Sound On Sound Magazine - The Digital Version

The magazine industry, like news papers, is having a tough time as advertising revenue goes online and away from the traditional sources.

Most magazines also have a lot of paid editorial content, or favourable product reviews to advertisers,so  their usefulness is also probably seen to be not what it was.   You maybe better off finding information in forums.

With all that, and that we have also published our own eBook, we have tried an electronic version of something  we still do read, Sound On Sound Magazine.

We have tried their Android App, and purchased a recent issue. on a 10" tablet.

Overall it is a pretty good experience.

The issue we bought for $5, half of the local  news stand price for a 2 month old issue by the time it arrives in Australia from the UK.  If you find an Air freighted copy here, it is more like $22.

So the digital version is cheaper and more up to date.

It was a 151Mbyte download that took about 30 minutes. Not a problem with our cable connection and Studio WiFi.  The time it took isn't a problem either.

The issue I bought only had a couple of samples of sample libraries contained in it, and everything else was a link to a website.  Was pretty cool.

Articles scroll pages vertically, and you go through pages sideways like a normal eBook.  The Table of Contents is also active and you can jump to anywhere in the magazine.

Is it better to have a tablet subscription (your choice of iPad, Android or Kindle Fire )  or just an online subscription?   The improved magazine likeness of the tablet is nice.

I'm thinking maybe just online, it costs the same, and is usable anywhere.  Tablets have a limited life, but the browser will live on... at least it has for all the time I've been online.

I think they need a PC Mac version of thier App, like the Kindle has, then that would sway the choise. That means you would still have access to your magazines when your tablet breaks..... and visa versa.

And this editorial was more interesting than most. Having been involved with the Fairlight development, MIDI and other things.  Most of the time customers don't ask for the next big thing..... and much of the "next big things" that are developed aren't a success EITHER!!!!!!

iPad, Android Tablets, Kindles, Media and Consumer Applications

Cartoon eBook on Kindle and Tablets

For the last few months the Tech News has been about the death of the PC and the growth of the Tablet and Smartphone markets.

Particularly that Tablets are outselling PC and laptops by a wide margin now.

Now the interesting thing about that is that you can actually get real work done on a PC or Laptop.  A Tablet is a consumer device for Facebook, Twitter, magazines  newspapers and surfing the net. As a Smartphone is also really good for Facebook and Twitter, and you pretty much need, or have a phone.  Our Smartphones can do music, eBooks, Videos and all that, but we always have to worry about the battery running out, and not actually being able to make or take a call, or worry about the outrageous data costs from Telcos.
That leaves a Tablet more for reading and surfing stuff. And of course playing the odd game. Angry Birds or yet some other variation of Tetris....

Most things people do on a Tablet are actually much easier to do on a Laptop. That keyboard just makes things way easier if you actually need to enter text, cut and copy sections of text and actually produce something. Students need laptops, not just Tablets to be able to use the material researched.

Tablets are great for Photos, but using them as a camera is just embarrassing, but people do it.

The magazine industry and newspapers are also targeting Tablets as the digital delivery medium. Such as this Australian Newspaper or this UK Magazine.

And I just got an email that the biggest CD and DVD retailer here, JB HIFI  is now selling eBooks.

The Android phone may now be taking over the phone market, but the iPad is the king of Tablets at the moment.  The displays are color and you get about a day of battery life out of them.  Steve Jobs may have insisted that the 10" screen was the only one, but it looks like the 7" displays of the iPad mini and like Tablets are the real sweet pot as far as sales are concerned.

The iPad mini sized Amazon Kindles with eInk displays have up to 8 weeks of battery life, a 16 color gray scale display that looks a lot like paper and can be read in bright sun light.  AND, you get content delivered almost immediately from anywhere in the world.  The display simulates paper very well, but not color, which makes it a draw back for what we all read on a daily basis. Newspapers have been color for a very long time now, and no one will go back to none color newspapers.

Amazon has bought liquavista, the color eInk display company.  A Kindle device with a color display, can show video, and still have weeks of battery life may be the real platform for magazines, books, newspapers and comics.  The real consumer stuff the Tablet market seems to target.  An iPad Mini with such a display could also be ideal.

We are very interested in all of this, and have our own eBook on Amazon.
Hot CAR-toons, Dudes, Dudettes & Stuff At the Heavy Metal Garage  has color cartoon jokes and chapters of text.  It is completely usable on anything running the free Kindle App, such as my Android Smartphone, and even the low end 6" eInk wifi Kindle.  More colorful with a color Kindle, but the eInk Kindle display is wonderful because it doesn't have any issues with glare and is so much like paper.

So if the Tablet is the consumer delivery platform, books, magazines, newspapers and a few other media, may in the not to distant future stop printing on paper, and deliver directly to your tablet.  Not shipping around paper will really be a huge change. What about all those printing companies and delivery people? What about book stores and newsagents?

May happen sooner than you think.  We don't need local business directories or phone books printed on paper any more. We use the Internet to access that stuff, and get the latest Bus Timetables.

So if Tablets are these consumer devices, then producing the consumable media is where the real industry may be supplying the content. We would imagine this is not programmed Apps, but the future versions of eNewspapers, eBooks, eMagazines, eNewsletters and eMail.

Discuss.

Contact us at Art & Technology.