Problem with Zinio is that even on a non-retina screen text doesn't come out very nice due to it all being a bunch of (sometimes crappy) images. Images are (imo) much less susceptible to non-native resolutions than continuous text is.
DVD resolution works ok (not to all eyes of course) on high resolution/pixel doubled interfaces due to filters and movement. Desktop publishing, such as magazines - anything with running text, practically - not so much.
If Apple ever decides that Newsstand should be on the desktop as well - and why not? - it'd be as a "retinized" app day one.
The current state of Zinio's desktop reader and their image based approach, even for text, means I will no longer be a customer once my current sub runs out. Using the Adobe Air platform doesn't help either.
To add insult to injury, their new
beta platform currently only allows for online reading on desktops (that might of course change). I repeat this more often than I should have to, but online only content is a no-go as we're not even close to live in an always connected world for quite a foreseeable time - and I say this as someone who has been using wireless as my only internet connection for the last 5-6 years in a country with a relatively good infrastructure. I need, absolutely need, content to sit on my computer for the most part.
I guess I'll just get dead tree versions from now on as digital distribution seems to have stagnated in an eternal late 90's/early 2000's mindset. The hardware platforms might be new but the digital publications themselves, as far as image and text quality goes, offer little over a pdf scan.
