#5569083 - 04/02/1201:03 AMRe: digital comics.. why not?
[Re: genrlzod]
DavenportDavenport
I was posting here when you were in diapers.
Registered: 07/22/05
Posts: 3902
Originally Posted By: genrlzod
You can download GA books for free from the Digital Comic Museum website. Don't go there expecting Marvel, DC, or EC comics for they are still under trademark and are removed once if they are uploaded to the site. Of course that still leaves a lot of other great material to choose from. All you need is a comic book reader (free in the app stores) and you are ready to go.
#5569499 - 04/02/1210:24 AMRe: digital comics.. why not?
[Re: Davenport]
lambfan68lambfan68
Collector is an understatement.
Registered: 06/09/11
Posts: 125
Loc: Minnesota
I'm seriously thinking of buying an iPad and ditching a large portion of my back issue collection in favor of digital copies in order to reduce the general clutter in the house.
I like them for convenience and immediacy but the DRM issues bug me. I had to switch my apple account from an old AOL ID to a new ID. I'm still the same user to them but I no longer have digital rights to my old purchases. They will work on my old registered devices but apple tries to delete them if I try to transfer content from my updated ID to the same device.
Anything digital you buy with DRM is subject to being lost due to hardware changes, account changes, the disappearance of the company administering the rights or a number of other causes.
So in summary, they're nice as long as you take into account that ownership has no guarantee of being for a lifetime.
This is why I'll never buy another Apple product again, and why when anyone asks me (which is often) I steer them to competitor brands instead of Apple. Their DRM issues are absolutely ridiculous.
I had a motherboard crash and because my iTunes account was linked to that computer I couldn't use my iPhone or iPod on any other computer. Searching the internet for help and phone calls to Apple did nothing - the devices were tied to that computer (now dead) and nothing I did could update or change them to work with another computer. What good is an iPod/iPhone when you can't update it or transfer new songs, pictures or movies to it through your iTunes account? I eventually found a workaround for loading music to it (CopyTrans) but why should I have to go to some unauthorized third party program just to get basic use of my iPod/iPhone that I paid for?
Cell phone - I bought an Android. None of this nonsense about having to use iTunes, you just plug it in to any USB port and it acts as a hard drive. Drag and drop your music, videos, etc and you're good to go, which is exactly how it should be. Updates to the phone are done over wireless or the cell network, no clunky iTunes interface needed just to update your phone. Even when it was working, every time I plugged my iPhone in to update it it'd wipe my music playlists and I'd have to redo them - a major pain in the a$$.
Tablet computer - I don't have one yet but I wouldn't use an iPad if it was given to me for free. When I buy one, it'll be a Kindle Fire or some other competitor's brand. If there are DRM issues with those, I just won't buy one at all.
Laptop/desktop - Apple has guaranteed I'll never buy one as long as I live, purely based on their DRM issues. It's a shame because people who own them seem to love them, but I'll stick with Windows (or Linux if I had to). You also can't "build" an Apple. I've built a number of PC's myself over the years and will probably continue to do so because it's something I enjoy and it's nice to be able to choose exactly what components go into your setup. Microsoft isn't perfect by any stretch but I refuse to give my money to a company (Apple) that maintains such a stranglehold on exactly where, when and how I will use their (my) hardware.
To keep this comics related, I'm looking forward to reading digital comics on a Kindle Fire or something similar. I do it on my laptop and desktop already but I could see a tablet being almost perfect for it.
Registered: 04/02/03
Posts: 12853
Loc: San Francisco Bay Area
Just a note that you no longer need to connect to ITunes to do most things now. You can update wirelessly and even install system updates without physically connecting to ANY PC.
_________________________
Is it better to live the dream or be shattered by reality?
Just a note that you no longer need to connect to ITunes to do most things now. You can update wirelessly and even install system updates without physically connecting to ANY PC.
Registered: 04/20/11
Posts: 641
Loc: Washington DC
I just picked up a Kindle Fire on Friday and have blown through the first five trade volumes of DC/Vertigo Fables (absolutely loving this series, kind of reminds me of Sandman). I've been picking up all the DC trades that are on Amazon right now and then went ahead and scored the Comixology app for new stuff. The Amazon trades tend to be about $2.25 cheaper than the print copies and convenience wise the fact that I don't have to figure out what to do with the trades after I'm done is fantastic. Also, re-readability is high due to easy access through the "Amazon Cloud" (i.e. fancy name for online storage that has been around since the nineties).
However, it's not all champagne wishes and caviar dreams. The Kindle fire screen is 7 inches so two page splash layouts are horrible and some times the text is nigh unreadable. Also, the artwork can be hard to make out. Plus you have to deal with vendor/hardware lock in. I went with a kindle because I wanted the DC trades but if they would have been available regardless of platform I may have gone with an iPad. I'm sure the larger screen/higher resolution would have made a huge difference. I guess Amazon didn't want folks to see how terrible the kindle fire comic experience is compared to the iPad experience. Also, I have some concerns about the price; however, I am not sure if this is in the same category as some of the price fixing that we see with the major book publishers. I mean an ebook is probably less than 1MB versus a 7 or 8 issue trade that can be close to a 100MB. I suppose there is significant differences in the technical requirement to deliver the heavier content...
Regardless, for new issues I think this is going to be the future for me. I'm definitely in it for the convenience and accumulating another bunch of long boxes is not something I want to do. IMHO, I think eventually presentation, hardware and price will all be worked out to optimize the experience....
I have zero interest in reading new comics in digital format. I would buy things that I couldn't afford new, like ECs or Planet comics, but I like to hold a comic, in my hand smell the ink.
_________________________
Every act of dishonesty has at least two victims: the one we think of as the victim, and the perpetrator as well. Each little dishonesty makes another little rotten spot somewhere in the perpetrator's psyche. - Lesley Conger
Registered: 10/21/09
Posts: 7323
Loc: Southern California
Originally Posted By: sckao
Just a note that you no longer need to connect to ITunes to do most things now. You can update wirelessly and even install system updates without physically connecting to ANY PC.
#5571376 - 04/02/1211:28 PMRe: digital comics.. why not?
[Re: Davenport]
genrlzodgenrlzod
The Post-man always rings twice. Uhm... ring ring?
Registered: 02/10/07
Posts: 1863
Loc: Harrisburg PA
Originally Posted By: Davenport
Originally Posted By: genrlzod
You can download GA books for free from the Digital Comic Museum website. Don't go there expecting Marvel, DC, or EC comics for they are still under trademark and are removed once if they are uploaded to the site. Of course that still leaves a lot of other great material to choose from. All you need is a comic book reader (free in the app stores) and you are ready to go.
The amount of material available is staggering. Exploring and discovery is half the fun.
I have been to this site before and tried to download a book from my Kindle but I can't remember my password and there doesn't seem to be a way to reset it.
