Do you like digital woodworking magazines?

I do not, when I read an article and look at plans I like it much better printed on paper and in my hands. This isn’t me resisting technology, I just find reading on a computer monitor uncomfortable. Several subscriptions I have offer free access to digital editions, I haven’t used any of them. I have accessed a few articles on projects that I didn’t have in print….but then I printed them off and used them.

I do not favor digital and as of late have quit the print also. Found that most of the magazines that I received did not have enough useful info. There is a plethora of patterns on the web or else suppliers where they can be ordered.

Nothing like lying on a bed holding a paper magazine above my head; thumbing pages back and forth; underlining certain comments; making my own diagrams with pencil and paper; discovering the joys of creativity.
I avoid micro-chippy things.

I see the argument for both. I’m an IT guy but with an aviation background so I can see both sides. I like the idea of a print magazine in my hands like Fred Hargis mentioned above. You can put them on a shelf in your shop for easy reference. However, you can also do that with a laptop if you don’t mind cleaning the dust off at the end of the day. You get access to a TON more ideas and whatever you can think of with pictures of stuff with google and you can figure out your own personal scale. Print magazines are awesome because you never know what you’re getting in the mail so it’s kinda like a minor Christmas morning when you get one. With print, you know you’re getting good advice rather than some hack with a nice website. Plus my wife kind of frowns on my taking my laptop to the can……she seems to think I look at other kinds of stuff in there….sheesh!

i have tried both and like the print magazine better. this may be due to the device that i used to view them on. it is a nook color just for reference. it is a 7" tablet. the problem i find is that either the print is too small or i zoom in and occasionally flip a page prematurely. i tried to use the article view mode and run in too the problem of being the type that depend on picture or the magazine will reference a picture, and i can’t see it. the thing i liked most about the digital is the amount of room they take up on my shelf, none.

Stumpy,

“Would you subscribe to a magazine that was ONLY digital?”
NEVER

I like being able to page back and forth and actually see what I’m looking at. It’s much easier to get the printed version at the right distance and still see other things on the page. By the time I get the computer page enlarged enough to see, I’m missing 90% of the page and I don’t like shifting back and forth to read it.

For all the young folks out there, the digital versions probably don’t create the same problems as those of us whose eyesight is past its prime.

I’m like Fred: if I don’t have the information in print and have to access it online, I print it if I’m really wanting to use it.

Another major problem at this point is that we have dial-up. I would probably not even be able to access the magazine contents before timing out.

L/W

dial up? I thought that was dead. I feel your pain.

I dislike digital editions. The interface is always “not a magasine” and I rather like flipping the pages back and forth and thumbing about. A mag is a Sunday treat with coffee. I might also add that I’ve spent a good thirty years in various server management roles and still like a book and a magasine over digital edition, or possibly because of that.

I like the PAPER in hand. Just remember when the “Kindle” digital reader/tablet came out and Amazon “reached out” and deleted a couple of the very first digital book sales from customers’ tablets AFTER they had paid for the downloads and were in their own homes!

And then later, there was a big brew-ha over Amazon censoring Mark Twain’s TOM SAWYER and the “N” word, all done REMOTELY again!

Bottom line is the ability for companies/governments/religious-institutions to post-censor (after the fact) anything they want and at any time, should be a warning for us all. We do not need THAT kind of “thought police.”

Hard copy forever, IMO.

That Tom Sawyer thing was really beyond the pale.

NO

NO

& NO

No

I like the digital and I have currently no subscriptions to any paper copy woodworking magazines. I find that much of the content in these magazines is (necessarily) repetitive even though new stuff is included, and I don’t like paying for the same content over and over. I used to get very excited when I received my subscriptions in the mail, but not for the last few years, since there is so much available on the net and I can search for specific things I’m looking for, including all the how-to videos available. The (slight) disadvantage to this approach is that I don’t have an updated reference library at hand, but honestly I don’t really miss it. Another point is that most magazines are not what they used to be since they are now putting a lot more emphasis on their Websites.

I agree with you Mike40. Had I not been “gifted” a multitude of various WW magazine titles, ALL from ~1985—2000, then I might have felt a bit different about the digital issues. Plus, I was able to extend my WOOD magazine collect up through 2010 by a gift from another WWr making a complete set from 1985-2010, or 202 issues (25yr worth). And NOW, with the WWWeb gift of a 12month subscription to WOOD, I am again adding even more WOOD magazines!

I also agree about the repetitive nature of the “stuff” (projects), so keeping an old collection makes sense to me, since I have only been WWing for 4yr thus far. Having an entire Title’s collection sure makes using their/WOOD’s online INDEX productive.

I do have to point out that SOME WW Titles prohibit you from “using” their online index unless you are an active subscriber. Now THAT ticks me off! That amounts to actually attempting to make their very own Magazine Title hard copy worthless, because you are not allowed to see their “index” to look things up! What a cheap shot! I won’t name those titles here, but rest assured that some are major WW titles pulling a cheap shot on their customers! And THAT is not FINE with me at all.

At least WOOD still provides access to their index online. THANKs WOOD!

Yep, its pretty sorry when a company invests money and resources in a publication or product and has an expectation of a financial return. What are they thinking? Don’t they know who WE are?

I doubt it, but then again, that is JUST me… ;-)

THANKs WOOD!

And I am FINE with HAT… ;-)
Have a “fine” life for those who can afford it…

I’m new to wood working and I can’t really say that I’d be happy with a Digital only version of the magazines. I’ve been trying to get into the Ebook arena and so far haven’t been really impressed. As some people have mentioned prior, it could have something to do with what you’re reading it on. I’m trying to use my Galaxy Note2 and it just isn’t big enough. I read some of the books on my desktop computer and it works OK, but I’m tied to my desk.

I just don’t see electronic editions as being a tangible thing. Unlike Paper, that can be damaged by tearing, burning, coffee spills, etc, electronic editions can be lost by typical electronic mishaps. You’d need to treat it the same as you would you family photos, and other valuable things that are commonly kept on computers these days. Backups, of backups of backup of other backups. They’re just not as easily accessible as the printed page.

I’m 44, so I guess that kinda places me at the cusp of those who do and those who don’t like E-everything. I still like turning the page. I do have an app on my phone called Moon+ Reader pro that has many aspects that people like to use when reading a paper book. It can highlight, allow me to make notes on the page and book marks where I left off. But, it still doesn’t completely give that held in had, page turning ease. If I’m 200 pages into a book and want to go back to something in the 1st chapter, with the book, I just flip to the 1st chapter. With the Ebook, I have to swipe to the side, choose an option to view, select the chapter I want to go back to and select it. then if it’s a few pages into that chapter, I have to electronically flip through those pages till I get to what I wanted to read. With a paper book, You’ve typically got 2 pages presented in front of you to read at a time. The Ebook only presents 1. There is the option, at times, to scroll continuously without real pagination and that’s not bad. And, most importantly, you don’t need electricity to read a printed page. Unless you’re reading at night and it’s dark..