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Magazines coming to iBooks?

L

LurchNC

macrumors regular
Original poster
May 1, 2008
121
0
Anyone see any magazines in iBooks yet? I don't have an iPad yet, but I would love to be able to buy a subscription to my favorite mags and get them digitally through iBooks. I searched the web and it seems none have appeared yet. Anyone heard of any publisher's plans?

I know the Times and a few others have apps, but I would think iBooks would be perfect for this sort of thing. Maybe not?

Thanks!
 
From what I've seen all the magazines have been via Apps. It's kind of confusing. I had hoped for a virtual magazine stand. Of course I also thought magazines would cost less than at the real newstand too. I love the idea of a eMagazine but full price is crazy when I can get annual subs to most monthly print editions from free to $7.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
From what I've seen all the magazines have been via Apps. It's kind of confusing. I had hoped for a virtual magazine stand. Of course I also thought magazines would cost less than at the real newstand too. I love the idea of a eMagazine but full price is crazy when I can get annual subs to most monthly print editions from free to $7.
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Exactly. I love Time Magazine and I was hoping when I get the iPad to subscribe to electronic format to save paper waste but Ive heard its $5 per ISSUE!? Is this right? I can get a full paper subscription for like $12.
 
Yes, something is very wrong with the pricing of apps on the ipad. Its rather insane. They cut down on costs everywhere and still charge more. Dont get it.

I know prices will go down but still.

Now, You could convert your pdf magazines to epub and read them inside ibooks, but that doesnt look great, i got alot of white pages. Also Zinio has and app for ipad, which they should be updating with more and more magazines.

But i would like one app to store all my magazines, books whatever. Not 20 different apps for each magazines, thats just awful
 
henrikrox said:
But i would like one app to store all my magazines, books whatever. Not 20 different apps for each magazines, thats just awful
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I agree. I really don't want a separate app for each magazine. Hopefully iBooks will mature with more and more content in the future. I'll check out Zinio too.

Thanks
 
JoJoCal19 said:
Exactly. I love Time Magazine and I was hoping when I get the iPad to subscribe to electronic format to save paper waste but I've heard its $5 per ISSUE!? Is this right?
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Unfortunately, yes it is $5 per issue. Same for Mens Health. GQ is $3. They need to get that in line quick. The final deciding factor for me to buy the iPad was magazines, so it is disappointing so far.
 
I agree, the prices per issue for magazines is outrageous.

Either drop the price drastically (I'm talking down to 0.99) or introduce a subscription.
 
so some apps have multiple magazines inside - like Zinio.

Some apps are single magazines - like time

Some apps are just one issue of a magazine

some apps have multiple books inside - kindle, ibooks etc.


Is it possible to have a 'collation' app that can show all your magazines/books in one place (using the shared file system thing?) and then when you touch one, it launches the appropriate host app?

If not, you'll end up with an entire homescreen full of different book/magazine apps and it'll be a nightmare to find the particular thing you're looking for
 
sonictonic said:
I too want to recommend Zinio. The free iPad app even came with some current free sample magazines likes Car & Driver and MacWorld which was awesome.
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I saw a video of it...it looked OK, but I'd prefer it to have a page turning animation (it would really add to the feel). The other thing is, it didn't look very smooth. Is it as slow and jerky as it looked in the video?
 
Yeah newspaper companies charging 5 bucks an issue is a bit nuts. Atleast let me subscribe at the same price as the subscription price.
 
The only magazine app ive downloaded is popular science and I must admit that it is beautiful despite costing $5 an issue. With OS 4.0 we will be able to put apps in folders which would make having a separate app for each magazine much cleaner.
 
It's insane how much these publishers charge. No way in hell will the publishing industry survive at this since we all see through their cash grab when electronic distribution has much lower overhead cost. It's rediculous!
 
amirite said:
I saw a video of it...it looked OK, but I'd prefer it to have a page turning animation (it would really add to the feel). The other thing is, it didn't look very smooth. Is it as slow and jerky as it looked in the video?
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Naw zinio is slow (takes a second for the next page to load) and worst of all u can listen to the iPad app since the stupid app closes iPod automatically.
 
ravenvii said:
I agree, the prices per issue for magazines is outrageous.

Either drop the price drastically (I'm talking down to 0.99) or introduce a subscription.
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Yeah, they are rather high. But the prices will probably remain high if people buy them. If they're not selling at those inflated prices, I expect to see a price drop :rolleyes: Case in point . . . App Store . . . Well sort of. The sheer volume of apps breeds competition and price drops IMHO
 
I know there are a ton of good reader posts on the forums, but many digital magazines can be found in PDF format (not just scans) from the publisher for free or cheap. gr is very fast even on full image PDFs and supports toc and outside links (that can be turned off). This months MSDN magazine looked great and the ads had links to vendor sites and online content.
 
amirite said:
I saw a video of it...it looked OK, but I'd prefer it to have a page turning animation (it would really add to the feel). The other thing is, it didn't look very smooth. Is it as slow and jerky as it looked in the video?
Click to expand...

Zinio works great. I am very happy with it. Not slow and zerky at all IMO. My only complaint is the free magazines it keeps showing in my subscription list. I only want to see the magazines I subscribe to.
 
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