Cincinnati Magazine May 2011: Super Natural article
I am tackling a couple of subjects with this post. One is just sharing an article I recently licensed some images for in Cincinnati Magazine’s May 2011 issue. The other is how much I am enjoying getting magazines electronically now. These two things came together when I just noticed today the article I contributed images to appeared in Zinio’s featured articles. (Zinio is a digital subscription service, like a giant news stand, that has essentially become a leader in offering many publications in electronic form. Their Featured Articles are essentially free samples of selected articles to get you interested in various publications.)
I think I shared the news of the article on Facebook a few weeks back. If you are not tuned into my Facebook page, and would like to, be sure to stop by and give it a “Like” if you are so inclined. Sometimes I post short updates there that aren’t mentioned on my blog. To be honest, I often find it hard to keep up with all of these outlets.
Cincinnati Magazine May 2011: Smoky Mountains
Anyway, the article was about getaways to nature in the Midwest. I was contacted by the editor who found me through Google, and asked if I had images of various midwest destinations. I submitted an electronic lightbox to her to review what I had, and she selected a Pictured Rocks image and a Smoky Mountains image to represent those particular areas in the article. I was pleased to be part of such a piece, it was nicely done. Those layouts are shown here, but I have blurred the text to avoid stepping on any copyrights of the writers or the magazine. Since this was a sample article on Zinio, and it is a great tribute to all the getaways in the Midwest, you can read it in its entirety here.
Digital News Stand - Zinio app on the iPad
My second point is about electronic magazines. One of my biggest pet peeves in my office organization is trying to decide what to do with all of these old magazines. Quite often I just want to save an article or two from each, and that’s it. I hate to lose the reference material for planning future trips, etc. They are taking up quite a bit of space. So when I got my iPad 1 a year or so ago, I decided to give the electronic versions a try. I now have a few different subscriptions, and many of them I have stopped the print versions. You don’t need an iPad to start this, but it certainly makes it easy. With Apple’s announcement today of a digital News Stand, I think they are going to bring some serious competition to Zinio.
Of course, there are pluses and minuses. I thought I would list a few here. Perhaps others have started this and want to add to the list. Some of them may be specific to Zinio, and with Apple finally getting on board, some of this may change in the coming months.
- PLUS: Reduced stacks in my office! (very big plus actually)
- PLUS: Extra content: Many of them are including interactive content. National Geographic is particularly good at this, offering interactive maps, videos, and other features to compliment the articles. Many articles have hyperlinks to additional information.
- PLUS: The extra content does not come at a premium price. Many subscriptions are equal or better than their print counterparts.
- PLUS: Accessible pretty much anywhere. You can log into your Zinio account and view them from a computer, or on your phone, or tablet.
- PLUS: No ink on my fingers. I don’t know about you folks, but many magazines seem to have ink that rubs off if your fingers sit in one spot for too long.
- PLUS: Images are particularly vibrant and colorful, much more than the print counterparts.
- MINUS: Your issue of your magazine is now a $500+ device. I don’t go to the beach much, but figure many people go there to read or other places where the value of a print magazine versus the device it is on comes into play. Leaving a print magazine on your towel while you go in the water is a bit different than leaving an iPad on your towel.
- MINUS: Global search and bookmark functionality. Like I mentioned above, I frequently want to reference just a few articles. It would be nice to have a master list of bookmarked articles you could easily go to or search for. This is a very “Apple-like” feature, and it would be great if Zinio did something similar. If they don’t, I am sure Apple will beat them to it and force the feature eventually through competition. Over a decade, you are going to end up with a lot of issues to sift through.
- MINUS: Collectable issues just don’t seem the same when it comes to digital versions. I have a few issues of Rolling Stone where they made very special and creative covers, including a holographic one. I don’t know how the term “collectable” applies to a digital file. Some things are bound to be lost on the pixel.
So I think that is a pretty basic list that covers the highlights for me. I never got an electronic version of the article in Cincinnati Magazine which I would have liked. They did send me a couple print versions however. But by pure coincidence, today I found out in browsing my Zinio library, I saw they offered the electronic version of the article my images are in! E-mags, along with books, are certainly the future. I just wonder if the digital News Stand is going to be as browsable. With the featured free articles that Zinio offers, I think they are making that attempt.
Congrats on the publication, Mark. Those are great images.
Not sure why my Google Reader hasn’t been updating with your posts lately as I’ve missed all of these so I had to re-add your feed. Did you change the location of your RSS feed?
Thanks Richard. I don’t think anything changed with my RSS feed, I am not sure what went wrong there.
I dont have an ipad but if I did I’d certainly spend more money on mags I’m sure. The only one I really look at is a pdf underwater one. Its been free for years but I think they are thinking about charging 99p per issue or something now. http://www.uwpmag.com/ It always has nice photos and good places to visit. The content used to be provided free by supporters, I hope they start to get paid once they start charging!
I usually d/l to my pc and skim through it at work – shhhh
Suzy
First, congrats on the magazine publication, it’s a great looking spread. I’m with you on enjoying digital reading. I receive a few magazines on my ipad and also have a Kindle. I read outside when weather permits and really prefer a Kindle to a book. I can control font size, and the pages don’t blow in the wind. I can make notes (which I do often) and highlight lines (which I do even more). That said, I still primarily read from analogue books and magazines.
Thanks Paul.
Very informative post Mark. I haven’t jumped into the electronic subscription arena yet guess because I just haven’t given it enough thought. Your pluses and minuses tells me I should be moving that direction. I do agree with Ken B. and your own item on the minus side about the need for a %500+ device to read them. David H. also brings up an interesting point, paper is renewable and recyclable.
I have many ebooks that I have added to ibooks on my iphone but so far that is my only mobile device I have to read such things, well I do have my laptop but I don’t carry that around in my pocket like my phone, the same may apply to an ipad I guess but then who carries around issues of magazines they subscribe to so digital has to be the way to go regardless of what device one uses for access.
The more digital subscriptions publishers get the more (hopefully) they will begin to cater towards readers wants and needs such as searchable archives and articles. You’ve really peaked my interest in the subject.
Thanks for the insights and info.
We are definitely in the transition period Brad. Thanks for the comment.
Interesting, informative post, Mark. I have to say you have triggered new perspectives in my thinking about some technology. I am also watching the DVD of “No Impact Man” and wonder whether saving the trees through buying less paper magazines is better or saving the electricity used by the devices would turn out to be the more earth-friendly option. Might be worth looking into or at least thinking about. Good to ask about any technology change if it increases environmental impact or decreases it. Some tough decisions are coming down the road for us all. It might be those who consciously make good decisions now who are most likely to survive in the future.
I think it is a pretty tough thing to analyze. Yes, less paper, but the devices also consume resources in their manufacture and use. But with a 10 hour battery life, I can consume a fair number of magazines on one charge. The device will only become obsolete when Apple decides to exclude it from their updates, which is probably awhile yet.
First of all – great photos! Regarding the post, I think you chose good contemporary subject, Mark. A year ago I wouldn’t change from paper to e-content, today I’m not so against it with tool such as iPad around. Unfortunately, book publisher in our country are really stepping on spot with electronic versions of books and magazines. It will yet take some years before they will accept electronic medium.
Hey Tomas, thanks. Yeah, I think traditional book publishers are probably finding themselves in the same position as record companies.
I have several digital books and magazines, and I just don’t tend to read them. At the end of the day, especially if I’ve been on the computer most of the day, I just want to put my feet up and read something real. A solution to the storage problem of print magazines would be to scan the articles and store them on the computer or iPad.
I had thought of that Roberta on the scanning. But then when I thought about the time involved to scan each article, I figured I may as well just cut them out and put them in binders.
I have been thinking about getting an iPad for all the reasons you mentioned. I wish that the digital version would come free with the print versions of magazines that on seubscribes to. I would also imagine that after some time the memory requirements might outstrip the iPad storage. Really too bad they don’t allow SD cards….you could keep older copies of various mags that you aren’t reading but would like to keep on the cards and not on the device.
Howard, I have a 64 GB version, and it has about 45 issues on it right now of various magazines and it is only about half full – and that is from all the other apps combined with it. So at the moment I am not too worried about space. By the time I come close to filling this up, a few other generations of iPads will become available with more room. In addition, you can delete and restore old issues you don’t want to keep on it.
Mark, Kudos again on the images in Cincinnati Magazine — they look great!
I haven’t made the move to electronic magazines yet, kind of strange since I read almost all my books on a Kindle these days. With the recent refit of my office space getting me into an organized and functional mood, I think it would be a good time to try the electronic versions of my favorite magazines. Thanks for the little mental push this post provided.
I use my iPad all the time and really enjoy it and with the iOS 5 and iCloud announcements Apple made yesterday the experience looks to get even better.
I figured you would be leading the way on this one Earl! 🙂 Thanks.
When PC magazine went digital only a few years ago, I didn’t like it because I had to be tied to my PC to read it, since I have no portable devices. I still find that upsetting but I learned to live with it. It’s still the only digital mag I receive and I still have no portable devices to read them, so I’m reluctant to try more. iPads and other tablets aren’t worth the money at this point because they don’t have very much processing power or storage. When I used to collect the magazines, I found that I very seldom went back to the old issues. Now donate my hard copies to the public library so others can read them. But someday…
Ken, I am curious – processing power for what?
I haven’t found storage to become an issue yet. I have more apps than I know what to do with, and my iPad is only half full.
When I say “processing power” I was referring to the ability to handle and edit large files such as RAW photos. For $500-$700 (IPad pricing) you can get a descent laptop capable of running some powerful software. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of the iPad, but I feel tablet technology is still in it’s infancy right now. I’m willing to wait for my iPad and instead put that money on a new lens.
I get that, and while it would be nice, I think that is expecting them to do something they were not designed for. Actually perhaps it is even possible now, because I have seen some graphic intensive applications already being run.