[hugh]

I posted about Zinio last March as a computer application. As a computer application it was okay but as an iPad application, its wonderful.

If you don't know Zinio is, it's book and magazine service which provides digital editions that you can read on the computer, iPhone and the iPad.

The Zinio app is free and then you subscribe to the magazines you want. Subscription rates are significantly less than what it would cost you to buy the dead tree edition in Canada

These are full versions of the magazine with full colour images and sometimes even video and audio clips thrown in.

I now subscribe to the following digital editions:

• Consumer Reports
• Rolling Stones
• Esquire
• Home Theatre
• National Geographic
• PC Magazine
• Science Illustrated

Highly Recommended!

 

[hugh]

FYI, I recently subscribed to the National Geographic digital edition for $15 U.S. The dead tree edition is about $65 CDN plus taxes.

The money I save is going towards another tablet computer this year. I say tablet because there might be a Zinio for Android app out soon .

 

[notsure]

Does the magazine expire on the device after X number of months/weeks?

Can you save them for future reference?

Thanks.

 

[hugh]

They're yours to keep. Presumably you would have to delete them from your iPad as your memory runs out.

You can keep it on your PC indefinitely since you have much more storage space

 

[NeilN]

Hmm. I went to subscribe to National Geographic for the $15 price. When I entered my Paypal billing info the site informed me that it'd be actually $24 CDN. That's an over 50% premium for something that has basically zero distribution costs! What a joke.

 

[hugh]

National Geographic is the only magazine that does that. All the rest let you buy in US Dollars, which I always do.

To get around it, just put in a U.S. address. It doesn't validate it against your credit card so it gave me it for $15 U.S. (Although even at $24 that is a huge discount from the dead tree edition)

 

[NeilN]

Thanks hugh. And thanks for the temptation to spend even more money. After not subscribing to a magazine since high school, I now have six.

Observations regarding the magazines:

Most of them are high-resolution PDF counterparts of the print versions with some metadata attached for navigation. Zooming results in crisp text and graphics. National Geo is one of the few who produced versions specifically for reading electronically. Zooming is not needed and there are video/audio extras.

Observations regarding the app:

Needs some work with regards to speed of browsing magazines, downloads, and stability. Once a magazine is downloaded then there is no performance issues when reading through it. Wish the app could automatically download new issues as they become available but that's a limitation of Apple's iOS.

 

[hugh]

Thanks hugh. And thanks for the temptation to spend even more money. After not subscribing to a magazine since high school, I now have six.

You're welcome, I think!

Wish the app could automatically download new issues as they become available but that's a limitation of Apple's iOS.

I guess it could be an option. Personally, I don't mind having to Touch the image to have it download simply because it gives me control over when and where I download it.

Another nice reading app for me is The Economist. Print subscribers get to download the digital edition at no additional charge. I seldom even look at the dead tree edition anymore.

I know have eight magazine subs on my iPad, plus the Globe and Mail plus about fifteen books on my Kobo app.

 

[EnderWiggin]

Thanks for your review, I will check it out later.

 

[uberchuckie]

I'm pretty happy with the Zinio app for my iPhone. I especially like the "text" mode where you just get the text of the articles.

 

[NeilN]

I've been going through the free April 2010 National Geographic and it seems that some article text has been cut off. For example, "The Big Idea" ends with "Pumping seawater to pressures". Anyone else see this?

 

[EnderWiggin]

So I grabbed the free trial issues of PC Mag and was disappointed to find no ads. I guess many would prefer that but I actually digg the advertisements....

 

[hugh]

I can't speak for the free issues or the trial issues but my paid subscriptions have the complete content and ads with one exception - PC Mag. I just checked PC Mag and no ads.
Frankly never noticed before!

 

[NeilN]

Zinio is crashing to the desktop on me right now (probably because zinio.com is currently unresolvable). This is fixed by turning off wifi/3G if anyone else is having the same problem.