D&DI: The Price is Right

[Imaro]

Why? People were more than willing to pay more for subs to the magazine. Now they get all of the content, which is still printable and portable, plus other tools for a lower cost. Why is my statement "silly and misguided?"

This really brings up another point, first I didn't have to print Dragon or Dungeon so it isn't "still printable"...the fact of the matter is that even though you raise the issue of an $18 decrease in price...how much are you spending on ink and paper to print out (in a much lower quality) these magazines? A color and B/w cartridge for my printer runs in the realm of $40.

 

[Arnwyn]

Why? People were more than willing to pay more for subs to the magazine. Now they get all of the content, which is still printable and portable, plus other tools for a lower cost. Why is my statement "silly and misguided?"

Because content isn't enough. In any case, Imaro (and others) have covered it well. Print is better ("printable" is also not enough).

Thus, the "you have no room to complain" statement of yours is, indeed, inappropriate.

 

[reveal]

This really brings up another point, first I didn't have to print Dragon or Dungeon so it isn't "still printable"...the fact of the matter is that even though you raise the issue of an $18 decrease in price...how much are you spending on ink and paper to print out (in a much lower quality) these magazines? A color and B/w cartridge for my printer runs in the realm of $40.

The question is how many pages do you get out of an inkjet cartridge before it runs dry? If you print in draft mode and get, say, 500 pages out of it, that's about $.08/page. If there are 50 pages to a file, that's $4. So a total of $8 in ink to print out both mags.

 

[reveal]

Because content isn't enough. In any case, Imaro (and others) have covered it well. Print is better ("printable" is also not enough).

Thus, the "you have no room to complain" statement of yours is, indeed, inappropriate.

1) It's an opinion. Just as your opinion is that print is better, with which I completely disagree for reasons I've already stated.

2) If you are offended by my statement, which it sounds like you are, how is calling my statement "silly and misguided" less inappropriate?

 

[Imaro]

The question is how many pages do you get out of an inkjet cartridge before it runs dry? If you print in draft mode and get, say, 500 pages out of it, that's about $.08/page. If there are 50 pages to a file, that's $4. So a total of $8 in ink to print out both mags.

Given your assumption, let's go a little further. Taking $8 to print out both magazines... times 12 for a year...$96 on top of my subscription fee. And were not even adding in cost of paper. Suddenly that deal isn't sounding all that great anymore.

 

[Arnwyn]

1) It's an opinion. Just as your opinion is that print is better, with which I completely disagree for reasons I've already stated.

*shrug* I was just answering your question as to why.

You think people have no room to complain, I think they do. Guess there's no more discussion here.

 

[reveal]

Given your assumption, let's go a little further. Taking $8 to print out both magazines... times 12 for a year...$96 on top of my subscription fee. And were not even adding in cost of paper. Suddenly that deal isn't sounding all that great anymore.

That's a good point. I still think it would be worth it, though, especially with laser printers as cheap as they are and the fact that you get more pages out of a laser than an inkjet.

I will say that with the proliferation of laptops, mini-laptops like the EEE PC, phones like the iPhone and Tilt, pocket pcs like the iTouch, and things like that, I think less people will actually be printing them out.

 

[knifie_sp00nie]

I really don't understand people that spend a lot of time on a message board complaining about digital content. This is the new medium. The future.

Maybe it's a generational thing, but I have no problem reading from a screen. I've read PDFs of all sorts, comic books, and even novels. There's still room for improvement in display technology and form factor, but it's not bad right now.

You don't have to print the whole thing, just the parts you might want to use. And only then if you can't stand to run things off screen. Back up your data and it's just as durable as paper. You can also search the text of a PDF for that one article you read a few years ago but can't remember the issue number of.

 

[renau1g]

I don't see printing as big of a deal. I never once looked at Dragon or Dungeon and thought "The print quality is awesome!" If I have to print stuff out, staple it together, and take it with me, I'm good with that.

Well... I guess you're ok with a stapled together set of stuff... by that token why would you even buy the books? Buy the pdfs and print them out... I guess some people like having the pdfs, and I do too, but to me the magazines are a higher value... that's my personal preference, you have yours. I'd like them to print them AND offer it as a PDF (which I also wish they did with the books)

That's the price you must be willing to pay for anything you do online. If you store anything at any site, you have to realize that it might not be around forever. If it's that important to you, the onus is on you to make a backup of some sort to store yourself.

Unfortunately... with DDI you Can't back it up on your HD... that's the problem I have with it... there's no onus, it's the lack of an option.

 

[reveal]

I'd like them to print them AND offer it as a PDF (which I also wish they did with the books)

I would love that as well.

Unfortunately... with DDI you Can't back it up on your HD... that's the problem I have with it... there's no onus, it's the lack of an option.

Why not? I can download both mags to my computer and do something with them (burn them to CD, put them on tape, put on a back HD, etc.). I have no idea what I can or cannot do with the other tools that are not online yet.