Model Railroader magazine: 75-year collection on DVD-ROM

So which of you early adopters out there already got a Model Railroader magazine DVD? What are your thoughts on the product?

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__________ Mark Mathu Whitefish Bay, Wis.

Reply to
Mark Mathu
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Having had all but the last 2-3 years worth of MR here at the house for the last 15+ years, I'll pass (finally managed to give them away). Yes, there were many good articles, many good layout pictorials, many interesting track plans, etc. etc. etc., but as a resource for the club I belong to, it was a bust - no more than half a dozen issues were ever borrowed from the collection during those 15 years.

DVD might be different if the search capabilities are good, but even then, as an individual, I really would have no need for the vast majority of plans, etc. available. Could be a good club resource though.

Matt

Reply to
Matt

Personally, I am interested (I am happy enough with the equivalent Trains product).

Having all these issues available in your computer is a nice thing (and in the Trains DVDs there is a search facility, so I suppose this will be included in the MR version)

For people with space problems, it will be great. The Trains version had even advertisers and subscription coupons in the digital edition - exactly as if you had the printed edition.

N.F.

Reply to
Nick Fotis

Based on the context your reply, I assume you do not have the Model Railroader magazine DVDs... the search function is one of the features I am most leery about, considering some of the comments on kalmbachstore.com:

"The search engine is not the best. " - Mr Train

"The basic search engine is awkward, but usable. " - Jim Moore

"The search doesn't really work like I thought it would." - Larry Wolohon

"Yes the search functions should have been professionally done. To not search by author is again inexcusable." - David Mead

__________ Mark Mathu Whitefish Bay, Wis. The Green Bay Route:

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Reply to
Mark Mathu

The whole implementation of the Trains DVD leaves something to be desired. It works but it could be much better. And the thing the really irritates me is that they haven't thought "what next?". It's all very well having all the issues up until

Reply to
Graham Harrison

Agreed that the search mechanism is not a brilliant piece of engineering :-) It takes some time to get used to its quirks.

It works, though, if you are satisfied by full text search, plus some more criteria (basically years/issue numbers, if I remember well). If you want a more advanced mechanism, though, you are out of luck.

It would be nice to have a way of updating the DVD edition every 2-3 years. I haven't got any e-magazine copies (I still prefer to get the hardcopy print version - if the e-magazine is appreciably cheaper, I may bite - and my renewal time is approaching)

I am seriously thinking of ordering the MR DVD edition myself. I have stopped getting the regular issues.

N.F.

Reply to
Nick Fotis

What's the format of the files?

Wolf K.

Reply to
Wolf K

I believe they are encrypted PDFs only readable with their viewer app.

---john.

Reply to
John Haskey

They've just introduced e-magazine versions but I'm not clear whether a subscription I

If you are refering to the service they provide through Zinio,then yes the issues you buy will still be available even if you stop subscribing.You can also download the issue onto more than 1 device,eg an ipad plus a pc plus a smartphone.

Neil.

Reply to
mumbles

Good. Thank you for that nugget.

Reply to
Graham Harrison

Does the full text search include the text in advertisements?

Reply to
Mark Mathu

replying to Matt , Widow in Texas wrote: I got the Model Railroader 75 year collection set for my husband for Father's Day and he enjoyed it immensely...then he passed away on 9/9/12 ...do you know of anyone I could sell this to?

Reply to
Widow in Texas

I'm interested, what do you want for it? If we can make a deal, I'll mail you a money order before you ship it. Use snipped-for-privacy@sympatico.ca to reply to this post.

Reply to
Wolf K

I just got my copy last month, so obviously I am not interested in this one. But I'd like to interject that I am happy with the DVDs; has been fascinating reading the articles and advertisements from the

1940s (especially the editorials) as the war began and limits appeared on modeling materials.

I wish the format were a bit more portable (I wish I could have it on our iPad or my daughter's Nook as opposed to having to sit at a desk to read the articles).

My biggest concern before I bought the DVD was the thoroughness of the search algorithm. Now that I've used it for a month, I'm satisfied with it.

__________ Mark Mathu Whitefish Bay, Wis. The Green Bay Route:

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Reply to
Mark Mathu

Thanks for the review, Mark. Can one print the articles? It would be handy if wanted to follow one of those early scratch-building articles. ;-)

I agree, Kalmbach should make it easy to use the content on other platforms. But I suppose they're a little paranoid about not being able to control copies of the DVDs. Silly, really, there are lots of paper copies still floating around, and scans/photocopies are easy enough to get.

Reply to
Wolf K

Yes... the printing interface is a standard Windows print dialog box with all the familiar features. An 8.5x11 page prints slightly smaller than that and the extra white space on the lower margin is used for a Kalmbach copyright notice.

Reply to
Mark Mathu

replying to Matt, mopguy wrote: You want to sell it or make a copy for a price?

Reply to
mopguy

replying to Widow in Texas, mopguy wrote: I will buy it.

Reply to
mopguy

replying to Matt, mopguy wrote: You want to sell it or make a copy for a price?

Reply to
mopguy

replying to Widow in Texas, mopguy wrote: I will buy it.

Reply to
mopguy

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