A good Question for Gregg?

[Nick Notarangelo]

About to years back I made a suggestion on another model website that evil shall not be named and I asked if maybe or is it posiable to for you to sell all your back issues on say a cd-rom or dvd rom in pdf format so those of us who want to have all the back issues on hand and two those of us whom are limited to space can keep the handy dandy things on hand on a small dsk or loaded to our computers?

When I asked this before on the evil that shall not be named the topic was locked and no one was really able to voice there feelings on it.

But since this is a Pineapple of a Diffrent flavor and a much better additute of a site I thought I would ask this and maybe give you a public opinion.

Gregg thank you

Nick Notarangelo

[charlie8575]

If the back issues came out on CD, I'd buy it, too, if the price was right.

It rather surprises me that more magazines haven't started doing that. I realize it's a bit expensive to set up, but I think it would sell like ice cream cones at the Fourth of July.

Charlie Larkin

[iBorg]

A CD poses too many possible copyright infringement issues. Buy one, sell thirty on auction sites or pass them out as door prizes at your next contest. What I'd suggest is subscriber only content such as kit reviews and build articles. I also think that downloads of some of the charts (such as was done for the top fueler build up) would add a great deal of value to a subscription. I'll admit, right now I but at my LHS. It gives me a reason to shop and add to the stash.

Mike

[Nick Notarangelo]

My wife has all her genological magazines on cd-rom and you would be suprise on how easy it is to find something and if you need to highlight something or a chart it works great.

for one years worth of her mag's its 39.95 and its worth it

national geographic has all thier issues on a dvd rom for 80 its worth it abd I would pay that much to have all these on a cd or dvd rom

[Bridgebuster]

My wife has all her genological magazines on cd-rom and you would be suprise on how easy it is to find something and if you need to highlight something or a chart it works great.

for one years worth of her mag's its 39.95 and its worth it

national geographic has all thier issues on a dvd rom for 80 its worth it abd I would pay that much to have all these on a cd or dvd rom

Me too. I'm not sure how the piracy issue could be worked around, but I'd try to scratch together enough nickels to buy a CD or DVD of backissues.

[The Creative Explorer]

The problem for Gregg is that making a magazine into PDF cost him a small fortune. I believe the costs are near 1,000 per issue. For example; let's say he puts for the last 5 years on a cd-rom. That would be around be around 30,000 for all the issues, plus the cost for 'designing' the CD-ROM ( user interface and such). Let's say that would be around 2,500.

In total: 32,500$ for 5 years of magazine's. Now a realistic number of people who would be buying a CD-Rom. And this is hard, but I think it would be somewhat realistic for about a run of 1,000 pieces.

If you break it down, you have 32,50$ as cost per CD-rom, now Gregg wants to see some profit. Let's say he makes it even to 45-50 dollars, also to cover part of the risk of being stuck with unsold copies.

Now we have a CD-rom with the last 5 years worth of magazine's for about 50 dollars a piece. I don't think it is all that interesting to risk quite a investment.

[crazyjim]

It's only money! I'd be interested in a CD/DVD of past issues and I bid $25.00.

[roadhawg]

Now we have a CD-rom with the last 5 years worth of magazine's for about 50 dollars a piece. I don't think it is all that interesting to risk quite a investment.

I wonder how much of that advertisers would be willing to pay?

[Jordan White]

Now we have a CD-rom with the last 5 years worth of magazine's for about 50 dollars a piece. I don't think it is all that interesting to risk quite a investment.

Yes but isn't a back issue like 6 bucks plus shipping, or something along those lines? Each issue is for 2 months, so there are 6 per year. 6 issues times 5 years comes out to be 30 issues, which when multiplied by 6 dollars comes out to be $180 for the last 5 years, which makes a $50 CD seem like a bargain!

[Nick Notarangelo]

I work in the print and design industry and this can be done cheaply,let me explain.

First as for the software any good printing house has orowns Adobe's cs4 and there are ways to lock the martieral so only somethings like templates can be printed.

As for making enough cash to pay for itself yes theres risk but there are diffrent ways about.

one sell them at shows, most people like to feel the product in thier grubby little paw to satisfiy there need to hold it,second word of mouth,priced right,and why five years when the mag just had its tenth aniv so if you package full content then you have something worth selling,plus the ANNUAL'S those can be offered as a special if you buy the main disk "Bait".

there are place's online that to have the cd's done from a master copy is only can range price and its not that expensive.

Like modeling people think out side the box and see what can be done!

I would gladly hand my cash to MCM today its not hard or that expensive at all.

most of us have a computer in the hobby room anyways to search refrence online right?? wouldn't it be nice to have the MCM on hand on disk so you can look it up Mainly if you dont have the hardcopy on hand???

[Gregg]

Nick, I have had this on the "burner" for many years.

There are a couple of major points that I should address.

Eirk is right, it would cost a small fortune.

Yes, modern print shops have the ability to produce PDF's now. Most, if not all, use PDF's to process the files from the client.

Most of the PDF's that are created have to go through further processing and then on to pagination software, then to the plate maker.

These are single PDF files, from each layout/article. We do not combine the whole magazine into one Quark file. Each layout/article is a separate file, each with its own images, fonts, tickets.

When I (I mean Harry :-)) create the files for final printing, they are Quark files.

They get sent to the office for the PDF processing/printing.

Yes, the final files are PDFs.

No, they are not useable, not as is.

To say that back issues can be done cheaply is not correct.

To create a cheap PDF, using what "everyone" has, would produce a cheap product.

It would look cheap.

If you look at the online digital version of the April issue, that was a lot of work, and money.

I paid for that myself.

To do that for all the back issues would require another 10-20 hours per week, for at least two to four months.

There would have to be indexes, links, nice layouts, compatibility issues, etc.

And then add the cost of the doing labels, art work, printing, etc., it goes way beyond cheap.

I don't do anything cheap.

I do everything first class.

To do anything less would be a backwards step, and to me, an insult to all the hard work, blood, sweat and tears that Harry and everyone else has put into polishing Model Cars Mag to what it is now.

Yes, there will be back issues available, but that takes time.

Unless someone has the time, and ability, to donate to this process, it will be on the "to do" list for a while.

That's why the web site has taken so long to be redone.

Hope that answers the question

I am glad there is interest in the back issue CD's, I have wanted to post a question on this for a while now.

I am linking up past best of articles to the new web site, which should help wet the appetite of our new readers.

Hope that answers the question posed by

ps. I am still on the first CS!

(donations are always welcome!)

And yes, I know I'm late, more on that later.

[Nick Notarangelo]

but at lease gregg you gave a honest answer and two you didnt blast it completely out of the realm of reality so thank you

[Gregg]

One thing too.

We didn't go direct to plate until a couple of years ago.

All of the first issues were down straight to film.

I use to do that myself, make the films

Even stripped a page once, and put it on the press.

That was a blast!

Totally from start to finish!

Well, that one page at least

Anyway (G, get off the meds), to create PDF's from the early versions would probably take eight hours a day, for at least one month straight.

Each and every page would have to be made into a PDF

Thanks for starting the topic, Nick.

Maybe it will spark some more interest

The new site will have links to some downloadable PDF's (FOR FREE), nudge, nudge.

[Harry P.]

The only way to make digital versions of all the old issues that were done on film: For each issue you'd have to literally scan every page, touch up the scans if needed, then convert each scanned page to PDF, then put each PDF together into the complete issue. That process would take many hours... and that process would have to be repeated for each issue.

Somebody would have to spend a lot of time and effort... and be paid for their time and effort. Putting old back issues into digital format is not a quick, simple or inexpensive job.

[Gregg]

I do have all the old issues as Quark files, but then, a lot of the images/links are not complete.

Probably for the first year it would be best to scan them, but we'll see

Another one for the project book...

[old-hermit]

I am linking up past best of articles to the new web site, which should help wet the appetite of our new readers

New Web Site ????????????????

[jbwelda]

i could use a job like this and i spent many years in the printing trade (pre press actually...exactly what we are talking about) before getting a degree in computer engineering. i work relatively cheap and have a keen eye for details.

so i will expect that PM soon!

[Nick Notarangelo]

see me and my wife work as a team she does all the scan and design stuff I do all the problem solving ######.

see for ten years I did a job most of us dream of I ran a hobby shop the I whent back to scool for computers and while I was in school I worked a few print shops so I know a few tricks and it can be done.

[MikeMc]

I would help if I had$$$

just time to scan....

Thank You Gregg (Harry) for going first class

[crazyjim]

I have the time and a HP scanjet 3500c. I would be more than happy to scan everything at no charge to MCM. How's that for a deal?