I don't see a thread for general comments and suggestions on the magazine, so I figured I'd start one. To kick it off, a few things that come to my mind.
First off, I love the new look! It's sleek and appealing--a nice step up from the previous version.
One thing I'd like to see is an RSS feed for when new content is added. I know links to the weekly columns get posted on Facebook, but I don't always see those, and just visiting the site directly it's not always intuitive to know what I've already looked at. RSS is a bit more reliable, and another good tool to point people back to the site whenever there's something to see.
I haven't jumped on the Kindle bandwagon yet, but that seems a logical leap for IGMS to take. This post from a year ago talks about it and I see that issue #1 is in the Kindle store, but are there plans to get current issues up? Will subscribers have to pay again to get it on their e-reader or will they get it for free, having paid once? (I'm not sure how easy this is through Amazon's infrastructure, but surely you could make other e-book formats available.)
The subscription feature is a great improvement, long in the coming. I did have a question about it, though. For the six issues that I pay for with a year's subscription, do I keep them forever? I understand that an up to date subscription gives you free access to back issues, but hopefully the issues I'm paying for are "mine"--I won't lose access to them when the year is up.
All in all, nice work with the IGMS relaunch, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for it.
Scott Mikula
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Scott-- thanks for the kind words.
I don't know about a lot of your questions, but I'm pretty sure that when you purchase an issue, it's yours. I'll defer to Kathleen or Edmund, though, for corrections or specifics.
Posted by Edmund (Member # 8751) on :
Scott,
Thanks for starting this thread. Comments and suggestions have been coming in from a variety of sources and it's great to have a centralized location for it.
Regarding your three general areas of comment:
1)RSS feeds: looking into it. Probably the most requested feature thus far. Our webmaster handles all of OSC websites (of which there are plenty), so we may have to wait a while (until he cathces up with other work, since he's been devoting so much time to IGMS lately). But an RSS feed is definitly high on my list.
2)Subscriptions: If you bought issues under the previous model (paying for them one at a time), those issues will be yours forever. UNder the new model, however, you're paying for access to the site, not individual issues, and if you let your subscription lapse, that's the end. You can, however, print stories out from the website, so if there are tales you particularly like, you're always free to do that, any time your subscrition is active.
3)Kindle: We would love to be able to offer on-going subscriptions on Kindle, but Amazon is very... let's say 'challenging' to work with in this area. It's not that hard to ofer individual issues as if they were e-books (which we're still interested in doing), but a Kindle subscription is not likely to happen, at least for the foreseeable future.
I think that's everything. If I've missed something, or you have follow-up questions, please let me know.
Edmund
Posted by HandEyeProtege (Member # 7565) on :
Thanks for the quick responses! I think that covers my questions. Now I'm off to get myself a subscription...
Posted by Ndaara (Member # 12344) on :
Hi! I've wanted to buy IGMS for quite some time but I can't stand reading at the computer, nor do I want to print things out.
Just picked up a Sony Pocket Reader and would very much like to read IGMS on that. Is there an easy way to get it on there that I'm just missing? I'm new to ereaders so please accept my apologies if this is a bonehead question.
I do see that issue #1 is available for Kindle which is great! But doesn't really help me out much, I don't think. Correct me if I'm wrong please!
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Ndaara:
We're working on a e-reader format right now, actually, and hope to have a trial ready for download next issue. This isn't an announcement-- this is an expression of our intent and our hope that everything will be ready.
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