Anyone have a digital magazine subscription?: Off-topic discussion forum: Grassroots Motorsports Magazine

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Aug. 6, 2010 12:47 p.m. fifty Reader

I'm looking at a subscription fro Racecar Engineering. In paper form it's annually ~$100 (yikes), in digital form it's $35.

I really like the content of this mag, but what I like about magazines is reading them in bed, on my lunch break, on the can etc. What's everyone's experience with the "reading experience"?

I don't want to buy an e-reader BTW.
Aug. 6, 2010 2:16 p.m. BoxheadTim Dork

What sort of hardware were you planning to read it on? Laptop?
Aug. 6, 2010 2:52 p.m. mtn SuperDork

If its a magazine, I need to flip pages.
Aug. 6, 2010 4:58 p.m. ddavidv SuperDork

I have a subscription to Model Railroad Hobbyist. It's the only one I get like that, and I can't say I mind it as much as I expected. This may be due to them designing this specific to web viewing vs making a PDF of a paper magazine. It fills the computer screen properly, is easy to page through and has numerous clickable links. Pretty slick, plus they can add video and 360 rotational photos within it also. If I had to read a PDF where the pages did not fit fully on the screen, I wouldn't do it.
Aug. 6, 2010 5:54 p.m. fifty Reader

BoxheadTim wrote:

What sort of hardware were you planning to read it on? Laptop?

Right. Lap top, desk top or possibly print out.

I printed a sample and it's not as high-res as the paper magazine, Not a huge deal, but when it's a technical photo the higher resolution helps.
Aug. 6, 2010 7:07 p.m. mikeatrpi New Reader

ddavidv wrote: I have a subscription to Model Railroad Hobbyist.

Wow, thanks for that!! A subscription? It seems to be free? I just downloaded as many issues as they had.

I'll be up late tonight...
Aug. 7, 2010 5:38 a.m. ddavidv SuperDork

mikeatrpi wrote:

ddavidv wrote: I have a subscription to Model Railroad Hobbyist.

Wow, thanks for that!! A subscription? It seems to be free? I just downloaded as many issues as they had.

I'll be up late tonight...

Yeah, it's free. How cool is that? The ads pay for the magazine. Their marketing strategy is unique to say the least. I make it a point to click any ads that I'm interested in so the product keeps coming.
Aug. 7, 2010 11:33 a.m. Platinum90 SuperDork

I had a sub to European Car, mainly because it was 8 bucks for the year...I didn't mind it. I probably would have picked up at least two of those issues from the news stand, and this way, it saved me a few bucks. I didn't renew though, that was about a year ago...
Aug. 7, 2010 11:39 a.m. M030 HalfDork

mtn wrote:

If its a magazine, I need to flip pages.

+1

One of the things I enjoy about magazines is their tactile quality. I will never give up my hard copies. Ever.
Aug. 7, 2010 1:14 p.m. fastEddie Dork

I thought this was humorous but well handled by the fine folks at Make.

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/how-to_hack_the_make_digital_editio.html