Digitial magazines are so the future

EGMi youtube preview

Edit: A better example of what I'm talking about (as pointed out below by Omni-Gamer-)

Edit: iPad New York Times preview (another good example of what I'm talking about)

We all should have seen this coming a long time ago considering Mr Tom Hanks demoed the early prototypes for this idea in BIG :)

How are they different from normal webpages.... ?? You simply load the content on a PDA or iPad and you can "read the digital magazine"? ITS CALLED THE INTERNET!!!

Lame. I'd rather just have a real magazine in my hands....one that can't shout INDESTRUCTIBLE at me.

How are they different from normal webpages.... ?? You simply load the content on a PDA or iPad and you can "read the digital magazine"? ITS CALLED THE INTERNET!!!

thetruespin

I meant the combination of the interactive pages and the digital viewer tablet style device.

So it actually is like a proper digital magazine, as seen in BIG.

Digital things are not the future because Skynet will take over everything soon and we will be back to the stone age :P.

Lame. I'd rather just have a real magazine in my hands....one that can't shout INDESTRUCTIBLE at me.

AAllxxjjnn

Digital things are not the future because Skynet will take over everything soon and we will be back to the stone age :P.

Kashiwaba

Well the world's going to end in 2012 anyway so I wouldn't even worry about that :P

Nothing is going to replace having a dense, actually interesting and well written magazine like the EDGE to read. Compared to lets say, Game Informer which is an absolute mess in my opinion - that is where print media will fade.skrat_01

If only you could jump forward say 20 years in the future you would see how blatantly wrong that more than likely is...

In the same way digitial music downloads have pretty much wiped out the traditional method of listenting to music on CDs, and it certainly will so more and more as the years pass by, then so too are digital magazines going to eventually replace these archaic, expensive, space consuming, and ultimately planet destroying books.

Why would anyone in the future seriously have a hundred books on a shelf gathering dust and wasting space and natural resources when they could have a single digitial book that they could take with them and be able to easily read any book/magazine/newspaper/article anywhere at anytime.

Think about it...

[QUOTE="skrat_01"]Nothing is going to replace having a dense, actually interesting and well written magazine like the EDGE to read. Compared to lets say, Game Informer which is an absolute mess in my opinion - that is where print media will fade.amaneuvering

Magazines like The EDGE have a particular audience for their material. If others like Kill Screen kick off then so will it; the magazine is more than simply emulating what we can readily find on a website or blog - and of the same quality.

Whereas Game Informer IS that, difference being it relies quite heavily on 'exclusive' release details and information in order to push copies. While of course the magazine, and similar ones have a dedicated audience, I cannot see their survivability as great in the print media market.

eBooks have not removed retail booksells - which are doing very well, webstores like Amazon even moreso. Even in the information age print media is still so strong in this regard it is surprising.

There will always be an audience for people who actually want to read and hold physical material, than a screen, and want books filling their shelves.

It is something personal.

[QUOTE="skrat_01"][QUOTE="amaneuvering"] If only you could jump forward say 20 years in the future you would see how blatantly wrong that more than likely is...amaneuvering

eBooks have not removed retail booksellers - which are doing very well, webstores like Amazon even moreso.

Even in the information age print media is still so strong in this regard it is surprising.

There will always be an audience for people who actually want to read and hold physical material, than a screen, and want books filling their shelves.

It is something personal - one thing eBooks are not, and can never replace.

i disagree. i think websites on the internet are the futureJandurin

Yes, partly, and many of these "websites" will be viewed on easily transportable digital devices like tablets and they will be designed in a more easy to read form factor, just like EGMi is starting to do, and something more akin to a standard magazine but with some interaction and basic links etc, so the mass market can actually read them extremely easily (unlike some websites these days that are as confusing as hell to the vast majority of people).

http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2010/02/the-wired-ipad-app-a-video-demonstration/ (like this)

Just imagine each person carrying a tablet ****device to view their news and articles and stories and so on, with a more user friendly interface than most current digital devices, like PCs and laptops etc, and you are seeing the future without any shadow of a doubt...

I'd even put money on it, unless there's some other completely disruptive technology on the horizon that will change the way people actually view things in general e.g. some kind of eye projectors or something, which is not a realistic option at all just now and not for the foreseeable future, unlike digital magazines (basically tablets but with content that doesn't look so obviously digital and old school PC like in it's interface).

[QUOTE="amaneuvering"][QUOTE="skrat_01"]Which statement? Magazines like The EDGE have a particular audience for their material. If others like Kill Screen kick off then so will it; the magazine is more than simply emulating what we can readily find on a website or blog - and of the same quality. Whereas Game Informer IS that, difference being it relies quite heavily on 'exclusive' release details and information in order to push copies. While of course the magazine, and similar ones have a dedicated audience, I cannot see their survivability as great in the print media market.skrat_01

eBooks have not removed retail booksellers - which are doing very well, webstores like Amazon even moreso.

Even in the information age print media is still so strong in this regard it is surprising.

There will always be an audience for people who actually want to read and hold physical material, than a screen, and want books filling their shelves.

It is something personal - one thing eBooks are not, and can never replace.

Please include my Wired digital magazine demo in your original post. ThanksOmni-Gamer-

That's simply because current eBooks are absolute crap, I mean even the DS can flip through pages faster and smoother than current eBook readers and with a touch based interface, but the principle is absolutely the future. Print media is the past...and digital reading/browsing/viewing devices, basically tablets, are absolutely the future (not like 500 hundred years in the future because then we'll have went far beyond that stuff, most likely, but the near future). There will be a minority of people who like to view good old fashioned paper books, as there are still a minority of people who actually like to listen to vinyl records, but the vast majority of people will be reading their magazines and viewing their media on what is basically a personal tablet PC.amaneuvering

This is a massive generalization, especially if you are only referring to the first world, having physical print media goes beyond simple convenience of having 'the tech' to replace it in which you state.

As I said for one example, your idea of the 'future' completely removes anything personal about having a book, something that people by nature take to. On a relateable tangent something that the last few decades of science fiction have completely forgotten, ironically creating visions of the future that completely lack something that has human characteristics.

You can not quantify how such a broad range of people will simply conform to where new technology goes.

Without a doubt things will change in a few decades time, but 'predicting the future' in such a broad manner like this is nothing more than simple speculation. Hell otherwise we would all have central user friendly touch screen computers in our main living / kitchen areas.

Basically, if Conde Naste (largest magazine distributor) believes in Digital Magazines taking over the very near future, I'm pretty certain the possibility of it happening is a lot more likely than you think. Take a look at their digital Wired magazine demo. If you don't see that as the next evolutionary step, then you probably still have a black and white, standard definition T.V.Omni-Gamer-

[QUOTE="skrat_01"][QUOTE="amaneuvering"] That's simply because current eBooks are absolute crap, I mean even the DS can flip through pages faster and smoother than current eBook readers and with a touch based interface, but the principle is absolutely the future. Print media is the past...and digital reading/browsing/viewing devices, basically tablets, are absolutely the future (not like 500 hundred years in the future because then we'll have went far beyond that stuff, most likely, but the near future). There will be a minority of people who like to view good old fashioned paper books, as there are still a minority of people who actually like to listen to vinyl records, but the vast majority of people will be reading their magazines and viewing their media on what is basically a personal tablet PC.Omni-Gamer-

I think Omni-Gamer- and I have a slightly more accurate view of how this is going to play out ultimately. Sure there are all these world factors and so on but outside of the starving children, in whichever country it's popular to talk about right now, I think it's pretty obvious this is how most non-starving 1st world people are going to be doing their reading and viewing in the near future.

The image of a man/woman/child/grandparent sitting on their sofa and reading their digital magazine, in say 10 years or so, is far more convincing to me than us all still sticking to paper back, and it's even more convincing when I actually factor in why this would make sense, such as saving on physical storage space, ease of access and use (all in one convenient place), most likely reduced overall costs, reduced consumption and destruction of our natural resources (something I think a lot of people are focusing on right now), and...just because it's obviously the future.

Note: The reason we don't all have some kind of central touch screen in our living room/kitchen is because the basic idea doesn't actually make any sense just now or make anything any easier, and the idea never did made any practical sense (esepcially things like having screens on your fridge etc, it was just a gimmick, although I'm sure in the future future things like that will make some more sense), but this whole digital viewer thing, instead of physical books, actually does make sense in many important ways and some that are very relevant right now (as I pointed out above).

Basically, for the same reasons I mentioned above I think all forms of entertainment media (books, movies, music, games etc) are going to go digital only for the vast majority of cases, because it saves physical space and costs less and reduces the need for physical media which reduces the amount of natural resources we have to use, and a natural extension of this is to make digital devices that better suit this like we are seeing with all these new tablets.

It's the combination of the hardware and software in this case, and how much better in almost every way it is over what we are currently doing, that points to this being the obvious way we as consumers are going to view all this media in the future.

Please consider how quickly the population adopted MP3 player technology over CD players. Much like the jump from physical to digital distribution in the music industry, the same sort of adoption rate will be similar for the publishing industry. Please also refer to the Wired demo I have supplied. I initially thought digital magazines were a load of crock until I stumbled upon this bit, and now I look forward to it more than ever. (big Wired and Popular Science magazine fan)Omni-Gamer-

Audio and it go hand in hand. Photography is a different matter, digital cameras still translate to print media (emulating that which film cameras did), which is ever popular.

You can counter argue how digital hasn't killed cinema or the theater. While I do believe there will be change - less so in 'digital magazines' (annual publications) more in a flow of information, similar to that in blogs, print media simply will not translate so ideally, especially books be it novels or pictorials.

...just because it's obviously the future.

amaneuvering

And there isn't a 'reduction in natural costs'

Are you forgetting the cost of materials involved in mass producing electronics, which heavily outnumber that of print - which can be easily recycled (something electronics hardware cannot - the huge amount of waste is more than enough evidence of that). What happens when this tech becomes more dependant to the average consumer - demmand increases, production to meet demmand, waste mounts, reasources dwindle, which equates to conflict over reasources.

I point the finger towards metallic ore, which is fought over in African regions due to the high demand, all going back to the consumer electronics we use. Yes, it is already happening, which is rather frightening.

The future is less ideal than what you picture, even if it might make sense from a technological progression, there is so much more to it than simple generalizations.

[QUOTE="amaneuvering"]

...just because it's obviously the future.

skrat_01

And there isn't a 'reduction in natural costs'

Are you forgetting the cost of materials involved in mass producing electronics, which heavily outnumber that of print - which can be easily recycled (something electronics hardware cannot - the huge amount of waste is more than enough evidence of that). What happens when this tech becomes more dependant to the average consumer - demmand increases, production to meet demmand, waste mounts, reasources dwindle, which equates to conflict over reasources.

I point the finger towards metallic ore, which is fought over in African regions due to the high demand, all going back to the consumer electronics we use. Yes, it is already happening, which is rather frightening.

The future is less ideal than what you picture, even if it might make sense from a technological progression, there is so much more to it than simple generalizations.

Well it's really just simple common sense for the most...

Some things just don't make sense for various reasons, be that the times or the cost of the technology or whatever, and some things just do.

In the same way that digital music just made sense and the time was right, via the combination of the MP3/iPod/etc hardware and the new digital media and distribution methods, so too does this combination of tablet style devices and all types of digital content make sense, and imo it is inevitable.

I think in 10 years time we will laugh at just how shortsighted some people were about something that was so blatantly obvious.

[QUOTE="skrat_01"]

[QUOTE="amaneuvering"]

...just because it's obviously the future.

amaneuvering

And there isn't a 'reduction in natural costs'

Are you forgetting the cost of materials involved in mass producing electronics, which heavily outnumber that of print - which can be easily recycled (something electronics hardware cannot - the huge amount of waste is more than enough evidence of that). What happens when this tech becomes more dependant to the average consumer - demand increases, production to meet demand, waste mounts, resources dwindle, which equates to conflict over resources.

I point the finger towards metallic ore, which is fought over in African regions due to the high demand, all going back to the consumer electronics we use. Yes, it is already happening, which is rather frightening.

The future is less ideal than what you picture, even if it might make sense from a technological progression, there is so much more to it than simple generalizations.

It doesn't really factor in the broad range of things that will create such an overhaul in change in the next decade.

There is so much more to the immediate, that while we can easily look at the rise of the MP3 player as evidence it isn't simply going to translate to print media unless we look under the surface. Hey it didn't work for film, why assume it would be so similar?

Print media is an individual beast, and technological evolution is so much more than looking at cool new tech and software. This is social and infrastructure change, that goes right down to the workers in third world regions.

Speculation is fun, but that's all it is - its hard to predict, especially factoring in literally everything surrounding it. So relax and see :) personally I am still hanging out for high altitude travel on the fringes of space.

This already exists. It's called the Internet in general.

and if it weren't for a few old fashioned people out there they would disappear, and there's no real debate among intelligent people at all.amaneuvering

Then intelligently refute the consumption and demand of natural resources to actually make this technological 'revolution' happen?

=\

Naive.

It is ironic to view it at as logical progression and speak of intelligent people not debating of it, and coat it with hypocritical spin, ignoring that which actual intelligent debate on the matter reolves around.

[QUOTE="amaneuvering"]and if it weren't for a few old fashioned people out there they would disappear, and there's no real debate among intelligent people at all.skrat_01

Then intelligently refute the consumption and demand of natural resources to actually make this technological 'revolution' happen?

=\

Naive.

It is ironic to view it at as logical progression and speak of intelligent people not debating of it, and coat it with hypocritical spin, ignoring that which actual intelligent debate on the matter reolves around.

It doesn't require me to refute anything because it's all pretty self evident imo, except to those people who don't want to see what's happening (the old fashioned people I mention for example).

In the same way most people, relevant to this debate, currently have a TV in our living room, a computer in whatever room, a phone in our pockets...we are going to have a "tablet" of some kind too, and all the content that goes with it.

Digital is clearly going to eventually replace traditional books/DVDs/Blue-Rays etc also. Old paper books are the past and these "digital magazines" (that's how I referred to them in my title anyway) are the future.

Note: I'm not talking about crappy eBooks but more these new tablet devices that can do so much more than current eBooks.

So back to my original point which I really shouldn't have bothered trying to debate because in reality I don't have to debate this one at all...

Digital magazines are so the future.

I'm just gonna go back to the start and leave it there; Digital magazines are so the future

END

[QUOTE="amaneuvering"]It doesn't require me to refute anything because it's all pretty self evident imo, except to those people who don't want to see what's happening (the old fashioned people I mention for example). In the same way most people, relevant to this debate, currently have a TV in our living room, a computer in whatever room, a phone in our pockets...we are going to have a "tablet of some kind too", and all the content that goes with it, and digital is clearly going to eventually replace traditional books/DVDs/Blue-Rays etc also. Old paper books are the past and these "digital magazines" (that's how I referred to them in my title anyway) are the future. Note: I'm not talking about crappy eBooks but more these new tablet devices that can do so much more than current eBooks. So back to my original point... Digital magazines are so the future.skrat_01

Like I said, I really don't have to debate or prove my point or even refute your point/s. Doing so is simply an annoying character flaw I have.

If you want to debate my point, or see a different future, or argue that my view is just speculation based on whatever, that's your prerogative.

Time will tell...

[QUOTE="skrat_01"]

[QUOTE="amaneuvering"]and if it weren't for a few old fashioned people out there they would disappear, and there's no real debate among intelligent people at all.amaneuvering

Then intelligently refute the consumption and demand of natural resources to actually make this technological 'revolution' happen?

=\

Naive.

It is ironic to view it at as logical progression and speak of intelligent people not debating of it, and coat it with hypocritical spin, ignoring that which actual intelligent debate on the matter reolves around.

It doesn't require me to refute anything because it's all pretty self evident imo, except to those people who don't want to see what's happening (the old fashioned people I mention for example).

In the same way most people, relevant to this debate, currently have a TV in our living room, a computer in whatever room, a phone in our pockets...we are going to have a "tablet" of some kind too, and all the content that goes with it.

Digital is clearly going to eventually replace traditional books/DVDs/Blue-Rays etc also. Old paper books are the past and these "digital magazines" (that's how I referred to them in my title anyway) are the future.

Note: I'm not talking about crappy eBooks but more these new tablet devices that can do so much more than current eBooks.

So back to my original point which I really shouldn't have bothered trying to debate because in reality I don't have to debate this one at all...

Digital magazines are so the future.

[QUOTE="amaneuvering"]

[QUOTE="skrat_01"] Eh?

Then intelligently refute the consumption and demand of natural resources to actually make this technological 'revolution' happen?

=\

Naive.

It is ironic to view it at as logical progression and speak of intelligent people not debating of it, and coat it with hypocritical spin, ignoring that which actual intelligent debate on the matter reolves around.

Omni-Gamer-

It doesn't require me to refute anything because it's all pretty self evident imo, except to those people who don't want to see what's happening (the old fashioned people I mention for example).

In the same way most people, relevant to this debate, currently have a TV in our living room, a computer in whatever room, a phone in our pockets...we are going to have a "tablet" of some kind too, and all the content that goes with it.

Digital is clearly going to eventually replace traditional books/DVDs/Blue-Rays etc also. Old paper books are the past and these "digital magazines" (that's how I referred to them in my title anyway) are the future.

Note: I'm not talking about crappy eBooks but more these new tablet devices that can do so much more than current eBooks.

So back to my original point which I really shouldn't have bothered trying to debate because in reality I don't have to debate this one at all...

Digital magazines are so the future.

There's over 7 billion people in the world.

Only around 1 billion people own a PC, I think that's what I hears someone mention in a Microsoft conference recently or something like that (Edit: that's around 1 billion people who use the Internet), and yet we still use the terminology that "everyone" has a PC. Same goes for TVs and video players etc.

Now, clearly not everyone owns a TV. Clearly video didn't kill the radio star. It's all meant and said in context and not to be taking absolutely literally.

I'm using the terminology in exactly the same way when I say that these new digital technologies are going to replace traditional books etc.

I'm not saying every single being in the universe is going to own one. Neither am I saying all known forms of paper books will be wiped off the face of existence. I'm just saying digital tablets, or something very much like a tablet, will in the near future replace traditional books, and that books/reading/viewing/etc are going digital (hence the Digital magazines are so the future content).

Now I say all that in the appropriate context, and hope people interpret that intelligently, no more, no less. It's not my role to explain how to do that to everyone else in here who doesn't have the common sense to do that for themselves (not talking about you of course).

Books are on their way out and they are going to be replaced by something like the technology we are talking about, for all the very valid and important reasons I mentioned above, not least of which is the absolute desire of many people to stop needlessly destroying our planet and wasting natural resources (especially when in this case in particular it's clearly and completely unnecessary and we have a far better solution staring us in the face that is already happening as I speak), and more besides (saves loads of storage space).

In fact, I'd go as far as to say that at some point goverments will even become involved and make this adoption of digital books happen even faster and more universally than many people even realize, because it is inevitable that we will have to stop doing things the way we are doing them and this is such an obvious solution, that is actually real and that is happening and taking place as I type e.g. everything is going digital as a matter of course and everyone is slowly adopting it as a matter of course, whether people can see it or not, and we are going to go more and more towards that as a matter of course.

My point is not seriously debatable.

I'm only debating it with people in here because like I said it's an annoying character flaw I have.

If people just think of books alone...

Hundreds of books on a shelf, using millions of tonnes of natural resourses every year and destroying our planet, costing way more than is neccessary to the average consumer, getting old and tattered over time, being hard to find the book you are looking for, being hard to transport when you move, being generally archaic VS. A relatively cheap device that you can easily take with you wherever you go, that holds all your books, that doesn't get tattered and torn, that cost much less in the long run, that allows your books to be interactive and dynamic and just improves the whole experience in multiple ways, that allows one for each school kid or student (rather than the cost of literally thousands of books and hundreds of computers in each school etc) and means they can have all the classwork and homework in one convient place (the list goes one)...

Now that's just thinking of this device as being an alternative to books. What if you then factor in that this same device can be used for browsing the web, playing games, watching movies, writing essays, painting and drawing, making notes, and so on and on...

IT IS INEVITABLE.

Digital magazines seems like a stop gap from transitioning between print magazines and a well designed website.Senor_Kami