Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

ZPaolo — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 12:57:30 -0000

Actually, you don't need to wait a new Firefox extension to download the mygazines, good old thumbnail gallery bookmarklet and a little "hacker spirit"...

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

robert angison — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 20:33:32 -0000

I've been surfing Mygazines.com for a couple of weeks now. Great stuff. Really like the site.

Several thoughts:
1. How is this any different than going to my local Barnes and Noble or library and sitting and reading their magazines for free and never buying them?(Something I've done since college.) It seems exactly the same.

2. The family filter is a terrific add-on.

3. They had big bandwidth issues after a couple of prominent news stories in the last couple of weeks. Seemed to have aleviated that with the log-in to read.

4. Good selection of magazines, it is weird that article search is the default. We need a listing of magazines that is easier to get into than it currently is.

Just my thoughts...
R.A.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Stavros — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 15:18:58 -0000

Magazines cannot be downloaded and stored, they can only be viewed via a flash interface. No doubt someone will write a firefox plugin to download the whole magazine but let's consider what this is really about. It's about more eyeballs on magazine pages. Magazines cover price barely covers cost of printing and distribution. Magazines don't make thier money from the newsstand. Buying from a newsstand is an inconvenience for the customer as well as for the magazine. Magazines want readers to be exposed to advertising. They make money from advertising not from the cover price. This is a game changer.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

James — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 18:30:09 -0000

Similar idea, I think, but legal: www.digi-zines.com

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Jack Lewis — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 17:31:39 -0000

Er... apparently those of you touting your love for magazines don't realize that this sort of piracy will destroy the purported object of your affection.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Bill — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 12:09:26 -0000

So are there violations of mygazines' rights when you visit samplermagazine.com ?
The site is not owned or operated by the publisher of the magazine displayed.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

kagil — Sat, 09 Aug 2008 23:43:04 -0000

If they will just realize how many ADS I've looked at while browsing this site....maybe they will let it be.

Also, I bought one magazine after seeing it on the site - it had some great coupons in it! Actually I bought 4 copies (ALL YOU)...

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Bishop — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 23:09:43 -0000

looks like the news on mygazines is starting to spread

http://www.reuters.com/arti...

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

gary — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 20:14:49 -0000

when I read a magazine such as Time I enjoy the diversity . I may read something which I would not have originally chosen to read and be better informed. only picking certain articles leads to an increasingly narrow perspective / viewpoint .Can you say tunnel vision ?
I also prefer my radio stations to have varied artists and styles instead of just "classic rock " or just one artist.see WPKN 89.5 fm Bridgeport,CT So send me the whole magazine . maybe I will learn something new

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Thomas Johnson — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 03:16:49 -0000

Hey miamiman. I found the site slow today as well. They put note up that there are technical difficulties. I email contact there and they said traffic was huge and they will be fully equipped by Tuesday night to handle these numbers times a hundred.

We will see.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Ryan — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 01:56:54 -0000

great site.
anyone notice you if you load the reader to the table of contents page of a magazine, you can click on the articles and it takes you to the page - WOW! Can't do that with paper...

Again, technology puts me in a good mood

If I had 3 thumbs - I'd put them all up - great job mygazines!

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

miamiman — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:25:52 -0000

The site goes on-and-off. Not encouraging so far.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

joe — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:06:17 -0000

Its hosted in the Bahamas, it'll be right

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Waldo Jaquith, Virginia Quarte — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:16:46 -0000

Waldo, do you not agree that if your publication was available to more eyes than your current distribution allows, that those unsold pages of ads would start to sell? Furthermore, if the content in your magazine is desirable to a large audience that would have access through mygazines, do you not agree that you could charge more for those advertisements?

You don't understand, Bob: we don't have unsold pages. We don't want to sell more ads. Like all literary magazines, our costs are borne by subscribers, not by advertisers. VQR is a quarterly, each issue weighs in somewhere north of 300 pages. Think of it as a book. We aren't going to weave ads into our pages any more than you'd want ads appearing in the books that you read. Not all products ought to be subsidized by ads. Would you rather pay $100 for Windows XP, or get it for free, but have the top 1/3 of your screen taken up by banner ads?)

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Greg — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 06:37:50 -0000

Wow, this is a great idea. Hopefully, like the Napsters before it, it will be the stimulus for an extremely late shift (but, like Napster, it's bound to take a loooong time before it becomes common -- and I'm not referring to illegal downloads, I'm referring to digital downloads as a whole).

As many commenters have said above, it's about time. Things are headed this way for virtually everything, but the big guns are afraid of the loss that's involved at the beginning... And the fact that, inevitably, the pioneer ends up dying first. It has to start somewhere!

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Kenny — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 04:34:23 -0000

Check out this new digital auto magazine with more than a hundred pages:
http://www.motorplay.co.uk
It's a free and one stop shop for all automotive fans.
No more scan to enjoy great cars and content on your computer.
Once downloaded you can taste it offline with no restriction.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

EffortlessHR — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 19:35:10 -0000

I can just see where this is headed. There is no way on earth the publishers are going to let this slip by them. It will be fun to watch though.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

bobsummers — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:41:40 -0000

I think if you factor in what you'd save on printing, distributing to the masses for free would only benifit your publication. It would simply come down to the quality of your content, not how many store racks you can get your magazine on. While I see benifits for the Conde Nasts and Time Warners, it's the lesser known publications that stand to gain here the most as the playing field is leveled.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Waldo Jaquith, Virginia Quarte — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:06:47 -0000

I'm glad you mentioned Virginia Quarterly Review. We have, like, six pages of ads, and most of them aren't sold, but trades with other publications. We survive on a) funding from the University of Virginia and b) subscription revenue. I make more in Google ads on my personal websites than VQR makes in ad revenue. So the idea of just giving it all away on Mygazines doesn't make a lick of sense for us.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Jef — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:37:22 -0000

Hope this guy has a good lawyer. I'm sure he'll need one at some point. I agree with the other poster, they should make this site legit and keep it going.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

PaulGlazowski — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:26:22 -0000

Well, for the most part, one can argue that the price for a magazine from a newstand or through a mailorder subscription is almost entirely devoted to the delivery infrastructure: Paper processing, etc. Newspapers are reportedly in the same position.

If magazines goes totally digital (the auto enthusiast magazine Winding Road is an example), then their delivery costs shrink. If they can manage to sustain advertising rates for the transition to digital, then it's a net plus for them.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

PaulGlazowski — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:22:24 -0000

Yeah, that's what's social about it. I'm sure the majority of users will simply read what's available. But you can pull articles together to share with other readers.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

PaulGlazowski — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 13:21:30 -0000

It's definitely not cost-effective to buy articles one at a time. To distribute, sure, but otherwise the buyer's experience is entirely unmanageable. How do you determine what articles cost? Flat fee? It's not quite like buying music. where you can buy a single for about 99 cents.

I agree with your entire comment, however. Things seem to be headed in the direction of Mygazines. Whether it's Mygazines that takes the lead or some other officially-sanctioned suppliers rise up to offer freely-readable content, it'll happen.

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Ling — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 05:16:39 -0000

Can others read your collection? So you can basically collect the best articles from all the mags and put together your own best mag - Which would be the best of the best. :)

Re: Mygazines Offers a Look at the Future While Testing Copyright Law

Thomas — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:58:26 -0000

This site is long overdue. Period.

The magazine industry has had the ability to do something like this for ages, but no. Instead a few conglomerates own almost all the magazines and shelf space. So now, hardly any choice. I can't even find the foreign magazines I use to buy. If I happen upon one, it's a fortune.

I just want to buy 1 article from one mag and 2 from another etc. If I do, I have to pay a ton and carry a ton and have it as a dust collector until I can get to the material. That is what I like most about the site. The reading experience isn't as good as a regular hand held magazine, but it is pretty good. The key is that you can choose articles from any magazine from anywhere in the world and put them together in one mygazines. That and the notifications are the best part. You can pick up to 3 categories to be notified about (to few in my opinion) and get updates. You can even set how often you are updated. So now I get info on business everyday and health every week. Saving the other category.

I have also built a health mygazines and a business one. I keep adding and can remove any page at any time. And personally, I'd rather read something interesting than watch mindless crap.

I understand copyright issues, but why hasn't the industry tried to keep up and give more options. Seems like they corporations of all kind just merge and soak industries and then sell them off when not as good. How about thinking of something new to help us readers of magazines.

In my opinion, the industry should buy these guys and just continue the process. Ads should make plenty of dollars as they won't have any more printing or distribution costs.

And not that the magazine owners would care, but I just bought 2 magazines to read, that I never would have risked my budget on magazines to try. And that's another thing, my kids and wife don't read the same stuff as I do. Should I start subscribing like a doctor's office for my patients.

Thanks to mashable for coming through again. Oh yeah, and to www.mygazines.com Great concept and kudos.