Considering going digital

[AyJay]

This is probably one for the moderator...

I have just been notified that the cost of my hard-copy subscription is to go up shortly, so I thought that I would have a look at the sample of a download edition.  This was done via a link on 'Pocketmags.com'

I looked at it on my laptop PC (Windows 11)  and was impressed with the ease that I could navigate the pages and the clarity of the images.  Seeing the included videos was a bonus.

I know that someone else has raised the question of an index.  If I decide to take the plunge and have amassed some editions, is there any way that I will be able to easily search for a given subject, when I don't know which edition I saw it in?

How much memory does a year's subscriptions worth take up?

I have seen the price of £34.99.  Will this be increasing?

I'm guessing that all I need do is contact your subscriptions dept and they can handle everything?

 

[Huw Griffiths]

You might want to hit the "report" flag on your post.

 

No issues with your post, you understand - just that "reporting" the post might make it more likely to be seen ... .

[AY Mod]

Pocketmags doesn't have a search facility but Exact Editions has a very good one - this is what you get with Word of Railways Plus with an archive of all the digital back issues - https://www.world-of-railways.co.uk/membership

[30801]

A word of caution with PocketMags. By default subscriptions auto-renew and they don't send you a reminder beforehand. You just get a message saying they took your money after the fact. Subscriptions are non-refundable although they will refund (less a small fee) if you complain at them.

You can turn off auto-renew in your account settings.

[Mikkel]

I can recommend the Exact Editions option. The search facility is very good. As it also comes bundled with ad-free RMweb etc it is the obvious choice in my view.

[Buhar]

3 hours ago, Mikkel said:

I can recommend the Exact Editions option. The search facility is very good. As it also comes bundled with ad-free RMweb etc it is the obvious choice in my view.

In full agreement, but note that you are best accessing this by having a World of Railways account and getting to BRM (and the other two) on Exact Editions via that, rather than subscribing directly through Exact Editions.  That also gets you the ad-free RMWeb and (correct me if I'm wrong) Gold attributes for your RMWeb "experience".  If you already have an EE subscription (eg for Railway Modeller) your WoR account access runs in parallel to that.  I've just read BRM and doing that kicked me out of my trawl through the RM archive.

 

Alan

[IMS]

How do people feel about the Exact Editions app? I’ve been wondering about subs too and was glad to see this post, but the reviews for the EE app for iPad are few, mostly poor and mostly ancient so I was thinking of PocketMags which I already use and find generally good and reliable.

[Buhar]

I usually use a laptop to view the magazines but occasionally will have a go on my Android mobile phone using the app.  It's OK but I do need to zoom in and out and scroll around the read pages comfortably and it is rarely possible to read a caption when the picture it relates to is fully displayed.  As this is down to size of screen I would expect the same issues with Pocketmags though.  The EE app only displays a single page which hampers those pages where there is a spread picture, drawing or layout plan.  On the laptop those pages can be displayed as a joined pair and then you can click to get a single page for reading.  On both there is a skim facility to find where you were or move to a section of the magazine.  On the laptop/PC version you can print/save a pdf which is much easier than ripping out and scanning items of interest which I used to do.  The search facility is powerful, but you are dealing with thousands of articles so you do need to thoughtful about your terms.

 

Alan

[sjrixon]

The biggest downside with the WoR subscription is the fact it doesn't use the EE app, it's a view on the web...

 

But, you get 5 magazines, with the full back catalogue and yes, the search is pretty solid! I had a pocket mags subscription to both Garden Rail and BRM, I'm now paying less for more, so happy to deal with the web version of EE.  

[MarshLane]

None of the magazines have got Digital Editions right yet on every device. Some come close but it can still be clunky and ‘zoomy’ at times. That is no criticism of Warners, Peco, Morton’s or other publishers, it’s the problems of taking a PDF design for print and making it work with a digital screen of varying sizes.

 

Having said that Exact Editions is, I think one of the better ones. I read BRM and periodically add Rly Modeller for a quarter to catch up, then knock it off for a bit. Both use EE. I mainly read EE on an iPad Pro, works well 95% of the time, and echo the comments about a superb search. If you’re in the main index with all covers showing, the search looks at all available issues. If you click on one decade and search it just covers that decade, click on a year, it just covers that year etc..

 

Dont worry about disk space, it’s like watching YouTube, the pages are ‘streamed’ as you look, but are not saved to your PC. Although you can download a PDF (watermarked with your username to dissuade you from passing them on) if there is anything you want to keep.

 

Must admit I haven’t bought a printed modelling mag since pre-Covid years. My recommendation … go for it, but through WoR or rmWeb Gold so you get more for your money, even if you only glance at the others periodically, in my view if you want BRM it’s worth it.
 

Rich

Edited May 14, 2023 by MarshLane

[AY Mod]

Other angles why digital can be better than print include the magnification which means you can look at more detail, useful with reviews and layouts but especially practical articles. When preparing images for publication I try and take a lot of care to get tones and details in the shadows right. On the digital platforms you see, dependent on your device settings, what's intended but with print some details can get lost especially when there is over-inking or someone decides on the print run to wind up the colours to 11.

 

I did set free a string of expletives in a meeting this week about the colour of the grass in one layout feature. I'm careful to replicate tones as can be seen on the layout so I can get a bit humpy when someone decides nuclear green is a better shade.

[Huw Griffiths]

4 hours ago, AY Mod said:

I did set free a string of expletives in a meeting this week about the colour of the grass in one layout feature. I'm careful to replicate tones as can be seen on the layout so I can get a bit humpy when someone decides nuclear green is a better shade.

 

To think that some of us did some industrial training in the nuclear power industry.

 

Joking aside, if you're seeing your hard work "trashed", I can completely understand the "extended vocabulary" ... .

[spamcan61]

7 hours ago, AY Mod said:

Other angles why digital can be better than print include the magnification which means you can look at more detail, useful with reviews and layouts but especially practical articles. 

Am I the only person that's tried "pinch zooming" an image in a printed magazine recently? just askin' 

[MarshLane]

3 hours ago, spamcan61 said:

Am I the only person that's tried "pinch zooming" an image in a printed magazine recently? just askin' 

 

I cannot say I have done that .. but I regularly end up with finger marks all over my laptop screen, because I have been using the iPad, and want to 'tap' or 'swipe' something, then discover of course I can't!!!

 

[AY Mod]

4 hours ago, spamcan61 said:

Am I the only person that's tried "pinch zooming" an image in a printed magazine recently? just askin' 

 

No, but I frequently look for the Back to Top button on virtually every other website. Looking at you BBC!

[RedgateModels]

On 14/05/2023 at 00:14, 30801 said:

A word of caution with PocketMags. By default subscriptions auto-renew and they don't send you a reminder beforehand. You just get a message saying they took your money after the fact. Subscriptions are non-refundable although they will refund (less a small fee) if you complain at them.

You can turn off auto-renew in your account settings.

 

PocketMags might not but Google do remind you in time

 

[30801]

1 hour ago, RedgateModels said:

 

PocketMags might not but Google do remind you in time

 

 

 

I stopped buying Pocketmags subscriptions via Google because you can't then access them on an Apple device. If you buy via Pockemags' website you can read them anywhere but get no reminders.

Digital's grand isn't it?

[RedgateModels]

8 minutes ago, 30801 said:

 

I stopped buying Pocketmags subscriptions via Google because you can't then access them on an Apple device. If you buy via Pockemags' website you can read them anywhere but get no reminders.

Digital's grand isn't it?

 

Not true for me, same subscription, download and read on Ipad, Android phone and can view (and save 2 pages at a time) on PC

[IMS]

Thanks for the advice in reply to my query about Exact Editions. I downloaded their app and have had no problems, so far anyway. I particularly like the indexed search facility, in Railway Modeller it goes right back to 1949!

[AyJay]

Yet again, my question has provoked a plethora of interesting responses to browse through. The Pocketmags option grabbed my interest because 1. Now that I am an unsalaried man of leisure, I need to reduce the spending. And 2, I only want the one magazine, no garden railway, you see.

I’ve never heard of the EE versions, where do I find it?