Digital magazines....what an inane idea

[rockinmywaypa]

What are we supposed to do now while we're waiting to get a haircut or waiting to see the doctor at his office. There must be lots of places that require the ability to pick up a magazine to peruse for a while while waiting for something.

 

[Travelover]

A digital Sears catalog won't do you much good in an outhouse.

 

[CowboyRon]

I know people have a preference to digital or printed copy, and choices are always good to have.
The problem I have is where the digital people try to convince the masses is that digital is "green" and good for the planet.
Studies have shown that for all of the electricity to run the servers and then the power to read an article only once, gives the digital readers as large or even bigger carbon footprint.
I've been in the print business for over 30 years myself. All of our paper that we use is recycled, our ink is soy based, and all of our chemicals are either 0 or low VOC.
We don't print many magazines anymore, just brochures and advertising you would see in a store.
I'm finished rambling, just thought I would throw in another $.02

 

[dave1949]

I know people have a preference to digital or printed copy, and choices are always good to have.
The problem I have is where the digital people try to convince the masses is that digital is "green" and good for the planet.
Studies have shown that for all of the electricity to run the servers and then the power to read an article only once, gives the digital readers as large or even bigger carbon footprint.
I've been in the print business for over 30 years myself. All of our paper that we use is recycled, our ink is soy based, and all of our chemicals are either 0 or low VOC.
We don't print many magazines anymore, just brochures and advertising you would see in a store.
I'm finished rambling, just thought I would throw in another $.02

That's a good side topic to the thread. I think the studies would have to be very detailed and encompass many factors, including environmental impacts, to make a valid conclusion on how green digital is compared to paper.

My guess is that digital would be found to be greener, but I bet it is a close race. The server farms should be getting at least 50% of their power from renewable sources like solar and wind. Digital output requires energy and chemical intensive devices to make it usable, PC's, phones, tablets, pads, etc.

How many times can paper be recycled? Does it chemically degrade to the point where it is no longer suitable for print materials? I suppose it may depend on what tactile and visual characteristics the distributor is looking for, but newsprint for example, can it go round and round more or less forever?

 

[CowboyRon]

That's a good side topic to the thread. I think the studies would have to be very detailed and encompass many factors, including environmental impacts, to make a valid conclusion on how green digital is compared to paper.

My guess is that digital would be found to be greener, but I bet it is a close race. The server farms should be getting at least 50% of their power from renewable sources like solar and wind. Digital output requires energy and chemical intensive devices to make it usable, PC's, phones, tablets, pads, etc.

How many times can paper be recycled? Does it chemically degrade to the point where it is no longer suitable for print materials? I suppose it may depend on what tactile and visual characteristics the distributor is looking for, but newsprint for example, can it go round and round more or less forever?

I don't think there is a limit to how many times paper can be recycled. Most of the stock we buy has no more than 70% recycled pulp, but I have come across some 100%.
I know our recycling company takes all the paper that we give them. They ask no questions.

 

[Soundguy]

yep.. i hate digital copies too... I like to set and read if power is out.. at lunch out on the farm.. etc.. etc.

 

[MossRoad]

Mossroad, thank you VERY much for your detailed and informative post on the subject. I do understand the realities of digital publication, but I sincerely wish those of us who have to deal with very slow internet access didn't have to bear the negative aspects we are stuck with. At the absolute maximum, my gaming ready desktop coupled with a 25" LCD can download at 54 mbps using DSL which is at the maximum 3 mile range where I live. The hardware can operate at much higher speeds but I will probably never be able to get much faster DSL than that 54 mbps speed. Very frustrating.

You sure you don't me Kb and not Mb?

I've got about 160Kb down and 250Kb upload and its plenty fast for digital media. Can't stream video at that speed, though.

 

[MossRoad]

I know people have a preference to digital or printed copy, and choices are always good to have.
The problem I have is where the digital people try to convince the masses is that digital is "green" and good for the planet.
Studies have shown that for all of the electricity to run the servers and then the power to read an article only once, gives the digital readers as large or even bigger carbon footprint.
I've been in the print business for over 30 years myself. All of our paper that we use is recycled, our ink is soy based, and all of our chemicals are either 0 or low VOC.
We don't print many magazines anymore, just brochures and advertising you would see in a store.
I'm finished rambling, just thought I would throw in another $.02

I think when you factor in the power needed to grow, harvest, transport, pulp, mill, transport, print, deliver to doorstep, collect from doorstep for recycling(starts the process over like harvesting) paper will consume way more energy per reader reached than digital copy per reader reached.

And there is a limit to how many times paper can be recycled into the same type of paper based on how much the fiber breaks down, how many chemicals are used to bleach it, etc...

Let's face it... print will be for art projects and wrapping paper only in the next decade, maybe two decades.

 

[300UGUY]

Makes it easier to keep the house clean. I don't have stacks of newspapers to be recycled or magazines to be read. I need all the help I can get.

 

[CowboyRon]

Let's face it... print will be for art projects and wrapping paper only in the next decade, maybe two decades.[/QUOTE]

My dad brought me into the business, and I've made a good living with it. I won't do the same for my boys. The business has just shrunk too much, and I'm blessed that I'm still in a niche that's doing well.

 

[JDgreen227]

You sure you don't me Kb and not Mb?

I've got about 160Kb down and 250Kb upload and its plenty fast for digital media. Can't stream video at that speed, though.

I said 54 mbps...see the attachment

 

[MossRoad]

Let's face it... print will be for art projects and wrapping paper only in the next decade, maybe two decades.

My dad brought me into the business, and I've made a good living with it. I won't do the same for my boys. The business has just shrunk too much, and I'm blessed that I'm still in a niche that's doing well.[/QUOTE]

Yeah. You know small-town newspapers are still holding their own if they are in isolated areas and not a suburb of a larger town.

Here's what I like about local newspapers....

A hometown newspaper chronicles the history of your town. Everyone that is hatched, matched or dispatched is in the newspaper. They keep an eye on your local government and hold them accountable to the people with accountable reporting. Without them sitting in at every government or schoolboard meeting they could pretty much do as they please before anyone knows about it. How would you know what was said and who said it except by hearsay from a third party? Criminal cases, civil cases, zoning changes, elections, board meetings, you name it. Your local hometown paper icovers it. And that's just the news. There's sports, entertainment, sales... a good hometown newspaper holds a community together. It will be a sad day when there are no more accountable local reporters.

 

[MossRoad]

I said 54 mbps...see the attachment

O.K. That appears to be the speed of the connection from your computer to your router. That is not your internet speed. I can pretty much gaurantee that you do not have 54Mb from your ISP to your house.

Try going to this site and after it loads, pick the large city nearest you and run the test. It will take several minutes and tell you your upload and download speeds.

Speakeasy Speed Test

 

[cqaigy2]

I understand what you are saying JD GREEN 227 and agree. I live in a rural area of NW Michigan and do not have access to high speed. My telephone line speed is 21.6, satellite speed isn't a whole lot better, no cable or WI-FI.

Ditto here as well. and not much chance of anything coming out this way.

 

[JDgreen227]

O.K. That appears to be the speed of the connection from your computer to your router. That is not your internet speed. I can pretty much gaurantee that you do not have 54Mb from your ISP to your house.

Try going to this site and after it loads, pick the large city nearest you and run the test. It will take several minutes and tell you your upload and download speeds.

Speakeasy Speed Test

You are correct there...I was wrong...I am not very computer savvy and should have known better...using your link and the one my ISP provides gave me an average result of 1.37 mbps download and .36 mbps download between the two for my laptop. My desktop that had the video halting problem is direct connected to the router and gives an average of 1.55 mbps download and .42 mbps upload. Verizon is sending me a new router and they tell me once it is connected I should be able to get close to the 2.0 mbps I am paying for. Yeah, right.

 

[ljohnson778]

Just got a notice (online of course) that a print magazine I have subscribed to for the past ten years is changing to an all-digital format soon, and I have never understood why subscribers prefer that format. I enjoy reading a print edition sitting on the couch or while in bed (usually with a cat or two atop me) which isn't conductive to using a laptop computer or e-reader. I have viewed a number of automotive publications online and after the first experience or two I began detesting the experience. While I have always passed along good magazines to friends or dropped them off at the local hospital's waiting rooms, you cannot do that with a digital edition.

Exactly WHAT is the appeal of online magazines? As bad as the advertising content is in the print editions, it is nowhere as irritating as the barrage of ads one has to endure while using an online magazine. I used to subscribe to ACCESS magazine, which was printed for Directv subscribers, and it was so convenient to use the PRINT edition and learn what programs were on. They cancelled publication about 2 years ago. Now I have to turn on my TV set and DVR and scroll through an entire group of screens to learn what will be televised on a certain day, then write the information down. Waste of time having to do that.

Digital magazines are of little use to many people who are stuck with dial-up and/or low speed DSL service (like me) and I wish they had never invented the concept. What are your opinions?

You know, I get exactly where you are coming from... It's not about my Internet speed limiting my experience, but about the nostalgia of flipping through the pages. I grew up on truck, tractor, and yes, computer magazines. I work with computers for a living, but there is something so impersonal about an online mag... Kinda makes me long for the "old" days...

 

[daugen]

I will probably never be able to get much faster DSL than that 54 mbps speed

54 meg a second is not slow; I'd like that speed. Do you mean ten percent of that? 1/100th?

ok, overlapping posts. I should be able to get close to the 2.0 mbps I am paying for.

man that's not much faster than dialup in trying to load a big page like cnn's home page. I'll count my blessings and my mbps.

 

[daugen]

btw, we NEED something readable on the throne, for sure. Some may take an Ipad in there, which I don't have, nor a smart phone either, but I'd be scared to death to fumble it and
boy would I not want to explain that to my wife, much less retrieve it.

 

[JDgreen227]

I will probably never be able to get much faster DSL than that 54 mbps speed

54 meg a second is not slow; I'd like that speed. Do you mean ten percent of that? 1/100th?

ok, overlapping posts. I should be able to get close to the 2.0 mbps I am paying for.

man that's not much faster than dialup in trying to load a big page like cnn's home page. I'll count my blessings and my mbps.

Yes...DSL can be very slow in many areas and I thank Mossroad for correcting my blatant error !!! Getting back on topic, in the late 90's and early 2000's I was subscribing to an entire multitude of magazines, automotive, RV, home repair, technology, etc. When digital magazines gained a foothold, the print editions suffered badly. One of my long term favorites, and RV publication called Trailer Life, gradually lowered their print edition from about 146 pages to 85, and in the process the cut the editorial content (reviews, etc) to an empty shell of what it had been. The magazine became nothing but ads and pretty pictures. Another of my long term favorites, Computer Shopper, that I had a 10 year subscription to, ceased print editions and became entirely digital. To me it was a waste of time to go online and read it. I currently have let every subscription I have expire except for two: Esquire magazine, which I was offered in return for the demise of my CS subscription...and I just renewed TV Guide, with a 3 year price of $15 per year. What are the odds they will discontinue the print edition and go all digital in the next 3 years?

BTW, my sister in law is a manager for a company that specializes in selling magazine subscriptions to college age students...she says sales of print magazines are less than half of what they were eight years ago, and she says it's not just digital magazines that are causing the decline, it's the popularity of social sites, online gaming, etc. that all contribute.

 

[Soundguy]

another shrinking area is newspaper. or local one gets spendier and smaller every month.. and has gone digital.

I suspect many subscription based' mags may disappear from print and go full digital, and only leaving ipulse buy stuff still in print.. ....