Theos-Talk Archives (November 2008 Message tt00420)

PC Magazine, the well-known computer user magazine is going 100% digital
starting Jan 2009. In the announcement, the Editor lists the advantages of a
Digital Edition. They are:

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+++ It arrives in your e-mail automatically. Just click the link to either
download the latest edition, or to view it entirely online.

+++ It is portable. Once you've downloaded the issue (which takes a matter
of seconds), just power up your PC and view it anywhere, on an airplane, in
your hotel room, wherever.

+++ It looks like the PC Magazine you're familiar and comfortable with. I
know why you've stuck with us all these years. You like the magazine and you
enjoy the format. Our digital platform makes it possible to deliver that
same magazine experience on your PC. So you can "turn" the pages and view
our features and departments as you do now.

+++ It's lively and interactive. Our digital edition will eventually offer
rich media options within a magazine format. So, for example, next to the
product review you're reading in First Looks, you can easily view a
slideshow of that product. Or while you're reading a Solutions article on
Microsoft Outlook tips, our PC Labs experts can walk you through the steps
of some of those tips in a video.

+++ Yes, you can print it. You can print as many pages of the magazine as
you want.

+++ It's searchable. Here's something PC Magazine print cannot do. Enter a
search term and PC Magazine Digital will fill all the related pages.

+++ A live TOC: The table of contents is not only a place to find out what's
in this month's issue. You can use it to navigate directly to the stories
you want to read.

+++ It's Green: You can actually feel good about the amount of paper, ink,
and gas we'll all be saving by not producing and consuming a physical
magazine.

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MKR Comments:

Already the Christian Science Monitor has gone Digital. I think this
indicates the current trend in publishing. It is also to be noted that the
PC Magazine is not paranoid about readers copying or printing and is not
resorting to encrypt or other devices to defeat copying or printing. (For a
geek, all such efforts are futile since there are always workarounds!.)

I think TS, to start with, some National Sections, can pick up the idea and
make their national magazine available in Digital format in addition to
print format. Since, these days, most of the print setup is done on
computers, creating a pdf file can be done with a marginal increased effort.
Since there are going to be many members who do not have access to
computers, a hybrid situation has to be maintained for several years to
come.

I hope at least some of the more progressive Sections led by younger leaders
may pick up on the idea and try it.

MKR

THERE IS NO RELIGION HIGHER THAN TRUTH

PS: With the poor economy and escalating costs of printing, I wish a
situation arises where the sections may not have any alternative and force
them to move to digital format.


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