. I would ask for reviews of the particular collection you are looking at. I know Fine Woodworking's first effort netted them a lot of returns and a fair amount of bad press; bad images, fonts too small, no search capability, etc. I too would be interested in hearing if the mags have stated taking this more seriously.
 
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bill satko has gotten the FWW one and he likes it, claims it has a good search engine glenn, but i can see myself reading a magazine alot easier than searching and reading web page..its just tnot the same i can read and watch the game and cant do that with a cd..
 
I've got FWW and WOOD on CD, well, I've got them on my hard drive actually.

I really like getting the magazines. But instead of CD's I'd prefer to just be able to pay a subscription and get all the historical and current content on their website. I do that with FWW and really like that.

Which begs the question, why get the CD and do the online at the same time? :dunno:

I only subscribe to 4 now. FWW, Wood, Shop Notes and Wood Smith. But I like all of them.

Personally, what I really wish is that I could get an electronic copy with each magazine. I tried scanning them and it just got too tedious.
 
I should add that there is no real substitute to holding the paper in your hands, marking the page, or taking it into the shop to double check your layout, etc. HOWEVER, for me it has become a matter of necessity - it's the space. I still receive about 6 different WW magazines a month, but now I will keep them only as long as necessary - until the next CD comes out. I REALLY wish it were not so, they are like old friends, but I must make room.:(:(
 
bill satko has gotten the FWW one and he likes it, claims it has a good search engine glenn, but i can see myself reading a magazine alot easier than searching and reading web page..its just tnot the same i can read and watch the game and cant do that with a cd..

With FWW, I intend to maintain both my magazine subscription and keep updating my DVD version. Why? I still enjoy reading a physical copy, but the research value of the cd is invaluable. I can search for everything concerning sliding dovetails and quickly view the results.

I really like getting the magazines. But instead of CD's I'd prefer to just be able to pay a subscription and get all the historical and current content on their website. I do that with FWW and really like that..

I accidently found out that the online content is limited, as it does NOT contain all the articles that were written. For some copyright reason, a considerable amount of the older articles are not available online, but are available on the cd. I was searching for a specific article but could not find it and found out by emailing FWW about this issue. Shortly after that, I bought the cd.

FWW email responses concerning my questions below:

" Finewoodworking.com has hundreds of select article from Fine Woodworking; Not ever article is available. Before August 2007, select articles were put online. Now every article from August 2007 forward is put online."

"Regarding the DVD and online, the DVD is a different type of media and they were able to get the rights to put many more articles on the DVD. Out of 208 issues, only 26 pages total are omitted (on the DVD) due to copyright issues."
 
With FWW, I intend to maintain both my magazine subscription and keep updating my DVD version. Why? I still enjoy reading a physical copy, but the research value of the cd is invaluable. I can search for everything concerning sliding dovetails and quickly view the results.



I accidently found out that the online content is limited, as it does NOT contain all the articles that were written. For some copyright reason, a considerable amount of the older articles are not available online, but are available on the cd. I was searching for a specific article but could not find it and found out by emailing FWW about this issue. Shortly after that, I bought the cd.

FWW email responses concerning my questions below:

" Finewoodworking.com has hundreds of select article from Fine Woodworking; Not ever article is available. Before August 2007, select articles were put online. Now every article from August 2007 forward is put online."

"Regarding the DVD and online, the DVD is a different type of media and they were able to get the rights to put many more articles on the DVD. Out of 208 issues, only 26 pages total are omitted (on the DVD) due to copyright issues."

Very good info Bill. I totally understand the tactile feel of holding the magazine in your hands, etc... The one thing I haven't done yet is to look at using a tablet device for reading the articles. I've pretty much switched over to books on the table at this point, and could see that being a good way to have portable content to read.

For working on projects though, nothing would be having a paper copy, either printed or in magazine form.
 
I'm pretty sure that if I went the DVD route, that I would end up printing much of it because I need/want something in my hand that I can take to the shop or the throne and write on if I want to.:rofl::rofl: In my case, why not get the paper version in the first place. On the down side, I am running out of storage for mags--they are in paper boxes in the den, a bookcase in the shop is full of them, etc. One of these days LOML is going to say it's me or the magazines; I think it should have happened before now.:(
 
The one thing I haven't done yet is to look at using a tablet device for reading the articles. I've pretty much switched over to books on the table at this point, and could see that being a good way to have portable content to read.

For working on projects though, nothing would be having a paper copy, either printed or in magazine form.

I am only going to maintain both digital and hardcopy for FWW for sentimental reasons and as Glenn suggests just in case everything comes crashing down. I have eliminated holding on to my other subscriptions and intend to go completely digital to save space as Rennie has.

I too would like to switch to a tablet at some point and be able to contain my entire library on that. I actually read a real newspaper today. It seemed so strange. Part of me misses that.
 
I had a complete set of FWW, all the way back to issue 1. When the CD came out, I eventually sold the paper issues. Just didn't have room to store them.

BTW, FWW offers an update each year for a very nominal price - maybe $20. The new disc is really the full set of magazines, not just the ones for the past year. So you can pass along your old CD to someone who doesn't mind that it's missing the last year. If they'll pay you $20 for the old CD your update is free.

Mike
 
When I read the thread I made some notes for a response. Other people have covered all of the points I made.

One of the mags put out a "Pay only if you keep it" DVD on building a cabinet. My thought was: I am down in the shop. I want to know how deep to make the dado. My computer is upstairs in my office. Actually that might not be a bad idea. I could buy the CD and cancel my gym membership. I would come out ahead financially. I would get my exercise going up and down stairs because I have a short memory.

Hummm. Was that 1/16 or 3/16? By the time I got upstairs I would have forgotten the question so I would have to come back down to the shop to figure out what I wanted to know. By the time I was back upstairs again, I would have forgotten the question again. I mean, by the time you do all of that who needs to go to the gym?

Enjoy,
Jim
 
I was pretty sure Shop Notes released a DVD with issues a few years back. I don't know how often they do, but thankfully I have library access. I remember all those computer and programming magazines my father saved when we were kids. Just TONS of freaking paper.
Going to an electronic subscription, sucks, IMHO, because they don't have it in PDF format (you download and keep what you subscribed to, doesn't go away if your subscription lapses).
I tend to keep magazines I like for a year, a few more if an article really interests me (rare example, Maximum Linux and their MP3 issue; too bad that magazine went under when I subscribed). Give me it on some format, where it can be scanned/stored in my computer network and accessible and printable as I need it. (keeps discs from being scratched, available on any computer on my network, that I am at)
 
My thoughts currently are no magazines at all.

I find i already have more than ample projects to get at that are not being got at because i get motivated to build xyz each time i get one of these mags. Inevitably something causes a halt and it goes to the side to source or wait for some reason. So until i get to the stage where i have depleted my list and am waiting for something interesting i dont bother with any anymore and have not missed them. I recycle my old ones.

I find just reading only this forum is more than enough inspiration and way better instruction and solutions for my problems than a magazine has given me.

Never got one word of advice from my magazines and never got one word of encouragement either.

After reading this thread i learned something about myself. I guess i am stuck in the past despite my life long exposure to tech field.

I like the paper. As was said you can take it to the throne and somehow i just dont see myself reading a tablet on the throne or for that matter lying on a couch.


No one has mentioned it but are the CDs completely free of advertising?

That would be a requirement for me to get my feet wet. I am becoming very anti the commercial pitching up in everything. I know the argument that its what makes it possible but hey we manage here without any pop ups and side colums etc and its so cool to have a place like this.

The other thing i noticed that put me off magazines is the amount of recycled information. I dont mean the actual article but hey dovetails are dovetails lets move on i want to learn more than using Porter Cables new fandangled jig to cut them.

This is where i feel a guy like Chris Schwarz will be missed at PW.

Also i think FWW has probably got the lead in the content side right. I dont envy their job of having to appease as broad a spectrum of the audience as possible. But it does dilute the content.

One would think that with all the people participating in woodworking today some more specialization in the mag area would be possible rather than having so many mags all throwing up a broad array of media in the hope of attracting as many of us as possible.

I would like a mag devoted to design. So we can get away from strictly square box designs and raised panels etc to something more elegant and artistic.

There is way too much of the content driven by advertising and that fundamentally puts me off. Articles get short circuited to fit in an advert and loose the detail we get here when we ask a question of someone in a post. Dont think i dont understand the why its done. Dont mean i have to be happy with it.:) I can still wish for difference.
 
I was pretty sure Shop Notes released a DVD with issues a few years back.
Following is the email I received earlier this week from Woodsmith/Shopnotes:

Hi Rennie,

Thank you for writing us about back issues on CDs or DVDs. There are several things that must be considered before we can move forward with such a venture:

This would be a business decision, so we must consider the costs involved as well as the benefit to the company and the customer alike. Many agree that CDs and DVDs are very economical to produce these days, but unfortunately, it's not always the material cost alone. We must consider the labor (available staff) and other effort that goes into the conversion from one format to another.

In addition, issues originally produced prior to 2000 were not digital in format and would require time and effort to bring them up to current processes/software. Simply scanning issues and putting together a digital version may not provide the best answer or one that we are comfortable with.
Offering the back issues as an online download, either of the entire issue or single articles; I.e. pay for what you want. This would be similar in nature to our PlansNow content, but would cover the entire range of issues and content.

[FONT=&quot]We thank you for your patience as we resolve the issue about issues.[/FONT]
 
I bought the "Best of Farmshow" dvd and could not for the life of me navigate it. Got very frustrated, made a nice target but wasn't very durable there either!!
I have cut back on my magazines. I cut mine apart. If there is an article or build I am interested in, I put it in a file folder and now have a nice compilation of more projects than I could ever build in a lifetime. Yet the new magazines hold such interesting tidbits like this newest WOOD magazine about oil paint for a clear durable outside finish. So for the new information, tidbits and nudges to go to the shop, I'll keep a few subscriptions but like Rob, receive way more here than in any mag.

Oh, and I don't have a computer/monitor in the bathroom.:doh:
 
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