Digital Edition and access to past copies

[Sweeps]

My subscription to the digital edition of Railway Modeller is due soon,but reading the small print it says access to previous editions is only available whilst your subscription is active. So whilst I moved my subscription from the paper edition two years ago, the copies I've had since are only really on loan and if I don't renew I've lost everything I've paid for - this can't be right can it. I moved to digital partly for ease of storage and the advantage of accessing back copies instantly and in any location, it's frightening to think I've brought every copy of RM since 1972 eek, so I'm not likely to stop getting it. However, it will make me think before subscribing to other magazines .

[johnd]

Since RM stopped doing the yearly CD/DVD I have not bought another copy as felt I was being black mailed into a subscription.

 

Still not changed my mind , have even considered buying the occasional copy and then scanning it for myself as a PDF but then thought why bother.

 

So RM lost a reader.

[Tase]

I may be wrong but I think it's only RM that effectively 'loan' the subscriber a copy whilst your subscription remains active. The other magazines that I subscribed to but have since lapsed still allow me to read or re-download.

 

The 'loaning' of a magazine only when you're a subscriber cost the publishers of RM a subscriber unfortunately. An absurd business model IMHO.

[Ian Abel]

Actually the servicing company "Exact Editions" have rather an odd business model in terms of past copies - and it's "them" rather than Railway Modeller that are the culprit IMHO.

 

If you're viewing from a PC (probably MAC too but don't own one so can't confirm) you "appear" to be only getting the copies and back issues on loan, HOWEVER, if you use another device such as a smart phone/Kindle Fire etc., you can actually download any/every issue and therefore have it available essentially forever.

 

I happen to have both a Kindle Fire and a high-end Samsung Galaxy S4 smartphone and download issues to both. Since the devices use a special "app" I don't know if there's some way to then translate/transfer them to other devices/media type, not investigated that yet. You do have to specifically download to the device it's not done by default, but it's a simple procedure, they refer to it as "synching" the issue...

 

Hope this helps. Given I'm in the US, I decided a digital subscription was the most practical/time-effective solution. Not sure about other mags, haven't tried yet (such as BRM)...

[CloggyDog]

Ian is correct - if you use the Exact Editions app on a smart device (such as the cheap android tablet I have) you can download them to read off-line/without a 'net connection. So, unless there is some devious coding as part of the app, you should retain access to those for as long as you have the device - that said, I can't find where the app is storing the data (otherwise I'd have a look at backing it up somewhere or trying to .pdf the lot). The Exact Editions app is pretty lousy mind - frequent crashing and it takes an age to download each issue, even on a fast wi-fi connection.

 

For the web (PC/Mac) access, you can print to pdf, but only 2 pages max at a time. So when I get each issue, I immediately pdf the contents pages and any articles of interest - my employer provides me with AcrobatPro, so luckily I can then combine all those pairs of pages into whole articles, saved on a couple of drives.

 

I also take Model Railroader, which uses the Kinio app/reader - with this you do retain access to the issues you bought as part of your sub, even after the sub expires. Easy to print to pdf as well, whole issue if desired.  I think the situation is the same for PC/web access for Railroad Model Craftsman, but you can only pdf 15 pages at a time. (And I assuming the new owners of RMC will carry on with that? - be nice if they gave us an android app to match the iStuff one.)

[D9020 Nimbus]

As far as I'm aware, this system is unique to Exact Editions. Certainly with the other magazines (BRM, HM, MR) you can for example just purchase single editions if you want to—but they don't use Exact Editions.

[Ian Abel]

Ian is correct - if you use the Exact Editions app on a smart device (such as the cheap android tablet I have) you can download them to read off-line/without a 'net connection. So, unless there is some devious coding as part of the app, you should retain access to those for as long as you have the device - that said, I can't find where the app is storing the data (otherwise I'd have a look at backing it up somewhere or trying to .pdf the lot). The Exact Editions app is pretty lousy mind - frequent crashing and it takes an age to download each issue, even on a fast wi-fi connection.

 

For the web (PC/Mac) access, you can print to pdf, but only 2 pages max at a time. So when I get each issue, I immediately pdf the contents pages and any articles of interest - my employer provides me with AcrobatPro, so luckily I can then combine all those pairs of pages into whole articles, saved on a couple of drives.

 

I also take Model Railroader, which uses the Kinio app/reader - with this you do retain access to the issues you bought as part of your sub, even after the sub expires. Easy to print to pdf as well, whole issue if desired.  I think the situation is the same for PC/web access for Railroad Model Craftsman, but you can only pdf 15 pages at a time. (And I assuming the new owners of RMC will carry on with that? - be nice if they gave us an android app to match the iStuff one.)

Alan, thanks for the additional details about printing to PDF on your PC - DUH!!! Been in IT over 40 years and didn't think about that simple solution!!! Now off to save "everything" as time permits. Agreed, it's a pity the saving to android devices is so bloody slow <sigh> seems when I FIRST started using Exact, it was a lot faster, oh well...

[johnd]

The solution still sounds like a lot of Faffing about.

 

Does it come down to RM and cost ?

 

Still not inclined to buy subscription to get the electronic version

[Sweeps]

Thanks for these replies, I'm inclined not to renew my subscription but seems I'll lose access to two years of digital editions. Thanks for the information re the subscription to the digital edition of other magazines who may not operate in this way. Why is it always railway modeller? They were the last magazine to accept the digital age and for years seemed to discourage electronic communication.

[CloggyDog]

The solution still sounds like a lot of Faffing about.

 

 

I guess it is (especially if you want to get all the back issues) but once you have caught up, it becomes a matter of routine and takes a few minutes each month. I fillet my mags anyways and keep only the useful stuff, so it seemed logical for me to switch to digital.

 

I should have said that I have a subscription to Continental Modeller (rather than RM), but it's otherwise identical.

 

On the up-side, you can subscribe for 3 months for about a tenner and scour the back-issues in that time.