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Readly App giving access to thousands of Mags - Model rail, Hornby Mag, Rail, Steam Railway etc


Ryde-on-time
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Not seen this mentioned before but the “Readly’ app gives access to thousands of magazines including the following railway ones - Model Rail, Hornby Mag, Steam Railway, Rail Mag and Railways illustrated each month. Some railway theme bookazines have also appeared from time to time

 

They give a 2 week free trial, it’s then £7.99 a month if you create an account on their website, download the app and then log in to your account (I think it is a bit more £9.99? if you just create an account from the app). 

 

https://gb.readly.com/

 

They give access to magazines on their normal published date as well as back issues and they can be downloaded to a tablet to read later offline

 

As well as the railway mags I also look at the aircraft ones, car ones & travel ones. Others in the family look at other such as cooking, outdoors and home/garden. 5 different profiles can be created on the same account and used simultaneously 

 

With the monthly cost less than buying 2 magazines in the shops it’s brilliant value if you don’t mind reading on an electronic device

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Been using Readly for a couple of years. It’s a reliable, stable App and is useful as the whole family can have their own accounts and read what interests them.

 

Its handy as you can download copies with a specific article you want, then delete it afterwards, with no need to worry about adding to the world magazine mountain.

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17 minutes ago, dibber25 said:

Mmmmm, thinks, I wonder how payment works for that? Presumably some bulk deal with publishers, so individual magazines get little or no financial benefit for the use of their content. (CJL)

 

I've wondered this as people have enthusiastically suggested this is a good thing. The details are opaque on the website, but publishers do have to submit their mags for publication so Readly aren't scraping content.

 

Digging around I found this: Readly takes 30 per cent of sales and shares the remainder of the revenue with publishers according to how much time readers spend with each publication. Which doesn't sound like anyone is going to make money with a monthly sub of £7.99 unless you get a vast amount of views.

 

One limit is that readers effectively only get a PDF version of the magazine, no digital extras. You get what you pay for in this respect.

 

They also don't mention that there is data being harvested (interesting piece here): Readly, for example, sends publishers the name and mailing address of any user that reads content from consecutive issues of a publisher’s magazine.That might make the platform appealing to a publisher as it's cheap and easy to get on to, but if a reader is interested in your publication, you get their details to try to convert them to a full subscription. In fact, Readly sell this as a benefitThird, publishers are beginning to use the really granular data we generate on how their magazines – both the editorial and advertising – are being consumed. We often work with them to help tweak and improve their products.

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Where magazines interest me I am happy to buy a subscription - Gold giving me access to BRM and I have a paid subscription to Garden Rail. I think being ahead of the game with lots of extra video content, and offering the oprion of Gold with its added value (the Pendon visit for instance) means a BRM subscription of Gold membership remain outstanding value

 

I would never buy Hornby Magazine, Steam railway or Railways illustrated but flick through them on Readly. Therefore if they only get 1p from me doing this it is 1p more then they would otherwise get.

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I have used Reading for a couple of years now.  A no brainer really as both I and the Memsahib read through a number of titles between us. 

 

If you widen the contract search you can access German Dutch and Polish modelling mags as well. 

 

They also have the Commando comics.............

 

Rob. 

Edited by NHY 581
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Other digital providers seem to be offering the same sort of thing - Pocketmags (plus account) and Magzter for example. Coverage varies so it's worth shopping around to find the one that best suits your interests.

This looks like the magazine equivalent of music streaming, which seems to be replacing buying individual songs.

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One thing to watch is that if a magazine is withdrawn from Readily you lose any bookmarks you may have had saved. This happened to me when 'Modern Classics' (cars) disappeared along with all of the motorbike mags when Readily had a dispute with Buaer (I think - whichever publisher owns MCN, Ride and Bike).

 

Readily is very good though - its fast and stable and has a vast range of titles. I am really enjoying some of the European railway titles and there are plenty of apps that translate reasonably well if you want to read as well as look at the images.

 

One important thing to note when comparing digital magazine problems is that as far as I know it is only Pocketmags where you own the copy  you have bought.  Both for Readily and Exact Editions you are paying for access - if your circumstances change you may not be able to afford ongoing access to the library - with Pocket Mags at least you get to keep your back issues.

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3 hours ago, Nile said:

This looks like the magazine equivalent of music streaming, which seems to be replacing buying individual songs.

 

I would go a stage further and say it's based exactly on the music streaming model, which has effectively replaced downloads for most people for a couple of years now. It's likely that within a few years the notion of a digital download of individual magazines is going to start to become a difficult sell for publishers. It's a difficult balance, streaming means some money from the casual reader, but you do lose possible subscriptions. People have embraced streaming, across all media, there's no reason to think they won't treat magazines the same.   

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20 minutes ago, knapper said:

It's likely that within a few years the notion of a digital download of individual magazines is going to start to become a difficult sell for publishers. It's a difficult balance, streaming means some money from the casual reader, but you do lose possible subscriptions. People have embraced streaming, across all media, there's no reason to think they won't treat magazines the same.   

 

Except that magazines have also evolved beyond the printed page to include other media, especially video. Readly only gives you access to the printed version. In the BRM example, you wouldn't get the extra photos, DVD or video extras.

 

Ultimately, it all comes down to income. As the music world has discovered, streaming brings in money if there is enough of it, but for many artists, record "streams" are no replacement for CD sales. The money is in touring and merchandise. I suspect that for many magazines, loss of normal subs and newsstand sales would mean the loss of the magazine.

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If magazines do ever go digital-only, I wonder how future readers discover them? Not everybody knows that railway modelling magazines even exist--I didn't when I was young, I "discovered" the existence of RM and MRC by seeing them on a newsagent's shelves--at the time I didn't even know such magazines existed. To find digital magazines, you normally need to search for them--so you have to know or believe that such things exist (unless you somehow find them by accident).

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2 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

. Readly only gives you access to the printed version. In the BRM example, you wouldn't get the extra photos, DVD or video extras.

 

 

Most web links on Readily are 'live' so presumably Readily/and or the publisher get some income from hits as well? Agree you dont get the 'extra's'  - depends what value a reader puts on those extra's I suppose.

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2 hours ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

If magazines do ever go digital-only, I wonder how future readers discover them? Not everybody knows that railway modelling magazines even exist--I didn't when I was young, I "discovered" the existence of RM and MRC by seeing them on a newsagent's shelves--at the time I didn't even know such magazines existed. To find digital magazines, you normally need to search for them--so you have to know or believe that such things exist (unless you somehow find them by accident).

 

Social media, forums - lots of ways to find out what's out there. You only discovered mags on a newsagents shelves because that's what you did. Kidz today will find them through their phones, just like everything else.

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5 hours ago, Phil Parker said:

 

Social media, forums - lots of ways to find out what's out there. You only discovered mags on a newsagents shelves because that's what you did. Kidz today will find them through their phones, just like everything else.

Bought my first mag (Model Railway Constructor) from a guy selling to the queue waiting to get into the Easter show at Central Hall, Westminster. That's a way of selling that's died out. Can't understand the obsession with doing everything by phone. Why do I need to turn on my heating or run my trains when I'm not at home? And if I'm at home why can't I operate things with the proper controllers? We're producing a generation who don't understand anything except touch-screens. (CJL)

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I use Readly and I have to say I find it very agreeable. 

 

Two things have restricted my once purchasing of three,  four sometimes five a month. 

 

Expense and storage. 

 

I now only buy one magazine, MRJ. The rest I access via Readly and using my gold membership.  

 

 

For me, it's very convenient and the way forward. 

 

Rob. 

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2 hours ago, NHY 581 said:

I use Readly and I have to say I find it very agreeable. 

 

Two things have restricted my once purchasing of three,  four sometimes five a month. 

 

Expense and storage. 

 

I now only buy one magazine, MRJ. The rest I access via Readly and using my gold membership.  

 

 

For me, it's very convenient and the way forward. 

 

Rob. 

I don't think publishers see it that way! The economics don't stack up, you can't produce a mag for the tiny and uncertain revenue that would come from Readly.

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21 minutes ago, ruggedpeak said:

I don't think publishers see it that way! The economics don't stack up, you can't produce a mag for the tiny and uncertain revenue that would come from Readly.

 

As I say......for me it works, it's convenient and the way forward. 

 

Rob. 

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19 hours ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

If magazines do ever go digital-only, I wonder how future readers discover them? Not everybody knows that railway modelling magazines even exist--I didn't when I was young, I "discovered" the existence of RM and MRC by seeing them on a newsagent's shelves--at the time I didn't even know such magazines existed. To find digital magazines, you normally need to search for them--so you have to know or believe that such things exist (unless you somehow find them by accident).

 

I'm not sure that future readers would discover them.

 

Don't get me wrong - I've got no problem with magazines that are set up to be digital - publications like Model Railroad Hobbyist and the like, which often seem to look at the hobby from a slightly different angle to print magazines.

 

(Before anyone asks, I often read MRH - because I can download it to a laptop, tablet or smartphone, I can easily read it "on the go". Of course, I do need to remember to download it - not always easy, with all that's recently been going on in my family - but the less said ... .)

 

The reason I doubt if enough future readers would discover "online only" has more to do with electronics magazines. Some people might remember "Elektor" - which, in its day, was quite a tidy electronics hobby magazine - and was also noted for its summer circuit specials.

 

Well, towards the end, these circuit specials got more expensive, whilst their content didn't seem to keep pace with the new prices. A few years ago, there was a shock announcement in one of their magazines - if anyone wanted future issues, they'd have to get a subscription, which (if I recall) was only available from the publisher's website.

 

At the same time, just about everything on their website disappeared behind a paywall - so, at a stroke, they alienated lots of their existing readers and website visitors, whilst also removing any reason for new people to visit their website.

 

I didn't get a "sub". I also haven't seen any adverts for this publication since. To be brutally honest, I haven't looked - and I don't see this changing any time soon.

 

 

Ultimately, they'd got people like me used to being able to see if their magazines were worth buying before we handed over our hard-earned "folding stuff" - then encouraged us to visit their website, with the promise of further content, hexadoku puzzles and stuff like that - before abruptly removing all of this stuff. I hope they weren't expecting our good will - because they succeeded in destroying it.

 

 

Do I think many readers who've been able to buy mainstream magazines would accept a forced switch - from buying on a newsstand to buying, in bulk, sight unseen from a website, even if this were handled properly? I suspect not too many.

 

What about potential new readers, who don't even know the magazine exists? Well, if they don't know the magazine exists, I can't imagine them rushing to buy it, or to hunt it down using a search engine.

 

Just my personal opinions, you understand - as everyone here should know by now, I never set out to offend, so I hope nobody takes offence.

 

 

Regards,

 

Huw.

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my wife flatly refuses to read magazines (and books) on her iPad/phone etc despite me having had a subscription to Readly for the past 3 years that she could use, ive even set her up a profile in my account but, no, “books are to be held and enjoyed, even the smell of an old book makes it special” according to her! 

 

I was a bit unsure when I first took the subscription out however I find that I read a lot of magazines on there that i wouldn’t normally give a 2nd glance at if I saw it on the shelf in smiths, mainly car mags but a few tech mags too, I originally took the subscription out with Readly as I subscribed digitally to Viz comic and the renewal price via their digital supplier (zinio) made Readly a more attractive proposition with the extra titles

available for the monthly price

 

i had a digital/paper subscription to BRM which I changed to an RMWeb gold membership and I still have a digital/paper subscription to Model Rail which i keep saying I’m going to cancel as I can access it via Readly too

 

20 hours ago, D9020 Nimbus said:

If magazines do ever go digital-only, I wonder how future readers discover them? Not everybody knows that railway modelling magazines even exist


The amount of what I’d call obscure magazine subjects I’ve found through readly that I’ve gone “is that a thing” is mind boggling, I should imagine people say the same about our hobby! 
 

me and a friend who had just had a kid were laughing at one On there called “the green parent”, basically a monthly mag on bringing up kids the Camden hipster vegan non gender specific plastic free home schooling way, the front covers are enough to make any real world parent choke on their greggs! 
 

 

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