MR going all digital?
#1
Got an e-mail from Kalmbach today saying that effective today as long as you have a subscription to the print edition we can also get the digital version through Zinio.  I'm wondering if this is the first step in eliminating the print edition altogether.  Several years ago I had a computer magazine subscription that shifted to all digital through Zinio.  The interface was klunky and slow.  Maybe they've improved it by now.  In any event, I prefer to have the print version.

Here's the e-mail:

We are excited to announce the digital edition of Model Railroader magazine will now be included with your print subscription!

The April 2021 issue will be live on our partner’s site, [u]Zinio.com[/u], this Friday, February 19. If you do not already have an account with Zinio using this email address, go to [u]Zinio.com[/u] and create an account now. When the issue becomes available, you will receive an email from Zinio providing a link to your Zinio library to view the digital issue.
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If you have not already registered on any of our websites, go to [u]ModelRailroader.com[/u] and register now. When you are registered and logged in to the site, you will be able to access online subscriber benefits, such as:
Track Plan Database
Cody’s Office Videos
And more!
 
We hope you enjoy this exciting new benefit of your subscription! We look forward to bringing you even more of the content you love, both inside the magazine and on the website.
 
Enjoy!

The Model Railroader Team
 
P.S. Coming soon, the [u]ModelRailroader.com[/u] website will have a new home on [u]Trains.com [/u]– the one destination for modeling how-to and railroad history and news. With the relaunch of Trains.com, print magazine subscribers like you will be able to access the digital edition of Model Railroader magazine as part of their subscription right from the website! You’ll also get early access to every new issue before the print issue arrives! We’ll let you know as soon as the new site is ready.





Tom
Life is simple - Eat, Drink, Play with trains

Occupation: Professional Old Guy (The government pays me to be old.)
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#2
I currently receive MR through Amazon on Kindle. Since getting the Kindle I rarely buy books if they are available on Kindle. To me the interface is easy to use and many of the books are significantly cheaper than the printed version.
Tom
Silence is golden but Duct tape is silver
Ridley Keystone & Mountain Railroad
My Rail Images Gallery
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#3
I spend all my work day in front of a screen. Now it seems like all shopping is online. No more CDs or album sleeve to look at while I listen to music. Then there is the smart phone that we are expected to carry everywhere... My wife bought a tablet so that we can read the kids books on it or so the kids can do learning activities. Egad. My 4-year old son would rather sit on the floor and build truss bridges with his blocks to push his trains over, or look though his books while he sits in bed.

I will be quite sad if I can no longer pick up a print magazine and read it if I want to "unplug".
--
Kevin
Check out my Shapeways creations!
3-d printed items in HO/HOn3 and more!
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#4
I resubscribed a few months ago, and the first thing I got was an email telling me that I had February's digital issue waiting. I contacted Kalmbach after reading my subscription offer and it said both digital and print, "Where's my print issue?", I said. "oh, January went out separate, expect it in about two weeks". It was late January and in comes both December and February within days of each other, still no January. "Just extend my subscription one month and forget about January", just no way they'll do that. In comes March, one more email and they "resent" January. It finally showed up about a week ago....

Just be aware, if you are offered a special, lower, rate for 12 issues of MR, that two of those issues can be past ones. I did that once and got three issues within days of each other, I did it again in this case, the February issue was already in the mail, yet they sent me December and eventually, January as part of the offer. I'm not complaining, but I would if I had bought those issues at a newsstand.

Like Kevin, I will not be happy, and would cancel if I did't get a print edition, my computer is for other things than reading magazines as is my cell phone.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#5
If they go all digital I will drop my subscription.
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
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#6
I gave up on the model magazines and train magazines many years ago. I bought them mainly for the ads, so I would know what was available and at what price. 
Many advertisers went to the internet, and I also found other great modelers on the internet too. I find better modeling and better instructions at the web site called BigBlueTrains.com and many people get published there that would never make it to the pages of Model Railroader. 
Charlie
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#7
(02-20-2021, 08:56 AM)Charlie B Wrote: I gave up on the model magazines and train magazines many years ago. I bought them mainly for the ads, so I would know what was available and at what price. 
Many advertisers went to the internet, and I also found other great modelers on the internet too. I find better modeling and better instructions at the web site called BigBlueTrains.com and many people get published there that would never make it to the pages of Model Railroader. 
Charlie

There's a thread I started  about seven years ago about the difference in an old issue of MR that I found compared to newer ones. that thread is here. It would be interesting to compare a 1982 issue to one from this year.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#8
Check the fine print on your renewal form. It says Kalmbach has the right to change the number of issues per year at any time. The subscription period will remain the same.
Is the writing on the wall for a every other month Model Railroader?
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#9
(02-21-2021, 10:08 AM)Carolina Northern Wrote: Check the fine print on your renewal form. It says Kalmbach has the right to change the number of issues per year at any time. The subscription period will remain the same.
Is the writing on the wall for a every other month Model Railroader?

I hope not, but my renewal email said it was for 12 issues, not one year. If they go bi-monthly, I still get 12 issues.
Don (ezdays) Day
Board administrator and
founder of the CANYON STATE RAILROAD
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#10
Personally I like reading issues from the 1960s-1980s.
--
Kevin
Check out my Shapeways creations!
3-d printed items in HO/HOn3 and more!
<!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="https://www.shapeways.com/shops/kevin-s-model-train-detail-parts">https://www.shapeways.com/shops/kevin-s ... tail-parts</a><!-- m -->
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#11
Kevin you would love it if you could spend a few days in my garage MR from 1934 to 2002 RMC to 2005 all of MM ..
Jim
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#12
(02-21-2021, 10:08 AM)Carolina Northern Wrote: Check the fine print on your renewal form. It says Kalmbach has the right to change the number of issues per year at any time. The subscription period will remain the same.
Is the writing on the wall for a every other month Model Railroader?

The writing is on the wall for all magazines of this type.  The more specific, the less readership and the more expensive to put out, and the growing extinction of brick-and-mortar hobby shops is cutting advertising revenue to shreds.

Meanwhile, take a look at previously major world-wide publications like Time or Newsweek to see the future fate of print.
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#13
I dropped all subscriptions to paper mags. I discovered that I had too much paper to store after just a few years. My wife went crazy with MR & RMC when I was subscribed. She would find constant letter coming in the mail stating that it was time to renew. They began 1 month after doing a 3 year renewal, and continued to come in monthly until I dropped the subscription and they lost interest in me after a few months of me ignoring their letters and not renewing.

I have finally cleaned out most of my old paper mags and thrown them to recycle. If I want to build something from a magazine, I can print out the necessary pages without having the entire mag in paper. I don't miss paper. I don't try to read it on a tablet and don't own a "smart phone." My wife has a smart phone and one in a family is enough!
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#14
Thanks to forums like this I probably won't be subscribing to print mags after my current ones expire. I NEVER read on line mags so no idea how advertisers will reach me in the future. Big Grin
Mike

Sent from my pocket calculator using two tin cans and a string
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