Digital Edition of CANADA HiFi

[Suave]

The simplest way to do a digital version of the mag, would be to make it into one PDF. However this isn't the most ideal solution - the PDF would be large in size (so it would take a while to load), it requires Adobe Acrobat to load which takes a long time and simply doesn't offer many of the other features of a modern digital mag.

Our printing company is looking at digital publishing software that would produce a much sleeker result. I actually started looking around at this kind of software a while back and ended up uploading an issue of the mag to a website which automatically converted it into a digital edition. Although I won't be using this software, it gave a good idea of what the digital edition could look like. You can check it out here:

http://issuu.com/creature/docs/whole_issue_small_part_1

I should have a sample digital edition from our printing house hopefully in the next couple of weeks. As soon as we get it, I'll post a link here.

[SoundGame]

I look forward to seeing it Suave. That said, I know that Canada HiFi magazine is available in a number of audio dealer showrooms but is there a way to get on the mailing list for the paper edition?

[Suave]

Unfortunately at this time we do not offer a subscription to the print magazine. We only send the magazines out to potential advertisers.

I've looked into offering subscriptions but the fact is that it would be rather time consuming and wouldn't bring any additional money for the magazine. Perhaps when this forum expands and there are enough members that would be interested in subscribing this will finally become a possibilty.

[Spudso]

A digital copy is a great idea. I have a number of friends that read your print version, but usually its my copy because they need to travel too far afield to find their own.

[SoundGame]

Suave, it would be great to have a LIST posted here and/or on the Canada HiFi website, where Canada HiFi magazine can be found in hardcopy. Does Whitby Audio carry your magazine? I would enjoy having a digital copy but if a dealer was nearby that carries your magazine, it would give me incentive to head over and pick up a copy. Thanks.

[Suave]

We don't list locations where you can pick up the magazine on the website because that's one of the "secrets" of the publication's sucess. We certainly wouldn't want this list to get into the wrong hands

Yes, Whitby Audio does carry the magazine. I would suggest calling them before you head over to pick up a copy. The new issue will be out by early next week.

In the meantime, check out the first sample of the new Apr/May 2010 digital issue:

http://flipflashpages.uniflip.com/2/30195/54541/pub/

Let me know what you guys think! Any input would on how to improve this would be great. Do you guys like it? Do you hate it?

[Gio]

It works just fine. I prefer to download the PDF (only 9MB) and view it with a PDF viewer and have a copy of the issue.

My only suggestion - would it be possible to make the links / ads into a hyperlink?
Cheers

[Suave]

Thanks for the feedback Gio. Yes, the ads and links will be hyperlinked to the websites in the final version. As you may have noticed, a button at the bottom allows you to download the mag as a PDF if that's what you prefer.

[Spudso]

I took a quick read of both the digital and the PDF version. Thought they were both fine, and quite easy to read/navigate etc.
The only minor issue is that it took a second or two to properly render the text on the digital version. Not sure if it was due to the older computer I was on at the time, but the text took a couple of seconds to snap into focus. I don't consider that a huge issue by any means.

[Suave]

Thanks for the input Spudso. It does take a second or two for the text to get into focus when you zoom in on the page - this is simply how the software works, it's nothing to do with your computer. The reason for this is that when the pages are zoomed out the images are relatively small in size (kilobytes) and hence they load very quickly. When you zoom in on a page, a much larger high resolution image is downloaded by your computer from the internet, which creates that small delay.

I agree that it's a minor annoyance. I'll have to check with our printing company to see if there's a way to optimize the size of the high res pages. If the size can be slimmed down a bit they should load quicker.