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In Reply to: RE: I face a decison on whether to drop Stereophile altogether. posted by fmak on August 08, 2012 at 08:27:28
Well, maybe I spoke too soon, I just realized September was my last paid addition of Stereophile, they always send several renewal notices months in advance, but not this year. It's starting to appear as if the paper mag is no longer important to them. To bad this would have been my twentieth consecutive renewal. I'll likely break down and tell them , but maybe I'll wait a bit and see if they notice or care.
Follow Ups:
It stinks (used to be good on Reader 3)
> It stinks...
As I explained to you before, FMAK, your disappointment stems from the fact
that you read the Zinio edition on your PC. Unfortunately, both the print
magazine and the two electronic editions, Zinio and Apple Newsstand, are
designed for a vertical form factor, ie, one that is taller than it is
wide. This translates well to the reading experience on an iPad but is
less-than-optimal for PC monitors, which have a horizontal form factor.
I am afraid that there is nothing I can do about this.
> used to be good on Reader 3
I have used both Zinio Reader 3 and Reader 4 on both my MacBook and my
PC and I don't notice any appreciable difference between them. What
specifally don't you like about Reader 4 compared with Reader 3?
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
John, the problem I have is that I get Scientific American and TAS in PDF on a computer monitor and have little trouble with the mismatch in aspect ratios because it's easy to go into single page mode and scroll rapidly through the document. Zinio, on the other hand, is such a nightmare on the PC that I curse every time I try to read an issue of Stereophile, and end up reading only about half of what I ordinarily would. If you turn on the zoom, it's slow as molasses. With the latest issue (or version of Air, since there seems to be a new one every month), I couldn't even get it to remember my zoom settings. Just going through the measurements sidebars in a single review, which require a higher zoom than the rest of the page now that the charts have gotten smaller, was a complete nightmare as a result.I could go on, e.g., about the fact that when you try to get the issue when you receive the notification email it always craps out -- I've learned to wait a day before going to it.
I say this not because I get a kick out of griping, but because I can't imagine that you want you readers to have this kind of experience, even if relatively few of us read it on the PC.
Edits: 08/17/12
This is an interesting admission by JA, who previously had implied that Zinio was OK on a PC. I have said all the way along that Adobe Air is substandard and that Zinio went ahead to 4 w/o adequate preparation for its Reader software.
So, we have Stereophile opting for a web format designed for MACs only. Sad.
JA, please just sort out your International ordering system after several years of problems and let readers choose how to subscribe.
I regard it as totally unacceptable that a subscribing agent for a 'major' magazine should ask a subscriber to email credit card information, or to reply on a little slip with readers personal details on them to be posted by mail.
Clearly they have never heard of, or don't care about identity theft.
Why doesn't Stereophile and other US magazines allow Amazon to sell internationally, or enable eBay subscription of the paper magazine?
" So we have Stereophile opting for a web format designed for Macs only " WHAT ELSE IS THERE ?
> This is an interesting admission by JA, who previously had implied that
> Zinio was OK on a PC.Actually, no I didn't imply that. I have said all along that the Zinio
and Apple Newsstand editions follow the paper magazine in having a
vertical form factor, and are thus less-optimal for reading on desktop
computers, whether they be PCs or Macs.> I have said all the way along that Adobe Air is substandard and that
> Zinio went ahead to 4 w/o adequate preparation for its Reader software.I ask again: what is the specific problem you are having with Adobe Air?
And if there are problems, shouldn't your beef be with Adobe, not
Stereophile?> So, we have Stereophile opting for a web format designed for MACs only.
> Sad.I don't understand this statement. The discussion has been about the Zinio
edition of Stereophile, which is identical in appearance and presentation
to the paper magazine and loosk the same on PCs and Macs. Stereophile's
Web format is independently designed, and the content of our website,
while mostly the same as that of the paper magazine, does have some major
differences. The Stereophile website looks identical on both PCs and
Macs, as well as on iPads and iPhones, but looks very different to the
paper, iPad, and Apple newsstand editions.> Why doesn't Stereophile and other US magazines allow Amazon to sell
> internationally...I don't know but I will ask. I suspect that it is something to do
with copyright.> or enable eBay subscription of the paper magazine?
Again, I will ask and get back to you.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
Edits: 08/18/12
> I have said all along that the Zinio and Apple Newsstand editions follow > the paper magazine in having a vertical form factor, and are thus
> less-optimal for reading on desktop computers, whether they be PCs or Macs.
In all fairness, though, I find it easy to read Scientific American and TAS on a PC despite the fact that they also have a vertical page format. The difference is that a PDF reader working from a downloaded file is fast. HTML is fine as well, if displayed in a real browser rather than AIR.
> Why doesn't Stereophile and other US magazines allow Amazon to sell
> internationally...
I don't know but I will ask. I suspect that it is something to do
with copyright.
> or enable eBay subscription of the paper magazine?
Again, I will ask and get back to you
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
This belongs to you. If Amazon sells in the US, why not in Europe?
They sell anything and everything here.
> > > Why doesn't Stereophile and other US magazines allow Amazon to sell
> > > internationally...
> >
> > I don't know but I will ask. I suspect that it is something to do
> > with copyright.
>
> This belongs to you.
As I said, I will ask. As editor of Stereophile, I am not responsible for
the magazine's circulation, distribution, or subscriptions. The first two
are handled by a division of our parent company in Florida, the last by
an independent company. So I cannot answer you immediately. My
apologies if that frustrates you.
> If Amazon sells in the US, why not in Europe?
> They sell anything and everything here.
I conjectured it was something to do with copyright because, as far as I
can tell from my travels in Europe, sales of other copyrighted products
are handled by independent Amazon companies in each European country.
In the UK, for example, it appears that you have to purchase CDs from
amazon.co.uk, not the American parent company. But I don't have recent
experience and perhaps I am incorrect in this conjecture. Perhaps you
could clarify the situation: as you live in Europe, from whom do you
purchase CDs, the American Amazon site or your local Amazon site?
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
I buy from amazon uk, de etc. UK Amazon is happy to ship all over Europe.
I cannot see why there should be a bamboo cutain between Amazon US and Amazon UK for magazine subscriptions. eBay US is happy to sell me anything that is listed, although I have to say that there are relatively few US companies who ship at sensible costs via USPS which I have found to be excellent.
> I cannot see why there should be a bamboo curtain between Amazon US and
> Amazon UK for magazine subscriptions.
Here is the explanation I received from Source Interlink Media's VP of
Consumer Marketing:
"[Overseas readers] can purchase the digital edition from amazon, but due
to additional postage costs for the print edition, we do not sell print
through amazon. If they want to order the print edition, they can go to
our website and order directly through us at the below link, [this price]
includes additional postage..."
https://www.circsource.com/store/Subscribe.html?offerId=3571&countryCode=intl
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
> > I cannot see why there should be a bamboo curtain between Amazon US and
> > Amazon UK for magazine subscriptions.
>
> Here is the explanation I received from Source Interlink Media's VP of
> Consumer Marketing...
Perhaps I am feeling out-of-sorts this evening. It is now a week since
I posted a response from our circulation department to fmak's question,
a question he had asked repeatedly and one that I assumed he felt strongly
about, having started a related thread. But he hasn't paid me the
courtesy of even acknowledging my response, let alone replying to it.
Look guys, I try to answer questions out me on this forum as best I can,
but I am beginning to wonder why I do so when the person putting the
question to me appears to be nothing more than a troll. :-(
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
"But he hasn't paid me the
courtesy of even acknowledging my response, let alone replying to it."
Because to some there is no pleasure in having their whinging curtailed.
You've answered fmak's circulation queries, but that's not good enough John.
Only an admission of guilt on your part (and an apology) will sate his needs.
Just take full responsibility now. You'll feel better.
You should check with Amazon on that. I tried to order a sound card from Amazon UK because it wasn't available here, and they wouldn't sell. In that case, their concern was likely with distribution rights and the inequitable pricing policies that companies have, whereby a product can be much more expensive in one region than another. I imagine it isn't worth their while to work this out with the manufacturer or distributor for every retail product they sell, so they simply black out purchases from other regions. In this case, I imagine it has to do with rights management and copyright.
As I understand it, most original content is owned by the creators, e.g. an author or photographer. Unless their work was a "work for hire" this would not be the magazine. The creator sells rights to his content by a contract which gives the magazine a license to use the content in certain ways. Often, these contracts will include sales and distribution in a limited region of the world. In addition to copyright concerns, there may also be trademark issues, since the same physical symbol may be owned by different legal entities in different countries.
I had some business dealings with a Canadian purveyor of books some years ago. Because Canada was part of the Commonwealth they gained access to new books published in Britain before these became available in the United States and they were able to charge a premium for these books because of this. It struck me as a bit of a scam at the time, but then all copyrights and patents can be considered a scam if one is so inclined.
Tony Lauck
"Diversity is the law of nature; no two entities in this universe are uniform." - P.R. Sarkar
> I cannot see why there should be a bamboo cutain between Amazon US and
> Amazon UK for magazine subscriptions.
As I said, I conjecture that it might be due to copyright considerations,
which is the case with music. But perhaps it might be just due to Amazon
wanting too much of the revenue. As I also said but you seem determined
to ignore, I don't know but I will try to find out.
John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile
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