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Digital comics

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Geof
EarthGBilly
choanata
Scott
gland
Spaceflash
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1Digital comics Empty Digital comics Sun Jun 24, 2012 2:39 pm

Spaceflash



I think this was discussed on the old forums, but I was wondering how many comics everyone gets digitally. I'm thinking about switching to 100% digital.

2Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Sun Jun 24, 2012 10:55 pm

gland

gland

I could see myself going mostly digital once they iron out things like pricing and distrobution.

3Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:54 am

Spaceflash



Ok. Since I only care about reading the stories and it comes out approx. the same price and no physical space, I was just thinking. Probably won't happen 'til next year at the earliest.

4Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:16 pm

Scott

Scott

I'm old school and like the physical copies only. I don't get the same satisfaction reading them digitally and one day when my kid is old enough I'd like to show him my collection and pass it down to him. I think it would mean more than just handing over a hard drive or giving him my password to an online site. That's just me.

5Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:51 pm

Spaceflash



That's true. I'll have to think about that.

6Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:17 pm

choanata


Admin

Yeah, the allure of not taking up space is pretty nice, but I too like my physical copies. Although there are things that I would switch to digital theoretically. Like I'll always buy the Lantern books in physical format as they come out (with the exception of that god-awful Plastic Man crossover 1 shot, I have every GL book that's come out since I started buying GL with issue 46 of Vol. 3), but I don't need to own any Avengers books and I would like to read them. But as it is, I wouldn't spend 4 bucks on the actual book, so I'm sure as hell not spending that on the digital format. We've argued this numerous times on the show, that doesn't make any sense. It's pure greed. Make it 99 cents day of release and I'll be buying a lot more than I do now. Hell, I'd buy all the GL books in digital AND floppy at that price. An extra 4 bucks a month? It's a non issue to read them instantly, on top of the additional 12 for the floppies. Cheaper from DCBS too.

When they finally cave in and go with the 99 cent digital download, I'm on board. Till then, the pricing format sucks. DC is close with their 1.99 after a month, but still not good enough.

Also, Spaceflash, I sent you an email earlier. I have a padded envelope here that literally has your name on it. Just need to confirm your address.

7Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:59 pm

Spaceflash



Well, the price is a non issue with me. The problem is that with my limited budget I can't justify going half and or something like that.

And I got your email.

8Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Tue Jun 26, 2012 12:36 am

EarthGBilly

EarthGBilly

I'm not at a place currently where I'm willing to commit to digital in comics.

That said, I can see it as a real possibility... something that wasn't true six months ago.

Six months ago, I got a Kindle 3G. In the time since, I have to admit, my preference for the format has increased exponentially. When I first got it, it was a fun toy. Then, it became virtually the only thing I'd read.

There were some books that I read regularly, though, that I thought, "I'll never switch to digital for those. There is a tactile experience with those that is part of the whole experience of reading. I just can't give that up!"

I was wrong. Over the last couple of months, those last few holdouts have fallen in favor of the convenience and portability of digital.

I can see the same thing happening with my comics. I'm not so much a "collector" anymore as I am just a reader. As such, I find myself wondering why I need the clutter.

I'm not ready to commit to it yet. The price point isn't there. (I have the same issue with Kindle books - I cannot bring myself, so far, to spend over $5.99 for a digital book. If the physical book costs $12.95, I thoroughly believe that the savings in production and distribution should bring the price down at least that far.)

Plus, I'd really like to keep a dedicated reader. I'm looking forward to a color e-ink platform in the future, not a tablet or laptop to read on. I'm spoiled by a device that looks like a printed page, one that doesn't wear on my eyes.

If that comes... I'll probably go ahead and switch over to digital.

9Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Tue Jun 26, 2012 1:24 am

Geof

Geof

I went 99.9% digital months ago (I'll still pick up collected volumes if something's really great) and I'm not regretting it at all. I used to pick up my books from a truly great store (Beach Ball Comics in Anaheim, CA - go there if you have the chance, they're awesome) but I started my pull list there when I worked in the area. Once my job changed, it became a real hassle to travel the extra 40 miles even on a monthly basis, and then I'd have $70 - $100 tabs built up. And then I'd actually read only a fraction of what I'd bought, it was like I was picking up the books out of obligation to the store that was nice enough to pull & bag them for me.

Digital just works so much better for me & how I read comics. I don't always WANT to read the latest issue of something just because it's out. I have a million different interests at any given time, and what I'm absolutely nuts about today may be completely pushed aside for months before my interest comes back to it. This pays off since the issue price goes down over time instead of up like the physical copies. And I have no problem with the slight reduction of the overall page size, I can zoom in wherever I want. And for things like double page spreads with tons of characters, I'm honestly looking at specific individual spots just the same as I did with print. And I can screencap whatever I want.

Also, BIG plus: If / when space becomes an issue, I can get rid of EVERYTHING and get it all back again anytime. Yes, this is based on the assumption that DC Digital / Comixology / Marvel Digital will always be around and never lose account info, but it's no greater risk that that of your home burning to the ground with your collection inside.

10Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Tue Jun 26, 2012 8:42 pm

Spaceflash



Geof wrote:
Digital just works so much better for me & how I read comics. I don't always WANT to read the latest issue of something just because it's out. I have a million different interests at any given time, and what I'm absolutely nuts about today may be completely pushed aside for months before my interest comes back to it. This pays off since the issue price goes down over time instead of up like the physical copies. And I have no problem with the slight reduction of the overall page size, I can zoom in wherever I want. And for things like double page spreads with tons of characters, I'm honestly looking at specific individual spots just the same as I did with print. And I can screencap whatever I want.
That's about the place that I'm at.

11Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Tue Jun 26, 2012 10:52 pm

choanata


Admin

At this point, I'm only buying the floppies I actually want, so I', not overspending on stuff I don't care about. If anything, I'm even weeding the stuff out that I even like a bit. So that trade for digital wouldn't work for me.

And also, a lot of times proponents of digital will reference how if the companies that run the digital rights go under you lose your collection, it's the same as if there is a fire in your home and you lose your collection. It's not like that. At all really.

Firstly, how often does you house burn down? If it happens more than once in your life, you're doing it wrong. But how often does a digital comic company go under leaving you unable to read the comics you bought? We just had a big one a matter of months ago, and these companies have been around for just a few years.

But secondly, if your house burns down, you know what you can get for physical property? Insurance. So if you have some very valuable old back issues and you get them insured, then if your house burns down, guess what? They give you money to buy new ones. It's like the insurance company is backing up your collection for you. When Graphic.ly quit comics, they basically told their customers that they'll have to keep their computer running forever in order to never lose their collection, because they discontinued the service.

Now, if there's a fire in my house and it wipes out my collection, it's either going to be something stupid I did or some tragic accident and we'll just be happy we survived. But basically, it's something we are directly responsible for one way or another as the collection is in our care. But for digital comics, thanks to DRM, your ownership ends with the company you bought from. It's out of your hands, it's your collection being taken from you because somebody else wanted things secure, things went sour, and you get screwed. You don't even have a little pile of ash to console yourself, from what your collection once was.

Conceptually, digital comics at the right price point with no DRM would be fantastic, and as I said, I'd be on board for that. But until then, it's too pricey and too risky for me.

12Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:07 am

cage_narleigh

cage_narleigh
Admin

Floppies: Consist of new OGN Series that I want to put my money behind for both the comic shops sake and the publishers. ALL Indy comics fall into this category.

Digital: Ongoing comics I enjoy that I plan on buying the trade of anyways but I want to keep up in the meantime. (Action Comics, Wonder Woman, Batman, Justice League, Etc.) This also includes the Lantern titles. At this point I'm only interested in getting "Green Lantern" and "Green Lantern: New Guardians" in trade. The others I get digitally just to keep up for the show for when we review them

The only other comics I get digitally are comics that I believe COULD have promise but I'm just not that sure and I don't want to waste a trip to the store OR (for if/when I do DCBS) just have a floppy I don't like taking space up in my house.

I can tell you though as someone without a tablet and who HAS tried digital comics on his smartphone, I don't think I'll ever go 100% digital at this point. Something about a digital comic for me makes it too easy for me to just blow through the issue without even really retaining what is happening on panel. With a physical copy, you can soak in the art more and feel the page as you turn it. IDK...it's just better to me. Plus, I read the comics I DO have digitally on my laptop...reading digital comics on a back-lit screen makes my eyes tired too.

Digital for trial or other purposes...but if I like it I get it physically either in floppies or in trade.

http://www.lanterncast.com

13Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Wed Jun 27, 2012 9:06 am

Geof

Geof

choanata wrote:Firstly, how often does you house burn down? If it happens more than once in your life, you're doing it wrong. But how often does a digital comic company go under leaving you unable to read the comics you bought? We just had a big one a matter of months ago, and these companies have been around for just a few years.

When Graphic.ly quit comics, they basically told their customers that they'll have to keep their computer running forever in order to never lose their collection, because they discontinued the service.
I'd never heard of Graphic.ly until you mentioned it, and that's probably a good indication of why it went down. I buy from the DC, Marvel, and Comixology apps, and there's only one of those which I have any possible concern about it's longevity. I'm not cool enough for Indie, haha.

14Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:07 pm

Merlin's Android

Merlin's Android

I'm so glad you started this thread because I was thinking of bringing it up at some point to also find out how many people have made the switch to digital.

I have gone 95% digital and I haven't looked back!

When I first heard about comics going digital I was very reluctant to go that route and I vowed to only read comics in print format. When DC did their relaunch and they announced that they would release the digital copy the same day as print and that there would be a price drop a month later, I decided to give it a try for these reasons:

I live in South Africa and even though we only get our new comics two days later than you do in the States (new comic day for us is on a Friday), I happen to live 6 hours (Drive) away from my nearest comic store and I'd have to make a full weekend out of it to go up to Johannesburg (I live in Durban and there are no comic shops here). Don't get me wrong the comic shop I use is great and I have a call order with them and once a month they send me my stuff. So the way I see it is, I end up reading my books a month late anyway - so I might as well wait a month for the digital copy and save some money there, plus I'm saving on the import tax that they put on (which really isn't that much but it all adds up) because I'm buying direct. This has also allowed me to read more titles like The Walking Dead and Chew that I would never have read because for some stupid reason I don't like buying trades (don't ask me why but for some reason I only like collecting floppies) and I have a few other titles on my reading list like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Ghostbusters from IDW. Comixology also have great sales from time to time which allow me to get books for $1 - I wouldn't be getting this deal from my comic shop because remember we don't have Comic Cons where we can pick up most things at a good price. I also travel quite a bit for work so its handy to have all my comics, mags, books on my iPad. So for me, it made total sense to go this route.

I am super disappointed with Marvel though because I refuse to pay $4 for a digital comic, so the only time I pick up Marvel title is when they have sales. I would love to read some Marvel titles like the new AVX series but untill they get their prices right my money is going to DC!

15Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Wed Jun 27, 2012 12:45 pm

gland

gland

The current "Comixology way of doing things" has to change before I'd jump in, because as it is, you're not paying to recieve a digital copy, you're paying to view a digital copy that THEY have. You could buy hundreds of dollars of digital comics on Comixology, and the day Comixology goes out of business, you will no longer be able to view any of those comics you paid for.

If they work it out that I actually obtain whatever the MP3 equivilant is, and it only costs a buck each, and I can afford some kind of tablet? I would still get a small hand full of favorite books in print, and I would absolutely 100% be reading more comics per month than I currently do.

16Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Wed Jun 27, 2012 6:55 pm

choanata


Admin

Rodge, for you I completely understand the move to digital.

Geof, if you're worried at all about Comixology, then you might want to look into who runs the Marvel and DC systems... for now...

17Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:06 pm

Geof

Geof

choanata wrote:Rodge, for you I completely understand the move to digital.

Geof, if you're worried at all about Comixology, then you might want to look into who runs the Marvel and DC systems... for now...
Point, but in the event of Comixology going down, I fully expect DC & Marvel would find a way to reinstate everything. Especially DC, who's made such a huge push for the format.

18Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Wed Jun 27, 2012 11:23 pm

choanata


Admin

I suspect that before that happens, DC and Marvel will each come out with their own proprietary format that renders Comixology useless, and if your lucky they will figure out a way to give you the comics you bought again on the new format. Or just say you can keep your files on Comixology and they would start fresh, then they don't have to be held responsible when Comixology goes under. You know there's a file format that Amazon just announced they will no longer support with digital books? So any book purchased before that point, you can only use until your computer dies. Likewise with any mp3 you've purchased from Walmart ever. If you bought from them, then when your computer dies, those files are gone as Walmart has just backed out of the mp3 business and will no longer support those drm files.

DRM is a poison. A company doesn't even need to fold, it just has to give up on a format for you to get screwed. If there was no drm, or if there was a universal drm that everyone used with a giant database central to everyone so you would always have that backed up regardless of companies failing or giving up, then the only downside to digital comics would be price. And like Rodge says, there are tons of 99 cent sales, which would take care of that for now.

19Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:14 am

gland

gland

I think it was just this month that all the New 52 #1s became 99 cents Mad

20Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Thu Jun 28, 2012 12:47 am

Spaceflash



gland wrote:I think it was just this month that all the New 52 #1s became 99 cents Mad
I believe that was actually around FCBD, but I'm not sure.

21Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Thu Jun 28, 2012 5:19 am

Merlin's Android

Merlin's Android

I deleted the DC and Marvel apps off my iPad because I just like having all my comics in one place - but if I remember correctly, once you've purchased it through Comixology you can download it through the DC app too...I'm not sure about the Marvel app though...I'll check it out...

22Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Mon Jan 21, 2013 2:09 am

DaoFAQ

DaoFAQ

Due to a semi-recent post of Dan's Facebook, I thought I'd resurrect this thread.

Literally the only thing keeping me from going 100% digital NOW is that Marvel doesn't reduce the price on their stuff after the next issue comes out, I don't know a good replacement for Previews, and because of the first one the price is actually more than ordering through DCBS.

23Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:29 am

gland

gland

I've been in a chaotic rollercoaster of doom lately. One week, I'm ready to sell everything and go all digital. Then I'm ready to go digital, and get hardcovers of the good stuff. Then I'm ready to try single issues digitally, as primers for possible hardcover purchases. Then I'm ready to just sell off every physical comic in my house.

The biggest headache is my Lantern collection. I would love, LOVE to replace it all with trades and hardcovers, except almost nothing before the Johns era was collected. And while I don't have every GL issue ever, I'm close enough that I don't really want to start arbitrarily breaking up the collection. I'm not really much of a collector, but I'm JUST ENOUGH of one to appreciate a complete set of something ( bounce ), so I think I'm going to let Green Lantern specifically be "my thing" instead of comics as a whole.

I should note that this right here...
gland wrote:The current "Comixology way of doing things" has to change before I'd jump in, because as it is, you're not paying to recieve a digital copy, you're paying to view a digital copy that THEY have. You could buy hundreds of dollars of digital comics on Comixology, and the day Comixology goes out of business, you will no longer be able to view any of those comics you paid for.

If they work it out that I actually obtain whatever the MP3 equivilant is, and it only costs a buck each, and I can afford some kind of tablet? I would still get a small hand full of favorite books in print, and I would absolutely 100% be reading more comics per month than I currently do.
...I'm TOTALLY over it. I've bought a hand full of books on Comixology with no delusions of keeping them, and I've been totally fine with it. No issues with the interface, no regrets. Would I feel that way if I spent more than eight dollars? Time will tell.


Where I'm currently at, at this precise moment in time, is as such:

I'm keeping all my Lantern stuff.
I'm continuing with the Lantern books in physical issues, but nothing else.
I'm using Comixology to sample single issues of other stuff, to see if I want to pursue hardcovers.
I'm selling/donating all single issues that aren't Lantern books.



EDIT: This sounds a lot like I'm giving up on comics, so I thought I'd throw in there that I'm going to be reading Aquaman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Avengers, Uncanny X-Men, and All-New X-Men in hardcover going forward (with Indestructable Hulk and New Avengers getting a volume each to prove themselves). So yeah, comics are great, go comics! I'd just rather not have so much STUFF as a result of wanting to read the STORIES. Which is why I can still see myself going digital eventually. I think I was just trying to take too big a step too fast.

24Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Mon Jan 21, 2013 4:53 pm

Corwin

Corwin

To be completely honest I would say bind the single issues and then download the digital copies. In my mind buying the issue entitles you torrent a digital copy. I've got a great ipad app that let's you sort your stuff anyway you want. I love it.

And let's be honest the collected editions can never live up to binding since you can put the issues in whatever order you want. I don't even pay attention to collected editions unless they are oversized.

25Digital comics Empty Re: Digital comics Mon Jan 21, 2013 7:56 pm

choanata


Admin

I like Corwin's logic.

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