Got an email - new issues in my subscripotion will no longer be delivered through Zinio. Instead, I will have to go to the archives to read any issues I have access to through my subscription.
Just tried it - uggh! No way to read offline, you have to be online. Can’t download the issue. And you scroll UP AND DOWN to read through the issue, not left and right like turning pages.
It appears that if I want to go through some extra steps I can download a PDF on my desktop and then transfer it to my tablet, but that’s about it.
Even the old Archive app at least allowed you to downlaod the issues and read them without being connected to the internet. ANd they scrolled left to right like a book or magazine. This is yet another HORRIBLE change. For what purpose? I guess it is now easier to block you from reading old issues if you let your subscription expire. There are plenty of other examples across all hobbies and topics that do it right - any issue I subscribed to is mine perpetually, just like a paper subscription. But apparantly not MR, now.
I’ve got nearly a year left on my subscrition. I guess the question I have to ask myself it, what would I miss if I let it lapse? This new change is certainly not pushing me to continue. And I can’t be the oly one. I do think the suits are getting in the way of the real modelers on the staff, and are now managing to cut off their nose to spite their faces. All about the short term, rake in the cash, forget the long term sustainability. But that’s how they teach MBAs these days.
Randy, there are lots of problems so far with all these changes.
But I’m puzzled by one thing. When I go to the new archive, the pages flip left to right? Nicer than they did on the old version, and they load almost instantly?
Other features are missing like full search of the archive?
But reading the issue was not bad?
I wonder why you are seeing something different from me?
From a desktop browser - they are left to right. On a mobile browser on my tablet, it’s up and down.
Actualy, it goes left to right in mobile Chrome, but get 3-4 pages in and it literally crashes the browser. Using Safari I can read the whole issue but it’s up and down to scroll through pages.
Abd yesm, with some extra steps I can get it full scree, right to left scroll - Read the issue with my desktop, download PDF, copy said PDF to my tablet, then open in the Books app.
Idk Im just glad they finally gave the archieve for free to just MR most basic tier subscribers. Finally got to get a copy of the long wanted Nov 2011 magazine which had one of my favorite layout showcases.
I can access the new issue via archive, but if I try to read current issue from the main site, it tells me I need to subscribe. Brilliant.
When I do get to an issue, I can scroll left and right, but up or down always advances one page.
The thumbnails for magazines are square so the mastheads and bottoms of mags are cut off. Brilliant.
The thumbnails for videos are vertical (ironically ideal magazine format), so the sides of the video thumbnail are cut off. Brilliant.
If you log into your account in a vain attempt to find your subscription status, it says “no dashboard available.” Brilliant. Maybe I have not dug deep enough to find that info, but we should not have to.
Overall, the Trains site looks like a buggy Wordpress theme. Nothing wrong with Wordpress, unless the theme sucks and the devs are clueless.
One more thing: since the new online format will not allow you to view a single page in landscape format (rotating a tablet changes the view to a 2 page spread), will the suits allow the magazine’s art directors to design accordingly? ScaleTrains may want to clue in and stop those 90 degree rotated ads.
The email I got telling me that all new issues would be on Trains.com and not on ZINIO also said that my old digital issues will always be available on ZINIO. That’s good, but will my soon to be old issues always be available on Trains.com if I ever stop my subscription or don’t get the Unlimited subscription? Once I’ve paid for them I want to always have acces.
I used to subscribe to the digital edition of RMC. I let that expire and now can’t login to White River publishing to see my old issues. I haven’t called their customer service so I don’t know if that is a glitch or by intent. I’ll be pretty upset if the can’t let me see old issues.
I got an Email telling me to go to Trains.com to read my subscribed May issue of MR. OK, I do that, sign in, and click on read and get back You must Subscribe to read.
I think this is the last straw for me with Kalmbach.
There’s a direct Download PDF option, no need to fool around with print to PDF or same all the HTML and links. It’s just extra steps from how it used to be, and how others do it.
I do think if your subscription lapse, that’s it - no more access. Unless they tell us otherwise.
Using my tablet, the form factor is correct for a magazine page, and the page is nearly the same height as it is on my 27" desktop display. Since you typically hold a table closer than you sit to a desktop monitor, overall it’s almost bigger. Plus it’s portable - I can sit out back when it gets warmer, sit on a comfy chair in the living room, read in bed, or while sitting on a plane.
Forgive the ignorant question, but is the system simialr to Model Railroad Hobbyist? [Link removed by moderator] That site is quite easy to use. Not sure how it works on tablets.
Ha, I didn’t even look for that. I’m used to sites locking out certain save PDF features when there’s a viewer involved that I just default to printing it.
Anyone else hit their limit of free articles from the newsletters even though they subscribe to MR and MRVP and we were told we’d maintain access. On my second call to customer service in less than two weeks