Still Like Kindle, Still No iPad
Posted November 4th, 2010 @ 12:12pm by Erik J. Barzeski
I echo a lot of the sentiments shared in this post. The Kindle is far and away a better "reading" machine than the iPad.
Still, for the things I blow through quickly - magazines - I'd love to get an iPad. I've said it since the iPad was announced. Disappointingly, there's been no movement on this front. There's no "magazine" application or an Apple-run "Magazine Stand" application that collects and gathers magazines in a format suitable for the iPad.
I don't need interactive stuff (clicking links is about all I require) like embedded movies or moving advertisements or surveys you can take "inside" the magazine. Heck, convert a magazine to a long PDF document and deliver it to my iPad and I'd be happy. The environmentalists would be happy. The circulation department (and thus the ad department) would be happy. No?
I have the feeling I won't be getting an iPad for a long, loooong time… 😛
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Posted 04 Nov 2010 at 7:27pm #
Have you taken a look at zinio.com?
Covers a lot of those requirements, has a range of magazines available, and has an iPad and desktop reader.
Posted 04 Nov 2010 at 7:43pm #
Actually there is an app/service called Zinio http://www.zinio.com/ipad/ - I subscribe to Dwell & Tone (the latter being a NZ "hifi + gadgetry" mag) through it, and about the only "interactive" type thing is Dwell provides a "view article as text" alternative to reading it as the magazine layout dictated.
Downsides? DRM. They do have an iPhone app as well, though I don't think I've ever tried to read a magazine there.
Posted 05 Nov 2010 at 9:19am #
My experiences with Zinio in the past are bad. Despite that, I might consider the app except their coverage of the magazines I read is nearly as bad as Apple's.
Posted 05 Nov 2010 at 9:51am #
Hi Erik.
The iPad App is actually a lot better than the bloated desktop version.
You don't say what your bad experiences are, but I've had no problems, other than with the usual iOS upgrades and resulting required App upgrades being slightly out of sync.
I would agree that in some situations the Kindle makes a better pure 'reading' platform, but it can't compare to the colour and highly graphical layout of most magazines that the iPad can cope with.
I imagine more of an issue, and totally understandable, is the lack of the magazines you actually want to read on the platform.
I don't see that changing soon. I think whichever electronic format you settle on, we are still many, many years away from the less mainstream publications appearing in anything other than traditional paper format.
Just wanted to 'correct' the statement that 'There's no "magazine" application or an Apple-run "Magazine Stand" application that collects and gathers magazines in a format suitable for the iPad.'; there is, but it obviously doesn't tick your specific boxes.
Best, Andy
Posted 05 Nov 2010 at 11:03am #
[quote comment="63223"]I would agree that in some situations the Kindle makes a better pure 'reading' platform, but it can't compare to the colour and highly graphical layout of most magazines that the iPad can cope with.[/quote]
Right… which is why I keep saying that if I could read all of the magazines I subscribe to on an iPad, I'd buy an iPad in a heartbeat. Lengthy reads of primarily text (books) = Kindle; quick little reads with images that are not going to work in greyscale (magazines) = iPad.
Your correction stands, and thank you for that. I should have been clearer: there's no magazine application with widespread coverage of popular magazines and, more specifically, MY magazines. 🙂
Posted 06 Nov 2010 at 8:40am #
You might want to check out "PixelMags" - I haven't tested it myself, but from what I have seen in magazine ads and in the iTunes store, it appears that each magazine is an app with the issues organized on a shelf.
Several magazines by Imagine Publishing is available in this format - http://www.imagine-publishing.co.uk/tabbed_content/external4.htm