edcayton Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 . You cant be a pop star these days unless you look good in the video! Some would argue that looking good is more important than musical ability. Jim But a model railway can look brilliant in a magazine, but not be able to perform "live". An aspect that hasn't been addressed yet is that movement and sound can be seen/heard in electronic media. I don't think that just transferring text and photo's to a screen is using the medium to its best. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 If for example RMweb was to become a paid for, or even a partially paid for medium, I believe that it would wither, and some other existing or new large scale forum would eventually take its place. Well someone's being paying the bills all these years (thank you to all those who do in whatever form!) and its growth* continues to accelerate in terms of membership, readership and activity. *28% increase in unique visitors and 37% increase in bandwidth usage over the last 12 months. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Kris Posted February 12, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 12, 2012 In the short term the printed magazines will continue. Medium term 5 > 20 years there will be a contraction in the number of magazines that are printed or and the locations where these are distributed will decline. Many of these magazines will move to become pure digital (paid for) versions. I believe that we are starting to see this happening with an ever increasing number of magazines now available in digital form. Longer term 20 years + I can only see a viable market for 1 or 2 magazines. Will I morn the passing of the magazine? In some ways yes but I have not purchased a main stream magazine in 4 years now (mainly to try and cut costs) and realistically don't see myself starting to buy them again. All of the above applies to the "main stream" magazines. The smaller magazines and journals will face equally hard times but I suspect that far more of these will go to the great recyclers in the sky rather than becoming paid for electronic editions. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xerces Fobe2 Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I am very much in favour of well-produced on-line magazines such as the RMweb Modelling Inspiration for the following reasons- I amassed a collection of @ 3500 railway magazines which I had to store in the garage - they were full of a great wealth of information which was not collated into a single index and therefore useless unless I wanted to spend potentially hours going through boxes of magazines in what could be a cold and damp garage. With on online magazine I can save a copy, index, access quickly, save to a disk drive or in the cloud and I get my garage back too! XF Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southernman46 Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 My laptop doesn't have that lovely "magaziney" smell to it either............. I really should take this thread more seriously............. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted February 12, 2012 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 12, 2012 RMweb is a bit paid for and for not knowing who AMY LEE is ( J -SW) get a life for gods sake man!! Well - who is she? Meanwhile picking up Xerces Fobe's point about layouts appearing in several magazines in a short space of time I'm afraid that's going to be an inevitable consequence of a crowded print market place. I realise it is a bit OT but railway modelling is currently supporting 4 mainstream mags plus MRJ and a few others which contain, so I understand, modelling content. Compare that with the situation for much of the 1950s and into the '60s when the hobby supported only 3 mainstream mags and they also swept up the sort of constructional articles which nowadays are very much MRJ fare. Interesting too to realise that the 'fewer mags situation' at that time was alongside a far smaller range of R-T-R and a lot more kitbuilding and D-I-Y modelling - maybe folk were too busy modelling and constructing etc to spare time to write, or read, very much? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Endacott Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 People still like to see their name in print. Magazines will therefore survive, at least in the medium term. The finances for internet publications have yet to be properly developed. People contibute to this site (and others) free of charge because they can read what others have written free of charge. If you start to charge for internet sites, the contributors will also expect to be paid. Geoff Endacott Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted February 12, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 12, 2012 Well someone's being paying the bills all these years (thank you to all those who do in whatever form!) and its growth* continues to accelerate in terms of membership, readership and activity. *28% increase in unique visitors and 37% increase in bandwidth usage over the last 12 months. Interesting point Andy, since it's your gaff. At what point would you consider asking for a more "formal" contribution than the donations made by members? And, by the way, it certainly wouldn't discourage me from continuing to use RMweb, and I'm sure I speak for many others. Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted February 12, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 12, 2012 I am very much in favour of well-produced on-line magazines such as the RMweb Modelling Inspiration for the following reasons- I amassed a collection of @ 3500 railway magazines which I had to store in the garage - they were full of a great wealth of information which was not collated into a single index and therefore useless unless I wanted to spend potentially hours going through boxes of magazines in what could be a cold and damp garage. With on online magazine I can save a copy, index, access quickly, save to a disk drive or in the cloud and I get my garage back too! XF I have the same issue with my collection of around 2500 Astronomy magazines, going back to the 1960s. Storage space is running out...but I still get 2 or 3 monthly. Yet I can access a lot of the same info - maybe even more topical - by a simple Google search or a glance at Wikipedia. I think these 2 factors indicate my loyalty to the hardcopy of the printed word, whatever happens online. Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 One could get £200.00 for a several page article in the 1990s. The thrill of seeing ones work in print died (for me) many years before, but I was on the roundabout! Returning to writing for railway and model railway mags might be relatively easy but I can't be bothered at the minute. I suspect I am not alone in writing for RMweb because I see it as a club where members assist one another because we want to do it, not to get fees or fame. Maybe its down to my age....who knows. Without a crystal ball, I cannot say whether mags have a long term future as hard copy or not. Some people say that newspapers are on their last lap so who can tell? I use my old magazines as workmats so that work in progress will not be damaged, and I often find myself stopping work to re-reading an article. The downside is they do take up a lot of shelf space, but I'm about to sort that one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Barry O Posted February 12, 2012 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 12, 2012 Perhaps a balance between the printed word and the e-word is required. - some work I did a long time ago (10 years) indicated that 80% of the population didn't "read" e-word documents - they scanned them. Once away from the computer the ability to pick up a paper document to check before doing something is something I personally like. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 People still like to see their name in print. Magazines will therefore survive, at least in the medium term. The finances for internet publications have yet to be properly developed. People contibute to this site (and others) free of charge because they can read what others have written free of charge. If you start to charge for internet sites, the contributors will also expect to be paid. Geoff Endacott I'd align myself with this sentiment - with a proviso. Covering costs of hosting would be one thing (as with - AFAIK - the current RMWeb model) but commercial operation would have me looking for contributor's fees. TBH anything that warrants a bit of time spent reading and writing a formal article is something I'd only be inclined to do for a paying publisher or perhaps a society newsletter. A relatively off-the-cuff forum post is much less involved. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Y Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 At what point would you consider asking for a more "formal" contribution than the donations made by members? In short I wouldn't as that would send the less benevolent scurrying for the woods (which is where D605Eagle may have been coming from) so there are different 'business models' that can be adopted. The only subscription based access to sites (where there is a viable if less good alternative) that I've seen within hobbies have seen substantial reductions in input. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy C Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Yet another interesting debate on RM Web and for me thats where electronic media wins hands down over the printed word, the immediacy of the debate and response. I cannot see a medium term let alone long term future for 4 mainstream magazines largely competing for each other for articles, churning out product reviews which are much of a muchness ( they have to be, the manufacturers pay a healthy chunk of advertising revenue to them). When I do read them at the club rooms I find little in them which makes me sit up and think I must try that. Something will give sooner or later. I do take MRJ but I'm even thinking twice about that now because although it covers the things the mainsttream won't bite on, i can get it from the various forums, and, when I want it, not when an editor dictates I should have it. Now a web forum and out of the ones available RM Web in particular is different - multiple access to some inspiring stuff i'd have never ever seen in print for a long while if at all, potential "superstars" on the rise with new exciting exhibition layouts, the ability to dip in and out anywhere and any time via the android. No it will never replace the printed press for those moments of contemplation, a magazine is multi purpose in there, its a bit more difficult with a phone......... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D605Eagle Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Well someone's being paying the bills all these years (thank you to all those who do in whatever form!) and its growth* continues to accelerate in terms of membership, readership and activity. *28% increase in unique visitors and 37% increase in bandwidth usage over the last 12 months. I hope you didn't misunderstand what I ment, as I'm fully aware that a forum/website the size of RMweb doesn't come cheap. All I ment was if it was subscription only, or had subscription areas (yeah I should have used that work instead of paid for!). Still we're only speculating as to what might happen..... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dilbert Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I cannot see a medium term let alone long term future for 4 mainstream magazines largely competing for each other for articles, churning out product reviews which are much of a muchness ( they have to be, the manufacturers pay a healthy chunk of advertising revenue to them). When I do read them at the club rooms I find little in them which makes me sit up and think I must try that. Something will give sooner or later. I do take MRJ but I'm even thinking twice about that now because although it covers the things the mainsttream won't bite on, i can get it from the various forums, and, when I want it, not when an editor dictates I should have it. I'm surprised that the UK mainstream mags have been so slow to move into a hybrid paper/elecronic media model - is it only BRM that is testing the water at this point in time ? The mail order catalogues and telephone directories of thirty years ago were behomeths and yet these days are still printed, probably in the same number of copies, but are far less bulky. Both operate to differing business criteria, but recognise the need to provide current information. The monthly mags are like TV broadcasting - one-way 'broadcast' communication, the feedback loops essentially being a limited letters page (in the TV world that used to be Points of View), but even the BBC has evolved in that respect when it comes to the Internet. MRJ is IMO a different magazine within the hobby. It's primarily due to the fact that its monthly and quarterly issues have more of a book publishing approach to the product. That is the Wild Swan approach and I place greater value on the WS publications - all WS publications have been kept intact whereas issues of the regular monthly mags haven't. The longer the mainstream mags hold back from going into electronic publishing, the more difficult they are going to find the change - evolution and not revolution is going to be their major problem... dilbert Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 The mail order catalogues and telephone directories of thirty years ago were behomeths and yet these days are still printed, probably in the same number of copies, but are far less bulky. A bit off topic, but for me the "Argos" catalogue has shot itsef in the foot by becoming too big, awkward and heavy to the extent that I tend not to bother with it. I don't use the web though, because I am too stupid. Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pennine MC Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Well - who is she? [Amy Lee] I didnt know either FWIW Meanwhile picking up Xerces Fobe's point about layouts appearing in several magazines in a short space of time I'm afraid that's going to be an inevitable consequence of a crowded print market place. I realise it is a bit OT but railway modelling is currently supporting 4 mainstream mags plus MRJ and a few others which contain, so I understand, modelling content. From previous discussions, I think it's been established that layout features greatly outnumber other submissions in the 'filing cabinets' of the monthlies, which does kinda make you wonder why so much duplication (not that I blame the layout owners, we'd all do the same in their position). Is it just another consequence of them publishing what they perceive will be popular rather than breaking new ground, as touched on in another thread recently? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
D605Eagle Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I didnt know either FWIW I still dont! Have we just become a bunch of grumpy old gits??? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Natalie Graham Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 I have the same issue with my collection of around 2500 Astronomy magazines, going back to the 1960s. Storage space is running out...but I still get 2 or 3 monthly. You couldn't really use 'lack of space' as a reason not to buy astronomy magazines though, could you? I'm not sure I agree about the mail order catalogues. I think the size might be a function of sales. Next, for example now send out a massive two volume, book bound catalogue twice a year with other book bound seasonal volumes in between. Years ago, when the internet was still in the realm of science fiction, we had three model railway magazines. Now, when the means of providing them digitally has existed for some years we have what, five? I had an online subscription once for a model railway magazine, not one of the main titles. I found I hardly looked at them and never got round to even downloading some of them. I have a long wait and journey home from a weekly hospital appointment and I often buy a model railway magazine to read to pass the time on the way home. I couldn't do that with a digital copy. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
coachmann Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 Amy Lee is an american singer songwriter pianist. I prefer Jerry Lee on piano but there we are.... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jol Wilkinson Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 From previous discussions, I think it's been established that layout features greatly outnumber other submissions in the 'filing cabinets' of the monthlies, which does kinda make you wonder why so much duplication (not that I blame the layout owners, we'd all do the same in their position). Is it just another consequence of them publishing what they perceive will be popular rather than breaking new ground, as touched on in another thread recently? Is it an indication of the modelling circles that the editorial teams move in? Are any of them members of the EMGS or S4Society for example? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
edcayton Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I often buy a model railway magazine to read to pass the time on the way home. I couldn't do that with a digital copy. Yes, but the OP asks about the "long term" future. How soon before you can look at mag's on these wretched Kindle things? Ed Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kandc_au Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I suppose it depends on your lifestyle amongst other things. For those travelling on trains and buses a kindle would be a great way to go and read utilising your time. I am one though who is not in that boat, and find to much time even on this computer tires me. The constant strain of reading. I also find I cannot digest the info as readily as the written word. Physically holding a book or mag is for me. Khris Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Physicsman Posted February 13, 2012 Author RMweb Premium Share Posted February 13, 2012 You couldn't really use 'lack of space' as a reason not to buy astronomy magazines though, could you? Well spotted! I don't know how I missed that one. You are a star! Oops. Lol. Jeff Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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