It is amazing how out of touch the people who set these prices are. Who would pay newsstand price when its just a digital copy, and you can get subscriptions so much cheaper. I do expect the prices will become better when they realize how much less they are selling than they would otherwise, but they are losing a lot of people by taking so long.
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Magazine Disappointment
- Thread starter fjfjfjfj
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Are you sure you are reading a downloaded magazine and not trying to stream it from the server? They need to improve the UI where this part isn't clear, but I've found if you are reading one that is completely downloaded it's really not that slow.
I wouldn't condone this but one might check the torrent sites. I have a friend of a friend that gets almost any big name current issue from btjunkie. They are in PDF format and read via Good Reader.
can I just congratulate you on having had such a great software experience in your life that Zinio is the worst you've ever seen. Yes, its a little clunky, but 'worst app ever' is a bit hyperbolic IMO.
at least you have multiple magazines in one place. A few issues into Time magazine and you'll have pages taken up with just that one mag.
My main problem is that they don't seem to have the same catalogue of content that their desktop app has. I hope that'll change soon
Zinio
... I don't know why, but I feel like I need to defend Zinio. Other than a few minor annoyances (inability to easily delete magazines), it is by far the favorite app on the ipad. I use it all the time and freakin' love it. I have 12-15 subscriptions and the ipad is perfect for viewing them all. I'll never have print again. Just my two cents...
... I don't know why, but I feel like I need to defend Zinio. Other than a few minor annoyances (inability to easily delete magazines), it is by far the favorite app on the ipad. I use it all the time and freakin' love it. I have 12-15 subscriptions and the ipad is perfect for viewing them all. I'll never have print again. Just my two cents...
Agreed. I love Zinio. I only have one MAJOR complaint. I can't read magazines and listen to iPod app at the same time. I want to be on the train, tune out the world and read my magazines.
I hope one day they will let you scrapbook different sections or pages from different magazines together 
Those of you who are okay with zinio--
-Do you consider yourself a slow or fast reader? This is not an implied insult, I think slower readers probably get better info absorption than people like me who skim or read very fast. However I bet slower readers are more willing to put up with long loading times. Which brings us to:
-How long does it take your app to render a page so it is readable? Does it have to re-render EVERY page, even if you flip backwards?
I do not feel this is a matter of 'right' or 'wrong', if you're willing to put up with the apps' shortcomings (or they are not shortcomings to you), more power to you. I'm curious, though, what makes the experience tolerable for some, but not others.
I bet you could already do this after a fashion, although perhaps not within Zinio. Depends on if the power-home button screenshot trick works within the Zinio app; after that it would just be a matter of a scrapbook or bulletin board app.
-Do you consider yourself a slow or fast reader? This is not an implied insult, I think slower readers probably get better info absorption than people like me who skim or read very fast. However I bet slower readers are more willing to put up with long loading times. Which brings us to:
-How long does it take your app to render a page so it is readable? Does it have to re-render EVERY page, even if you flip backwards?
I do not feel this is a matter of 'right' or 'wrong', if you're willing to put up with the apps' shortcomings (or they are not shortcomings to you), more power to you. I'm curious, though, what makes the experience tolerable for some, but not others.
I bet you could already do this after a fashion, although perhaps not within Zinio. Depends on if the power-home button screenshot trick works within the Zinio app; after that it would just be a matter of a scrapbook or bulletin board app.
It takes about 1 sec to render a page and that also includes flipping back pages that have been read. I think some people complain about the slowness because they don't let all of the pages load first before trying to flip thru them fast. It downloads a page at a time as soon as you open the mag the first time. If you give it a minute to load all of the pages then you can go thru them pretty quick. I prefer Zinio because it consolidates the magazines in one App or library. I dont like having a bunch of icons all over my screen.
While the Time magazine app is too expensive, I think it shows the potential of what magazines can be on the IPad. I bought one magazine and I really enjoyed it. When they release the subscription price, if it is reasonable, I will be very tempted to purchase it.
As far as other magazines go, I think it will be a few months before we really see the good stuff. A lot of companies probably were being conservative, holding back until they saw how the IPad sold.
Zinio is ok. I agree that the load times are annoying, but at least the prices are somewhat reasonable.
As far as other magazines go, I think it will be a few months before we really see the good stuff. A lot of companies probably were being conservative, holding back until they saw how the IPad sold.
Zinio is ok. I agree that the load times are annoying, but at least the prices are somewhat reasonable.
I have mixed feelings about Zinio. The update has fixed the long loading time of each page problem but it still isn't instantaneous, which would be nice but not really a major annoyance. I love that you can purchase subscriptions and it keeps it all in one place rather than having loads of magazine apps all over the place. I wish the scans were a little higher resolution though as they blur when you zoom in and I have been spoiled by how well Safari renders sites when zoomed in. On the whole though, for convenience I think it's great.
I also downloaded the Maxim app today and that's not too bad either.
I also downloaded the Maxim app today and that's not too bad either.
My tuppence,
overall I'm very happy with the app....if anything its only out a few weeks and given they only had emulators to work with before the launch I'd say they'll polish it over the coming months!
Pros are ease of use and price,
cons are the page load delay, clunky buy interface and occasional crash,
the cons IMO don't make the app unusable and maybe take 20% off a perfect score so I really don't see how anyone could say its unusable or unrecommendable but as usual YMMV
It can only improve over time as publishers see the merits in making a proper digital copy as well as the standard paper version....given the decline of newspapers in the last number of years, this is exactly the sort of thing that will make them up their game!
Clowns like Time need to get a grip so please don't waste your money on their ridiculously overpriced digital versions when paper subscriptions with 100x the overheads are much cheaper
overall I'm very happy with the app....if anything its only out a few weeks and given they only had emulators to work with before the launch I'd say they'll polish it over the coming months!
Pros are ease of use and price,
cons are the page load delay, clunky buy interface and occasional crash,
the cons IMO don't make the app unusable and maybe take 20% off a perfect score so I really don't see how anyone could say its unusable or unrecommendable but as usual YMMV
It can only improve over time as publishers see the merits in making a proper digital copy as well as the standard paper version....given the decline of newspapers in the last number of years, this is exactly the sort of thing that will make them up their game!
Clowns like Time need to get a grip so please don't waste your money on their ridiculously overpriced digital versions when paper subscriptions with 100x the overheads are much cheaper
Same here. I've been using Zinio for the last 3 years or so, and I think their subscription prices are great.
Hmm. I feel like even if I leave it alone for a minute (meaning a full minute), it still takes 3-5 seconds to load EVERY page, EVERY time. I am usually testing with a sample issue of "Saveur"--which does not typically have any in-line links/videos and doesn't even give me one of those 'text' buttons.
Next time I remember and have a little free time I'll do some more testing and time it. (Not trying to prove any point here, would genuinely enjoy it if this app actually worked tolerably for me--if it works better for others maybe we can figure out why.)
Your times are correct and it is a bit annoying.
HOWEVER,
In my book this is nitpicking and not telling the complete story.
Many many times I am reading a printed version of a magazine and the pages stick together. It takes far longer than 3-5 seconds to solve that problem.
Many magazines (Popular Photography) still split articles and place the ending at the end of the magazine. I have spent minutes (not seconds) finding the end of the article while reading the printed edition. Missing page numbers makes it very hard to find. In Zinio you press "Text" and read the whole article.
On balance it is faster on the iPad.
I over 50 and remember when computers took minutes to render a basic PDF file. Thus I have little patience for someone who says that waiting 3-5 seconds to render a full graphic page is intolerable.
Would I like Zinio to work like the Popular Science edition? A big yes!
However, I can easily live with Zinio today for what it gives me.