Online and/or DVD versions of woodworking magazines

[ballard770]

I have been going thru stacks of old woodworking magazines such as: Wood, Woodsmiths Shop, Workbench, Fine Woodworking, etc pulling out articles that I think that I might have future use for. After going thru a couple dozen magazines it appears that this will be a time consuming project. I am considering ordering back issues of the Woodsmith Shop - $79 for online access and 99 for online and DVD. Others are available at similar prices.

I estimate that it would save me a lot of time pulling articles and then cataloging them and keeping them in several three ring binders. Additionally, I would save a considerable amount of space that these magazines occupy.

Any comments concerning this will be appreciated.

I hope that this doesn't sound like asking how long is a rope or be similar to asking a doctor for a second opinion and getting an answere like: 'Ok, you're ugly too'.

Lee

[poolhound]

Its an interesting question. I cut back on my magazines and now only take FWW. I do however also subscribe to their website and it is a fantastic resource when you can pull up old articles from the year 'dot' and also get all their video content.

I have never really liked woodsmith but I can't really put my finger on why. They do have a lot of content about jigs and stuff that I quite like though.

[atgcpaul]

I just can't quit paper.

I trimmed down to just FWW many years ago and probably cut out my online subscription about the time we had our first kid 6 years ago. I didn't find myself using the online extras all that much and i dont really like reading the articles online. I've subscribed for the past 15 years so I typically search online, then go find the issue in my "library". I've also bought many issues from CL to fill in the early years.

I guess all the hard copies will be my kids' problem when I die

[cwsmith]

There was a time when I would have argued against getting rid of the magazine, subscription or storage; but, I reached a point a few years ago when I said enough is enough.

(My wife and I have a pretty decent size library (3,000-plus books I think, stopped counting a few years ago) and to us, the printed page is almost sacred. We simply don't throw books or good magazines away.)

I've been a subscriber to QST (Ham Radio) for close to 20 years... you just soon run out of room. Wood and FWW, not quite as long, but there too is a storage problem. National Geographic, probably 20 years worth too. I've also got over 12 years of Saudi Aramco. And then too, is the number of old magazines that we sometimes pickup here and there, like some Life and Reader's Digest magazines going back to the 40's. They're all great and I'm a person who just likes holding a good book or magazine.

But the end has to come sometime, or else buy a warehouse someplace.

Then this past Christmas, my son gave me one of those new Amazon Fire tablets. Not so sure of it yet, but how easy that is to just pickup and do a quick search. It's easy to hold, read, adjust the light or the size of the lettering. Pictures look great and it's easy to take with you... to the shop, car, even the Doc's office (but I DON'T do the latter... I find it rude!) But wow, how convenient this little thing is! You can even take them to the shop when you want to.

Question is of course is what can I get in the way of these magazines and how much is it going to cost? In the way of You Tube videos it's free and what a great library of "How to do" stuff there is out there. (The other night I watched a great Wood Whisperer video on Inlay.)

Things like QST, Wood, and I think even FWW are available electronically... and I think that is the way to go. The old magazines that I have... well some can be gotten, but others not.

While I might well replace all those hobby magazines and maybe the Nat Geos, there's no way I will ever replace the books, even the better hobby books.

CWS

[capncarl]

I have an iPad for my computer. I have not found any online magazines that are usable on it. If the iPad had any interface with dvd or any other usable storage device maybe it would work. I'm not defending Apple for its poor choice in not allowing these interfaces because this lack of interfaces is what will eventually make me change from iPad to something else. I haven't heard any other rave reviews of online magazines yet.

[JoeyGee]

I haven't looked at an actual magazine in years and I used to devour woodworking magazines.

YouTube has become my primary source for all things woodworking. For me, it's much easier to just watch whatever project I want and there are almost limitless options. A lot of times there are linked instructions or plans for free or nominal cost.

[cwsmith]

Carl,

I may be wrong, but aren't a few of these magazines available on memory sticks (thumb drives)? I don't have an I-Pad, but on the Amazon Fire tablet there is a micro-USB port. My particular tablet has a 128 Gb micro card, that would hold quite a few years of Wood or whatever, I would think. You'd may need an adapter cable, but those are readily available.

It might be worth exploring.

Just a thought,

CWS

[phrog]

It came to a point where I was going to have to buy a bigger house or get rid of some junk. Ended up doing away with many magazines and I bought the entire National Geographic, Fine Woodworking, and Woodreaft magazines on DVD. Although I enjoy holding a hard copy of a book or magazine, it's very convenient to be able to do a computer search. I've never really looked back and now have much more room for different kinds of junk.

[Condoman44]

For most of my magazines I scan wanted articles and store the file name and keywords in OneNote. This cuts down on bookshelf storage and make articles easier to find with OneNote search. Some older paper articles are also entered in OneNote. All my magazines are passed on to friends or grandchildren.

The exception to the above is Fine Home Building which I bought on DVD and update each year. With FHB the user interface is great. Completely searchable, magazines can be accessed by the computer interface or in PDF format if you want to send one to someone else.

Each December I order the annual update to keep my collection current.

[capncarl]

CWS, an iPad is a great toy with a wonderful picture screen, but in the world of computers it is like comparing a sharp piece of flint rock to a new high tech hand plane. I have been sooooooo disappointed in Apple with this machine. It works flawless for what it does. I'm use to having all kind of drive accessories and being able to store files and read files from anything. With an apple there is absolutely no way to use a DVD or thumb drive, none, zilch. They offer some lightning adapters for photos but it is limited to loading photos onto the iPad and not vice versa. I made a road trip to Atlanta just to purchase one of these adapters when they were first offered, 200+ miles one way, only to told this in person. What a letdown. Apples meathod of transferring files is via their "cloud", and if you have several of these devices and make the mistake of having them all set to the cloud, then all of your files get transferred to each device..... If you live long enough, because it is wi-fi, and could take weeks! You can link the iPad to your computer for certain file exchanges but who has time for that, and I got the iPad so I wouldn't need a computer. Apple proved me wrong on that. The iPad is great for searching google and doing the face time thing but it is not a real mans tool!

[LinuxRandal]

Carl,

I may be wrong, but aren't a few of these magazines available on memory sticks (thumb drives)?

CWS

I would love to know where you saw those, as I have only ever seen them on dvd from the manufacturers. A few years ago, I remember the Shopnotes one, was sold on Ebay and a few other sites in various formats, but it was pirated (torrents going around).

[cwsmith]

LinuxRandal,

It well may be that I'm wrong about this. I see so many advertisements for subscriptions that I can't keep track of them all, and obviously don't fully pay attention any more. I just recall seeing something or some things advertised as memory stick or CD. Really, I'll have to pay closer attention and if I do see a specific, I'll post it.

Surprisingly the CD is almost obsolete today, compared to the many other ways to package digital information. But, even if it's only a CD, a person should be able to transfer the data file to their own memory stick or SD card. I recently transferred all my older clipart files from various CD's to my WD 'Passport' Tera Byte portable drive, as it was much easier to access.

I just did a quick look at Wood magazine and YES, they do have a thumb drive Archive: http://www.woodstore.net/plans/colle...umb-Drive.html

No such luck with FWW, but it is available as a CD and I think the archive is online IF you are a subscriber. I wonder how long it will be before they offer the archive in some other digital format like a thumb drive?

When I get some more time I search out a few other magazines and see what they offer digitally.

CWS

[cwsmith]

Carl,

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, I've never been an Apple fan at any time. When they first came out with the Mac, I was very much interested and attended an introductory show they had in our region. As a professional illustrator I was impressed with some of the art that they were showing off. I don't know if you might remember but one of the illustrations that they were showing at every show was a steam locomotive. It had many of the the graphic elements that I used regularly on the drawing board and I thought how neat it would be to actually be able to produce those on a computer. PC software just hadn't got there yet.

So, I told the the Apple rep of my interest and he actually let me sit down and draw something on the Mac. Well, try as I might, you simply could not draw an ellipse; Circles, squares, triangles, and lines... but no ellipse, which is actually what attracted me with that locomotive illustration with all its elliptical wheels. The rep didn't know, but he gave me a number I could call. Well come to find out, that illustration and many others were never done on the Mac, but were drawn on the Apple Lisa, a much more powerful and far more expensive machine. (So much so, that the Lisa never found great success in the market.)

Bottom line for me was that Apple's marketing was pulling a fraud and that turned me off forever. Eventually software would allow such work on the Mac and even greater things. But by that time I was already well established my illustrations on the PC. I've never looked back.

My new little Amazon File tablet costs about $50 and the 128 GB micro SD card another $50. IT does have a micro-USB port, as well as the removable/exchangeable micro-SD. It came with "The Cloud" and unlimited storage, but I don't fully understand that kind of thing, and much prefer to keep my stuff at home where I control it.

One of the complaints I have about most of this computer stuff today is that so much of it seem oriented around social media and self-entertainment. Tablets don't seem to be designed for work, or are really anything that I can create with. Probably selling them short, but I much prefer a computer/laptop where I can draw and write. While I like the 'Fire' tablet, it mostly serves to entertain, good for watching a movie or quickly browsing my e-mail or to Google with. The maps and weather are okay, but it doesn't contain a GPS. Still, I can download movies and photos to it and PDF documents. I have yet really to find any useable APPs, though. Most are games, and the few productivity APPs that seem useful required additional fees or subscriptions.

Still I think one might be able to archive documents there, and as a portable device that would prove to be a worthy thing to have,

CWS

[dbhost]

I have ShopNotes magazine and I just ordered Wood magazine in their digital archive formats they ship as PDF files on whatever media in the case of ShopNotes it was a DVD images of wood magazine its a flash drive.

I don't find it any easier or any more difficult to browse through the PDF then it is to browse through the physical copies. However it does take up a lot less valuable shop space and at my age with my old magazine collections it's time to get rid of all that paper.

[atgcpaul]

The time has come for me to part ways with my FWW mags. We're moving at some point this year or next and where we're going, the magazines can't come with. If we have enough storage weight allotment, they might sit in storage until we return.

Anyway, FWW had the archive on sale for $99 and today emailed an additional 15% off, so that was low enough for me to buy it. I'm going to continue my subscription, though, and think about what to do with those new copies at a later date.