Digital magazines or traditional magazine subscription?
 

I have a *ton* of quilting magazines acquired over the years that I am going to have to do something with before we move -- probably go through and pull out patterns and pictures I like to put in 3-ring binders, and give away the rest. The weight of these magazines is hefty.

Meanwhile, I just downloaded a pattern for the first time from e-pattern central. I'm thinking about how nice it would be if all these physical magazines I had were on a hard disk. No more struggling with 3-ring binders, tearing pages out, hauling magazines to the library for the help-yourself cart, etc.

Any comments from people who have used both types of magazine? I'm an old dog, but I'm thinking making I should "get with it" and not hang on to old ways too long.

I enjoy picking up the occasional magazine, but almost everything i save for inspiration is online, except books, and even some of those.

I still get F&P's hard copy (DD renews it as Xmas gift) but I think I'll switch to digital, if I keep it next time. I got a subscr to McCalls a few months ago and generally like it but the new one just came and there's really nothing in it that appeals to me. I got the digital sub to Quilters World last year and love it! They say you get 2 yrs of back issues with it but I was able to go way back to 2006 and download all up to the present! Someone posted the PatternsCentral site the other day and I spent hours looking there and bought 3 patterns, and found a lot that were from the QuiltersWorld issues I have. And I got Jenny's two issues as digitals. I do like to do these, you can browse thru them and print just what you want, patterns, tips etc. And QW has bonus patterns each issue you can download too. I had SO many paper copies that I gave a lot away last year.

And re the YouTube videos, love them because I can download, save and reply whenever I want them. The new McCalls site for free videos was in the mag but I haven't checked it out yet. Hope they can be saved!

I'm thinking of switching to digital. For all my older magazines I'm trying to get the patterns I like scanned and saved. I have access to a simple to use scanning machine so that part is easy. What's taking a bit of time is going through the backlog to pull out the patterns I want to save. Although if I don't get them all it would be no great tragedy. Probably wouldn't miss them at all.

Digital QW is the one I have, my bucket runneth over!

I may take some suggestions and try Quilting World digital...At this time, I have no magazine subscriptions and would love to get one

I've gone pretty much digital for all my magazines. I've always been a magazine freak so the digital format is great for me...no more keeping paper issues and cluttering up the house! I do subscribe to F&P's Love of Quilting and Easy Quilts and those come in the mail, but that entitles me to download the digital editions, which I do also. I love my digital mags!

I still love the feel of the paper magazines. I also don't want a subscription. I scan in whatever I want to special quilt files and store them on a flash drive. I can have my own slide show of quilts I want to maybe consider doing. This doesn't take up much room. It is easiest if you can keep up with it.

Then recycle those quilting magazines so others can share the joy. Many friends share our magazines. a real money and space saver.

ecently had a problem with my digital subscription to Quiltmaker magazine. During my year subscription it was always hard to access past issues even though the current issue was easy to get to. But the worst problem came when my subscription ended and I tried to see the issues I had paid for. Could not see them. When I called (and did talk to a supervisor) I was told that once your subscription ends, you no longer can see your past issues. She said they do not notify their customers of this policy nor do they tell you to download all the issues. I pointed out that with a paper subscription, I would have all the magazines I paid for, but they are denying me access to what I have paid for. Their advice? Re-subscribe and we can let you back in the system and then you can see your old magazines. Otherwise, I am out of luck. Of course, I shall continue to call them until I get my magazines! They have horrible business practices!

I love the feel of paper in my hands whether it be my books or my magazines. Also like to go back to them again and again. Once I got too many magazines I took took out what I wanted and passed them on to others. I have all the digital stuff I would need to scan and save and read but am old fashion about feeling. And I like to relax on the couch while I am doing it!!

I agree with DixieLee. I love to feel paper as much as I love to feel fabric. If all my magazines were to suddenly vanish, I'd surely miss them. But I've also downloaded so much, I'm certain I have duplicated patterns.

I get my magazines in paper (so I can look at them in a few years from now) but I download a TON of patterns online and still buy a few in print. I made my storm-at-sea from an online pattern, templates, tutorial and it was not only easy but turned out beautifully.
I like picking up a magazine and flipping through it when I have a few spare minutes here and there. We're on satellite internet at home - it'd take me longer than that to log into a site and find 'the' issue. :) I also still take paper magazines for (2) cooking and BHG.
I ONLY read books on an eReader ... I wonder what we'll be doing in another 5 years.

I'm using a mini I pad mostly these days and I'm finding out my eyes can't take reading for a long time with it. So I read ebooks only when I can't read a paper book. Haven't tried a magazine yet.

I love my magazines and will, I hope never have to part with them.

I find that the on line issues are too distracting and I spend way to much time browsing, just like on the QB:D. At least magazines have a limited brows time!
peace

Try your local library. Our library has a service called Zinio which gives me access to lots of magazines for free with a library card (free in Maryland - I think - but $25 per year for out of state but your state probably has a library with Zinio). A quick internet search shows that lots of libraries use Zinio in Maryland: Harford, Carroll, Baltimore, Montgomery and other counties have the service. My local library only has American Patchwork & Quilting and Quilting Arts magazine but lots of other non-quilting magazines. I would love to know what magazines other counties in Maryland have. You can download the magazines to read off-line & save back issues.

P.S. I save my digital copies on my main computer and also copy them onto an external drive that I can connect to my laptop (borrowed fr DS!) and take to lvg rm to browse if I want. Also can have laptop at the sm to watch videos....have a wireless connection. Sure helps that DS is a computer pro!! Seems that many here have an ipad and use it the same way. My Kindle is the b/w one so haven't put any mags on it.

I am so sorry this happened to you! And that is why I am hesitant to subscribe to digital magazines. I will stick with paper copies for a while, I guess.

Quiltmaker does have horrible customer service. I subscribed and it took several months to get the magazine I only got four issues and then my sub ran out. I never could get a response from Quiltmaker so I scratched that magazine off my list forever.

Told my dh I wanted a scanner so I could scan in pages of my old magazines instead of cutting them up and putting into 3-ring binders. Found out our printer/copier is also a scanner! I am going to try it out this afternoon. Thanks so much for that tip!

I'm going to do a digital subscription to Quilter's World. If I can download the old issues, that may save me from going through all my old QW paper mags and save me a lot of time!

I'm so glad I started this thread; had no idea I would learn so much! I'm sure I'll keep some paper magazine favorites, but I'm becoming convinced digital will be better for me.