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andrewducker ([personal profile] andrewducker) wrote2011-09-07 08:41 am
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Someone gets it right!

2000AD are selling some of their trade paperbacks as digital editions. And they are doing it _right_.

1) The price is about a third of the cost of the physical version.
2) It's in utterly DRM-free formats, both cbz and pdf.

Now, will someone please let the book industry know? I refused to pay for DRMed music, and I'm sure as hell not changing that for books.

via Andrew Hickey.
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[identity profile] recycled-sales.livejournal.com 2011-09-07 08:17 am (UTC)(link)
I really need to buy this and prove that doing this is a financially sound idea.

Well that and I want the stories.

[identity profile] recycled-sales.livejournal.com 2011-09-07 08:19 am (UTC)(link)
GRR! But they still don't have Glimmer Rats!

[identity profile] steer.livejournal.com 2011-09-07 08:33 am (UTC)(link)
Shame about the formats. I'd love to buy some but neither format will render well on a kindle.
andrewducker: (Default)

[personal profile] andrewducker 2011-09-07 08:35 am (UTC)(link)
To display on a Kindle screen would be tricky at best. Far too small for the format of the original pages.

[identity profile] undeadbydawn.livejournal.com 2011-09-07 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
with Andy here.

I use ComicBookLover for all my digital reading, and even on my 30" monitor it can be a bit uncomfortable. A kindle wouldn't be any fun at all.

[identity profile] steer.livejournal.com 2011-09-08 07:53 pm (UTC)(link)
You are right that it would not be ideal but with the right format it might be tolerable.

[identity profile] philmophlegm.livejournal.com 2011-09-07 09:33 am (UTC)(link)
What's your view on DRM on PC games?


As regards boycotting, I differentiate between DRM schemes like Steam that actually provide the paying customer with some advantages (automatic updates and patches, easy digital download experience, can install on any machine and link to your account etc) and ones that just seem designed to piss off the customer. This is why I didn't buy Mass Effect or the first couple of Assassin's Creed games.
andrewducker: (Default)

[personal profile] andrewducker 2011-09-07 09:53 am (UTC)(link)
Much the same as you. I tend to have a different approach to rental services, and shops.

I'm happy to pay Spotify for access to music, knowing that it's full of DRM, and will vanish when I stop paying. If I was _buying_ that music, I'd be demanding that it was entirely DRM-free.

I tend to view Steam as more like a rental service. Everything is accessed through them, and they patch it, and provide access wherever I am. It's obviously not the same as an actual rental service, but it feels close enough to me that I can live with it. If they were selling me a bunch of files to install myself, without the additional service, then I wouldn't be happy with the DRM attached to it.

[identity profile] steer.livejournal.com 2011-09-08 07:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I *love* Steam. This week I am reinstalling my computer from scratch, moving to a new drive. Normally I'd spend hours reinstalling games (and trying to remember where the heck the disks were). Now, I can just re download the ones I want by only installing a single bit of software. Plus the ones with steam cloud have got your save games too.

(Mass Effect is on Steam -- I think they may have changed the DRM to do so).

[identity profile] philmophlegm.livejournal.com 2011-09-08 09:07 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes it is - and in fact I ended up buying it when it was on special offer. Much to my surprise, it didn't grab me. I'd fully expected to love it, and in the end I gave up on it.

[identity profile] steer.livejournal.com 2011-09-08 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
Showing its age a bit now. Mass Effect 2 was more streamlined, better written and altogether more moving IMHO.

[identity profile] ninebelow.livejournal.com 2011-09-07 10:45 am (UTC)(link)
Ah, that is exciting. I'd love a huge, easily manageable back catalogue for 2000AD. When iPads (and analogues) are as common as iPhones (and analogues) then this will really take off. Price, availability and storage stopped me from reading comics at just the wrong age but digital subscriptions could bring me back to the fold.

[identity profile] undeadbydawn.livejournal.com 2011-09-07 05:40 pm (UTC)(link)
there are already services that let you buy digital comics easily - Graphic.ly being the obvious example

unfortunately I got burned by them selling in US$, meaning I got whacked with conversion costs and charges, tripling the price of every purchase

hoping this'll work a little better

[identity profile] undeadbydawn.livejournal.com 2011-09-07 06:20 pm (UTC)(link)
nowhere near enough of them.

I hope they expand their catalogue, and soon. I'd spend a lot of money there

[identity profile] ajr.livejournal.com 2011-09-07 07:50 pm (UTC)(link)
It's a good idea, but either I'm being really thick or there isn't a way to search the site to see what all the digitally available volumes are. Searching for individual titles and checking to see if there's a digital copy or not gets boring fast.
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[personal profile] andrewducker 2011-09-07 08:30 pm (UTC)(link)
Good point. You should mention!
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